Do athletes really go to war?

I was listening to the radio driving home from my daughter's freshman volleyball game. A local football game was to be played tonight between two rival schools. The guy on the radio that is helping call the game said this is going to be a war. A war? This is a high school football game.

Why do so many people these days term sporting events as a war. I know it's probably a figure of speech. But the game is nothing like war. There are no guns, no tanks, no shooting. You are not going to the game to kill someone. In these times where we actually have real soldiers in a war in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think people need to start choosing their words a little more carefully.