Bengals Land HBO ‘Hard Knocks’ Series

The Cincinnati Bengals will be featured on the annual HBO Sports series Hard Knocks later this summer. A 24-person NFL Films crew will set up shop at the Bengals’ training camp site — Georgetown (Kentucky) College — to shoot more than 1,000 hours of exclusive video beginning July 30. There will be a total of five shows, debuting August 12 at 10 p.m. ET.

Cincinnati Bengals / Image: Zuma Press

A lot of teams would consider this type of coverage more of a distraction than anything else, but Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis isn’t one of them:

“I think our football team is beyond that point. I think we’ve got a mature group of guys that are fighting for jobs. They won’t notice the cameras. We know there will be special things that guys will be a part of; I think that way we’re mature enough. Steve (Sabol, NFL Films) has approached me before and we didn’t come to the same conclusion. This time I did because I think we’re in a different step in the team’s maturity and where we are. I think it’s great for our fans. I felt like we could handle this.”

I love this show. It’s easily my favorite reality series and it typically offers a very unique look inside an NFL organization. As a fan of the league, you’ve got to love that. You get to know a handful of the players quite well and it’s usually very compelling from week-to-week. Hard Knocks launched with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001 (still the best season to-date), followed by the Dallas Cowboys in 2002. After an unexplained five-year layoff, the series resumed in 2007 with the Kansas City Chiefs (blah) and the 2008 edition, which received a Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Post Produced Audio/Sound, featured the Cowboys for the second time.

I have to think the Bengals were way down on the list of teams HBO and NFL Films wanted to see on the Hard Knocks series. I mean, the Bengals are coming off a 4-11-1 season and I have little reason to believe they will be much better in 2009. I’m so discouraged by the choice, I wonder if we’ll see another season of Hard Knocks after this one? The reason is I’m not sure there will be any teams willing to allow this kind of insider coverage anymore. I hope I’m wrong, but by choosing the Cincinnati Bengals as their featured team, I think NFL Films is sending a bleak message: We couldn’t get anyone else to do it!

Nevertheless, I’ll be watching. Receiver Chad Johnson Ochocinco will keep things interesting and should be worth the price of admission alone. And it will be intriguing to see Dhani Jones back in his natural environment after observing him in his “world traveler” role on The Travel Channel’s Dhani Tackles the Globe. But the Bengals aren’t even close to having the cast of characters the Dallas Cowboys showcased last year. Not that the show needs that, but I’m wondering how entertaining the Cincinnati Bengals will be.

Source: Bengals.com