From The Palm Beach Post
Review by Jen Nelson in SRM 334
The new hit TV serious, “Hard Knocks” has been around since 2001, and recently just had the serious premier featuring the Miami Dolphins. The show is a “docu-drama”, consisting of a sports documentary following the teams training camp, along with drama to capture viewer’s attention. For our presentation, we decided to focus on what we believe is the main issue: is there too much media coverage?
The article we found provided us with positive and negative impacts of player publicity. Although some players enjoy the constant media attention, other would prefer to stay out of the limelight. Our article was entitled, Over the years, ‘Hard Knocks’ has provided players with 15 minutes of fame by Hal Habib. Aside from the Miami Dolphins, 6 other teams have been featured on “Hard Knocks” and racking up a total of 7 sports Emmys. Player Dwayne Missouri from the Baltimore Ravens said, “I enjoyed the opportunity and I’m thankful for it…I think it kept my name on a lot of peoples mouths for a long period of time.” On the other hand, he also encountered a negative experience with the media when they caught him throwing up many times throughout a game. Since the camera is essentially rolling at all times, players are now seeing what coaches say about them behind closed doors, because really the doors are now open.
Other positive aspects include players learning from their mistakes, and having the chance to watch other teams closely. From a fan based perspective, tickets sales have generally increased for all the teams who were on the show.
The article also has a lot of information discussing the negative aspects that may come about from the show. Having the media there constantly is a huge invasion of players privacy, especially if they are going into places off limits to gain more drama for TV viewers. It can also cause the team to loose focus and often times many events are aired that the players wouldn’t intend for the world to see.
My opinion of the show, is that it’s unique in which its essentially the first sports reality show. This will give fans the capability to learn more about their player’s both positively and negatively. For teams such as the Miami Dolphins, who over the past few years haven’t been doing well, now have the chance to earn back a positive reputation. In regards to the media, I know the public loves scandal, however, there are certain boundaries I think the media shouldn’t cross. I think they should put more of an emphasis on the time training camp, rather than focusing on digging up dirt on athletes personal lives.
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We chose to do our presentation on the HBO miniseries, Hard Knocks, because it is a good representation of how communication and media relations has evolved in sports. Many years ago, teams in the NFL were getting little to no media coverage. Tex Schramm for instance, begged the media to cover the Dallas Cowboys. He was forced to write and publish his own stories to send to newspaper companies. Today, NFL teams and players may now be getting too much coverage in the media. The article that we read discusses the positive and negative impacts the show may have on a player’s career.
The article, “Over the years, ‘Hard Knocks’ has provided players with 15 minutes of fame”, was found through SportsBusiness Journal Daily and was written by Hal Habib of The Palm Beach Post. Former NFL players, Dwayne Missouri and Todd Lowber discuss their experiences from being on the show. For Missouri, who was a seventh-round draft pick for the Baltimore Ravens when they were featured on the show in 2001, it was a chance to make a name for himself in the NFL. He admitted that it would have been much harder to focus during practice if he didn’t have cameras and microphones following him constantly. Another thing the show did for Missouri was teach him how to step it up in practice. The show features many coaches’ meetings and discussions with one another where they are very blunt about players. Missouri was able to hear what the coaches were saying about him and the way he played, without them speaking to him directly. After the night the episode aired, he was inspired to work harder in practice and fix the mistakes the coaches had brought up.
Lowber had a similar outlook on the show’s ability to increase awareness of players in the league. Lowber explains that if a player featured on the show gets released and another coach in the NFL that had been closely watching him throughout camp liked what he saw, the player would be more likely to get signed with that new team. Essentially this means that players are “trying out” for all of the teams in the league when being featured on the show, not just the one that they are training with. The criticism that Lowber heard from coaches while watching the show did not have a positive effect on him like I did on Missouri however. He heard coaches say he looked lost while playing, and did not like that upon showing up for practice the following day, he already knew what the coaches thought about him.
It is interesting how the show seems to have slightly changed the game. Players who may not have ever been noticed before get to shine while on camera in the show. Players are also able to learn what coaches are saying about them behind closed doors. Other things that happen throughout the training camp with the team that typically no one would ever know about are suddenly broadcasted for the entire world to see. On an episode from this seasons Hard Knocks, a Dolphin’s player admitted to another that he had been taking acting lessons to learn how to “not look tired on camera”. The show completely changes the experience for NFL teams and players going through training camp. Instead of focusing solely on their play, they are now becoming actors of a show. If I were a coach, I don’t think it is something that I would want my team to be a part of, but as a fan and sports communicator, Hard Knocks makes for great entertainment.
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