Hard Knocks: An Eye Opener for Most, Routine for Privileged Few

A lot of people have been very surprised by the language, the humor, the bluntness and the emotions that are on display each week on Hard Knocks.  As a former strength and conditioning coach that worked with many college football and basketball players that have gone on to play professionally, all I can say is, "I miss the fellas."

When 70-plus men, coaches included, come together to play and coach a sport that is rooted in brutality, machismo and violence what kind of HBO programming do you expect?  Eat Pray Love?  The Notebook?  Please. 

College and NFL training camps are a place where guys are required to be crude Neanderthals on the field if you want to get playing time, especially if you play defense.  The language and humor in the locker room, on the practice field and in position meetings is not user friendly for the National Organization for Women, I can assure you.   

Have you heard coach Westhoff speak off the cuff?  He won’t be winning any Saintly Diction of the Year awards in this lifetime or any other, but he is the quintessential model of a football coach that gets the most out of his players with language and coaching methods that can only be described as, in Rex Ryan's word, "blunt force trauma." 

And let me tell you something: any real football player, any true baller who aspires to be the best at his craft, would LOVE to play for a coach like Westhoff.  If you’re too soft for a guy like coach Westhoff, you’re too soft to play football at an elite level.  If you can please that guy in meetings, practice or the football field, you can succeed in life.  True story.

Although there are many ways to skin a cat (see Tony Dungy), most player prefer the no holds barred approach of coach Westhoff and coach Ryan.  The fact that Rex Ryan has a great sense of humor that includes cussing like a sailor that they can relate to only makes the players want to play for him more. 

There’s a method to his madness - there has to be. Bbecause believe me, if he didn’t have a great football mind and were just funny, the players wouldn’t buy what he was selling for one second. 

So before you Doubting Thomases complain one more time about how profane Ryan is and that he runs a loose, undisciplined ship, remember that you’re watching a show that focuses on a sport that is played and coached by guys that are a little skewed to the left (you have to be to be in love with such a violent sport), and are hyper attracted to the essence of what it means to be a member of the male species. 

Testosterone, camaraderie and guy-time are what these guys live for.  If you can’t handle it or find it to be too much, turn the channel and continue to ignore NFL reality if you so choose.  When big hits are the most celebrated occurrence on a football field (outside of game-winning scores) you can be sure that the uber-male aspects of football (cussing, off color humor and violence) will never die.  Ever.