HBO, Bengals, NFL Films Announce Hard Knocks Deal

As expected, HBO, the Cincinnati Bengals, and NFL Films announced on Thursday that the Bengals will be the subject of this season’s Hard Knocks series, which is produced by NFL Films and televised by HBO. “This is a fascinating team,” NFL Films president Steve Sabol said in a release issued by HBO. “They’ve got a lot to prove to themselves and to the fans. As Coach [Marvin] Lewis has said, ‘This is a team with a chip on their shoulder.’ Training camp is a laboratory of human emotions and the Bengals have a compelling mix of personalities that should make for dramatic television.” (Possible translation: “We really hope Chad Ochocinco acts like an idiot.”) Said Lewis: “Hard Knock will give Bengals fans a tremendous opportunity for an inside look at their team. And for NFL fans across the country, it will provide another expertly produced program on how an NFL team operates behind the scenes. As for our players and coaches, the presence of HBO and NFL Films on a daily basis during the preseason will bring a heightened sense of excitement and intensity to the jobs we are all doing to get ready for a great year.” Excitement and intensity? Plenty of other teams would call it a distraction -- and would regard the cameras and mics as vehicles for capturing images and sounds that could be used against the team that is the subject of the show. But, hey, someone has to do it. For reasons that might have more to do with making money than winning football games, the Bengals are happy to oblige.