The Chicago Bears are worried about your kids. At least, that’s how chairman George McCaskey explained his decision to further dull this season of HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”
“Hard Knocks” is known for its gritty take on what goes on in the NFL The show features recorded clips of players, coaches, and front-office people talking candidly, much like what many viewers experienced when they played sports.
The Bears took the candid part out of the conversation. “Hard Knocks” supposedly took out curse words as a tribute to the McCaskey family. However, HBO doesn’t have much choice in the matter.
George McCaskey wanted to make HBO more family-friendly
Per Patrick Finley with the Chicago Sun-Times, McCaskey said he wanted to take out curse words so more children could watch the show on a platform that was known for providing adult entertainment.
“We understand that professional athletes swear from time to time,” McCaskey said. “We wanted kids to be able to watch the show without their parents worrying. And we didn’t want to have a daytime PG version and a nighttime [one].’’
McCaskey spends his free time as an umpire for Little League games. Anyone who has spent time around youth sports knows that a game will feature more curse words than what airs on a “Hard Knocks” episode.
What’s fascinating about that answer is that McCaskey is suddenly claiming to want more viewers of a show that he has never wanted the Bears to be a part of.
The Chicago Bears are taking the drama out of “Hard Knocks”
Language isn’t the only way the Bears are punting on the series. He’s taking the drama out of the show this year to be sensitive to players who don’t make the team.
“The nature of the program, the drama, if there is any, is the player personnel and the general manager and the coach building a roster and guys fighting for roster spots,” he said. “In our opinion, when you tell a young man that in all likelihood his lifetime dream is over, that’s a private moment. We want to be very sensitive about it; we want to handle it tastefully and sympathetically.”
The Bears weren’t the first team to reject that aspect of the show. The New York Jets made sure HBO would not show players being cut.
However, McCaskey’s editing has gutted the program of most of its football essence. There are more filler scenes of players going to ice cream museums and Willis Tower than there are of camaraderie being built on the practice field.
That has nothing to do with making the show more enjoyable for children.
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