Glamorous 'Boys perfect for 'Knocks'
Source: UNION-TRIBUNE
August 3, 2008
It's not as if Terrell Owens is going to be going one-on-one against some sprite who expresses her expertise by teetering atop a balance beam. On second thought, in a way, it is.
Some episodes of “Hard Knocks,” the HBO series chronicling the Dallas Cowboys' preparations for this season, are to be presented during the Beijing Olympics. HBO's expectation is that if a gold medal were passed for capturing a TV audience, it would go to the Cowboys.
Said Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports: “When you're seeing the balance beam for the 50th time and you're ready to get a little divergence and get back to football, which is the No. 1 sport in America, the show will do just fine.”
For “just fine,” read “in the ratings.”
The premiere showing of “Hard Knocks” is at 10 p.m. Wednesday. Greenburg doesn't believe the clips NFL Films is putting in the cans are going to do socko ratings immediately. “But to be quite candid – and I hope this doesn't come across as obnoxious – I do believe that in the new age of TV, when people can record shows and watch them at their leisure, we may not get you for the premiere, but there will be an hour during the week when you can watch every episode of 'Hard Knocks,' ” he said.
HBO's practice is to display its shows six times during a week.
To Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films, having the Cowboys as the subjects of a documentary of this sort is akin to having Julia Roberts in a feature film. It was NFL Films, he remembered, that attached the term “America's Team” to the Cowboys in 1975.
“The most glamorous team in professional sports,” Sabol said of the 'Boys. “A team that is used to being on the red carpet. That's part of what being the Dallas Cowboys is. Plus, they're the presumptive Super Bowl favorites.”
They do have some personalities. T.O. Tony Romo. Adam “Pacman” Jones. It also has not disappointed the producers of this summer saga that Jessica Simpson showed up in Oxnard to look in on Romo, her great and good friend. Ah, romance.
For 15 hours a day, NFL Films has had four cameras poking into the Cowboys' meeting rooms, dining halls, weight rooms and dressing quarters and capturing what takes place on practice fields. “No storyline, no structure, no treatment,” Sabol said. No scenario is what he was saying. “Like building an airplane in flight,” he said.
One thing that is missing in Oxnard is conflict. On a team as established as this one, there are no position battles to fix on.
“But great TV also is made up of personalities and characters,” Sabol said. “We know good drama depends on characters.”
Enter Pacman, whose character can be questioned but not his sense of theater. The first time T.O. took his upright stance on the outside of the Dallas offense, Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones said Pacman looked at him and said, “You're mine. I'm on you.”
Jones said Deion Sanders used to do this when Michael Irvin was preparing to go out for a practice pass. “What that does is create an atmosphere of competition. It's one of the fun things that has been happening, if you want to call it fun,” Jones said.
HBO is delighted to have Jones around. “One advantage we have with the Cowboys is that the general manager and the owner are one person,” Sabol said. Jones further is not exactly averse to presenting himself when the klieg lights go on. For Jones and his franchise to be receiving this type of treatment delights the Dallas owner.
“We've always viewed visibility and exposure as an opportunity to build our franchise,” Jones said. “The visibility creates interest. I think it helps with the energy of players. It helps in free agency.”
Respect Jones. I do. I named him “the Man of the '90s” in the NFL. He won three Super Bowls through that interim, one with Barry Switzer, while introducing marketing schemes that were uniquely his.
“I had my dance with the devil when I bought the club,” Jones said. “I paid more than anybody had ever paid for a sports team.” He is still paying, now even more obscenely. Jones said the tab for the stadium the Dallas club is creating in suburban Arlington is “up to $1.1 billion and growing.”
“The Taj Mahal of football,” Sabol said of it.
Jones said he has adjusted to having a camera frequently peering over his shoulder. “The bottom line is you just totally forget about it,” he said.
Perhaps he should be mindful of what happened to the Kansas City Chiefs after their summer nip-ups were caught on the 2007 edition of “Hard Knocks.” They finished 4-12.
Sabol, however, made the point that the Chiefs began strongly, going 3-1. Sabol's thrust was that posing prettily for the cameras had propelled K.C. into a positive beginning.
To Sabol, the tempo of the Dallas camp is far different from what he observed with the Chiefs. “This is a team of established stars,” Sabol noted. They are bringing an urgency to their summer.
Roll, cameras.
August 3, 2008
It's not as if Terrell Owens is going to be going one-on-one against some sprite who expresses her expertise by teetering atop a balance beam. On second thought, in a way, it is.
Some episodes of “Hard Knocks,” the HBO series chronicling the Dallas Cowboys' preparations for this season, are to be presented during the Beijing Olympics. HBO's expectation is that if a gold medal were passed for capturing a TV audience, it would go to the Cowboys.
Said Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports: “When you're seeing the balance beam for the 50th time and you're ready to get a little divergence and get back to football, which is the No. 1 sport in America, the show will do just fine.”
For “just fine,” read “in the ratings.”
The premiere showing of “Hard Knocks” is at 10 p.m. Wednesday. Greenburg doesn't believe the clips NFL Films is putting in the cans are going to do socko ratings immediately. “But to be quite candid – and I hope this doesn't come across as obnoxious – I do believe that in the new age of TV, when people can record shows and watch them at their leisure, we may not get you for the premiere, but there will be an hour during the week when you can watch every episode of 'Hard Knocks,' ” he said.
HBO's practice is to display its shows six times during a week.
To Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films, having the Cowboys as the subjects of a documentary of this sort is akin to having Julia Roberts in a feature film. It was NFL Films, he remembered, that attached the term “America's Team” to the Cowboys in 1975.
“The most glamorous team in professional sports,” Sabol said of the 'Boys. “A team that is used to being on the red carpet. That's part of what being the Dallas Cowboys is. Plus, they're the presumptive Super Bowl favorites.”
They do have some personalities. T.O. Tony Romo. Adam “Pacman” Jones. It also has not disappointed the producers of this summer saga that Jessica Simpson showed up in Oxnard to look in on Romo, her great and good friend. Ah, romance.
For 15 hours a day, NFL Films has had four cameras poking into the Cowboys' meeting rooms, dining halls, weight rooms and dressing quarters and capturing what takes place on practice fields. “No storyline, no structure, no treatment,” Sabol said. No scenario is what he was saying. “Like building an airplane in flight,” he said.
One thing that is missing in Oxnard is conflict. On a team as established as this one, there are no position battles to fix on.
“But great TV also is made up of personalities and characters,” Sabol said. “We know good drama depends on characters.”
Enter Pacman, whose character can be questioned but not his sense of theater. The first time T.O. took his upright stance on the outside of the Dallas offense, Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones said Pacman looked at him and said, “You're mine. I'm on you.”
Jones said Deion Sanders used to do this when Michael Irvin was preparing to go out for a practice pass. “What that does is create an atmosphere of competition. It's one of the fun things that has been happening, if you want to call it fun,” Jones said.
HBO is delighted to have Jones around. “One advantage we have with the Cowboys is that the general manager and the owner are one person,” Sabol said. Jones further is not exactly averse to presenting himself when the klieg lights go on. For Jones and his franchise to be receiving this type of treatment delights the Dallas owner.
“We've always viewed visibility and exposure as an opportunity to build our franchise,” Jones said. “The visibility creates interest. I think it helps with the energy of players. It helps in free agency.”
Respect Jones. I do. I named him “the Man of the '90s” in the NFL. He won three Super Bowls through that interim, one with Barry Switzer, while introducing marketing schemes that were uniquely his.
“I had my dance with the devil when I bought the club,” Jones said. “I paid more than anybody had ever paid for a sports team.” He is still paying, now even more obscenely. Jones said the tab for the stadium the Dallas club is creating in suburban Arlington is “up to $1.1 billion and growing.”
“The Taj Mahal of football,” Sabol said of it.
Jones said he has adjusted to having a camera frequently peering over his shoulder. “The bottom line is you just totally forget about it,” he said.
Perhaps he should be mindful of what happened to the Kansas City Chiefs after their summer nip-ups were caught on the 2007 edition of “Hard Knocks.” They finished 4-12.
Sabol, however, made the point that the Chiefs began strongly, going 3-1. Sabol's thrust was that posing prettily for the cameras had propelled K.C. into a positive beginning.
To Sabol, the tempo of the Dallas camp is far different from what he observed with the Chiefs. “This is a team of established stars,” Sabol noted. They are bringing an urgency to their summer.
Roll, cameras.
posted by The Gryphon at 11:44 AM
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