Hard Knocks Episode 1 Recap

I've been hit or miss on HBO's Hard Knocks. I enjoyed the first season of the show when the camera's followed the Baltimore Ravens after they won the Super Bowl. I didn't enjoy the years the Chiefs and Cowboys were on the show. Last year was entertaining because Ochocinco is nuts. This year's season of Hard Knocks promises to be even better. The HBO/NFL Films crew is following the New York Jets and based on the first episode the series will be epic. I know a lot of people don't have HBO so I'll give you a quick recap of the first episode.

- Rex Ryan is everything you could have hoped for as a character on a reality show. He drops F-Bombs every other word. He pays a fine in a tip jar for every time he snacks. He sets goals for his team like leading the league in wins. You understand very early why players love Rex Ryan and why they love playing for Rex Ryan. “Does it matter that Revis isn’t here? Goddamn, he’s pretty f*cking good.”(Via KSK)



- The Darrelle Revis contract holdout plays a huge part in the first episode and will definitely play a huge part of the series until he finally signs. We see the effort that Jets GM Mike Tannebaum puts in trying to sign Revis. Tannebaum has extensive talks with Revis' agent who really comes off as used care salesman claiming Revis wants to be a Jet "for life." We see Tannebaum drive halfway back to New York to talk to Revis and his agent in a secluded town at a local restaurant. The meeting doesn't go well and we're now at this point.

- We witness the cruel reality of the NFL. Kevin Basped is a local product here in Sacramento. He grew up in the roughest neighborhood in Sacramento called Florin. Basped survived poverty, gang warfare, and his brother's murder. He eventually went to Nevada-Reno and carved out a nice career for himself in college. He eventually went to the Jets training camp where we witnessed last night that the coaches thought very highly of him. Basped has one problem though, bad knees. The Jets doctors don't feel like Basped's knees will hold up so unfortunately he is waived. It was refreshing to see Mike Tannebaum being very upfront with Basped and not lying about why the Jets waived him.

- Bart Scott calling Mark Sanchez "Nacho." Enough said.



- There's a fullback on the team named John Conner. Terminator jokes ensued. 

- Joe Namath showed up at camp dressed like this. He was accompanied by his very attractive daughter. He also taught Mark Sanchez a thing or two about receiving a snap from center.

- Finally the best Rex Ryan quote of the night. "Great job. We're right where we wanna be. No question about it. Enjoy this time, get away from it. No matter what you're doing, it's better than my fucking vacation. I'm cruising the Baltic with my in-laws and shit." 

I'll definitely be recapping the rest of the episodes.