When it works, Hard knocks gives viewers the feeling of being in an NFL locker room, on the practice field and in training camp meetings. And part of that comes in the form of profanity. But not this year.
This season Hard knockswhich chronicles the Bears’ training camp, does not contain profanity because the Bears’ owning family does not approve. Shannon Furman, the director of Hard knocks, told CHGO that the McCaskey family does not want to be associated with blasphemy, so Hard knocks don’t broadcast it.
“I’ll be honest, this team is a lot less swearing than any other team I’ve been around, but it’s out of respect for the McCaskey family,” Furman said. “It’s something they don’t do and they wouldn’t want to see, so it was kind of a decision that was made out of respect for them for letting us into their home and wanting to be respectful to them.”
The McCaskey family and the Bears don’t want to be on the show at all, and they only did it because the NFL forced them to. But teams that aren’t willing to let cameras and microphones film everything are robbing viewers of the authentic feel of training camp.
