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2010-06-03
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HBO to show Hard Knocks of Jets camp
HBO to air sneak peek of Hard Knocks - Rex Ryan and New York Jets style
New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan is looking forward to HBO's Hard Knocks
In introducing Rex Ryan of the Jets to his Hard Knocks audience Wednesday afternoon, HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg called the unkempt coach with the whitened teeth and quick wit his "Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg.""I'm not the star here," Ryan said. "I'm too boring, I think."Greenburg disagreed. Of the 11 HBO cameras - six robotic, five manned - that will chronicle everything from dismissals to holdouts during Jets training camp in offices, meeting rooms and on the field in Cortlandt, N.Y, Ryan will be a main focus of the five-week documentary. His request before filming was that one area remain private throughout."I hope my shower will be off limits," Ryan said. "I think everyone is banking on that."Crew members from the cable television network and NFL Films, who will work together to produce the show, a nine-year-old series exploring life inside an NFL team's camp, will probe almost every other crevice. Some staffers have already converged on the quiet upstate campus to position equipment. Jets veterans are due to report Sunday."The goal of ours has always been to have every player in the NFL want to play for us and every coach want to coach for us," said Ryan, who was on the Ravens' staff for the original debut in 2001. "We'll just be ourselves. That's the beauty of it."On Wednesday night, a 12-minute special was scheduled to air as a preview for what to expect when the first full-length, hour-long episode debuts on August 11. In between, 25 journalists will work around the clock to collect footage, courier it to headquarters in Mount Laurel, N.J where 50 staffers will cull through the film. The Jets will be shown film before it airs in order to ensure no plays or cadences are revealed."It doesn't allow us to Mickey Mouse the Jets or the NFL," NFL Films director Steve Trout said of the trust involved. "There's a level of trust between us."Ryan said some players' initial reflexes to seeing omnipresent lenses in Baltimore was to withdraw, but the comfort level returned within two days. He handicapped special teams coach Mike Westhoff ("some will call him ‘Old crusty'") as a dark horse to gain the audience's interest. Quarterback Mark Sanchez, lineman Kris Jenkins and linebacker Bart Scott, the team's most outspoken member, as favorites as well."Last year, people never really knew who we were," Ryan said.Greenburg, a Jets fan, said he was flooded with e-mails Tuesday when news of conversations between attention-seeking receiver Terrell Owens and Jets general manger Mike Tannenbaum circulated. Owens, currently starring in his own VH1 reality series called "The T.O. Show", eventually signed with Cincinnati, which hosted Hard Knocks in 2009."Mike Tannenbaum's delivered enough with Santonio Holmes, Antonio Cromartie and L.T.," Greenburg said. "We don't need anymore." He added: "It's all about truth, transparency and looking at the situation head on. We're like Rex. We go for the jugular."
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