How bout them Cowboys?

I don't know if I've posted about this before. 

When you write a daily blog (OK, M-Thurs.) every week for the last twelve years, it's hard to keep track of what I written about and the dwindling number of topics I haven't written about. But I love this show.

Hard Knocks is on Tuesdays at 10 PM, on one of my 753 HBO channels. Each year the producers follow the travails of 93 aspiring football players as they put themselves through training camp, hoping to secure one of the 53 prized spots on the roster.

But don't fool yourself into thinking there are 53 openings. There are not. 

Many of those slots have been filled by veterans who already have multi-million contracts and sponsors showering them with even more millions of dollars. Those guys are the least interesting characters on the show.

I like the rookies. The undrafted. The kid who flew in from Poland or East Africa and is willing to give it his all, just for a chance to make the practice squad.

I think of it as Football, Unmasked. In that we see, hear and feel the real life drama of the faceless guys we see on Sundays with their clownish end zone dances.

It's all narrated by Liev Schrieber, whose voice seems custom fit for this type of show.

This year, they're following the Dallas Cowboys, one of my least favorite teams in the league. The "owner", Jerry Jones, has a Big Daddy plantation vibe about him that I find repulsive. 

And they're Dallas. 

Dallas, Texas. 

Enough said. 

(Apologies to my few Lone Star state friends)

Having been a fan of this show for the past decade, I know what's coming. Nevertheless, I allow myself to get sucked into the personal stories that make each of these gridiron warriors more than a number and a replaceable name tag on the back of a jersey.

The last episode in the miniseries is always the toughest. That's when the cuts come. As well as the obligatory and half-hearted farewell speeches by the coach who has to hand out the walking papers.

The biggest takeaway from the show is that football in the NFL isn't always what it seems. It's more dimensional. More personal. And more human. I suppose, with the exception of the Republican Party, you could say that about most organizations.

I'm surprised the genii at HBO have not thought to do a similar treatment for baseball, basketball and hockey.

I'd watch.