Ballers Vs. hardknocks

Is it money? Is it women? Is it drugs? Or could it possibly be a pure love and passion for the game? With media always ready to cover the next big story in sports, it’s hard to understand what these athletes are all about. Media, along with shows like “Ballers” tend to portray athletes as sex, money, and drug driven, but we can’t forget about those who don’t get the credit for the hard work they apply day in and day out as shown in TV shows like “Hardknocks”.

With a show like “Ballers”, all we see is the money and the partying and rarely any football at all. An article comparing the two of the shows said, “In Ballers, there's a lot of blather about contracts and whatever but no actual football besides a few quick flashbacks. It needs some hard knocks, seriously. Hard Knocks lives up to its name.” (Hart). Listen, don’t get me wrong, I got nothing against making a little dough and having a good time with some above average looking women; but it’s important to realize what you’re aiming to portray. Everything in Ballers is a controversy about somebodies contract or a crisis that happened from the previous night due to a few too many shots of José (don’t judge them, we’ve all been there). This is supposed to be a show about what its like to be a professional football player, yet all we see are good times on the weekend and women doing things there fathers would not approve of. Media also does a poor job of showing what football players are all about as well. We don’t ever hear about how hard this guys work, we just hear about how they party too much or smoke too much weed. So in my opinion I don’t just blame Ballers, but it does have its flaws. Basically, I watch a show that’s supposed to be about football, called “Ballers” to find out it has absolutely nothing to do with football.

The other side of which football players are portrayed through is the HBO sports series “Hardknocks”. I believe this is the side of professionals that we just don’t see or hear enough of.  This is a show all about what goes on behind the scenes; all the hard work, the workouts, the studying of the playbook, the film work, the rehab, and the families. When’s the last time you heard a story or read an article about a player who works so hard and does it all for his family? Ill answer that for you, you haven’t. On this season’s series, they followed around the Houston Texans of the NFL. Star player JJ Watt was asked how he felt about the cameras being around during camp and he replied with, “I'm going to go out there and play the game. I don't think there's really going to be a whole that changes for me. When it comes training camp time, it's time to work. You go to work." (Hyde). We are missing out on a whole another aspect of the game and these players, and it’s taking away from all the hard work that is put in. Do we really think these guys give a shit about partying and drugs? Football is a life, once you’re a professional, your life becomes football. If you watch Hardknocks, you see these young men working like dogs and then going home to their families. Never mind drugs and women, these guys barely have the time and energy to wipe their own asses. Don’t let media and shows like “Ballers” fool you, being a professional in the NFL isn’t all rainbows and butterflies, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication along with a pure love for the game.

Can we say that all football players and professional athletes are the same? No of course not. I think its fair to say that you don’t become a professional by drinking bud lights. The amount of hard work that’s put in by these men goes so far beyond what we know and I think it’s more important for the media to portray that rather than all the wrong they do. With comparing shows like “Ballers” to the show “Hardknocks”, we can see the different ways that NFL players are portrayed. It’s important to realize that sure these men make mistakes just like everybody else, but realizing the work they put in is far more relevant then the wrong they do, and media just strikes out on realizing that.

Work Cited

Hart, Jon. "BALLERS versus HARD KNOCKS." Stadium Journey. N.p., 25 Aug. 2015. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.

Hyde, Samantha. "J.J. Watt on Hard Knocks: /"I Prefer to Focus on Football/"" FOX Sports. N.p., 1 June 2015. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.