DAVIE, Fla. — Here’s a marriage made in purgatory.
HBO’s “Hard Knocks” TV show, which goes behind the scenes to document an NFL training camp each year, announced it will follow the Miami Dolphins this year.
Try to contain your excitement.
The five-episode series of hour-long shows will begin airing Aug. 7.
The Miami Dolphins were a natural choice. After all, it has been only 27 years since the Dolphins last made it to a Super Bowl. They’ve made one playoff appearance in the past 10 years. They have no big-name stars. And locally, interest in the team is so low it has been reported they anticipate using tarps to hide the empty seats in the upper deck of Sun Life Stadium.
On the other hand, HBO does such a good job with the show it doesn’t matter what team they feature.
Admit it. You watched the “Hard Knocks” that featured the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals, and you looked forward to the new episodes.
It’s tough to stay away. It’s football. And “Hard Knocks” is pretty interesting.
Curiously enough, this Dolphins announcement ensures Miami sports stay in the nation’s eye this summer. “Hard Knocks” will start a few weeks after the Miami Marlins are featured on Showtime’s Major League Baseball show, “The Franchise,” which starts July 11.
Dolphins owner Steve Ross, a billionaire land developer who seems to love the spotlight — he has a celebrity ownership group that includes Venus and Serena Williams, Fergie, and Gloria and Emilio Estefan — is probably the happiest man in America today.
Accordingly, Dolphins first-year coach Joe Philbin pretended to be the second-happiest man in America. He said he fully supports the decision to have HBO’s camera crews tag along to possibly disrupt his inaugural training camp.
“Our owner, Steve Ross, supported our decision,” Philbin said, “but in no way, shape or form forced us to make this decision.
“I’m personally very excited about it, and I shared my thoughts about it with our football team this morning. It’s a football show, and it’s a show that’s going to showcase our players and the great group of men that we have assembled here in Miami as they go through training camp.”
Yeah, right.
This from a man who two months ago said, “I’m built for radio, not TV.”
Anyway, here are some suggested storylines for HBO:
The Tannehills: The rookie quarterback laughed when asked about his blonde bombshell of a better half when he was initially introduced to the South Florida media. Here’s hoping Ryan is the most well-known Tannehill on the show.
Steve Ross: Here’s a guy who is a billionaire. He’s so rich that when Jeff Fisher interviewed for the Dolphins head coaching job, Ross used his private helicopter to fly Fisher roughly 50 miles from his hotel to the job interview at the team’s practice facility.
Reggie Bush: His ex-girlfriend Kim Kardashian has a reality show. He used to have a Heisman Trophy. And anybody who has 2.4 million Twitter followers has to lead a somewhat interesting life.
Lydon Murtha: The offensive tackle has an arm-length tattoo on his left arm that looks like the skin has been removed, leaving all the muscles and tendons exposed. Interesting stuff.
South Beach: You’re so close, and, well, this is the Dolphins.
