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"Hard Knocks" Opener Draws Positive Reviews, With Bucs QB Winston, DT McCoy Focal Points

HBO's "Hard Knocks" had its season premiere last night, and while viewers "got to see cool practice footage" of the Buccaneers, it was the "stuff away from the field that was the best," according to Tom Jones of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. The "star" was Bucs QB Jameis Winston and it "only took moments into the first episode to realize that Winston was going to be a focal point." A visit to the Tampa mansion of DT Gerald McCoy "provided the most touching moments" of the opener. The "charisma" of both Winston and McCoy "oozed through the screen" in the premiere. The show is "off a great start, but the next four weeks should get even better" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 8/9). BLEACHER REPORT's Scott Polacek wrote the show "drew viewers in with Winston's humor and held it" with McCoy "singing to his young children and discussing how important family is to him" (BLEACHERREPORT.com, 8/8).

BETTER NOT BE CAMERA SHY: McCoy said of having cameras around training camp, "You get used to it after really a couple days. They shot a couple things of me before training camp and then they got a couple of shots in the offseason, but when they were really, really around the first couple days at camp, it was a little different because we had cameras in the meeting rooms and microphones around, people following us around everywhere we went and the locker room and then going to get stretched, to get taped and there’s just cameras everywhere. Now you just kind of walk around, just keep on moving and you get used to it” ("PFT," NBCSN, 8/9).

MORE REVIEWS: In Orlando, George Diaz writes the first episode was "like soft-serve ice cream: Nice, and smooth." It "went down easy, with only a few dribbles on the chin." Diaz: "I’d call it a harmless docu-drama, light on true substance, but easy on the eyes" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/9). ESPN.com's Jenna Laine notes the show is "largely centered" around Winston, who visits his hometown of Bessemer, Ala., and "shows his grandmother’s house and the bed he slept in." "Hard Knocks" Director Matt Dissinger said that Winston has been the "most compelling character on the Bucs." Dissinger: "The Buccaneers are anxious to have the nation get to know who he is. And we’re more than happy to put that on display" (ESPN.com, 8/9). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Charean Williams wrote Bucs LB Riley Bullough "looks like the undrafted rookie featured this season." Bucs coach Dirk Koetter "even brought up Bullough’s name in the team meeting for being a good leader." The best "may be yet to come," as the show "teased" Bucs CB Brent Grimes and his wife, Miko, for next week (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 8/8).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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