Ballerific Sports: The Texans Take A Lesson From K-Camp on HBO’s Hard Knocks: blogged by @niksofly

It ain’t nothing to cut that bih off.  Ask the Houston Texans as the fourth episode became the cutting episode. This week we saw the Houston Texans tell the New Orleans Saints “We Dat” as the team two stepped into victory in the Mercedes Benz Superdome.  We catch a glimpse of J Joseph’s adorable family and beautiful home as well as see EZ and his patnah since undergrad, Labhart,  bond over fishing and fight for a place as receivers. Nothing compares to the moment the rookie linebacker catches the punt of freedom freeing the team to go home to their families, but not before we see Quessenberry  valiantly come back from his battle with cancer.

For those of those aspiring to be athlete wives and girlfriends, here is a tad bit of information that you may want to know.  Training Camp is no fun because the wives, girlfriends and side chicks can’t get none. For nearly five weeks the players are kept cooped in a random team hotel without the comfort of the female persuasion. It seems easy enough until the opportunity to see the adoring faces of your family arise and boom, these grown men’s faces light up like Christmas trees. The tenderness of a woman’s touch and warmth of the bed has that effect. It’s rather cute considering these are some of the toughest men out.

Speaking of strength, HBO introduced many to one of the strongest guys in the league, David Quessenberry. The cancer survivor beat cancer and somehow managed to return to the game he loved an entire year earlier than expected. Having a mother that has battled stage four endometrial cancer, I somehow felt connected to Quessenberry. Those cold walls of MD Anderson were all too familiar. I was totally disappointed when he could not return this season. DQ worked his tail off to make it to the field only to be  told ” No. Not yet”. I understand the reasoning, but it isn’t promised that Quessenberry will be cancer-free in 2016 -time is definitely of the essence.

No one knows those latter words better than the men at the bottom of the depth charts going into the New Orleans game. Pressure and nerves combined with hunger made for one interesting game.  Although the refs made several bad calls, the Houston Texans would answer the nagging question of “Who Dat?” . It is one thing to watch the adrenaline-filled game on TV, but to witness it LIVE is simply AMAZEBALLS. No amount of TV editing can capture the authenticity of cleats beating the turf and players getting the sense knocked out of them. It’s barbaric yet intriguing. (Side note: BA was definitely in the building in the Superdome. Shout out to the groupies in the lobby of the players’ hotel. Five hours later, you all were still waiting in conversation to catch the drops on one of the Texans and/or a wandering Saint. Those security guards blocked your hustle.)

After the game it was time for Rick Smith and O’Brien to hit that K-Camp. This is the part that I dreaded the most. How do you crush the dreams of so many young men? I honestly think I would appreciate it if O’Brien didn’t lay on the bull shhh when he released players.  Just keep it all the way funky. “Look! I have 53 spots…majority of those are going to the vets of the team. There are other players better than you so I have to let you go.” The whole warm up speech was kind of rehearsed and inauthentic.  Does he really care about the players? Or is it the sandwich method of rejection?  Anywhoo, 15 players received their walking papers freeing them to life as a civilian or possibly the opportunity to fight another battle with another team. Emotions aside, it is the nasty reality of the game. Not all players receive those million dollar tags and job security. Some have to fight for the crumbs that barely satisfy their hunger. Ask Charles James and Kourtnei Brown. These two have relentlessy fought hard battles to stick with a team. James may have found his home, but Brown’s fight continues as we see  training camp comes to a close.

With one episode left and the Texan’s taking on the Cowboys for the legendary Battle of Texas, we will see who lives to clad themselves in the esteemed Battle Red, Steel Blue and Liberty White. Who will be able to throw up the H and yell #BullsOnParade?

Until next time…

-Niko Rose