Might the Giants actually be forced to appear on “Hard Knocks’’ against their will?
“The NFL is trippin’,” Justin Tuck said on Tuesday. “Seriously. How you gonna pass a rule to force you to be on ‘Hard Knocks’? That’s hilarious. Wow. That’s hilarious.”
No one around the Giants is laughing. The NFL passed a rule Tuesday to compel a team to participate in the HBO show if no organization volunteers.
Teams that have a first-year head coach or have made the playoffs in the past two years would be exempt. Once a team is on the show, it does not have to appear again for 10 years.
So it has come to this: Teams will be forced to appear on “Hard Knocks,’’ something Giants co-owner John Mara has no interest in.
“I voted against the resolution,’’ Mara said. “I have nothing against the show. It may not be for us, but I understand why teams would want to appear on it. I just think that participation should be voluntary, not compulsory.”
Just imagine being the poor soul who has to inform Tom Coughlin the Giants must appear on a show that allows cameras into every nook and cranny of training camp.
“I know Coach Coughlin, he really doesn’t approve of or like things like that,” Tuck said. “But hey, if the NFL makes it mandatory, I guess we have to abide by the rules of our employers.”
The mandatory participation rules for “Hard Knocks’’ indicate how difficult it has been for HBO to find teams willing to open up their entire operation to television cameras.
“Wouldn’t that tell you that, if they have no volunteers, that ‘Hard Knocks’ might be something that the teams don’t feel like it’s going to help their football team be a better football team?’’ Tuck said.