Dolphins To Be Featured On "Hard Knocks"
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – It took several other teams to say no, but HBO's "Hard Knocks" series has finally settled on a team to be the focus of this year's show, the Miami Dolphins.
Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin made the announcement of the Dolphins being on Hard Knocks during a meeting with reporters at the team's offseason training activities in Davie.
"On the 40th anniversary of the greatest season in NFL history--Don Shula's perfect '72 Dolphins-- it is perfectly fitting that Hard Knocks is heading to Miami to capture the start of a new era for one of the league's proudest teams," said NFL Films president Steve Sabol in a statement. "After Hard Knocks' hiatus last summer, I know our team at NFL Films can't wait to get back on the field."
"We are excited that the premier company in sports filmmaking history, NFL FILMS, and HBO Sports have chosen the Miami Dolphins to appear on their award-winning series Hard Knocks," said Joe Philbin, head coach of the Miami Dolphins. "We are looking forward to connecting with our many fans across the country as the program chronicles our 2012 training camp.
The announcement by the Dolphins is unprecedented in recent team history. When Bill Parcells took over the Fins, they became distant with fans and the media and created a standoffish type relationship with both groups.
The show will chronicle Dolphins training camp and for the first time in several years open the normally sealed-tight curtain that is the Dolphins. For the show, the Dolphins offer a perfect mix of position battles and new coaching to create plenty of drama.
The Dolphins will have Philbin running his first training camp and will have a quarterback battle between Matt Moore, David Garrard, and first-round draft pick Ryan Tannehill.
The Fins will be the second South Florida team to be featured on a national cable show this season. The Marlins were previously selected to be the focal point of the Showtime series "The Franchise."
The first episode of Hard Knocks featuring the Dolphins will air August 7.
