Can Buccaneers save 'Hard Knocks?' We know the one woman (yes, woman) who can help
Dear “Hard Knocks” producers:
We have stuck with your show — once appointment TV but now a fading fad — through thick and thin, and we’ll be there to watch as you pull back the curtain on this year’s entrants, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
That news became official on Wednesday, and the show will debut on Aug. 8. at 10 p.m. ET on HBO, which will carry the show for the next four years.
But there has been something missing in recent years. The Los Angeles Rams offering in 2016 — aside from a hilarious sequence in which Jeff Fisher is chumming it up with Nick Foles on the phone, and then cuts the guy — was not good television.
The Buccaneers are a young team that, unlike last year’s Rams, appear to have a chance at being competitive again. Plus, there’s the proper dose of household names such as Jameis Winston and DeSean Jackson, to help spice things up. That’s fine and all. That’s a baseline, nothing more.
But as long as the Bucs are coached by Dirk Koetter, a man we respect a lot, the show will be lacking that extra sauce. This is a man who said on Wednesday: “I like watching the show. I wish I wasn’t on it.” That Koetter went on to praise the production and the professionalism of the program produced a Fisher-esque chortle. “Me personally,” Koetter clarified, “I’m speaking for me personally.”
Well, if we can speak for ourselves here, and certainly not for Koetter or anyone else, we think we know what the show needs.
Miko Grimes.
Oh yeah. As in the wife of Bucs cornerback Brent Grimes. As in the woman who once fired off some salty shots at the Miami Dolphins, the team that used to employ her husband, calling out their quarterback and owner. As in the one who once was arrested for disorderly conduct, battery on a police officer and resisting arrest with violence before a Dolphins game. Yeah, that Miko.
Miko might go low, but she also aims high, folks. There might be no harder hitter in Tampa this summer, and the cameras need to be rolling.
Her Twitter feed is absolutely bat-spit crazy but must-follow material. And yes, she already has sounded off on “Hard Knocks,” promising a little “tea” for viewers should she end up on camera.
I dont need hard knocks to get on a reality show. Hard knocks is dope when they get to the tea! And (cont) https://t.co/Cu2xY2UaAL
— Miko Grimes (@iHeartMiko) April 18, 2017
People: This has incredible potential.
Look, even if you don’t care about Miko, you have to admit that this show needs a shot in the arm. And Miko is the ultimate mainline speedball here.
I get it. You’re a football junkie and you’re more interested in that riveting battle that’s brewing at kicker between Roberto Aguayo and Nick Folk. “Hard Knocks” can still scratch your itch. But you’re not driving up ratings, hardcore football guy. In order for HBO to tap into that RHOTB demographic, it needs Miko. And though Miko said above that she doesn’t need “Hard Knocks,” we will note that it has been an awfully long time since she did anything crazy. Baiting an ESPN host into a war of words … that was many months ago!
We honestly don’t care what role she plays in the show. She could talk more about politics than the Bucs’ young defense, for all we care. We just need her on that screen.
Opportunity knocks, HBO. You know what you have to do.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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