Can’t you almost hear the calliope music behind Liev Schreiber’s voiceover?
Bears cornerback Prince Amukamara doesn’t miss an episode of “Hard Knocks.”
He loved the first installment this season, which is following the Raiders as they prepare for their final season in Oakland. When it was over, Amukamara immediately wondered when Episode 2 was due out.
He won’t want to miss this week’s.
Friday, ESPN reported that superstar receiver Antonio Brown, who the Raiders acquired this offseason, told the team he will not play football unless the league lets him continue to wear his 10-year-old helmet. NFL rules mandate he switch to a newer model. An independent arbitrator, who spoke with Brown on Friday, could rule early next week, per ESPN.
Brown, though, is injured — and in the strangest way possible. He has extreme frostbite on both his feet after not wearing proper footwear during a cryotherapy session in France last month, per ESPN.
Can’t you almost hear the circus calliope music behind Liev Schreiber’s voiceover?
The Bears and their fans should have their popcorn ready. With each increasingly ridiculous Raiders moment, the Bears’ return for Khalil Mack gets even sweeter.
The team still owes the Raiders its first- and third-round picks next year. The Raiders, though, are sending their second-round pick back. And if the offseason is any indication, it might be the first choice of Round 2.
“So that is good — you’re right, you’re right,” Amukamara said. “Let’s hope that helmet doesn’t get … I’m kidding.”
The Raiders’ sending the Bears a second-round pick didn’t make sense in the moment. It looks only worse now. Ironically, the Raiders chose the Bears’ offer over others because they thought they had a better chance to stink last year and hand over higher draft picks. It didn’t happen.
The first episode of “Hard Knocks” explained, all too hopefully, that the trade for Brown encapsulated the Raiders’ “Commitment to Excellence” mantra. Thus far, it’s looking like something else entirely.
“It’s hard not to notice, right?” Bears defensive end Akiem Hicks said. “If you turn on SportsCenter, turn on ESPN, if you turn on anything, you’re going to see some type of Oakland Raiders debacle. Things are going on.
“I mean, that’s for them. I gotta say that from the guys that I know on this team, especially defensively, we’re not that.”
Hicks doesn’t think about the draft pick — “I don’t look at that math, man,” he said —and actually sympathizes with Brown. Two years ago, Hicks was told his helmet, which he’d worn since his rookie year, no longer met the NFL’s safety standards.
His new helmet “closed off my vision” on the periphery, which is similar to Brown’s reported complaint. That was no small thing; lined up over the guard, Hicks needs to watch the tackle and center out of the corner of his eye.
Bristling at a new helmet sounds strange to the outside world, but a trusty one feels like a part of you. It’s familiar and, in some cases, lucky.
It took Hicks four or five months to be comfortable in his new one.
“It was tough to move on,” he said.
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Bears receiver Allen Robinson changes helmets every year in the name of safety. Shile he doesn’t watch “Hard Knocks” — he has a rule for visiting family that he won’t watch preseason games or the documentary — he knows enough about the Raiders to avoid the topic.
“For me, there’s so much that goes on, so much extra that you have to tackle in your own domain,” he said. “For me personally, I don’t really follow too much of that stuff.”
Amukamara does. He watches “Hard Knocks” at night, even though he lives it during the day.
“Because it’s just better,” he said. “It’s great to see how it’s happening at the other team. And everywhere, it’s pretty much the same.”
Not this year.
“It becomes a media circus,” Hicks said of the Raiders. “Me personally, I don’t like media circuses.”
