Hard Knocks has been entertaining this year. The Chicago Bears have done their best to provide a compelling product despite the best efforts of team chairman George McCaskey to keep them off. He’s upheld this crusade for years. Every time the Bears are brought up as a possibility, McCaskey is swift to shoot such an idea down. Most felt it was for the obvious reasons that an owner would object. The cameras and media coverage would be an unnecessary distraction for a team already having a hard enough time winning football games.
That is partially true, but it turns out that isn’t the main reason McCaskey hates it. In an interview with Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times, he stated the biggest issue with the series is the semi-cruel way it has covered players getting cut after the preseason. These are all young men who cling to the dream of making it in the NFL. Having their most heartbreaking moment broadcast on national television is not something McCaskey appreciates or condones.
“The nature of the program, the drama, if there is any, is the player personnel and the general manager and the coach building a roster and guys fighting for roster spots,” he said. “In our opinion, when you tell a young man that in all likelihood his lifetime dream is over, that’s a private moment. We want to be very sensitive about it, we want to handle it tastefully and sympathetically.”
Feel free to criticize his track record of building a successful football organization. The one thing people can’t say about the man is that he lacks compassion, which has been evident throughout his tenure as chairman. It has already been revealed that there will be no camera footage of Bears players being cut in the season finale. McCaskey made that clear to the series producers from the start. He may not be able to preserve roster spots for those young men, but he can at least preserve their dignity.
Some people may find that boring. They live for the drama, regardless of whose feelings get hurt. George McCaskey doesn’t care. Just because they lack basic human decency doesn’t mean he does. As long as he’s in charge, the Bears organization will operate with a certain degree of class. Kudos to him for making such a stand.
