I’ve been watching HBO’s Hard Knocks this year, covering the Los Angeles Rams training camp. If you are a sports fan, particularly a football fan, you should absolutely take the time to see how training camp runs. These athletes are ridiculously good, even at the third string level, and they really put in some effort go make the team.

That said, I’m going to complain about one person. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near people. He is an absolute jerk, treating everyone like dirt, and has the filthiest mouth of any of the filthy mouths there. He berates players, gets in their faces and chews them out over the smallest of things….the most stereotypical stupid-football-coach-mentality out there. The NFL loves nothing more than talking about being a “business” when they cut players or move teams to new cities. Yet they let jerks like Williams be managers of their most important employees.

I don’t see how, after filming this show, a judge wouldn’t decide for any player who decided to sue the Rams for their treatment. These are EMPLOYEES. If I was to get treated like they do, even one time, I would absolutely be calling a lawyer. And they can all afford lawyers, so that’s not an issue. To publicly berate employees, calling them names and everything else, just goes over the line.

Meanwhile, there’s an ex-Marine as the defensive line coach who acts like the players are in some kind of REAL boot camp. This guy works for Williams, and is obviously empowered to treat them the way he treats them. I do not believe for a SECOND that the Marines treat each other like shit, except for the drill leaders at boot camp. Once that’s over, they’re brothers, right?

It’s not about motivation, toughness, or responsibility. It’s about the fact that these two, but particularly Williams for encouraging this, shouldn’t be allowed near people. Heck, they shouldn’t be given a paycheck from the NFL at all! Williams has been suspended in the past from the Saints, for making payment offers (bounties) for his guys to injure players on the other teams. This isn’t some isolated thing….the guy is just a prick.

Later on this week’s episode, I believe it was Brandon Fisher, another coach, told a player than he has a rule. “Don’t call me sir.” The player has probably worked through high school, college, and the NFL dealing with coaches and having to show respect by calling them that. Fisher, on the other hand, showed respect to the player, which, to me, would be equally motivating to being scared of some ass like Williams. Even Mike Singletary, who works for the Rams and scares the piss out of every player, was more respectful. During the episode, I didn’t hear him raise his voice, and everything he was coaching the players on was something he would get down on the ground AND DO HIMSELF. Not only is that what I’d consider REAL leadership, but that’s also one 58-or-so year old man you don’t want to meet in an alley.

Anyway, this rant is over.