To no surprise, Dan Campbell was the star of the season premiere of HBO's 'Hard Knocks' Tuesday night. The Lions head coach was talking about "one asscheek and three toes" before the opening credits.
And to no surprise, he heard it from his friends.
Campbell didn't watch the show himself, but knew he was front and center when his phone kept lighting up with chirps.
"Some of my close friends, my roommates in college, they were crushing me," Campbell said with a laugh on Wednesday. "So I have an idea on some things.”
Like the fact that he mentioned Metallica about "two minutes into the show" during a speech to his players at the start of training camp.
"There is no light at the end of tunnel," Campbell told his team. "There is no light. There’s a song Metallica has, No Leaf Clover, and it says, man, when it comes to the soothing light at the end of your tunnel, it’s just a freight train coming your way. So if you’re seeing a fu*king light, it’s a freight train. Just put your head down and go to work. It’s about to be fun, man."
Campbell is who he is, for better or worse. It's why the Lions hired him and it's why his players love him. However he's perceived on Hard Knocks, the 46-year-old isn't changing.
"I am who I am," Campbell said. "Look, anytime you do something like this, you’re going to be out there in the public eye and people are going to gather their own perception of who you are, and I’m not changing that. One way or another, I can’t change that. I just gotta be myself.”
Asked what he hopes viewers will take away from watching the Lions on 'Hard Knocks,' Campbell said, "Man, we value wins and we’re looking to win."
"That’s what matters out of all this other stuff. All the smoke and mirrors, the clouds, the freaking – we’re trying to focus on winning," Campbell said. "This whole beautiful bubble and all these things, you lose your first three games and all of a sudden I’m getting run out of town and these players don’t look as good. And that’s the reality.
"So we’ve got to find a way to win. That’s what camp’s about and we’ve got to be ready to go.”
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