The format is simple: cameras track a specific NFL team in training camp as it prepares for the upcoming season. The testosterone literally blows out of your television as ripped athletes slam each other to the ground to compete for roster spots. Hard slaps on the ass are a regular feature. All fun, but it’s also a lesson in manhood, personal responsibility, and accountability. There’s fighting, there’s scrapping, and there are men fighting for their future:

The @Lions aren't holding back this training camp 😳

Stream #HardKnocks on @hbomax pic.twitter.com/Yid2AdBI71

— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) August 19, 2022

Take hulking, muscular coach and former New York Giant tight end Dan Campbell exhorting his players:

Here’s the one thing I’m going to lose my shit over. I will fucking go apeshit, man. If it’s later in the game, and you guys are out, some of you guys are out, and you’re teammates are out there, and some of these guys are scratching and clawing for spots, and I see you jacking around and you’re looking up in the stands, you’re laughing, and you’re not paying attention—you’re being fucking disrespectful to your teammates, I’m going to fucking lose it. Just so we’re on the same page.

Do NOT piss off Dan Campbell
pic.twitter.com/Rz8IpCrLvO

— Barstool Detroit (@BSMotorCity) August 16, 2022

They used to call that tough love. Now they call it, “toxic masculinity.” And while I obviously don’t condone abuse, it’s that kind of eye-opening reality that used to inform men, whether in the armed services or sports, but today so many young many males are never faced with such reckoning. Instead, young men are taught to listen to their feelings, and maybe endlessly ponder their sexuality, but in the real world of the NFL there’s another old lesson: you’ve got to produce.

And while it’s heartbreaking to watch the travails of those who just aren’t quite good enough, it’s also a primer in how to accept devastating loss and move on with your life. While many of these guys won’t make the team, discipline has made their lives better.

If you’re sick of wimpy, woke comic book heroes in the Marvel universe, this is the show for you. Real men, with real families, fighting for their future—and when I say fighting, I mean they are literally smashing the crap out of each other to survive. The hits are brutal, and their sideline chatterings are anything but soy boy. Their banter is enough to make even the least woke among us blush.

I love women, but most can’t understand the joy of launching yourself with full force into the body of another dude and taking him to the ground. I played football all four years in high school, and although I never held dreams of playing at the college or pro level—I tried hard, but I just wasn’t big enough or talented enough to entertain such ideas—I consider those days some of the best in my life. The wide, adrenaline-filled eyes in the huddle, the excitement on the sidelines—were we “triggered” by coaches yelling at us? No, we were fired up, and we went back out onto the turf and tried just a little bit harder the next time. I can’t think of another life experience like it.

Discipline. Accountability. Celebrating victory. Dealing with the inevitable loss. Hitting people. Respect, teamwork, dedication. There’s simply nothing like it.

Even though the show is currently celebrating the star-crossed Lions, the much-maligned team that can’t ever seem to win anything important, one still can’t help but be moved by how hard they’re trying. Foul-mouthed Coach Dan Campbell wants to win, and wants to win badly, and he doesn’t hold back as he exhorts his players. These guys are HARD. Watch two-time Mr. Universe John Brown and father of Lion wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown push his own sons:

KD just caught the most random stray on Hard Knocks pic.twitter.com/G3c4c3JYi9

— Ahmed/INeedHer.eth 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) August 17, 2022

But they have fun too, as this video shows. It takes a minute to get rocking, but wait till the end:

This is the right video to start your day. Aidan Hutchinson singing Billie Jean on the debut of Hard Knocks: pic.twitter.com/SP2WYL5DUN

— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) August 10, 2022

Yes, there is the Deshaun Watson case and other incidents of off-the-field violence by NFL players. That is not the “masculinity” I am talking about, and I one hundred percent condemn it.

But real masculinity is being maligned in these modern times. She-Hulk whines about being whistled at on the street, and while that’s a legitimate grievance, so often lost in today’s arguments is that the life of a man is no cakewalk either. Despite the feminist revolution, men are still expected to provide for our families, protect them from danger, and fend off competitors. Hard Knocks shows us that masculinity was—and will continue to be—an intrinsic force in our success as a species.

BTW: For all you three Detroit Lions fans, although they haven’t yet featured him, much-maligned QB Jared Goff is looking good in limited footage. Just sayin’.