John Thornton reflects on the first episode of Hard Knocks. He liked it. But thought the way the team released J.D. Runnels, telling the former Bengals fullback he has no ability, was cold. I agreed.

Joe Reedy wondered who really released J.D. Runnels, Marvin Lewis or Mike Brown -- you saw how much interaction and obvious influence Brown has with the coaches.

Nate at Stripe Hype got annoyed through 40 minutes of Hard Knocks because of Brown.

The players approved of the show, and watched it in groups last night.

Lance loved it. He did make this note that we all took note of:

Scary scene: Mike Brown running the staff meeting going over the roster. He asked coaches if DE Chris Harrington can be moved to TE to help. Hayes says it would be tough (Did Hayes roll his eyes or was he simply stunned?). Mike lays out the plan to carry two FB's and 3 TE's.

John Popovich noted that HBO didn't dwell on the team's recent history; record and character issues. They also didn't show the banners over Georgetown College.

Jeff Gentil thought HBO did an awesome job.

Chris Littman lists "five takeaways from Hard Knocks' Premiere."

One Seattle Times blogger really worked enthusiastically at his "running diary" of the show. He didn't translate Child Please because, obviously, cursing is a way to cause H1N1 to mutate and wipe out every living species on Earth. Thank god.