The Cincinnati Bengals know practically all there is to know about hard knocks. The football team will be documenting their training camp results on television.

The Bengals will be featured on the fifth season of “Hard Knocks,” HBO’s popular reality show this summer. The show debuts on August 12th and runs through September 9th. The show will chronicle the rigors and struggles of a pro football training camp, with a rare all-access, inside look at an NFL team.

Ross Greenburg, HBO’s Sports President, says they are delighted that the show “Hard Knocks” will return this summer and focus its spotlight on the Cincinnati Bengals. He notes that there will be a lot on the line for rookies, free agents and veterans, and that HBO is very eager to document all the heartache, passion and achievement that goes on inside an NFL training camp.

Last year it was the Dallas Cowboys who were the subject of a five-part documentary. The television program highlighted a football team that was full of colorful characters, enormous talent and fraught with flaws. There are not the same Super Bowl aspirations and expectations for the Bengals as there were for the Cowboys, but it should be just as interesting to watch.

Steve Sabol, NFL Films president, says the Bengals are a fascinating team that has a lot to prove, not only to their fans but to themselves as well. Football training camp with its full spectrum of emotions, along with the Bengals cast full of interesting and compelling personalities, should make this season’s show quite dramatic.

Chad Ocho Cinco, the team’s star wide receiver, has been a controversial subject with his repeated demands to be traded and his clashes with management and the Bengals’ coaching staff. Bengal quarterback Carson Palmer is attempting to return from a serious elbow injury. Palmer and Ocho Cinco have not always agreed.

Andre Smith, the team’s first round draft pick, has been at the center of controversy ever since he was suspended from the Sugar Bowl and leaving prematurely from the Indianapolis Combine. Rey Maualuga, the team’s second round pick, could contend for a starting spot alongside Keith Rivers, a college teammate.

Then there are several other Bengals who have had all sorts of run-ins with the coaching staff and the law. The Bengals are no less colorful than the Cowboys. In addition, the recent struggles of the Bengals have really turned up the pressure on head coach Marvin Lewis and the coaching staff.

Lewis says the show “Hard Knocks” will give Bengals fans a great inside look at their favorite team. For NFL fans all over the country, the show will offer an expert production and inside look into how a professional NFL team operates. As for how coaches and players will react, having NFL Films and HBO around every day during preseason will definitely bring to their jobs a heightened sense of intensity and excitement as they prepare for the upcoming season.