To Get Down with Ballers or Naa: Mid-Season Breakdown

Now I know what some of you may be thinking, a show about NFL ballers cannot be in any way, shape, or form nerdy. Guess what, Blerds? You WRONG. HBO has unleashed another Mark Wahlberg produced potential juggernaut with a pretty electric cast consisting of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Spencer Strasmore, a former NFL star turned financial manager; Big ol’ Omar Benson Miller (of 8 Mile and Transformers fame); Emmy award-winning Rob Corddry (Old School, Harold and Kumar, Hot Tub Time Machine and The Daily Show) as Joe, Spencer’s partner and fellow financial manager at Anderson Financial; and newcomer and one of the only actual ballers on the show, John David Washington, who is an actual former NFL running back. Although he never made it off the practice squad, I’d say he’s doing pretty well for himself. Oh, and he’s Denzel’s son. Yes, THAT Denzel. [divider type=”thin”] Now back to the nerd legitimacy. Although the show has picked up right where Entourage left off, with tons of sports and celebrity cameos, hella nudity and booze-filled parties, the show seems to be trying to ground itself in a very different stance. Financial management. This show could seriously go down as a NFL rookie must-watch and all around tool of athlete insight because of the realness that gets dropped each and every episode.

DAMN!!!! Real talk right there. NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL players alike all share some fundamental similarities throughout their careers: They all make boatloads of cash, but all too o…