The last original edition of Real Sports airs this Tuesday on HBO. December’s edition is usually a year-ender. Let’s give you the stories that you’ll see on sports television’s best news magazine.
REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL EXAMINES THE ANCIENT SPORT OF FALCONRY; PROFILES UCONN’S LADY HUSKIES HOOPS COACH GENO AURIEMMA; REVEALS THE PRACTICE OF HAZING IN COLLEGIATE MARCHING BANDS; AND RECONNECTS WITH THE REMARKABLE HOYT FAMILY WHEN THE EMMY®-WINNING SHOW RETURNS NOV. 23, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBOREAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL presents more enterprising features and reporting when its 164th edition, available in HDTV, debuts TUESDAY, NOV. 23 (10:00 p.m. ET/PT & 9:00 p.m. CT), exclusively on HBO.
HBO On Demand availability: Nov. 29-Dec. 20
Segments include:
*Falconry. Dating back more than 2,000 years to ancient Mongolia, falconry is one of the oldest sports in world. When the budding sport reached Europe, it quickly caught on with kings, queens, knights and emperors, evolving into a symbol of the nobility. In modern falconry, practiced by just a few thousand people around the world, a falconer trains raptors to make airborne kills and return to the falconer with the prey. REAL SPORTS host Byrant Gumbel travels to Falkenstein, Austria to attend one of the biggest falconry meets of the year and uncovers the rich tradition and history of this visually stunning spectacle.
Producer: Tim Walker.*Coach Geno. In 1985, Italian-born Geno Auriemma took the reins as head coach of the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team, which had previously posted just one winning season. Today, UConn is a national powerhouse and breeding ground for future WNBA stars. While sometimes viewed as brash and demanding, Auriemma’s seven NCAA women’s basketball championships are evidence of the accomplishments. Entering a new season marked by the usual high expectations and constant media scrutiny, the 56-year-old coach owned a 78-game winning streak that has continued to grow. Auriemma has an all-time-best .858 winning percentage as head coach and the Lady Huskies are just one title short of the Lady Vols of Tennessee and their legendary head coach Pat Summit. In this REAL SPORTS/Sports Illustrated collaboration, correspondent Frank Deford goes one-on-one with the top women’s head basketball coach in America today.Producer: Zehra Mamdani.*Hazing. Marching bands at historically black universities in the South are held in such high regard that their performances are sometimes more eagerly anticipated than the football games at which they perform. A host of these top bands conduct tryouts and grant scholarships in the same manner as the football programs they accompany. Unfortunately, as these elite programs have grown in scope and recognition, hazing has become a major problem. REAL SPORTS correspondent Frank Deford examines this troubling issue in the wake of a series of incidents that have resulted in serious injuries and criminal charges.Producers: Josh Fine, Nick Dolin.*Labor of Love. Introduced to REAL SPORTS viewers in Mary Carillo’s Sports Emmy®-winning 2005 segment, New Englanders Dick Hoyt and his son Rick have given new meaning to the term “family bond.” Rick was born in 1962 after a complicated labor in which a coiled umbilical cord cut off oxygen to his brain. Rejecting doctors’ recommendation to institutionalize him, the Hoyts were committed to raising their son as normally as possible, believing Rick had a healthy mind despite his physical handicaps. With the help of Tufts University, which developed cutting-edge technology allowing Rick to communicate through head movements, the Hoyts discovered he was a natural sports fan. In 1977, Dick pushed his son’s wheelchair through a five-mile benefit run and found the race gave Rick the miraculous feeling of being able-bodied. Dick subsequently dedicated his life to giving his son the feeling as often as possible, and the two have been regulars at road races and triathlons ever since. REAL SPORTS correspondent Mary Carillo returns to Massachusetts to update their incredible story.Producers: Joe Perskie, Lauren Gaffney.REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL has won the Sports Emmy® for Outstanding Sports Journalism 12 times in its 15 years, and is the first and only sports program honored with the duPont Award for excellence in broadcast journalism by Columbia University.The executive producers of REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL are Ross Greenburg and Rick Bernstein; Kirby Bradley is senior producer.
That’s going to do it for tonight. You had plenty of stuff posted today.
