This Tuesday, the Emmy Award-winning Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel returns with three new stories and an update. Let’s check out what they have in store for us.
REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL PRESENTS AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE HARBAUGH FOOTBALL FAMILY; TELLS THE STORY OF INJURED WAR VETS PLAYING COMPETITIVE SOFTBALL; TAKES A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT THE RUNNING OF THE BULLS; AND RECONNECTS WITH GUINNESS WORLD RECORD HOLDER ASHRITA FURMAN WHEN THE EMMY®-WINNING SHOW RETURNS JULY 19, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO
REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL presents more enterprising features and reporting when its 172nd edition, available in HDTV, debuts TUESDAY, JULY 19 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.
Other HBO playdates: July 19 (3:20 a.m.), 21 (5:00 p.m., midnight), 24 (9:00 a.m.), 26 (10:30 a.m., 7:30 p.m.), 28 (1:00 p.m., 1:45 a.m.) and 30 (10:30 a.m.), and Aug. 4 (8:30 p.m.)
HBO2 playdates: July 23 (6:30 p.m.), 25 (1:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.), 29 (5:00 p.m.), and 31 (12:30 p.m.), and Aug. 2 (11:00 p.m.) and 5 (11:30 a.m.)
HBO On Demand availability: July 25-Aug. 15
Segments include:
*All in the Family. Manning. Griffey. Ripken. These are some of the multi-generational families in sports that are household names. But a new family is set to make history, not as players, but in coaching. The Harbaugh boys, John and Jim, have followed in their father’s footsteps and are the first brother act to serve simultaneously as head coaches in the NFL. Jack Harbaugh coached college football for 45 years and taught his only sons the ins-and-outs of the game from an early age. His eldest son, John, is the Baltimore Ravens’ head coach and has led the team to the playoffs in each of his first three seasons at the helm. Jim, after a successful NFL career as a quarterback, reenergized the Stanford University football program and was hired in January to take over the underachieving San Francisco 49ers. And later this year, when most families will be gathered around the TV watching Thanksgiving Day football, the brothers are set to face-off at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. In this REAL SPORTS/Sports Illustrated report, correspondent Andrea Kremer joins the family on vacation to find out what makes them tick and why they have so much to be thankful for.
Producers: Joe Perskie, Josh Fine.
*Wounded Warriors. Often the hardest part of an athlete’s career is battling back from injury, but nothing can compare to challenges faced by members of the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team. All of these men have endured near-fatal injuries and excruciating rehabilitation to return to the ball field from the battlefield. The current team is made up of 15 Army and Marine vets who suffered leg, foot or arm amputations while heroically serving their country. Despite their individual handicaps, they face able-bodied teams and have a .500 record. In this feelgood comeback story, REAL SPORTS correspondent Frank Deford goes on location with the Wounded Warriors Softball Team to show that they are the same focused, physically capable men they have always been.
Producer: Nick Dolin.
*The Original Extreme Sport. Hundreds of years before skateboarding, BMX biking and water skiing, the original extreme sport was the running of the bulls, wherein people test their bravado by racing bulls through barricaded streets to a corral at the end of the course. According to Spanish lore, the custom originated in Spain around the 14th century, and it was made world-famous by American author Ernest Hemingway’s first novel, “The Sun Also Rises.” With extreme sports comes extreme danger, however, and since record-keeping began in the early 1900s, 15 people have died, while scores are injured every year. REAL SPORTS correspondent Mary Carillo travels to the Fiesta de San Fermin in Pamplona to meet some of the top runners and provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse at one of the most dangerous events on earth.
Producer: Tim Walker.
*Record Breaker. In Oct. 2009, REAL SPORTS profiled Ashrita Furman of Queens, NY, who held the Guinness World Record for holding the most world records, with 245 records overall and more than 100 simultaneously. He finds spiritual fulfillment through the constant pursuit of physical challenges and world records, which is why he continues to hold on to his title. Furman has set 355 world records since 1979 and currently holds 130. REAL SPORTS correspondent Bernard Goldberg reconnects with Ashrita Furman, who has set exactly 100 new records since the last time they got together.
Producers: Zehra Mamdani, Tim Walker.
REAL SPORTS has won the Sports Emmy® for Outstanding Sports Journalism 14 times, in addition to being the first sports program honored with the duPont Award for excellence in broadcast journalism. On May 2, the program received the 2010 Sports Emmy® for Outstanding Sports Journalism for last August’s report revealing the scientific link between sports concussions and the onset of ALS. Overall, REAL SPORTS has collected 22 Sports Emmys® in 16 years.
The executive producers of REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL are Ross Greenburg and Rick Bernstein; Kirby Bradley is senior producer.
That will conclude this post.
