This Tuesday, Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel returns with an all-new edition. Among the topics, disgraced NFL agent Josh Luchs sits down for his first TV interview since admitting to Sports Illustrated that he paid college players and the Florida Marlins’ embarrassing plea for public financing for a new ballpark after leaked documents to Deadspin showed the team making a rather huge profit. Let’s take a look at what’s in store on the latest edition of Real Sports that airs on HBO on Tuesday, October 26 at 10 p.m. East and West.
REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL PROBES THE CONTROVERSY OVER THE NEW FLORIDA MARLINS STADIUM; GOES ONE-ON-ONE WITH SPORTS AGENT JOSH LUCHS IN A TV EXCLUSIVE; PROFILES AN INSPIRING FRIENDSHIP 25 YEARS AFTER A LIFE-CHANGING FOOTBALL COLLISION; AND RECONNECTS WITH DENVER NUGGETS HEAD COACH GEORGE KARL WHEN THE EMMY®-WINNING SHOW RETURNS OCT. 26, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBOREAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL presents more enterprising features and reporting when its 163rd edition, available in HDTV, debuts TUESDAY, OCT. 26 (10:00 p.m. ET/PT & 9:00 p.m. CT), exclusively on HBO.HBO On Demand availability: Nov. 1-22Segments include:*Miami Ballpark. The Florida Marlins, two-time World Series winners since their launch in 1993, are the latest Major League Baseball team to build a ballpark of their own. Scheduled to open in 2012, the stadium is a 37,000-seat, retractable-roof venue costing $642 million and largely paid for by Miami-Dade County. A public outcry erupted in August after leaked financial reports indicated the ballclub turned a $50-million profit at the same time they were seeking public financing. REAL SPORTS host Bryant Gumbel heads to South Florida to cover this hot-button story and examine the concerns raised by public officials who say their viewpoint has changed in light of this new information.Producer: Chapman Downes.*Money Man. One week after his explosive first-person account in Sports Illustrated, former certified NFL agent Josh Luchs sits down with HBO for his first extended TV interview. At age 19, armed with only a high school diploma, he was certified as an NFL agent by the NFLPA for a mere $300 application fee. In the SI piece, Luchs admitted to subsequently making cash payments to 30 college football players in hopes of signing them as clients when they became eligible for the pro draft. He left the player representation business in 2008 after a dispute with his former employer led to his suspension by the NFLPA. Luchs’ headline-grabbing account has reignited the debate over whether to protect student-athletes from preying agents, or simply permit college players to share in the revenues they help generate. REAL SPORTS correspondent Bernard Goldberg goes one-on-one with Luchs for his take on the debate and delves further into his account of nearly 20 years in the business.Producer: Joe Perskie.*A Remarkable Journey. On Oct. 26, 1985, Citadel linebacker Marc Buoniconti stopped East Tennessee’s Herman Jacobs short of first down on a crucial third-and-one. The collision left Buoniconti, son of former Miami Dolphins great Nick Buoniconti, paralyzed from the neck down. Though he has spent the last 25 years in a wheelchair, Buoniconti has brought a “never give up” attitude to his role as president of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, the world’s largest and most comprehensive spinal research facility. Meanwhile, the incident left Jacobs, at the time an NFL prospect, consumed by remorse and unable to return to football with the same passion. His life was in a downward spiral until he reunited with an unlikely friend. In this REAL SPORTS/Sports Illustrated collaboration, correspondent Mary Carillo profiles both men 25 years after their life-changing collision, and shows how their friendship has endured tragedy.On the day of that life-changing collision on the football field, Herman Jacobs says: “When they came back off the field and they said that word – paralyzed – my uniform was on but my spirit, my soul was gone.”Twenty years would pass before the two reconnected during a reunion weekend at The Citadel. Says Marc Buoniconti: “He needed to know that everything was really all right. Everything was all right and I was doing good. Not only that, I really wanted him in my life and turn something really tragic into a great friendship. And that weekend, we had more time to talk and I just asked him a simple question, ‘What were his dreams?’ “Producer: Lisa Bennett.*Team Karl. In 2005, Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl and his son, former Boise State hoops star Coby Karl, shared a common bond no father and son could imagine: a diagnosis of cancer. Though they conquered the illness together, George Karl survived another bout of the disease, this time affecting his neck and throat, after beating prostate cancer. Following up REAL SPORTS’ 2007 report, correspondent Jon Frankel reconnects with the accomplished 59-year old coach to reflect on his successful battles off the court as he prepares for another challenging season on the hardwood.Producer: Jill Klapper.The executive producers of REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL are Ross Greenburg and Rick Bernstein; Kirby Bradley is senior producer.
As always, Real Sports has fascinating stories and we’ll be watching.
