''Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel'' is an American monthly sports

news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio, or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories in greater depth than newspapers or new ...

that aired on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

from April 2, 1995 to December 19, 2023. The program was presented by television journalist and sportscaster Bryant Gumbel.

Overview

Format

Each episode consisted of four stories covering society and sports, famous athletes, or problems afflicting sports. As of 2018, the show has been honored with 32

Sports Emmy Awards The Sports Emmy Awards, or Sports Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the Sports E ...

and won

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

s in 2012 and 2015. In September 2023, it was announced that the series would end after 29 seasons. The final episode aired on December 19, 2023. ''Real Sports'' was the inspiration for two other HBO shows: '' On the Record with Bob Costas'' and '' Costas Now''.

Correspondents

Final Correspondents: * Bryant Gumbel (host) * Mary Carillo * Jon Frankel * Andrea Kremer *

Soledad O'Brien María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien (born September 19, 1966) is an American broadcast journalist and executive producer. Since 2016, O'Brien has been the host for '' Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien,'' a nationally syndicated weekly talk sho ...

* David Scott * Carl Quintanilla * Kavitha Davidson * Ariel Helwani Former correspondents: *

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

* Bryan Burwell * Frank Deford * Jim Lampley * Sonja Steptoe * Lesley Visser * Armen Keteyian * Bernard Goldberg

Notable stories

Camel Jockeys – Sports of Sheikhs

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, guided by human rights activist Ansar Burney, an HBO team used a

hidden camera A hidden camera or spy camera is a camera used to photograph or record subjects, often people, without their knowledge. The camera may be considered "hidden" because it is not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another obje ...

to document slavery and torture in secret desert camps where boys under the age of five were trained to race camels, a national sport in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. This half-hour investigative report exposed a carefully hidden child slavery ring that bought or kidnapped hundreds of young boys in Pakistan and Bangladesh. These boys were then forced to become camel jockeys in the UAE. The report also questioned the sincerity of U.S. diplomacy in pressuring an ally, the UAE, to comply with its own stated policy of banning the use of children under 15 from camel racing. The documentary won a

Sports Emmy Award The Sports Emmy Awards, or Sports Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the Sports E ...

in 2004 for "Outstanding Sports Journalism" and the 2006 Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award for outstanding broadcast journalism. It also brought world attention to the plight of child camel jockeys in the Middle East and helped Ansar Burney Trust to convince the governments of Qatar and the UAE to end the use of children in this sport.

Jack Johnson and Kelly Slater singing "Home (Live from the Beach)"

During the summer of 2013, Jon Frankel's interview with

Kelly Slater Robert Kelly Slater (born February 11, 1972) is an American professional surfer who has been crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. He is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time, and holds 56 Championship T ...

spawned an HBO Sports video of Jack Johnson and Kelly Slater performing "Home (Live from the Beach)".

Controversial remarks

In February 2006, Gumbel made remarks regarding the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

and the lack of African-American participation. On the August 15, 2006 episode of ''Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel'', Gumbel made the following remarks about former NFL commissioner

Paul Tagliabue Paul John Tagliabue (; born November 24, 1940) is an American lawyer who was the National Football League Commissioner, commissioner of the National Football League (NFL). He took the position in 1989 NFL season, 1989 and served until September ...

and

National Football League Players Association The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) is the labor unions in the United States, labor union representing National Football League (NFL) players. The NFLPA, which has headquarters in Washington, D.C., is led by executive directo ...

president Gene Upshaw and directed these comments to new commissioner

Roger Goodell Roger Stokoe Goodell (born February 19, 1959) is an American businessman who has served as the National Football League Commissioner, commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) since 2006. Goodell began his NFL career in 1982 as an admi ...

: In response, Tagliabue said, "What Gumbel said about Gene Upshaw and our owners is about as irresponsible as anything I've heard in a long time." Gumbel replied with, "It's a lot like covering any story ..You see what is in front of you and you report on it." On the October 18, 2011 episode, Gumbel invoked

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

in his criticism of NBA Commissioner

David Stern David Joel Stern (September 22, 1942 – January 1, 2020) was an American lawyer and business executive who was the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 2014. Stern oversaw NBA basketball's growth into one of t ...

over the league's lockout.

References

External links

Official site
*
''Real Sports'' - Fang's Bites
{{HBONetwork Shows HBO original programming HBO Sports 1990s American sports television series 2010 in bodybuilding History of female bodybuilding 1990s American television news shows 2000s American television news shows 2010s American television news shows 2020s American television news shows 1995 American television series debuts 2023 American television series endings American English-language television shows HBO Shows (series) WITHOUT Episode info, list, or Article 2000s American sports television series 2010s American sports television series 2020s American sports television series