real sports

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel is a monthly sports newsmagazine on HBO that debuted on April 2, 1995. The show was "spawned by the fact that sports have changed dramatically, that it's no longer just fun and games, and that what happens off the field, beyond the scores, is worthy of some serious reporting," according to Bryant Gumbel, the host. Contents [hide] 1 Overview 1.1 Format 1.2 Reporters 1.3 Notable stories 1.3.1 Camel Jockeys - Sports of Sheikhs 2 External links //

Overview

Format

Each episode has four stories, all of which are about society and sports, famous athletes, or problems afflicting sports. The show also has investigative reports, interviews, and interesting stories that don't necessarily occur in the professional leagues. This show goes beyond traditional sports reporting, like box scores and statistics, and presents exclusive stories that other networks don't usually cover.

Reporters

Reporters include Mary Carillo, Bernard Goldberg, Frank Deford, Armen Keteyian, James Brown, Jon Frankel and Bryant Gumbel himself. Several reporters have since left, including Lesley Visser, Bryan Burwell and Jim Lampley.

Notable stories

Camel Jockeys - Sports of Sheikhs

In 2004, guided by human rights activist Ansar Burney, an HBO team used a hidden camera 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 (UAE). 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 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.

Real Sports was the inspiration for two other HBO shows, On the Record with Bob Costas and Costas Now.

External links Official site Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel at the Internet Movie Database Columbus Dispatch Article Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Sports_with_Bryant_Gumbel" Categories: American news television series | HBO network shows | HBO Sports | American sports television series | 1990s American television series | 2000s American television series | 1995 television series debuts | DuPont-Columbia Award recipients