Dick Vitale writes about being bullied: Got teased because drifting eye

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In the wake of the controversy with the Miami Dolphins, Dick Vitale decided to weigh in about his personal experiences on ESPN.com. He came to realize that being teased over a drifting eye, the result of a childhood accident, actually was bullying.

Vitale writes:

As a kid, I wasn’t familiar with the word “bullying.” I always believed it was just teasing at the time, but I was teased big time. When I was 4 or 5 years old, I lost vision in my left eye in an accident with a pencil. I had no control of my left eye, so it would drift. I had no ability to look people directly in the eye.

It drove me wild.

My peers didn’t make it any easier. I was teased over and over, but I was afraid to complain about it to a teacher or coach because I felt I would be labeled as soft or weak. I didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for me. I just wanted the name-calling to stop.

I remember sitting in my room crying while I stared in the mirror trying to cover up the fact that I couldn’t look people in the eye.

Later Vitale writes:

As an adult in the world of television, my problem led to a difficult situation.

One time in the 1980s, I came out of the studio and asked one of the assistants how everything was going. I was told everything was great except for this one fan who kept calling, saying “ESPN should get rid of that one-eyed wacko. His eye is going all over the place.”

I was devastated.

After that conversation, I called up my boss, Steve Anderson, then vice president in charge of production. I told him that maybe I should get out of the TV business. I told him the story and expressed to him that I did not want to embarrass the network. Anderson put me at ease by explaining that I was hired for my basketball knowledge and enthusiasm.

Vitale eventually had surgery to correct the drifting eye issue. Yet the pain still remains vivid. He said he wrote the piece in the hopes it will help others in similar situations.

I’m 74 years old, and I have been so lucky and blessed. There have been some bumps in the road, but I have lived a dream. And today, if you’re being bullied, you do not have to just suck it up.

If you have a problem, tell the authorities. Speak with your parents, teachers or church leaders and talk about the pain. There are a lot of people out there who provide guidance and counseling.

Share your story. Do not be afraid.

New York Daily News headline: ‘Mike & The Mad Fraud’

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The New York Daily News had their take on Mike Francesa’s interview with ARod.

Bob Raissman also wasn’t impressed with the interview.

“I’ve been supporting your side of the story here, not on the evidence whether you’ve done it of not, because I have no idea,” Francesa said. “I thought the other stuff (charges) was a clear witch hunt. You have been discredited and it’s been outrageous. That I saw with my own eyes.”

Now, the YES camera was not on A-Rod. He probably was smiling. He had landed on the marshmallow Francesa provided, a feather bed befitting a featherweight interview. The Pope had to be laughing inside. His “kindness” wound up getting him access to a biggie, one that produced ratings and drove the competition a bit nuts.

 

 

Francesa on ARod interview: ‘Asked him every hard question’

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Some shows are more memorable than others. Mike Francesa isn’t likely to forget his show Wednesday.

Neil Best of Newsday talked to the WFAN host about his surprise guest: Alex Rodriguez. Francesa said he received 20-minutes notice that the shamed Yankee was on his way to the studio after abruptly walking out of a hearing. By the interview, the interview was simulcast on the Yankees’ YES Network also airs Francesa’s show.

From the story:

There were times the tone got a tad chummier than it needed to, but the questions and answers were to the point.

“I felt like I asked him every hard question you could possibly ask him,” Francesa said in a phone interview after the show. “I don’t think there’s anything I could ask him about that wasn’t asked.”

Francesa knows he still will be accused by some of offering Rodriguez an overly friendly forum, but he said he is not bothered by that.

“When you’re the big guy and have been the big guy as long as I have, you’re going to get it from every angle; I’m used to that,” he said, adding Rodriguez presumably chose him because of his large audience, because the two have known each other for many years and because A-Rod believed he would get a fair hearing.

Later, Best writes:

“I was surprised how keyed up he was; I could tell he was really angry,” Francesa said. “He almost started to cry the first time he started to talk. I could see his eyes welling up . . . His lip was quivering and I actually thought he was going to cry. But he looked me in the eye every time.”

Francesa said there were no preconditions, and that he only preplanned one aspect of the interview in his own mind.

“If he gave me an opening I was going to go for what I knew was the headline, which is, did you or did you not use performance-enhancing drugs?” Francesa said. “When he answered so definitively and boldly the first time and didn’t dodge it at all, I knew it would be a very open topic.”

Stay tuned for more on how the New York Daily News covered the interview.

 

 

 

 

Recovery effort: Comcast Sports Net Chicago to air high school playoff game of town hit by tornado

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Terrific move by CSN Chicago. Hopefully, it will help the recovery effort.

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Comcast SportsNet, the television home of the Chicago Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox, has announced it will be carrying the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Class 5A Football semifinal playoff match-up featuring Washington High School (12-0) at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School (12-0) live from Springfield, IL this coming Saturday, November 23 at 1:00 PM CT (replay at 1:30 AM).  The winner of this game will go on to play in the IHSA Class 5A championship, which will air on CSN on Saturday, November 30 at 10:00 AM.

Throughout this special game telecast, Comcast SportsNet will also be urging viewers to make a donation to the Red Cross Central Illinois Tornado Response Relief efforts by contacting 1-800-RED CROSS or by visiting redcross.org.  The announcement was made by James J. Corno, President of Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

“In the aftermath of Sunday’s devastating tornadoes in the town of Washington and throughout numerous areas of central Illinois, Comcast SportsNet will utilize this opportunity to not only present what promises to be an excellent preps football playoff match-up between two standout teams, but also to provide our viewers with vital Red Cross donation information to help make a difference in the lives of those affected by this tragic occurrence,” said Corno.

The announcing team for the Washington at Sacred Heart-Griffin match-up will be Lee Hall (play-by-play) and James “Boomer” Grigsby (analyst), while Comcast SportsNet’s Bears beat reporter Jen Lada will provide sideline reports featuring interviews with Washington High School coaches, administrators, parents, and fans throughout the game.

In addition, Comcast SportsNet’s digital portal – CSNChicago.com – will have complete highlights and post-game reaction from players and coaches following Saturday’s game.  Plus, viewers will be able to showcase their support via Twitter by utilizing the hashtag #TeamIL prior to and during the game.

In advance of Saturday’s Class 5A semifinal game, Comcast SportsNet’s Kelly Crull will be visiting the town of Washington for a report to air on Thursday night’s edition of SportsNet Central at 10:00 PM.  This special report will include interviews with the Washington players, coaches, and family members on how they’ve dealt with the horrific experience over the past few days, along with how the team has overcome this deep adversity and still find a way to prepare for the biggest game of their lives.

Retiring: Dan Dierdorf to call it career at end of season; Cites travel challenges

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It’s been a long run for Dan Dierdorf, who received Hall of Fame honors as a player and analyst.

Who replaces Dierdorf at CBS’ No. 2 analyst? I’m betting another former Monday Night Football alum: Dan Fouts.

From CBS:

After 43 consecutive years in the National Football League as a Hall of Fame player and Hall of Fame broadcaster, Dan Dierdorf has announced his retirement following this season.

Dierdorf, who is the longest tenured NFL analyst on television and teams with Greg Gumbel for NFL ON CBS coverage, has spent the past 30 years as an NFL broadcaster, following a 13-year playing career with the St. Louis Cardinals.

 “I have been blessed to spend my entire life in the game I love,” said Dierdorf.  “I had an opportunity to go from the field directly to the broadcast booth where I have had the privilege of working with the giants of our business including Ray Scott, Lindsey Nelson, Jack Buck, Dick Stockton, Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Verne Lundquist, Dick Enberg and lastly, my partner, Greg Gumbel. It has become a challenge for me to travel to a different NFL city every week, so it’s time to step aside. This has been a wonderful ride as I really have lived the dream.”

“For 43 NFL seasons Dan Dierdorf has been a consummate professional both on the field and in the broadcast booth,” said Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports. “Very few people in any profession can boast a Hall of Fame playing career and Hall of Fame broadcasting career.  Dan, without question, is one of them.  His CBS Sports family will miss him on Sundays, but we wish him all the best in his retirement.”

Dierdorf was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and was the 2008 recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.  The Rozelle Award is annually given by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of “long-time exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football.”  He joins Frank Gifford, John Madden and Len Dawson as the only members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to also have won the Rozelle Award. 

Dierdorf began his NFL broadcasting career in 1984 as a color analyst for KMOX’s Radio coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals and NFL games for CBS Radio Network. He was a play-by-play announcer for THE NFL ON CBS broadcasts in 1985 before switching to color analysis in 1986.  In 1987 Dierdorf joined ABC Sports’ “Monday Night Football” for 12 years, before returning to CBS Sports in 1999.

“A Hall of Fame player and a Hall of Fame broadcaster, a unique combination of knowledge and experience that few others can match,” said Gumbel.  “There has never been a day I’ve worked with Dan when I didn’t learn something about the game of football.  For that, and for so much more, I’m forever grateful. His departure is the fans’ loss.  Our loss.  My loss. We will all miss Dan Dierdorf.”

 

 

Lee Corso: Still getting it done for ESPN ‘GameDay’; Even with a little blood

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My latest column for the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana is on the one and only Lee Corso. The old football player even is willing to spill some of his own blood. He got nicked on the lip during this playful sword fight Saturday with Kirk Herbstreit.

Here’s an excerpt from the column.

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Lee Corso is 78-years-old, and he admits age is beginning to catch up to him. He still experiences the remnants of a stroke he suffered a few years ago.

Corso has cut back on his schedule and he must do daily vocal and throat exercises to maintain his voice. Hot tea with lemon and honey always is close to his side.

“I gargle twice a day,” Corso said. “You ought to be with me some time.”

The bigger issue, Corso says, is that his brain doesn’t work like it used to.

“I lost the ability to be spontaneous,” Corso said. “My mind used to be really quick. I’m not as quick as I used to be. I have a harder time getting what I want to say from my brain to my mouth.”

Yet you could have fooled me after I recently spent a few minutes with the former Indiana coach on a Friday during preparations for that Saturday’s “College GameDay” on ESPN. Corso was full of energy and anticipation. There was the ever-present twinkle in his eye that spoke of passion, if not a bit of mischief.

He set me up perfectly by telling the story of his final days as a coach in the USFL during the 1980s.

“When the league folded, I knew it was time to get out of coaching,” Corso said. “You know how I knew?”

“No,” I replied, playing the straight man.

“People quit asking me to coach,” said Corso of a line that he surely has said a million times. As I laughed, he had a works-every-time-smile on his face.

It turns out leaving coaching was the best thing that happened to Corso. It also has worked out pretty well for ESPN too.

In 1987, ESPN hired Corso to be an analyst for a fledgling new college football pregame show. Now 26 years later, the man in his 70s is arguably more popular on college campuses than any of the young players he analyzes.

“Coach is the same anywhere we go,” said “GameDay” producer Lee Fitting “His energy and enthusiasm is unbelievable. He’s bringing it every week. It’s hard to put into words what he’s meant to college football. He’s done more to popularize the game than anyone in the last 25 years.”

Corso actually started prepping for the job during a 10-year run as the Hoosiers’ coach from 1973-82. Hardly the Big Ten’s most successful coach with a record of 41-68-2 in Bloomington, Corso realized he had to find another way to keep them entertained.

“At Indiana, I was more famous for my (coach’s) TV show than I was for our teams,” Corso said. “I tell the guys (today’s coaches) all the time, ‘We’re in the entertainment business. College football is our vehicle.’ People think if you’re funny, you can’t be serious. Well, that’s not true.”

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The link to the complete column.

 

Costas special: Playing for Dallas Cowboys in wake of Kennedy assassination; ‘People booed us’

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Bob Costas and NBC Sports Network has an interesting sports angle on the 50th anniversary of that awful day in Dallas. The Cowboys had to endure the wrath of the country.

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The rundown from NBC Sports Network

STAMFORD, Conn. – November 11, 2013 – Fifty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Bob Costas looks back at the time leading up to and following the Nov. 22, 1963 tragedy through the eyes of the 1963 Dallas Cowboys and 1963 U.S. Naval Academy quarterback Roger Staubach on the one-hour Costas Tonight Special – No Day For Games: The Cowboys and JFK. The show debuts Wednesday, November 20 at 11 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Ten former Cowboys players and personnel, including Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle Bob Lilly, Hall of Fame quarterback Staubach, linebacker Lee Roy Jordan, tight end Pettis Norman and three-decade player personnel chief Gil Brandt, were interviewed for Costas Tonight, as well as Pittsburgh Steelers chairman Dan Rooney and presidential historian Michael Beschloss. This edition of Costas Tonight, which combines present-day interviews, archival footage, and NBC News coverage from November 1963, was produced by NBC Sports Group and co-produced and written Andy Greenspan.

“For a league that has no presence in Los Angeles, the Dallas Cowboys are as close to Hollywood as it gets,” Costas says in the opening of the show. “But half a century ago for the Cowboys of 1963, it was fear – not football – that was on their minds.

“As symbols of the city where the President was murdered,” he continued, “the Cowboys soon found some of the nation’s anger directed towards them.”

Following are highlights from the special edition of Costas Tonight:

THE NEXT GAME – TWO DAYS LATER

Dallas Cowboys at Cleveland Browns, Nov. 24, 1963

Lee Roy Jordan: “We were the team from Dallas, Texas. We were connected with killing the President of the United States.”

Dan Rooney on NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle’s decision to play games as scheduled: “He said that [White House Press Secretary] Pierre [Salinger] felt that Jack would have thought we should play. He would have wanted it that way for the nation.”

Bob Costas on the team 24 hours after the assassination: “The Cowboys were headed to Cleveland where they discovered that, to many people around the country, the city of Dallas and anything that represented it was being held liable for the tragedy.”

Gil Brandt (Cowboys executive from 1960-89) on the team’s trip to Cleveland: “Everybody was told, ‘Go out and have dinner if you want, but don’t say you are from Dallas.’”

Pettis Norman: “I felt totally lethargic on how I would approach this game.”

Bob Lilly: “You’ve got your game face on by Sunday. That means a chip on your shoulder. And I didn’t have a chip on my shoulder that day. And I didn’t have my game face on.”

Browns owner Art Modell told public address announcer Johnny Holliday not to use the word “Dallas” throughout the game. He was to use “Cowboys” instead.

There were no player introductions prior to the game.

Cowboys players were told to wear their helmets and parkas at all times.

The teams combined for nine turnovers in the Browns’ 27-17 victory.

Bob Lilly (postgame): “We could have quit our season then, it would have been fine with me.”

FUTURE COWBOYS QB ROGER STAUBACH – AT U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY

In 1962, Navy sophomore Roger Staubach threw two touchdown passes and ran for two scores in a 34-14 victory in the annual Army-Navy game – earning the Midshipmen a locker room visit from President Kennedy.

The following season, Staubach and Navy were 8-1 heading into the Nov. 30, 1963 Army-Navy game.  Staubach, who would win the 1963 Heisman Trophy, was slated for the cover of the Nov. 29 issue of Life Magazine with the photo caption “The Greatest College Quarterback.” After the assassination, the cover was changed to a JFK portrait.  Staubach shows Costas his early copy of the magazine with Staubach’s photo on the cover.

The Army-Navy game was postponed and played on Dec. 7, 1963.

Roger Staubach: “We thought the game could be postponed forever or cancelled. But then it came back that the Kennedy family really wanted it to be played…The game was played a week later than it was scheduled. It was so emotional. No pep rallies, no bonfires. But everybody kind of let their emotions out in that game…It was eerie. You didn’t know what to expect.”

Navy, the second-ranked team in the country, won 21-15 after stopping Army on the four-yard line as time expired.

THE TURNAROUND – BECOMING “AMERICA’S TEAM”

The Cowboys drafted Roger Staubach in the 10th round in 1964.  After serving his Navy commitment, Staubach joined the team for the 1969 season at age 27.

The Cowboys franchise had its first winning season in 1966.

Bob Lilly on Cowboys prior to 1966: “Everywhere we went for the next couple of years, people booed us when we ran out on the field.”

Beginning in 1966, Dallas posted an NFL-record 20 consecutive winning seasons (through 1985), playing in five Super Bowls and winning two over the span.

Staubach won 85 of 114 starts for the Cowboys in an 11-year career. In the postseason, he led Dallas to two Super Bowl victories and was named MVP of Super Bowl VI.

Pettis Norman: “When Dallas starting winning, that was a transitional thing for this whole city. And it began to wipe away a lot of the negative things that people felt about Dallas.”

Roger Staubach on Cowboys’ winning helping rehabilitate Dallas’ image: “I think it had a lot to do with how people felt about Dallas. They learned more about Dallas.”

Bob Costas:  “After bearing a measure of the nation’s anger for a crime that took place in their city, the Dallas Cowboys had become a phenomenon: America’s Team.”

 

Makes sense: More flexible scheduling for NFL on Sunday afternoons

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Sorry ESPN, this won’t help you on Sunday nights.

From Ken Fang of Awful Announcing:

Starting in 2014, CBS and Fox will be able to air more attractive games in the 4:25 p.m. ET window. And that means you could see a 1 p.m. ET or 4:05 p.m. Fox game in a CBS late afternoon window and vice-versa. In a nutshell, you will see NFC games on CBS and AFC contests on Fox. Confused?

Let’s take Week 11 of this season as an example. The NFL had moved Kansas City at Denver into primetime giving it to NBC’s Sunday Night Football. This was originally scheduled for a 4:05 p.m. ET regional window on CBS. Under the new rules, the NFL would have had the option to move it into Fox’s 4:25 p.m. window to allow more viewers to see the game. A less attractive Fox game might have been moved to 1 p.m. to accommodate this flex. And if the NFL wanted to put another game into primetime, it would have been able to do so.

The idea makes perfect sense. If it’s all about serving the fans, then make sure the best games get shown to the largest audience possible.

NFL Network documentary: Tracing forward pass from Rockne to Marcia Brady

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The latest A Football Life on NFL Network examines the history of the forward pass (Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET, NFL Network). Here’s a link to the preview.

Since the NFL Network won’t allow embeds of it previews (Why, I don’t know), here’s the famous clip of Marcia Brady’s contribution to the forward pass.

The rundown from NFL Network:

What do Teddy Roosevelt, Knute Rockne, George Carlin, the Atomic Bomb, the Hail Mary Prayer, Marcia Brady’s broken nose and “American Pie” all have in common? The Forward Pass.

As ubiquitous as it is now, throwing the football was once unimaginable. For the first four decades of football’s existence, the Forward Pass was illegal. However, with rising safety concerns surrounding the game of football, President Roosevelt intervened. It was his demand that rules makers open up the game by legalizing the Forward Pass that saved football from abolition and created the sport we love.

NFL Network’s two-time Emmy-nominated series continues Tuesday, November 19 at 9:00 PM ET with The Forward Pass: A Football Life. The one-hour documentary examines the implementation of the Forward Pass into the game of football and the profound affect it has had on the game and its players, as well as on how football is viewed in society. The Forward Pass: A Football Life tells the story of one of America’s greatest inventions and how it transformed football from a lackluster rugby-style game of running and kicking into the uniquely American spectacle it has become.

Among the topics discussed in the documentary are:

The role President Theodore Roosevelt played in legalizing the Forward Pass and how it ultimately saved football

Knute Rockne’s “invention” of the Forward Pass in a 1913 game between Notre Dame and Army, and Hollywood’s role in mythologizing that event

How football coach and innovator Clark Shaughnessy’s T-formation transformed the quarterback from a blocking back into the hero of every football game

Former NFL MVP Boomer Esiason demonstrates how the evolving shape of the football made it easier to throw the Forward Pass by throwing footballs from throughout history

Former NFL quarterback Doug Flutie demonstrates how the Forward Pass eliminated the Drop Kick

How Don Coryell and Bill Walsh utilized and revived the Forward Pass

What is the meaning of Don McLean’s use of “The Forward Pass” in the lyrics of “American Pie”?

Emmy-nominated actor from CBS’ The Good Wife, Josh Charles, narrates.

The Forward Pass: A Football Life includes interviews with the following people and more:

Bill Belichick – New England Patriots head coach

Dan Fouts – Hall of Fame quarterback

Joe Namath – Hall of Fame quarterback

Roger Staubach – Hall of Fame quarterback

Steve Young – Hall of Fame quarterback

Mike Martz – Former NFL head coach

Boomer Esiason – Former NFL quarterback

Doug Flutie – Former NFL quarterback

Brian Billick – Former NFL head coach

Joe Gibbs – Former NFL head coach

George Seifert – Former NFL head coach

Michael Oriard – Author, Reading Football

Chuck Klosterman – Author, Eating the Dinosaur

John J. Miller – Author, The Big Scrum

Provided below are some select quotes from The Forward Pass: A Football Life:

– “Americans are great innovators; we have a great history of invention…The Forward Pass when you think about it fits nicely into that tradition. It’s a great innovation that turns a sport like rugby into American football.” – John J. Miller

– “There weren’t many options for how to move the ball. Every play kind of looks like what you would expect from a goaline surge during a blizzard. People are just sort of hammering into each other trying to incrementally move the ball…Punting seemed like half of the game.” – Chuck Klosterman on the game of football before the introduction of the Forward Pass

– “It’s like throwing a weighted basketball with laces.” – Boomer Esiason on the rugby football used before the introduction of the Forward Pass

– “In 1913, we had Columbus coming to America in terms of football and that’s when Notre Dame showed up to play Army on the East Coast.” – John J. Miller

– “Everyone knows that [the quarterback is] the center of the game. If Tom Brady was a slot receiver, would he date Gisele [Bundchen]? It’s possible he might – it’s very possible Wes Welker could have ended up dating Gisele, but it doesn’t seem like it. Joe Flacco has a better chance to date someone like Gisele than Wes Welker.” – Chuck Klosterman

– “Throwing the bomb and hitting that long pass is just electrifying. It still is just thinking about it. You get goose bumps.” – Joe Namath

– “It was very prevalent that passing was too risky, and it was the way that they were thinking about it. But the way Bill [Walsh] talked about it – the short passing game – it was the extension of your running game.” – Steve Young

– “You take a look at the greatest plays of the last 50 years, it’s hard to come up with anything like a comprehensive list without going back time and again to the Forward Pass.” – Michael MacCambridge

Following the episode, Jenn Brown hosts A Football Life: Backstory at 10:00 PM ET, a 30-minute show that provides a deeper look into the lives and story of each subject, features interviews with relevant individuals, and includes material that did not make the final edition of the episode.

 

 

Real Sports to air 200th show: Outstanding sports journalism on often unconventional subjects

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Congratulations to Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on its 200th show tonight. That’s no small feat in an age where you’re fortunate to get 10 shows.

Real Sports launched in 1995 and shows no sign of letting up. It has consistently delivered among the best in sports journalism on a variety of subjects, conventional and more often not. That holds true for the 200th show.

Here is preview of Bernard Goldberg’s report on the upcoming Olympics in Sochi. “A festival of corruption,” according to a Russian critic.

Here’s the rundown for Tuesday’s show:

Now in its 19th season, REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL, TV’s most honored sports journalism series and the only sports program recognized with a prestigious 2012 George Foster Peabody Award, presents more enterprising features and reporting when the show’s landmark 200th edition, available in HDTV, debuts TUESDAY, NOV. 19 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

Other HBO playdates: Nov. 19 (2:45 a.m.), 22 (10:0 a.m., 5:30 p.m.), 24 (8:00 a.m.), 27 (1:30 p.m.) and 30 (11:00 a.m., 1:00 a.m.), and Dec. 4 (12:30 a.m.), 6 (7:30 p.m.) and 9 (4:30 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates: Nov. 20 (11:15 p.m.), 26 (1:10 p.m., 9:00 p.m.) and 29 (7:30 p.m., 1:50 a.m.), and Dec. 3 (9:45 a.m., 6:20 p.m.) and 7 (2:15 p.m.)

HBO On Demand® availability: Nov. 25-Dec. 16

Segments include:

*Putin’s Olympics. With fewer than 100 days until the opening ceremonies for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, controversy looms large in the host city of Sochi, Russia. Seven years ago, Russian president Vladimir Putin captured the rights to the 2014 Winter Olympics after promising to spend $12 billion to hold the Games in this sub-tropical seaside resort town in the southern part of the country, which is the warmest location in Russia. Today, however, the latest reported estimate of the Games’ cost is $50 billion, which makes the Sochi Olympics the most expensive in history, allegedly due in part to bribery and cronyism. REAL SPORTS correspondent Bernard Goldberg travels to Sochi for a behind-the-scenes look at the preparations and speaks to individuals who allege there are massive corruption schemes tied to these Games.

Producers: Josh Fine, Tim Walker.

*Shaw Time. On June 26, 1993, the mother, father and sister of former NBA journeyman Brian Shaw were killed in a car accident. (Shaw was later awarded custody of his 11-month-old niece and namesake, Brianna, the only survivor of the crash.) At his side during this rough time was former teammate and best friend Reggie Lewis, but tragedy struck again a month after the accident when Lewis died from cardiac arrest. Now, more than 20 years after that fateful summer, Shaw, 47, is enjoying his first season as Denver Nuggets head coach, following successful stints as an assistant for the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers. In this REAL SPORTS/Sports Illustrated collaboration, correspondent Bernard Goldberg meets with the Oakland native, who details how the heartache he felt and the lessons he learned guided him to where he is today.

Producer: Chapman Downes.

*Live Mascots. Most, if not all, big-time college sports programs are represented by a symbol of the team’s moniker. Some universities even go to great lengths to have a live animal represent school pride. REAL SPORTS host Bryant Gumbel explores the wild world of live animal mascots and their role in collegiate sports programs. From million-dollar habitats to enduring adulation, these mascots are accustomed to a life more akin to royalty and superstar athletes than zoo animals. Gumbel meets several of the most distinguished live animal mascots, including Ralphie the Buffalo from the University of Colorado, Tom the Tiger from the University of Memphis and the dog Reveille from Texas A&M University.

Producer: Jason Samuels.

 

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