It’s the end of an era for sports journalism

Sports journalism has taken quite a hit in 2023.

First, The New York Times disbanded its elite sports section in September and turned its sports coverage over to one of its properties, The Athletic.

Now an iconic sports show — maybe the best ever on TV — is coming to an end.

After 29 superb seasons, HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” will run its final episode this week.

Gumbel and the monthly HBO show, which combined investigative reporting with features, were profiled on “CBS Sunday Morning.” Gumbel talked about some of the stories they did over the years that led to changes in sports.

Gumbel told “CBS Sunday Morning” host Jane Pauley, “We have done a lot of good thankfully. Netting at baseball games. People have gotten maimed and hurt by foul balls. Now you go to any baseball game and there is netting all over the place. The extent to which concussions are very much in the debate about football. That’s something that we have pressed for a long time.”

The show is still as relevant and impactful as ever, but the 75-year-old Gumbel thought it was time to end the show. He told Pauley, “I knew my contract was ending. I had to ask myself. Did I want to do another three years? Could I do another three years? The answer was probably not. My heart wouldn’t be in it. And I’m OK with that, I’m at peace with it.”

As far as what’s next, if anything, Gumbel said, “Only a fool says ‘never.’ So, I would never say never again, but I’m not actively looking for another chapter; I’m really not.”

“Real Sports” coming to an end is a real blow for sports television. The show could easily be called a sports version of “60 Minutes,” and the comparison is not hyperbole. Other than when ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” was a standalone show, no sports magazine show was as well done and important as “Real Sports.” It won 37 Sports Emmys and Bryant won a lifetime achievement award at the Emmys last May.

The show never pulled punches and had as many light and heartwarming stories as hardcore investigations.

When the show announced in September that this would be the final season, Gumbel said, “We’ve had the opportunity to tell complex stories about race, gender, class, opportunity and so much more. Being able to do so at HBO for almost three decades has been very gratifying.”

It’s a sad time for sports journalism. One of the great all-time sports magazine shows is no more.

A personal note

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Haley’s tired of Trump talk

In one of the more interesting exchanges on the Sunday news programs, ABC’s “This Week” host Jonathan Karl asked Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley about Donald Trump. Karl specifically asked, “He's running on retribution. He wants to go out, and he talks about annihilating his enemies and using the criminal justice system to do so. What do you think of that?”

Haley snapped back, “You guys are exhausting. You’re exhausting, in your obsession with him. The thing is the normal people aren’t obsessed with Trump like you guys are. The normal people care about the fact that they can’t afford things. They feel like their freedoms are being taken away. They think government is too big. I know you all want to talk about every single word he says and every single tweet he does. That’s exactly why we need a new generational leader, because people don’t want to hear about every word a person says or every tweet. They want to know how you fought for them that day, and they want to know how their life is going to be different. And life will be a whole lot different if the media would stop this obsession with Trump.”

Maybe Haley would have a point if Trump was some fringe candidate like Vivek Ramaswamy. But not only is Trump the former president, he remains the overwhelming favorite in every poll out there to be the Republican nominee in 2024, and appears to be running neck-and-neck with Joe Biden to become president.

And quite often of late, Trump’s words and tweets seem dangerous and threatening. It’s not that many are “obsessed” as Haley suggests, but concerned.

NBC News’ new project

NBC News launched a new project on Sunday called “The Deciders” — which it describes as a “new hyperlocal reporting initiative featuring in-depth, on-the-ground reporting from a team of nearly three dozen journalists focused on the 2024 presidential race in seven key counties around the country.”

The bellwether counties include Maricopa County, Arizona; Miami-Dade County, Florida; Dane County, Wisconsin; Gwinnett County, Georgia; Kent County, Michigan; Washoe County, Nevada; and Erie County, Pennsylvania.

NBC News will work with local NBC affiliates in those counties. Reporting from “The Deciders” will appear across all NBCUniversal News Group platforms, including NBC News, NBC News NOW, and NBCNews.com.

A strong recommendation

The Tampa Bay Times produced an outstanding and important three-part series about kratom use in Florida. The series — called “Deadly Dose” — was reported on and written by Helen Freund, Sam Ogozalek, Hannah Critchfield, Kirby Wilson and Langston Taylor.

In part one of the series, the Times wrote, “A Tampa Bay Times investigation found that more than 580 people in Florida have died from kratom-related overdoses during the past decade — even as the industry has touted the safety of its products. Most of the deaths were caused by a fatal mixture of kratom and at least one other substance, but 46 people overdosed solely on the herb.”

In an explainer, the Times wrote that Freund had been covering food and dining for the Times for about three years when she began noticing the increasing popularity of kratom, a psychoactive herb from a Southeast Asian tree.

The Times wrote that Freund “learned that kratom was mostly unregulated, despite concerns about its safety. She also began to explore why people were turning to it. Kratom wasn’t just being used in social settings. People were self-medicating for ailments like chronic pain and opioid addiction.”

The Times’ team ended up filing more than 300 public records requests with police and fire departments, state and federal agencies and medical examiner offices across Florida. They interviewed more than 150 scientists, doctors, policy experts, regulators, industry players, consumers and relatives of overdose victims.

It’s a well-reported series that deserves your attention.

Surprising move

Mayim Bialik will no longer host the game show “Jeopardy!” Bialik posted on social media Friday evening that Sony, which produced the show, informed her that she would no longer be hosting. She wrote, “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have been part of the Jeopardy! family.”

Bialik, also known for acting on such shows as “The Big Bang Theory,” had shared co-hosting duties with legendary “Jeopardy! “ champion Ken Jennings.

Jennings will continue to host and, in fact, Sony said that they felt the show should have only one host to “maintain continuity for our viewers.” Sony thanked Bialik for her work and said they hope to continue working with her on prime-time specials, although it did not have any specifics.

The move was surprising because Bialik helped the show, which initially bungled replacing longtime host Alex Trebek after he died in late 2020. Eventually, Bialik shared duties with Jennings and both were nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding host of a game show.

Though neither Bialik or Sony mentioned it, it should be noted that Bialik stepped away from taping last May in solidarity with the Hollywood writers strike. Aside from being an actor, Bialik has a Ph.D. in neuroscience.

Personally, as an avid “Jeopardy!” viewer, I was a fan of Bialik as host and enjoyed that Jennings and Bialik shared duties. And I thought Sony’s excuse of wanting “continuity” for the viewers was weak.

Hot type

• The Washington Post’s Christopher Rowland, Todd C. Frankel, Yeganeh Torbati, Julie Zauzmer Weil, Peter Whoriskey and Steven Rich with “Dozens of assisted-living residents died after wandering away unnoticed.”
• The Wall Street Journal’s Jeff Slate with “The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde on the State of Music.”
• The Associated Press’ David Bauder with “Why Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ became so popular — and stayed that way.”

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