Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: Season 7
Season 7 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel Season 6.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 7 Progress Shield
Episode 46
Jan 22, 2001 · 60 min
Segments include profiles of Vikings great Fran Tarkenton and golfer Mallory Code, who is battling cystic fibrosis. Also: an in-prison visit with Dubravko Rajcevic, arrested for st
Episode 47
Feb 22, 2001 · 60 min
Included: profiles of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Rutgers women's basketball coach Vivian Stringer; a visit with out-of-work Major League Baseball umpires. Correspondents
Episode 48
Mar 26, 2001 · 60 min
Segments include an examination of the plane crash involving the Oklahoma State basketball team; profiles of 7-6 Chinese hoops star Yao Ming and Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt
Episode 49
Apr 16, 2001 · 60 min
Michael and Darrell Waltrip discuss the dangers of auto racing. Also: profiles of Mets manager Bobby Valentine and former Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon. Reporters include Mary Cari
Episode 50
May 14, 2001 · 60 min
Segments include a report on former NBA player Kermit Washington, most remembered for punching Rudy Tomjanovich in 1977; a look at the IMG Sports Academies for future sports stars;
Episode 51
Jun 18, 2001 · 60 min
Profiles of outspoken pitcher David Wells and tennis great Martina Navratilova. Also: a report on a Cal-State Fullerton runner who was forced to quit the team when it was discovere
Episode 52
Jul 16, 2001 · 60 min
A report on former Dodgers GM Kevin Malone; profiles of high-school basketball phenom Amare Stoudemire and boxer Gerald Harris, who was wrongly imprisoned for eight years. Also: a
Episode 53
Aug 14, 2001 · 60 min
A look at Major League Baseball's Japanese players from a Japanese perspective; a visit with blind golfer Pat Browne; a report on the college choice of high-school football player
Episode 54
Sep 13, 2001 · 60 min
An interview with Penn State's Joe Paterno on the verge of surpassing Paul "Bear" Bryant as the winningest coach in major college football history; the story of 1964 Olympic gold m
Episode 55
Oct 16, 2001 · 60 min
Segments include a look at the drug ephedrine and its effect on athletes; a visit to a sports camp in Northern Ireland; and a profile of San Francisco 49ers QB Jeff Garcia. Corresp
Episode 56
Nov 20, 2001 · 60 min
Included: a profile of Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who lost his brother-in-law in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center; and a report on gender issues in high-school coa
Episode 57
Dec 11, 2001 · 60 min
Segments include a profile of former NBA star and current commentator Charles Barkley; a visit with Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, a former NBA player and a devout Muslim; a look at the lives