REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL
PROFILES EAGLES SNAPPER AND PROFESSIONAL MAGICIAN JON DORENBOS;
GOES ONE-ON-ONE WITH SKATEBOARDING ENTREPRENEUR ROB DYRDEK; AND
RECONNECTS WITH NICK SCHUYLER, LONE SURVIVOR OF A BOATING
ACCIDENT THAT TOOK THE LIVES OF THREE FOOTBALL PLAYERS
WHEN THE EMMY®-WINNING SHOW RETURNS AUG. 19, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO
REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL, TV’s most honored sports journalism series, continues its 20th season with more enterprising features and reporting when the show’s 209th edition debuts at a special time TUESDAY, AUG. 19 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.
For the up-to-the-minute updates about REAL SPORTS, follow on Twitter at @RealSportsHBOor join the conversation using #RealSports.
Segments include:
*Magic Man. Now in his 12th NFL season, Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro long snapper Jon Dorenbos has been a largely anonymous but steady special teams player in a league known for constant personnel turnover. Despite his success on the field, however, Dorenbos’ love of magic has defined his life, offering the salvation that helped him through the darkest moments of his childhood. During a seemingly picture-perfect upbringing in the suburbs of Seattle, his life changed forever when his father beat his mother to death with a power tool in a fit of rage. Attempting to cheer up the reeling adolescent, a friend introduced Dorenbos to the art of magic and he instantly became hooked. Host Bryant Gumbel sits down with Jon Dorenbos to hear about the impact of magic and football on his life and witness firsthand his mastery of trickery and illusion.
Producer: Chapman Downes.
*Peter Pan on Wheels. When Rob Dyrdek first took up skateboarding almost three decades ago, he never imagined the sport would transform him from high-school dropout to professional skateboarder, MTV star, multi-million-dollar brand endorser and sports-league founder. After a successful run as a pro skateboarder, his MTV show “Rob & Big” debuted in 2006; based on a sketch he created for DC Shoes, his main sponsor, it’s one of the most successful shows in the network’s history. In 2009, the southern California resident launched another MTV show, “Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory,” which is about to begin shooting its seventh season. But his most significant contribution to the sport came in 2010 when he founded Street League Skateboarding in an effort to establish skateboarding as a true competitive sport. It subsequently became an internationally recognized league and began a multi-year deal with Fox Sports1 this year. REAL SPORTS correspondent Jon Frankel goes one-on-one with the 40-year-old entrepreneur to learn more about his tremendous impact on the skateboarding industry, and vice-versa.
Producer: Maggie Burbank.
*Lone Survivor. In Aug. 2009, REAL SPORTS correspondent Bernard Goldberg sat down with former University of South Florida football player Nick Schuyler for an exclusive, extended interview as he spoke for the first time about the harrowing boating accident that claimed the lives of three friends and nearly took his own. On Feb. 28, 2009, Schuyler and Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, free-agent NFL defensive lineman Corey Smith and former South Florida teammate Will Bleakley headed out to the Gulf of Mexico for a day of fishing. But a tragic mistake caused the boat to capsize and the four men clung to the overturned hull as a storm battered them through the night. When the Coast Guard finally discovered the vessel 46 hours later, it was 70 miles west of Tampa, and Schuyler was the only one left alive.
Since the accident, however, his account and motives have been questioned by the victims’ families, with whom he has no relationship. He later recounted his story in a 2010 memoir, and a big-budget movie starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Schuyler is currently in development. REAL SPORTS correspondent Bernard Goldberg reconnects with the former football player, who is now one of the highest-ranked competitors in the fitness craze CrossFit, to see how he has picked up the pieces of his life.
Producers: Josh Fine, Nick Dolin, Joe Perskie.
Other HBO playdates: Aug. 19 (11:00 p.m.), 21 (8:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m.), 23 (10:30 a.m.), 25 (4:45 p.m.), 27 (4:05 a.m.) and 31 (10:30 a.m.), and Sept. 3 (8:00 p.m.), 11 (1:00 p.m.) and 16 (12:30 a.m.)
HBO2 playdates: Aug. 22 (1:30 p.m.), 24 (8:30 a.m.), 27 (8:00 p.m.) and 28 (8:15 a.m.), and Sept. 2(6:00 p.m.), 6 (3:30 p.m.), 9 (12:30 a.m.), 18 (1:30 p.m.) and 20 (3:00 a.m.)
REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL is available on multiple platforms, including HBO On Demand® and HBO GO®.
REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL
PROFILES EAGLES SNAPPER AND PROFESSIONAL MAGICIAN JON DORENBOS
WHEN THE EMMY®-WINNING SHOW RETURNS TUESDAY ON HBO
REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL continues its 20th season with more enterprising features and reporting when the show’s 209th edition debuts at a special time TUESDAY, AUG. 19 (9:00 p.m. ET/PT & 8:00 p.m. CT) on HBO.
Segments include:
*Magic Man. Now in his 12th NFL season, Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro long snapper Jon Dorenbos has been a largely anonymous but steady special teams player in a league known for constant personnel turnover. Despite his success on the field, however, Dorenbos’ love of magic has defined his life, offering the salvation that helped him through the darkest moments of his childhood. During a seemingly picture-perfect upbringing in the suburbs of Seattle, his life changed forever when his father beat his mother to death with a power tool in a fit of rage. Attempting to cheer up the reeling adolescent, a friend introduced Dorenbos to the art of magic and he instantly became hooked.
Producer: Chapman Downes.
Watch the exclusive web clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYeZ36Kh-gE&list=UUWPQB43yGKEum3eW0P9N_nQ
Embed-able Link:<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/EYeZ36Kh-gE?list=UUWPQB43yGKEum3eW0P9N_nQ” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
EXCERPTS:
JON DORENBOS: When people ask me what I do for a living and– they’re, ‘Oh, a long snapper.’ They, ‘Well, what’s that?’ And I’d be like, ‘Well, you know the guy who kicks it? ‘Oh, yeah.’ ‘I’m not that cool. You know the guy that holds it?’ ‘Oh, yeah.’ ‘Yeah. I’m not that cool, either. I’m the guy that kinda looks between my legs and I snap it.’ And people will be like, huh?
HBO’s BRYANT GUMBEL: You are almost inarguably, the most anonymous person in pro football?
JON DORENBOS: Love it. Love it.
Voiceover
He may play his football in Philly … but Dorenbos takes his magic act all over the country …
BRYANT GUMBEL: So, finish this for me: but for magic, I’d have…
JON DORENBOS: Wow. An empty part of my soul.
BRYANT GUMBEL: It was empty and magic filled it?
JON DORENBOS: Yeah. I attribute who I am today to what magic did for me at the worst time and the lowest time of my life.
Voiceover
That lowest point came 12 years into Jon Dorenbos’ life … a life that played out in an idyllic suburb outside of Seattle … his mom, Kathy, was a librarian … his dad, Alan, worked at Microsoft and was president of the local little league.
But everything changed dramatically back in August of 1992 when young Jon returned home from playing touch football with friends.
JON DORENBOS: August 2nd is a date I’ll never forget.
BRYANT GUMBEL: You came home. Dad said, ‘Mom went for a walk.’ You and your dad played cards, played chess.
JON DORENBOS: Yep.
BRYANT GUMBEL: He seem normal?
JON DORENBOS: Yeah. Totally normal.
BRYANT GUMBEL: Had your mom ever gone for a nighttime walk before?
JON DORENBOS: No.
BRYANT GUMBEL: So, when he said, ‘Mom’s out goin’ for a walk,’ bells didn’t go off in your head?
JON DORENBOS: No. As a kid you don’t see the evil side of life yet.
Voiceover
The next morning Kathy Dorenbos was still gone … which is when Jon noticed that his baseball gear was not in the garage, where it had always been, but had been instead, brought inside, by his father …
JON DORENBOS: Everything in the garage that I would’ve needed was on the kitchen table. Then he walked me up to the top of the driveway, said goodbye, And he probably knew what his future held. And I had no idea what mine did.
Voiceover
Jon Dorenbos had no idea that while he’d been playing football the night before … his parents had argued and his father had snapped …
{SOT local news}
“Alan Dorenbos turned himself into King County police this morning and showed them the body of his wife.”
In a fit of anger, Alan Dorenbos had beat his wife to death with a power tool, stuffed her in a sleeping bag and hid her in the trunk of the family car …
During questioning he confessed to the police …
{ALAN DORENBOS SOT – Police tapes}
“I knew that I killed her … and I knew my son was going to be coming home … and I couldn’t let Jonathan see her like that …”
BRYANT GUMBEL: All of us– saw our parents fight, argue, you must have?
JON DORENBOS: No more than any– probably anybody else. I didn’t live in a violent house. I didn’t live in an angry house.
BRYANT GUMBEL: The therapist that was assigned to you, John Walter was of the belief that rather than shield you from all that was going on, you would be better served if he immersed you in the process.
JON DORENBOS: Yeah.
BRYANT GUMBEL: So, that meant testifying.
JON DORENBOS: I remember saying ‘Will this help end this?’ And they said, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘Okay. I’ll do it.’
BRYANT GUMBEL: Were you in court every day?
JON DORENBOS: Yeah.
BRYANT GUMBEL: Forgive me. Because there’s no gentle way of asking this. You saw your mom’s autopsy photos?
JON DORENBOS: Uh-huh. I don’t think there’s anything in life that’ll ever be harder than that. I peeked at it. And I just closed the folder and slid it away.
BRYANT GUMBEL: You peeked. You didn’t stare?
JON DORENBOS: That’s all I needed. And I went out to a cliff at Puget Sound. And I remember just sittin’ on the cliff. And I just screamed.
Voiceover
At his trial Alan Dorenbos testified that he killed his wife in self-defense … the jury didn’t buy it …
{SOT: “We find the defendant Alan Dorenbos guilty of murder in the second degree”}
He was sentenced to 13 years in prison … Meaning that at the age of 12, Jon had effectively lost both of his parents … desperate for answers he and his older sister Krissy confronted their father in the state penitentiary at Walla Walla.
Voiceover
Depressed by tragedy, young Jon’s life only began to change when a family friend, in an attempt to cheer Dorenbos up, introduced him to magic …
Dorenbos was hooked …
JON DORENBOS: I would record these magic specials on TV. And then, I could put the VCR in late at night, and I could watch the magic shows, and I could try and figure ‘em out. I would go in my room for hours and hours and hours. I would literally have a little flashlight. And my sister and I shared a room. And she would be– she’d fall asleep. And I’d click this flashlight on. And then, all of a sudden, I’d look over at the clock and it’s 6:00 in the morning and I gotta go to school at, like, 7:40. And I’d be like, ‘Holy cow.’ Boom.
KRISSY DORENBOS (his sister): I swear there was a couple of times that he intentionally broke dishes when it was his turn to do the dishes so that he could be sent to his room so that he could practice his magic. (laughs)
JON DORENBOS: It was this place that I could go that nothing else around me mattered. It gave me a purpose. It gave me something that didn’t reject me. It gave me something that I could work at and I could see a progression and I could master.