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What: “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel”

Where: HBO, tonight, 10

Bryant Gumbel, the host of the show, occasionally will do an interview if the subject warrants it. Apparently, Nolan Richardson warrants it.

Gumbel’s interview with the former Arkansas basketball coach, who was fired in March, is even-handed and thorough. The problem is Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles and all other school officials declined to be interviewed. So we get only Richardson’s side.

But Gumbel keeps things on an even keel and doesn’t let Richardson off the hook for some of his actions, including his emotional tirade at a news conference Feb. 25. Richardson claimed the media, fans and school administrators treated him unfairly because he is black.

Richardson doesn’t back off much. Asked by Gumbel if things would have been different had there been African American reporters covering him, Richardson says, “I think so. I think they’d understand me better. I think they would listen to me differently.”

Other segments include an investigation of steroid smuggling, a profile of Rasheed Wallace and a look at NFL combines.