For those of you who get HBO, there will be a special episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel that airs tonight (Tuesday) at 10 p.m. eastern. It's about the early deaths of three champion boxers who all died within weeks of each other last year. Vernon Forrest, who beat Shane Mosley several years ago and became world champion, is one of the boxers who died...he was murdered here in Atlanta last summer. HBO sent Bryant Gumbel here to Atlanta to do the part about Vernon Forrest.
Through my internship with Crawford Communications, I worked as a Production Assistant when the episode was filmed here in Atlanta 2 weeks ago. I got to meet Bryant Gumbel (who is really nice) and assisted in a number of interviews including Evander Holyfield which we filmed in his mansion. It was really cool to be behind-the-scenes and see how these interviews are set up and conducted, how the lighting is set up, etc. Because I was a Production Assistant, my name should be in the credits. There's a scene where Bryant Gumbel was speaking about the Vernon Forrest case and he was in front of the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta. I was just off-camera during that scene holding the reflector that bounced light on the left side of his face. Just so you know I was there, he states that two law enforcement officials canceled the interview that was planned that day, and it has become a hot political topic.
Even if you don't care about sports at least you can say you knew someone who was involved in the production and was just off camera for much of the show.....
If you happen to miss it I believe it will be replayed later this week or weekend.