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What: “Real Sports With

Bryant Gumbel”

Where: HBO, Tuesday at 10 p.m.

This show has become the “60 Minutes” of sports television--it is that good.

Last month, “Real Sports” took on sports touts and exposed them as the phonies 90% of them are.

In this month’s edition, San Diego financial advisor John W. Gillette is the subject of a profile narrated by Frank Deford and produced by Trent Gillette. Gillette has been indicted on 37 counts of fraud and theft and one of forgery for allegedly stealing nearly $10 million from his high-profile clients. Dallas Cowboy defensive back Darren Woodson, HBO alleges, was bilked out of $2.5 million. San Diego Charger linebacker Junior Seau allegedly lost $1.25 million.

HBO shows how Gillette used a religious pitch to reach potential clients.

Said agent Leigh Steinberg, who had recommended clients to Gillette: “Any agent who wants to represent a player in any of the major sports needs to be certified by the union [but] there are no qualifications [required of a financial advisor].”

For another story on this show, Jim Lampley in late October sat down former Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly, Cincinnati quarterback Boomer Esiason and St. Louis quarterback Mark Rypien. All three have sons with serious medical problems.

Kelly’s 9-month-old son Hunter has Krabbe’s disease, a rare and fatal genetic disorder. Rypien’s 2-year-old son Andrew had a cancerous brain tumor removed in July. And Esiason’s 6-year-old son Gunnar has Cystic Fibrosis, an incurable genetic lung disease.

Other stories include Mary Carillo’s profile of NBA star Grant Hill and Sonja Steptoe’s look at the emergence of minority agents representing minority athletes.

One minority agent, Kevin Poston, tells Steptoe: “A lot of them [African American athletes] feel that white representation is the way to go because they’ve been taught that. You’re about to do a million-dollar deal, we’ve never had any money in this family before, you have to go to a white man. I once told one athlete that I had a swimming pool in my backyard, and he said, ‘You’re kidding, you must be a drug dealer.’ ”