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What: “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel”

Where: HBO

When: Tuesday, 10 p.m.

HBO scores with a Bank One shot in this latest edition of its award-winning magazine show, examining the politics behind the building of Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix. In a segment reported by Armen Keteyian and produced by Matt Maranz, viewers learn how Arizona Diamondback owner Jerry Colangelo was able to get taxpayers to build a $250-million ballpark. In 1989, Phoenix residents voted down a sales-tax resolution that would have provided money to build the park, and on top of that a proposition was later passed to prevent the use of tax money. So the state legislature--”in the dark of night”--changed the jurisdiction from city to county so all that was needed was approval by the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors. Colangelo got the approval despite vehement objections from taxpayers. Two of the three supervisors who voted for the ballpark did not get reelected and the third, Mary Rose Wilcox, was shot by a crazed fanatic during a board meeting. The shooting was caught on tape. The fanatic acknowledged he was out to stop Colangelo.

Colangelo sits down with Keteyian for an interview, but he walks off muttering an expletive when Keteyian brings up how much Colangelo stands to make. Keteyian reports it will be $11 million a year by 2003.

Other segments include Jim Lampley’s report on Jack LaLanne, 83 and still kicking; Larry Merchant’s report on the dangers of smokeless tobacco, and Mary Carillo’s report on sports-talk radio.

The sports-talk segment focuses on Philadelphia’s WIP, the city’s second most-popular station. This segment reinforces what is already known--that sports-talk radio is more about entertainment than journalism and credible reporting. WIP’s Howard Eskin acknowledges he would like to see his business “be more concerned with facts.” Among the critics of sports-talk radio interviewed by Carillo is Ed Snider, the chairman of the Philadelphia Flyers who sued WIP after the station claimed Eric Lindros missed a game because he was drunk. WIP was forced to issue an apology.