Features on ESPN's E:60 Tuesday, Oct. 23

October 22, 2007 -- The second edition of ESPN’s first prime-time, multi-subject newsmagazine E:60 Tuesday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. ET will include the story of a “baby bullfighter” – 14-year-old Spanish matador Jairo Miguel as he returns to the ring in Mexico after being gored by a bull. In addition to Miguel’s story, the program will also feature in-depth profiles of Los Angeles Lakers executive Jeanie Buss and mercurial Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson, as well as a report on how the epidemic of gambling on a college campus can result in deadly consequences.

Additional elements on E:60 will include interstitial segments featuring University of Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan; Terrelle Pryor from Jeannette, Pa., one of the nation’s top-rated college football prospects; and Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling on how his affinity with video-games off-the-diamond has led to his creation of a game company. Highlights:

“The Laker Girl”

It's not easy being Jeanie Buss. At age 46, Buss is juggling a set of complicated relationships while running business operations for the Los Angeles Lakers. Buss father, Jerry, owns the Lakers but has handed day to day oversight to Jeanie and her brother Jim, who runs the basketball side of the club and could eventually compete with Jeanie for the top job. Jeanie is in a long-term relationship with the team's head coach, Phil Jackson, whom her father once fired. As the 2007-08 NBA season prepares to open, she is in the middle of trade rumors involving the team's superstar, Kobe Bryant. E:60 correspondent Rachel Nichols talks to Jeanie, her father and Jackson, for a profile of the woman who may someday run one of the most storied franchises in sports.

“This is what happens when you date someone in your work … You know, mixing business and pleasure is not advised. I’m probably the poster child for don’t do it." – Jeanie Buss on traversing the delicate balance of managing her family’s (dad and brother) interest against the needs of her boyfriend, Lakers’ coach Jackson.

"Baby Bulfighters"

Against a backdrop of visuals that are in turn stunningly beautiful and shocking, E:60 correspondent Jeremy Schaap follows 14-year-old Spanish matador Jairo Miguel as he returns to the ring in Mexico following a goring by a bull. That goring came within a centimeter of Jairo Miguel's aorta and nearly cost the boy his life.

Jairo Miguel is among a growing number of “Baby Bullfighters” who are being lured to the sport by both tradition and the chance to make millions of dollars. Many, like Jairo Miguel, migrate to Mexico because it is illegal for children under the age of 16 to fight adult bulls in Spain. But that practice, human rights advocates tell Schaap, violates international law.

"I saw that surgeons put their hands inside him and they grabbed his heart and with five fingers they squeezed his heart like this …" – Miguel’s father, Antonio, about how close his son was to a severed heart that would have led to death.

"Ocho Cinco”

The flamboyant Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson gives E:60 correspondent Michael Smith unprecedented access to his personal life, including time with his young children, whom Johnson admits he rarely sees because of his obsession with becoming the best receiver in football.

"Deadly Bet"

E:60 correspondent Lisa Salters examines how the epidemic of gambling on college campuses can result in deadly consequences. The center-point of her report is Madison, Wisc., where an addiction to sports gambling led a University of Wisconsin freshman to shoot to death three young people over debts totaling more than $75,000. Meng Ju "Mark" Wu was arrested for the murders but killed himself on the eve of his trial, leaving behind three grieving families and a trail of evidence that underlined how easy it is for college students today to accumulate thousands of dollars in gambling debts.

About E:60

E:60 is ESPN’s first multi-subject, prime-time newsmagazine program offering a combination of investigative features, profiles of intriguing sports personalities, and cutting-edge stories on innovation in the sports world, including emerging sports and new technology. The series focuses on life stories that relate or have a basis in sports, melding its stories with a glimpse of the reporters’ experiences – discussing the story idea with producers, creating storylines and shooting the interviews. The show is produced and aired in high definition, a first for the newsmagazine genre. By turning the camera on the reporters, the program gives the viewer a unique behind-the-scenes look at television storytelling.

Source: ESPN

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