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HBO: How would you describe Real Sports?
Armen Keteyian: I think it's real smart. It's real compassionate. It's real interesting. It's real tough, when it has to be. That word "real" to me is, is not found very often in television. I think we dig into reality, in the right way, in a compassionate way, in an intelligent way, a cutting-edge way, an inspiring way.
HBO: Why do you think Real Sports has been so successful?
Armen Keteyian: I think the set of correspondents, is one reason. This is an experienced, bright, top-shelf kind of a team. It's an all-star team of television right now. I think the stories are carefully picked. I think the arcs of the stories are interesting. We don't really deal with sports, as much as we deal with humanity.
We deal with the human beings and the arcs of their lives. And we are really good storytellers. I think the art of storytelling is lost on television. And I think we found it, and we have maximized it. That's why people who aren't sports fans watch Real Sports.
HBO: What's it feel like to be correspondent on Real Sports?
Armen Keteyian: Sometimes it feels like crusading journalism. I think we have all earned the right to crusade on certain topics. And that means enlightening people. It means educating people. It means bringing a balance to things. That doesn't mean offering our opinion. It means digging deeper into a story than other people are willing to go.
And if that means going nose to nose with Vince McMahon over the deaths in wrestling, then that's what we are going to do. And I will sit there and ask him the questions that I think it's right to ask him.There have been a lot of deaths in his industry. He was the biggest guy in that industry. He deserved to have those questions asked of him.
HBO: Real Sports did a story about steroids in baseball 4 years ago, did you have any idea that it would become such a major issue?
Armen Keteyian: I think you have a sense that you are breaking ground, sure. We were so far ahead of the curve on that story. Taking apart the major league baseball drug policy. Showing that 12 percent of the minor leaguers had tested positive for steroids. Having guys on camera like Gary Sheffield and other people saying, "You know what? This is a problem. There could be as many as 7 of the 25 man roster using steroids, on particular teams."
We went nose to nose with Gene Orza, one of the top union people. He didn't even want to agree that steroids were performance enhancing. That's a question you have to go, 'Gene, are you kidding me? What planet are we on here?'
HBO: How does Real Sports define heroism?
Armen Keteyian: I think we give other people hope about "heroes." We show heroes that are sort of the everyday firefighters in people's lives. An 84-year-old guy who has run countless marathons and triathlons. A young kid with no arms and no legs wrestling at a high school. Particularly today in television, where everything is so celebrity-driven.
We don't care about celebrities. Do we like doing big stories about important people? Yes. But if you don't have a story to tell us, we are not going to be listening to you. I think we do a story a month about heroes. People that have an impact on other people's lives. That's where the real joy of this show comes in: when you can entertain, and you can enlighten, and you can inspire people. Then as a journalist, I go home at night, and I sleep pretty darn well.
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Armen Keteyian
A native of Michigan, Keteyian graduated cum laude from San Diego State University in 1976.
Read Armen's bio.
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