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What: “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel”

Where: HBO, tonight, 10:15-11:15

The latest edition of HBO’s award-winning sports magazine show offers four fascinating, well-researched and expertly reported stories. The lead story examines the dangers of Androstenedione (Andro), there is a profile of Lou Holtz and another of Jimmy Johnson, and there is a story of a discrimination suit against the Orlando Magic filed by an assistant coach who claims he was fired because he is white.

The Andro story is a must-see for any young athlete who is taking or thinking about taking the muscle-building supplement made famous by Mark McGwire. It boosts levels of testosterone, but at what price?

A doctor from NYU Medical School, interviewed by HBO correspondent Bernard Goldberg, says, “Androstenedione is a steroid. It’s not like a steroid, it is a steroid.”

High school athletes in Greenwich, Conn., and West Monroe, La., are interviewed by Goldberg, and most are either ignorant about the side effects or willing to take their chances.

In the pieces on Holtz, the former Notre Dame and current South Carolina coach, and Johnson, the Miami Dolphin coach, we see two very high-strung coaches, and HBO doesn’t pull any punches, particularly in the Holtz piece. A team doctor at Minnesota, where Holtz once coached, claims Holtz put injured players at risk just to win games. Holtz calls the doctor a liar.

The Johnson piece, done by Frank Deford, presents a picture of a coach who has softened since the death of his mother last season and who wants to spend more time with his two sons, who he has neglected most of his life.

The story of George Scholz, the former assistant who was fired by the Magic in 1992 and is now awaiting a second trial in a long, drawn-out case, is every bit as interesting as the others. This edition of “Real Sports” is a real winner.