Coffee Is For Closers: HBO's "Real Sports" Profiles SI's Peter King

Three million readers check out King's "Monday Morning Quarterback" column each week

SI's Peter King was profiled on Tuesday night’s edition of HBO “Real Sports,” and HBO's Mary Carillo said of King's “Monday Morning Quarterback” column, “Three million readers click on King every week, which is as many subscribers as there are to the entire Sports Illustrated magazine.” Carillo added King’s “blend of exclusive up-to-the-minute news and commentary has also made him the marquee info man” for NBC’s “FNIA.”  He also was named the ’10 Sportswriter of the Year. Carillo: “Perhaps more impressive than any of it is how the middle-aged former print reporter transformed himself into a blogging, Twittering and Facebooking sensation.” King: “I’m better in this media age because I get this business: The immediacy, the volume with some quality in it and the ability to write a lot.” Former NFL coach Bill Parcells said of King, “I’ve come to learn over the years that I was probably wrong about him in that he wanted the story but he would not compromise everything personally to get it. That’s why people are willing to engage with him and to help him because I found him to be a very trustworthy person.” King: “While I want to break as many stories as I can, I don’t view that as my absolute primary job. I think my primary job is to try to put the game and the people in it in some perspective, and in trying to help people understand the game a little bit more.” Following the taped segment on King, Carillo told “Real Sports” host Bryant Gumbel in-studio, “He knows that there are some people who don’t care about some of the stuff he writes about and he accepts that.” Carillo said “there’s no offseason in football, and that’s the whole point” of King’s "MMQB” column (“Real Sports,” HBO, 1/25).