GOOD SPORTS: Tiant's emotional return to Cuba

This almost makes up for all the hyperventilating ESP-heads screaming at each other to beat the clock . . .

ESPN presents a moving documentary portrait of pitcher Luis Tiant's return to his native Cuba after 46 years in exile, The Lost Son of Havana (Monday at 10 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN Deportes). The legendary Red Sox hurler left for America's big leagues in 1961 -- his father had earlier played in the Negro Leagues -- and couldn't secure permission to return until 2007.

It sounds obvious that today's Cuba is not at all the land Tiant left back in the Kennedy era, but the film's emotional impact is nonetheless profound. Tiant makes bittersweet personal discoveries that speak for thousands of souls and families torn apart by five decades of political barriers forcing tough choices. (Watch a preview here.)

HBO keeps its eyes on the games people play, too, with a continuing slate of sports programming leaning more toward brains than brawn. Hardknocks: Training Camp With the Cincinnati Bengals (Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET, HBO) returns this week for another season of instant behind-the-scenes documentary of the NFL preseason.

Also continuing is HBO's monthly sports magazine series Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel (Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 10 p.m. ET, HBO), this time reporting on the Florida boating disaster that killed two NFLers in February, as well as the comeback of Little League in L.A.'s inner city. The August edition also updates Frank Deford's heartwarming tale of a special ed student who worked his way up from high school basketball go-fer to full-fledged player hitting a storybook three-pointer.

And if you haven't seen HBO's fascinating documentary portrait of Ted Williams -- the Red Sox hall-of-famer, .400 hitter, inscrutable personality and cryogenic poster child -- try to catch this week's repeat of Ted Williams (Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. ET, HBO2; also available via HBO On Demand through Aug. 23).