About Standing 8 Count
Show Title: “Standing 8 Count”
Length: 30 Minutes/Weekly
Created by: AJ Vittone
PROPOSAL/MISSION STATEMENT
Created in December of 2003, “Standing 8 Count” is, what many believe to be, the First Ever News/Magazine Program (designed for a national television audience) devoted entirely to the sport of Boxing!
Finally, the sport of Boxing will have what many other professional sports have had for decades … And that’s a weekly television news program tailored specifically to the fans. A program that will recap the previous week and preview the upcoming week with a plethora of highlights, sound bites, feature stories, expert analysis, in-studio guests, human interest segments, etc.
Much like ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” is to Major League Baseball, HBO’s “Inside The NFL” is to NFL Football and TNT’s “Inside The NBA” is to NBA Basketball, “Standing 8 Count” will serve that very same purpose for the sport of Professional Boxing.
The mission of “Standing 8 Count” is to provide Boxers and their fans with a (first of its kind) national television program that delivers the latest news, highlights, gossip while profiling the established as well as “up and coming” fighters throughout the country.
The program’s goal is to develop a “cult-like” following immediately and as a direct result, increase the sport’s popularity and at the same time, help to place the sport of Boxing “back on the map” in this country!
Boxing has been severely neglected by the mainstream media (television especially) since the late 1980’s and “Standing 8 Count” will serve as the perfect vehicle to increase awareness for the sport of Boxing and in doing so, increase the popularity of today’s fighters. At the moment, you can make the argument that no such vehicle exists for fighters in this country (within the television media) and that is the main reason why “Standing 8 Count” was created.
“Standing 8 Count” will also return the sport of Boxing back into American Pop Culture and serve as a launching pad to catapult today’s talented and charismatic fighters (many of whom are virtually unknown) to a level of super stardom in the world of sports and entertainment.
To put it simply, boxing needs a vehicle to create stars and showcase personalities and “Standing 8 Count” will be that vehicle.
“Standing 8 Count” is the brainchild of Veteran Television Sportscaster, AJ Vittone, who will serve as the program’s Host. Many in the sport believe, due to his energetic style of sportscasting, that AJ Vittone is the perfect Television Personality to help revive the sport and make it hip and popular again in this country. Boxing has always been AJ’s passion and with his “animated personality” and his trademark “tongue and cheek” delivery, along with his love for writing comedy sketches and his knack for adopting from trends and catch phrases of popular culture, “Standing 8 Count”, will be the perfect blend of Boxing and Pop Culture and as a result, it will have the ability to attract a large number of “non-boxing” and “non-sports” viewers as well.
Legendary Boxing Historian & Writer, Bert Sugar, will serve as a “Special Guest” to the program and will appear each week to offer his expert analysis and to help promote upcoming fights. Sugar, known for his trademark fedora hat and cigar, was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in January 2005 and has written over 60 books on the history of Boxing. In addition to serving as a television analyst for several cable networks, Sugar has also appeared in several films including, “Night and the City”, “The Great White Hype”, “Play it to the Bone” and “Rocky Balboa."
The plan is to have “Standing 8 Count” air Live-To-Tape from a mobile studio assembled on location inside of a boxing gymnasium. The program, which will mirror that of a typical and traditional sports news program, will take place from an anchor desk where AJ will deliver the week’s biggest boxing stories and fight highlights along with “Man On The Street” reactions, feature stories, boxer profiles and pre-recorded comedy skits and sketches.
AJ will also interview boxers, boxing writers/analysts and other celebrities from the world of sports and entertainment during the program, regardless of whether the interviews take place Live in the studio or via satellite.
With a “non traditional” style of sports interviewing, AJ will make a conscious effort to showcase the “comical side” of today’s flamboyant boxing personalities by asking them “non boxing related” questions along with the “traditional” boxing questions and requesting that they appear in Live and or pre-taped comedy sketches that will appear during the guest interview segment. Thus, creating the opportunity to adopt from popular culture and appeal to the non-boxing fan as well as the everyday boxing enthusiast.
Whether it’s on-line or in-studio, viewers will have an opportunity to participate in each and every episode. For example, viewers will be asked to vote for various award nominations including; “The Most Bizarre Sound bite of The Week”, “The Best Tattoo”, “The Best Hair-Do”, “The Best and Worst Dressed”, etc. There will also be a Boxing trivia question that will appear during each episode. Prizes will of course be awarded to all the winning participants.
There will also be “Commentary” that will appear at the end of the broadcast entitled, “Below The Belt”, in which AJ and his special guest Bert Sugar will “sound off” on the week’s hottest boxing stories and fights, etc. and offer their picks on the week’s upcoming fights.
The bottom line is, there needs to be a “Bible of Boxing” on television and “Standing 8 Count” would serve that very purpose.
Length: 30 Minutes/Weekly
Created by: AJ Vittone
PROPOSAL/MISSION STATEMENT
Created in December of 2003, “Standing 8 Count” is, what many believe to be, the First Ever News/Magazine Program (designed for a national television audience) devoted entirely to the sport of Boxing!
Finally, the sport of Boxing will have what many other professional sports have had for decades … And that’s a weekly television news program tailored specifically to the fans. A program that will recap the previous week and preview the upcoming week with a plethora of highlights, sound bites, feature stories, expert analysis, in-studio guests, human interest segments, etc.
Much like ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” is to Major League Baseball, HBO’s “Inside The NFL” is to NFL Football and TNT’s “Inside The NBA” is to NBA Basketball, “Standing 8 Count” will serve that very same purpose for the sport of Professional Boxing.
The mission of “Standing 8 Count” is to provide Boxers and their fans with a (first of its kind) national television program that delivers the latest news, highlights, gossip while profiling the established as well as “up and coming” fighters throughout the country.
The program’s goal is to develop a “cult-like” following immediately and as a direct result, increase the sport’s popularity and at the same time, help to place the sport of Boxing “back on the map” in this country!
Boxing has been severely neglected by the mainstream media (television especially) since the late 1980’s and “Standing 8 Count” will serve as the perfect vehicle to increase awareness for the sport of Boxing and in doing so, increase the popularity of today’s fighters. At the moment, you can make the argument that no such vehicle exists for fighters in this country (within the television media) and that is the main reason why “Standing 8 Count” was created.
“Standing 8 Count” will also return the sport of Boxing back into American Pop Culture and serve as a launching pad to catapult today’s talented and charismatic fighters (many of whom are virtually unknown) to a level of super stardom in the world of sports and entertainment.
To put it simply, boxing needs a vehicle to create stars and showcase personalities and “Standing 8 Count” will be that vehicle.
“Standing 8 Count” is the brainchild of Veteran Television Sportscaster, AJ Vittone, who will serve as the program’s Host. Many in the sport believe, due to his energetic style of sportscasting, that AJ Vittone is the perfect Television Personality to help revive the sport and make it hip and popular again in this country. Boxing has always been AJ’s passion and with his “animated personality” and his trademark “tongue and cheek” delivery, along with his love for writing comedy sketches and his knack for adopting from trends and catch phrases of popular culture, “Standing 8 Count”, will be the perfect blend of Boxing and Pop Culture and as a result, it will have the ability to attract a large number of “non-boxing” and “non-sports” viewers as well.
Legendary Boxing Historian & Writer, Bert Sugar, will serve as a “Special Guest” to the program and will appear each week to offer his expert analysis and to help promote upcoming fights. Sugar, known for his trademark fedora hat and cigar, was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in January 2005 and has written over 60 books on the history of Boxing. In addition to serving as a television analyst for several cable networks, Sugar has also appeared in several films including, “Night and the City”, “The Great White Hype”, “Play it to the Bone” and “Rocky Balboa."
The plan is to have “Standing 8 Count” air Live-To-Tape from a mobile studio assembled on location inside of a boxing gymnasium. The program, which will mirror that of a typical and traditional sports news program, will take place from an anchor desk where AJ will deliver the week’s biggest boxing stories and fight highlights along with “Man On The Street” reactions, feature stories, boxer profiles and pre-recorded comedy skits and sketches.
AJ will also interview boxers, boxing writers/analysts and other celebrities from the world of sports and entertainment during the program, regardless of whether the interviews take place Live in the studio or via satellite.
With a “non traditional” style of sports interviewing, AJ will make a conscious effort to showcase the “comical side” of today’s flamboyant boxing personalities by asking them “non boxing related” questions along with the “traditional” boxing questions and requesting that they appear in Live and or pre-taped comedy sketches that will appear during the guest interview segment. Thus, creating the opportunity to adopt from popular culture and appeal to the non-boxing fan as well as the everyday boxing enthusiast.
Whether it’s on-line or in-studio, viewers will have an opportunity to participate in each and every episode. For example, viewers will be asked to vote for various award nominations including; “The Most Bizarre Sound bite of The Week”, “The Best Tattoo”, “The Best Hair-Do”, “The Best and Worst Dressed”, etc. There will also be a Boxing trivia question that will appear during each episode. Prizes will of course be awarded to all the winning participants.
There will also be “Commentary” that will appear at the end of the broadcast entitled, “Below The Belt”, in which AJ and his special guest Bert Sugar will “sound off” on the week’s hottest boxing stories and fights, etc. and offer their picks on the week’s upcoming fights.
The bottom line is, there needs to be a “Bible of Boxing” on television and “Standing 8 Count” would serve that very purpose.