"Coming to you live from the Sportforge home studio right here in Titan's beautiful E-District, headquarters of all things athletic in the Outer Belt, I'm Asif Hassan. // And I'm Mike Football. But enough with the introductions, let's strike while the iron's hot." Broadcasting every night on Channel 55, Asif and Mike are the hosts of Sportforge, one of the most widely-seen programs on Titan's entertainment network. Asif Hassan is a retired Venusian athlete and former star bowler for the Morroch Springheels, a cricket team from western Aiyarrouh. He's notable for having led his team to the Inner Belt Champion's Circuit Laurel Cup Finals a record eight seasons in his career, and now joins Mike Football as a sports analyst and color commentator on Sportforge. Mike Football- short for Maifubamedileer- is a Neptunian sports writer who built a career writing columns and covering sports from all corners of Sol. Mike has a great voice and vocabulary for bringing out the stories of sports some starfarers may not have heard of before, which makes him a perfect fit as the main commentator and driving force behind Sportforge.
If you're even vaguely connected to a sport you like following, you know the deal here. Sportforge opens every night with a storming, aggressive orchestral theme song and a slick graphics package; smelting, pouring and hammering the Sportforge logo onto your television screen. The camera rolls in, Asif and Mike introduce themselves and wasting no time, they jump right to the point. Sportforge is a very compact and efficient show- there are a lot of sporting events to cover and the team wants to give every event its due coverage. Depending on the revolving seasons of sports and what is currently in the hot parts of its season, different sports will enjoy the leading role as the first and biggest event to cover on a day's edition of the program. It might be cricket season, it might be basketball season, it could be curling or baseball or sepak takraw season; it could be Mercurian bare-knuckle tunnel fighting or Europan blixball championships or an always-exciting look at the year's big Callistan stonehoop tournament. His name might be Mike Football but he doesn't play favorites, no sir.
An edition of Sportforge is always filmed live and hot, fresh off the heels of the days big event. Part of the show's graphics package includes a pop-in schedule panel that highlights what sports the team plans to cover and how many minutes to go until they shift to that topic, so viewers can tune in and know exactly how long they have to get a drink or take out the trash before their preferred segment comes on. Major events are afforded more in-depth coverage, while the highlights of smaller or out-of-season events might occasionally find themselves in a "quickfire" style flash topic segment near the back nine of the show. Regardless of how much weight a given sport has, Mike Football will afford it his full sincerity, selling it to viewers with fun and faceted language, helping even Terran electronic sports feel cool and exciting. And likewise, Asif Hassan will lend his views as a former athletic professional to provide the sort of in-depth, ground-floor perspective that can only come from host who has walked the walk themselves. Guest commentators and sports analysts are often tapped for spots on Sportforge, sharing expert insight into some of the lesser-known of Sol's many sports and providing viewers the best opportunity to become new fans themselves.
One of Titan Garden's favorite topics to follow on Sportforge is, of course, the Saturn All-Boxers League. In the nights leading up to a SABLE match Asif and Mike will feature the event as one of their main topics at the start of the program- Asif Hassan will run the numbers, giving you the height, weight and armspan figures, touching on a fighter's health and physical condition, going from canvas to curtains exploring the technical elements of a given matchup in a league known for wild variables and asymmetrical strengths. Mike Football will sell you the story, he'll present the history between the two boxers, highlight their past matches, look at how they've each fared against other major figures in SABLE, he'll even gas up pre-match interviews from bouts past; is this a friendly rivalry or is someone out for revenge? Sportforge will often come on at variable times, to account for big events ending at unpredictable times, and as soon as a SABLE bout is over you can tune into Channel 55 to catch Asif and Mike's analysis of how the match played out, what the big moments were, how this might impact the rest of the league and what to look out for in the future. It's entertaining and informative, and whether you're betting on SABLE or just enjoying the show, the team at Sportforge will pull you in and help you feel like you're part of the scene. And at the end of the show, when they're all out of time, Asif Hassan and Mike Football will sign off, thanking you for joining them and reminding you to stay cool and keep the coals hot. Until next time, this, has been Sportforge. The big orchestral theme plays, the camera pulls back and pans out, and that's the show.