YO BRO IT’S ME LITTY

I was lucky enough to be invited by my friend Roy to the Yankee/Mets subway series finale at Citifield on Sunday night. While it certainly isn’t the same to enter the stadium as a paying customer (actually I didn’t even pay but I did have a ticket) it was well worth it. We had great seats - first row about half way between first base and the foul pole. I looked one section over and saw the Mad Dog himself (btw, I forgot to mention that Kosh and I saw Francesa as we were leaving the stadium last game) sitting a section down the line and smirked to myself because I had better seats than that blowhard.

About the only guy who had a better view in the whole ballpark was Chad the Ball Boy who was a few feet in front of us. Naturally, Chad and Roy are the closest of friends. It seems as though Chad is well on his way to a satisfying life as a Nihilist as he sat emotionless in his seat throughout the game. His job consists of warming Sheff up between innings and grabbing a relief pitcher’s jacket from the bullpen. To do this, Chad remains extraordinarily hydrated by drinking three or four Gatorades and a few bottles of water during the game. (Taking piss tests for the team perhaps?) He also put down a pack of sunflower seeds, skittles and huge wads of Big League Chew. All that being said, I’m convinced Chad can do a better job at first base than Daniel Murphy who looks completely lost in the big leagues.

The game was a typical drawn out affair but somehow remained close despite the Yanks being right on top of Livan Hernandez’s Cuban junk. Robbie Canoe roped four straight line drive grounders to Castillo that turned into two double plays and six outs and kept the Mets in the game. Interestingly, Canoe wasn’t that far off from tying Joe Torre record of 4 double plays in one game (had to look that one up).

The Yanks brought Rivera in to try and collect his 500th career save with one of his patented four out performance. He easily got out of the jam in the 8th and the Mets countered with K-Rod who had trouble finding the plate and somehow found himself facing Mariano Rivera with the bases loaded and two outs. Rivera has just two career at bats with his second one coming just last week. I happened to be watching the game as Melky outfitted Rivera with batting gloves, helmet, bats and instructions on the signs. Sabathia and Pettite watched with amusement in the dugout as Rivera lined out to center. Mariano is just as graceful at the plate as he is on the mound and can eve make hitting look simple. My guess is that if he was a centerfielder he would swipe 30 bases per year.

I’ll let my mobile video below tell the rest of the story. (If you reading this in an email click here.)

On another note — I find myself whipping out my Blackberry 8900 quite often to record the highlights of my life. I have about ten :30 second clips in the last few months. I find the long term implications of this really interesting. Unwittingly, I’m creating my lifetime highlight reel. If this continues I can only imagine the narrative these video clips will be able to tell over the course of a few years, decades, etc. Perhaps the greatest benefit of facebook will be as the ultimate digital scrapbook/biography of one’s life. It warms my heart to know that my great grandkids will know that ole Littyhoops had deep compassion for Johnny the Chicken before he was slaughtered.

Anyway, LET’S GO MO and congrats to Mariano on his 500th save. I remember back to when he was a struggling rookie as a starter before he had a breakout playoff series in ‘95 that set him up for his masterful ‘96 season as Wetland’s dominant setup guy.

I’ve been aimlessly chirping away on Twitter for awhile now. Make no mistake, my random tweets are extraordinarily unexceptional as I ponder man vs. mosquito or the physical beauty of brothers Van Gundy.

But I certainly have been learning firsthand about the Twitter platform and how people are interacting and communicating in interesting new ways. Tweeting has proven invaluable for thinking up new ideas for the Sportsvite community. For example, I want to create an up to the minute twitter ringer alert to connect teams needing last minute subs with people looking to play sports that day. I also have begun including twitter applications and integrations into many of the Sportsvite sponsorship proposals. I’ve even been tweeting with NBA player Charlie Villanueva about potential business opportunities. In fact @CV31 told me that “we’re all big shots if we take big shots…”

I have one twitter idea that I’ve been thinking an awful lot about these days. I’ll call it Fantweetsy (or Fantwitsy) Sports. As you can probably figure out Fantweetsy Sports is a Fantasy sports game based on the twitter platform. (And yes, I’ve already purchased the domain names).

Before I get into the details I want to first break down a new trend in how people are watching television. No longer do people just sit on the couch and passively watch tv. They now actively watch television by using a second device. This device isn’t your cable box (cable companies are dropping the ball here!) but rather it is your laptop or mobile device. Think about how you follow your fantasy team online as you watch sports or tweeting/texting/BBM habits during your favorite television show. Perhaps you’re doing a completely different task online that isn’t related to what you are watching on television. Um, facebook? If you aren’t doing any of this stuff or don’t think this is a trend I dare you to find me a person born after 1985 who just stares at the Idiot Box mesmerized - it just doesn’t happen anymore.

Television is still the dominant medium for mass media. Look at the ratings for the NBA Finals, Monday Night Football or just about any major sporting event. The audience numbers are in the millions. Even more intriguing is that sports are DVR proof. People want to watch sports live. So every night of the week hundreds of thousands of sports fans are watching their favorite team on television while they twitter/twiddle their thumbs looking for something to do on their second (computer) or third (mobile) screen. This is where I believe a Twitter Fantasy game will do exceptionally well.

The power and success of Fantasy Sports is well documented (check out my thoughts). There are already all kinds of fantasy games from full-featured draft leagues to addicting, quick play games like ESPN Streak For The Cash or MLB Beat The Streak. But there is no current fantasy game that allows fans to play and interact in real time while the game is unfolding.

I haven’t yet figured out the exact rules for a Fantasy Twitter sports game. Let’s take an NBA finals game as a possible example though. Anytime before the game a user could send a tweet with five players’ names or numbers in the order of who they think would score the most points (or fill up the entire stat sheet if the game uses multiple categories). At any point during the game a user has a certain number of substitutions for reserves (in that same game) so you can sub in and out players just as the coaches are doing. To make a sub you just send a tweet with the switch. Certain characters and hash tags would signify tweets that apply to the game. Throughout the game stats will be accumulated and fantasy scores will be determined for the game.

A similar model could work for any sport. Even if these rules are a little shaky, I’m sure with some more thought we could come up with something really good. Perhaps a even more simplified version of a twitter fantasy game is just tweeting three players who you think will hit a Home Run that night and track progress throughout the season.

While this may sound interesting as a way to follow along for the NBA Finals think about a mid-season Big Monday college basketball game on ESPN. All of a sudden you can flip to ESPN and be instantly engaged in any sports event on television. You might actually have a reason to give a damn about the random BYU vs. TCU Mountain West conference game.

Since Twitter is an open platform building something like this is quite possible. Check out Twackle or StockTwits as examples of online communities built on top of the Twitter platform. The details definitely need to be flushed out from both a user and development standpoint.

Let’s see how this fits into my digital framework for my web ideas…

Digital crack- Check. Fantasy amazes me in that it is as addicting as gambling even though it’s not really gambling (people often play for the game instead of the money). Add to that the instant gratification, ease of play, and real time reporting and it’s certainly time to heat up the spoon!

Core Strengths - My personal skills and value would be in creating the rules of the game, developing the product and mucho marketing and PR. Development and design would be relatively limited (famous last words).

Social Media - It’s twitter. Little birdies sitting on branches chirping away. This is how Bird Flu spread and the game would be naturally viral.

SEO - Hm, not sure about this one. Perhaps twitter search is the new S in SEO.
Cult Community - Twitter just might be the biggest cult since Jim Jones’ Kool Aid party. The way people enjoy Fantasy and the explosion of twitter marries two incredible hot trends.

A&O - I guess in a way this application will be aggregating/organizing all the televised sports events and bringing them together. Granted, this is a bit of a stretch in that this business isn’t really creating efficiencies in information. I need to think about this some more.

Moral Mission/Passion - Not saving the world here but definitely would be doing something that is both cool and fun.

Revenue - Not sure yet. I’m very intrigued by a subscription fee possibility (while staying away from gambling). It could get dicey to rely on sponsorship opportunity (and hence immediate audience growth) and we’re past the days of just building something with no direct monetization strategy.

Major Concerns

#1 - Twitter 4 Life?
Building a business on top of a private platform (which is really just another business) can always be a bit risky. Who knows how twitter evolves and grows. But I also had the same concerns about Facebook and remember being baffled by a Facebook App conference right when they announced their API.

#2 - Unknown Revenue Streams
I’m just not sure if I have the appetite to build a business where success is not measured by revenue (at least off the bat). It would suck to get everything right and have great user adoption and the reward is that the business is out of cash and has no substantial revenue.

I like this business/project and can envision how I can get this going with a prototype out within a months for less than six figures. Fred Wilson recently wrote an intersting blog post about what drives consumer adoption and his theory was that consumers are driven by new experiences that are simple and useful and/or enteratining. I’m just not sure what would happen if this actually worked (but then again, I guess that would be a nice problem to have). I know somebody is going to do this and I think there is a big first move advantage for building buzz and an audience.

My plan is to send this blog post around to friends, colleagues and contacts and get some feedback. So if you’re reading this I would love to hear what you think and to discuss any interesting or pertinent opportunities or contacts.

I haven’t had a heart-wrenching action-packed blog post since the winter of 2006 when I jumped off a trampoline and raced through the streets of Nice with the Frenchie’s on my tail so here goes…

I awoke Sunday morning to a perfect high noon sun and a swath of flies in my backyard who apparently were still enjoying the goat carcass from the day before (which is a story for another blog post — but here’s a fascinating photo to arouse your interest). Not wanting to waste a perfect May afternoon I called Titanium Dave with a plan to check out the minor leagues scrubs that make up the Mets lineup and see for myself if all the fuss about Citi Field is legit.

Since it was so close to game time tickets were no longer being sold online. I called the box office and the guy told me that there were plenty of seats left and it should be no problem purchasing them at the stadium.

We arrived a bit after 1pm just as the game was getting underway and went to the ticket window only to learn the cheapest tickets available were $150 each. Apparently, this was a “platinum” game (platinum game = most expensive) as Cody Ross, Jeremy Hermedia and the sub .500 fish always are a hot ticket.

Not fully prepared to dip into my future kid’s college tuition fund to see the Amazin’s, Kosh and I evaluated our options. We first looked to scalp but the scalpers seem to have gone the way of the Encyclopedia salesman as there wasn’t a single dude hawking tickets. My guess is an increased police presence has something to do with one of my favorite New York pastimes.

We circled the stadium trying to figure out what to do next when Daring Dave started thinking that there got to be a way to sneak into the stadium. At first, I dismissed this idea as improbable even though I’m a fan of season one of Prison Break.

We checked the ticket windows outside of both rightfied and leftfield but got the same $150 offer despite our most cunning haggling techniques. Esquire Dave persuasive argument “but it’s already the 3rd inning, you’re just going to let the tickets go to waste!” was unfortunately completely ineffective.

At one point Bilingual Diego went up to the opposing team will call window and blurted “Yo soy un tio de Emilo Bonifacio”. Unfortunately, his cuz forgot to leave us some duckets.

As our outlook was looking bleak we got our first big break. We ran into parking lot girl who saw what we were up to and she said “you guys are trying to sneak in, huh”. We tried to recruit her to join our cause but she honestly retorted “I work in parking. If you need free parking I can hook it up”. We lamented that we had taken the subway to the stadium but she offered us one last golden nugget before she went on her merry way when she said “I’m not even going to bullshit you but there are doors past the outfield entrance that aren’t locked. I’m not sure where they lead but I’ve seen people go in”.

We tugged on a bunch of doors and finally found one that was unlocked and led into a construction site within the stadium. Unfortunately, the site was a maze of bolt locked doors and had no entrance into the stadium. After 10 or so minutes of peaking around corners, walking under ladders and trying to open locked doors we were back out on the perimeter.

Next, we went back to basics and walked into the ticket office with Puppy Dog Dave giving his most precious frown. I made up a sob story how we were visiting from out of town and came all this way to see the Mets play and we just didn’t have the funds to plop down $150 in this economy. She asked if I was active military. I told her I respect and applaud our nations hero’s but I basically just sit and play on the internet for a living. She said there were no discount/tickets available for struggling entrepreneurs. The women was a sweetheart and actually called over the customer service specialist who evidently didn’t yet view as us customers and basically told us to get lost. I was going to use my trump card — I’m facebook friends with Saul Katz’s nephew! I’m sure the Karma police would have whacked me upside the head at some point so refrained from citing cyber relationships. As we were walking out we realized there’s a door on the other side of the office that leads into the stadium and made a bee line exit for it. Unfortunately, they caught on to our shenanigans right as were about to walk out the door and told us we had to leave through the other exit.

By now it’s the 4th inning. Security was breaking down all the makeshift entrance gates and hence have opened up doors/gates all around the stadium. Most of these are exit/entrance gates. We found an exit that also doubled as the cigarette patio (astutely brainstormed by Big Idea Dave). The tricky part was that there were about six to eight security guards walking back and forth. Every time we though we had a millisecond of an opening the window would close. It was akin to something between trying to beat the most difficult board on frogger and the scene in the movie The ROCK when Sean Connary and Nicholas Cage have to roll under the furnace flames. I employed a tailgating strategy of tiptoeing right behind a security guy bringing in a gate and then reverse pivot into the smoker lounge. As I was about to pull a Gasol post move the security guard behind me spotted me and told me to take a hike. Cautious Dave determined it was impossible and we were once again outside looking in.

At this point we were running out of both options and innings. We circled the entire stadium and ended up in a parking lot with production trucks and loading docks. We used the cover of a few parked busses to sneak into the lot. Unfortunately we didn’t hop a fence (this would have been our chance) because if we did it would have officially been the best afternoon of my adult life. We confidently strode through the lot (ala Jack and Sayid in the season finale of LOST) although there were dozens of security dudes all around. Nervous Dave kept on repeating that we’ll tell them we’re looking to visit my sister in the SNY truck. My sister once took Awestruck Dave into the television truck at Nassau Coliseum during an Islander game and I guess he assumed she works every truck at every sporting event in the US. This is also a good time to mention that I have friends and colleagues who work at SNY and they have been offering to hook me up with tickets all season! (so simple, so unexciting)

We walked straight past the trucks and headed into the stadium and soon found ourselves in a long hallway. Walking as quickly as possible and fully expecting a security guard to start firing at us once we were spotted we came to the end of the hallway and opened a door. The door lead to the visitors BULLPEN! I turn to the right and Lee Nunez is staring us down. I look up and fans are looking at us in bewilderment. Dave and I quickly walk through the bullpen right as a golf cart sized garage mysteriously opens up right in front of us. (To be exact we were seperated from the bullpen by a chain fence. I fould this picture on flickr that basically shows you our exact position/view.)

We walk through the garage, open a door and find ourselves in the Modell’s Clubhouse. This is the hospitality/party area where fans can see through the rightfield fence. We try to blend in as quickly as possible (and begin to eye the free food and booze!) when a security guy approaches and starts questioning us. At this point I employ Strategic Dave’s basic sneaking-in principles and act like I have no idea what’s going on. I tell the guy I had to go to the bathroom and I’m looking for my seat in the upper deck! He replies “I’ll show you the upper deck” and escorts Dave and I through a door that leads to a staircase that lets us off in the Upper Deck! We’re In!!!!

Dave and I are as gitty as a middle school kids locked in a closet for 7 seconds when I randomly run into some of my friends from high school. I start bragging about how we just snuck into Citi Field and they look at me and go “Well you’re Littyhoops!!”

Dave and I spent the second half of the game up in the Pepsi Porch. It was sweet. The stadium is awesome. Great views, great food, and a nice loitering/lounging/chill areas throughout the stadium. The also have a t-ball stadium for little kids that looks strikingly similar to the future wiffle ball stadium in my future backyard.

I’m definitely going to hit up Citi more and more just because the park is such a great place to spend an afternoon. Perhaps next time I’ll even have tickets. Then again, perhaps I won’t.

Disclaimer: If you work for the Mets, SNY, NYPD, or are Emilio Bonefacio’s real cousin then please realize the events in this blog post are highly fabricated and the names, dates and references have all been changed to protect the identity and freedom of David Ross Koshers.

Sportsvite is looking for a dynamic, brilliant, tireless, creative, passionate digital marketing manager. Below is the actual job description but here are the real requirements

1) Loves sports and actively plays/participates in sports activities

3) Self-starter, problem-solver who will thrive in an entrepreneurial environment (multi-tasking problem solver who loves to work)

Depending on past experiences and interests this position can tilt towards SEO/SEM, sales support, program activation, marketing programs, customer acquisition, community management, partnerships or event promotions. I’m looking for the best player available and will create this roll just for them.

Please forward this blog post on to anyone you know, or have worked with in the past that might be a good fit. You can have them hit me up directly. This is basically the exact job I would’ve have wanted when I was 24. The position will report directly to me.

We’re also looking for solid college interns and a junior level java web developer.

————————————————————
OBJECTIVE:
Sportsvite is seeking a talented and passionate marketing manager to help develop and execute marketing activities.

COMPANY:
Sportsvite (www.sportsvite.com) is an online community for recreational athletes - it serves the 110 million Americans that play amateur sports. Sportsvite builds connections between players, teams and leagues and organizes every aspect of their games and activities online - from practices to pick-up games to league competitions. In addition to the Sportsvite.com destination, Sportsvite recently launched the Recreational Sports Network through partnerships with the top recreational leagues in the country. Sportsvite reaches over 500,000 recreational athletes and 25,000 teams in the top U.S. cities.

Sportsvite has been featured as a leading online social network for recreational sports in Time, New York Times, MSNBC, Entrepreneur, Maxim and ABC News is a Webby Award Official Honoree for 2006 and 2007.

TITLE:
Digital Marketing Manager

RESPONSIBILITIES:
Marketing Management & Execution

• Execute online marketing plan across SEM, SEO, online sponsorship, e-mail marketing, social media and viral campaigns.
• Coordinate and manage execution of online and grassroots marketing campaigns across online sites and recreational league and organizational partners.
• Targeted goals and performance metrics by managing marketing activities to hit key growth objectives

Partnership Activation & Management

• Identify, contact, close and manage Sportsvite league and organizational partners.
• Manage relationships with leagues, organization, media companies and advertisers.
• Organize and manage Sportsvite City Captains Program.
• Manage execution of any marketing partner’s marketing requirements.

Online Community Marketing

• Identify Sportsvite members who are community leaders and sport event organizers to help build local relationships with sports events.
• Target specific markets to grow local Sportsvite communities

REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in work experience.
• Minimum of 1-2 years experience as a Marketing Coordinator.
• Excellent verbal & written communication skills, good team player & motivator.
• Ability to plan ahead, meet appropriate deadlines and work independently on projects.
• Proactive in identifying inefficiencies in production pipeline and proposing sensible solutions.
• Expert in all MS Office applications.
• Sports enthusiast - What sports do are you playing now?
• Digital media junky, member of multiple social networks
• Bloggers preferred

ATTRIBUTES:

• Organized, detail-oriented, high energy, strong written skill, strong oral communication skills, creativity, entrepreneurial minded, innovative thinker, creative problem solver, self-starter

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:

• Resume
• Online Social Networking Profiles
• Writing Sample or Sample Presentation (strongly preferred)
• Salary Expectations (Base + Bonus + Equity)

My apartment lease is up on at the end of this month. I was supposed to tell my landlord if I planned to stay a few weeks ago. I’m not sure what I want to do, and haven’t had the time or energy to look around, so instead I’ve stalled longer than Steve Traschsel in a bases loaded jam. I first tried to negotiate a rent reduction and then to reduce the length of my lease but apparently my landlord hasn’t got the memo that we now live in a socialist economy.

Here’s the deal. I live on the Upper East Side in a studio. I’m on the ground floor of a walk up building. This works out great because I’m too lazy to walk up stairs, I’m terrified by doormen, and more importantly I have an awesome outdoor deck that is an amazingly peaceful place to hang out and bbq when the weather is decent. My few gripes is that the studio is small, the neighborhood convenient but uninspiring and I’m void of a dishwasher, climate control and real windows. Yes, there are also huge sewer rats in the backyard beyond the deck but these creatures have yet to attack and it seems like we’ve reluctantly agreed to coexist (I would kill them all in a second if I could) on the island kind of like the Dharma Initiative and the hostiles.

Since I’m too lazy to look around, I figure I’ll write exactly what I’m looking for and one of the millions of YBIML readers will reply with a hot tip or some amazing hook up.

First, let me get it off my chest that I’d really just like to take my awesome house that I lived in San Diego and plop it down in Central Park and be done with it. But since that’s not happening here goes. I’d like to find a one bedroom (or a big studio) in an interesting neighborhood. My definition of interesting is someplace that I can go for a walk and appreciate the fact that I live in the best city in the world. I would happily migrate downtown and would dig the east village, union square, nolita or even gramcery park. As I said, I’m not a big doorman guy and would rather find an apartment that is unique or different than the standard cookie cutter square closet. I’m a big, big fan of outdoor space. I find that natural sunlight is also therapeutic for the Littyhoops soul.

Hit me up if you have anything good for me.

I found this note in my inbox the other day from a colleague in my office. We often chat about current events, politics and sports so I have a pretty good idea of his views. As I’ve grown to distrust the media more, I’ve been consuming much more of my news and politics through colleagues, friends and family. Yes, I realize it is totally biased but I recognize and appreciate the filter (depending, of course, on who it is coming from). Needless to say, this email was written by a conservative thinker. Regardless of if you agree with him or not - you got to tip your hat for his creative and entertaining rant.

I’ve added a few links within the article. Attached to this email was this op-ed by Dick Morris. Feel free to respond in the comments or send me your own riff and I’ll be happy to post it as long as it’s entertaining, clever and not too offensive.

OK, now we ARE socialist.

Looking forward… conservative thought crime will probably be punishable next month. But hey — at least I won’t be tortured, and will have a lawyer, a shrink and a doctor present. So that’s looking up.

You may have noticed that I often sport a guitar string bracelet or two on my right wrist. I don’t wear a watch (aversion to time) so the bracelet sticks out and people often ask me about it. I’ll usually explain (unless I make up a ridiculous 9x exaggerated story) that the bracelet is made of guitar strings and they’re produced by a friend and business partner. If I’m in a good mood, I might just take the guitar strings off and present it to you as a good karma offering. I figure that if you enjoy wearing it as much as me, you’ll really appreciate the gift.

The bracelet’s are made by Wear Your Music, a company started by Steve Bernstein. At first, all of the bracelets were made from strings of famous musicians including the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, guitar legend Les Paul and heartthrob John Mayer. The overwhelming response inspired WYM to begin offering a line of lower priced bracelets. Steve is a former trader who left Wall Street to follow his love for music. He bought Relix Magazine and turned it into a media company called Zenbu that owns a bunch of music publications and websites and produces music events like the Jammy’s and the Green Apple Festival.

A few years ago, a mutual business contact introduced us to Steve. He wanted help putting together a “color war” sports competition for adults in New York City. At first we weren’t sure if we wanted to get involved in producing an actual event (we’re digital nerds) but ultimately we did it because Steve seemed like a guy who could make things happen and would be fun to work with. We partnered (along with the Corporate League) to organize the Battle For Manhattan in 2008. Check out this highlight video from the 5k run.

Each time I went to Steve’s office for a B for M meeting I’d grab a fresh supply of bracelets. I handed them out around the office and gave them away to friends. Once, I took one off of my wrist and gave it to a homeless guy who was eyeing it. The last one I gave away was to a girl from college who I hadn’t seen in awhile. She had lost her job and was down on her luck. I promised her the bracelet would turn everything. A few minutes later I saw her again and the bracelet was gone. She told me it had been stolen. I kind of felt bad for her AND the bracelet. They both deserved a better fate. Now I’m a bit more mindful who I share them with!

I ran out of bracelets a few months ago and spent most of the winter with a naked and exposed wrist. We decided not to continue the Battle For Manhattan in 2009 so I hadn’t connected with Steve in awhile. I even shot him an email saying that we should catch up, but my true motive was just to get back into his office so I could stuf my pockets with a refill of new brass!

A few weeks ago, on my birthday, I was at dinner with my family when I realized my mom was wearing a bunch of guitar string bracelets! I couldn’t believe the coincidence and asked her a) where she got them and b) if I could have them! She gladly handed them over but then lamented that she was trying to sell them as fundraising effort for a charitable foundation. I then reminded her that although it was my birthday, it was her lucky day, as her only son happens to be a starving and fledging blogger desperately cultivating YBIML as a way to reach the masses! (FYI - This is mere weeks before my sister @nhltvgirl became a celebrity twitterer. If you ask Lisa, she is neck and neck with Ashton in adding new followers!)

So here’s the deal. The bracelets are $10 each. The entire $10 goes to the Sass Foundation which helps in the fight against cancer. If you buy one, I will chip in for another $10 and give you two for the price of one. I might also mention you by name in an upcoming blog post (hint hint). The only condition is that you have to give the other bracelet to somebody you really care about or who really needs it!

If you’re interested (by now you best be) you can pay me in person or by paypal (bgl213@aol.com). I’ll have my mom send you the bracelets (free shipping). I think she has most of the different colors. Right now I’m rocking party purple although rock star red, black and guitar god gold are my top three. Simply silver is cool but looks too much like those freaky magnetic bands.

How many

2 bracelets $10.00 3 bracelets $20.00

There you have. Bet you never thought YBIML would help you accessorize.

PS - The one size fits all bracelets somehow magically fit perfectly to your wrist. It’s sensational

A few months ago I jotted down some notes on some of my start-up fundamentals for a new web venture. It included the concepts of digital crack, core strengths, social media, SEO, cult community, A&O and revenue steams. If you’re wondering what any of these things mean it’s probably easiest to go back to the post. Note to Wolky - I would love to somehow graphical depict this framework. Any ideas?

Lately, I’ve been toying around with a web business idea. I’ve been thinking about it so much that I need to finally free it from my head. The best way for me to do that is by putting it down on paper. Although I love to think up business ideas, I generally think most ideas are a nickel a dozen. Before I started YBIML, I actually messed around with a blog I created called Digital Epiphanies in which I would share all of my different business ideas. It was before I started at Sportsvite and I needed some stimulus. Check it out - I even made that sweet Einstein graphic on my own. So I have no problem sharing this idea with the world. There’s a good chance I’ll never act on this so if somebody came along and ran with it I would wish them luck!

Without much further ado…

WagerTheWorld.com — allows anyone to wager anything against anybody.

A member of WagerTheWorld would be able to create any kind of bet imaginable. They could create a wager on sports, weather, news, television shows, box office numbers, financial information, election results, extinct animas, lottery numbers, airline arrival times, concert attendance numbers, amount of tweets Shaq will have next Thursday, under/over on days until we live on Mars, probability of Lance Stephenson committing to the Johnnies, etc. As long as it’s provable by public record it’s legit (this may be tricky). The creativity, odds and schemes are up to the members and they will ultimately be judged by the market it creates.

The bet would not become active until another member accepts the wager. A person could also make a counter offer. This betting exchange would allow anyone can create or accept bets with others (think eBay). No longer do you have to con your little brother or best friend into accepting some dumb bet that you somehow thought up. Now you can try and sucker the world!

Let’s see how this fits into my framework…

Digital crack - It’s gambling. This is as close as I’ll come to selling crack unless I get my hands on some fresh cut Peruvian, baking soda, a spoon and a candle. I can only imagine how much time the average gambler would spend on this site.

Core Strengths - I think my skill set be aligned with dictating the feel of the community and the exchange. Although I’m not a huge gambler I’m pretty sure I would have the ability to build this up and then stimulate when needed. While this is by no means a technical breeze, I think the exchange platform is straight forward and it would certainly not need to compete on pure technology if it was developed correctly.

Social Media - You win a bet you brag. Now you can brag to your facebook friends, on twitter and throughout the digital galaxy. when a person creates a bet they could broadcast it out to their network to see who wants to bet against them. Facebook connect integration would be perfect.

SEO - Is there a way to have new bets indexed highly on google search? Sounds difficult. Anybody know if that would be possible? I don’t usually see eBay listing on google.

Cult Community - Um, yes. Imagine losing a bet to some shlub and then trying to beat him to win your money back. Natural rivalries would occur. Top winners could be recognized on the site and have people fight to be the best overall wagerer.

A&O - This kind of exchange is a perfect application of the web. Organizing information and communicating in a way that was impossible before the web.

Revenue - It would be a transactional business based on volume of bets. Like StubHub or eBay, the site would take a vig or commission on every completed bet. As the exchange grew so would revenues.

You should be able to see why I love this idea. It fits very nicely into my framework. Unfortunately, I have three major concerns.

#1 - Can this be legal?
At first glance, it would appear that this would be deemed as gambling and therefore be illegal in the US. In 2006, congress enacted laws against online gambling and Feds have cut down HARD on online gambling website and banned US financial intermediaries (credit card companies) that service those sites. I would hate to live my life hiding out in a Costa Rican ex-pat village. But thanks to Bo Obama the tides are beginning to turn and there is talk that a new law will pass that wil once again legalize gambling in the US. Most of the big time gambling sites are based in the UK including Party Gaming, Bodog and Intrade (prediction market). The laws are much less restrictive but I believe it is technicaly illegal to do business in the US. There are also new start-ups like OneSeason that are digital exchanges that use real currencies. I’m wondering what the official legal definition is for online gambling. I once had this problem when I started college fantasy at CSTV. According to the NCAA (not that they are a good source) a game of chance needed to be free to play and award prizes instead of cash to not be considered gambling. Couldn’t a good lawyer figure out a way to position this so it could be legal (Lawyer friends - send me your thoughts). What happens if there wasn’t real money involved? Would that take away all of the appeal (and revenue) though?

#2 - Scams
The wager exchange would work most efficiently if people were able to self-reconcile their bets (similar to eBay). I’m not sure if this is too much to ask and wonder what percentage of bets would end in dispute (the shades of gray here would be like Easton’s hair - he would also be my #1 member!). My guess is that some kind of reputation platform would be essential. This would allow you to see how many time members dispute their bets. A resolution center would most likely have to accompany the reputation platform. Xbox Live does a good job of keeping people honest — even those who really want to cheat. Also, if you told me that eBay was going to work at first I would have never have believed it.

#3 - Moral Hazards
Is this what I really want to do with my life? Create a gambling eco-system thanks to legal loopholes. Would I have success stories or would this site lead to ruined lives? I don’t see the world as one big gamble. At the core, I’m still an idealistic blogger who likes to write about old chicks who know the meaning of life (Eloise Hawking!). I’m just as afraid, as I am excited, of what this could become if I was successful.

I’m sure there are more potential competitors and comparable sites (besides those mentioned above) that are already doing something similiar. But as I’ve said before, I think you win on execution, not on the idea so not too worried even if there were close competitors already in the market. They can’t be doing that well if I haven’t even heard of them yet! Understanding the current landscape does help you figure out what works and what doesn’t and why.

I’m also going to add moral mission (that sounds a bit latter day) to my framework. Google is renowned for their corporate motto of “don’t be evil”. I want my next venture to follow the motto “making the world better”. One of the things that keeps me going at Sportsvite in rough times is that I truly believe that helping people experience and enjoy sports is a noble goal. It’s a solid foundation for when I have my doubts (which every start-up has). I’m just not sure if thriving off of people’s addiction will allow me to sleep happily at night.

What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts about the idea, how my framework holds up, and how I presented it in this blog post. I’m curious to see if this leads to any conversations or connections that could cultivate it further down the road to reality.

If you have any business ideas that you want to share hit me up and I’d be happy to post it on the blog. This could include Marc’s perverted hostel, Gallerstein’s real estate site, anything from that meat head Ossola, Schwa’s rentals, Roy’s polish sausage shoppe, Libby’s beer taps, or franchising the Gallinski original Mexican ices factory.

That is a question that everybody seems to be asking me these days. I’m sure that most of you have heard about Twitter by now. The “micro-blogging” platform is expanding at a torrid pace and now has over five million worldwide users. Although Twitter has been hot for a few years with the digital early adopters (aka your nerdy friends), it has recently begun to crack through to the mainstream. Celebrates (Ashton Kutcher, Jimmy Fallon, Dave Matthews), athletes (Shaq, Lance Armstrong) and many politicians are using Twitter to connect with their fans and that has the mainstream media fawning. Last week, the Milwaukee Bucks Charlie Villanueva sent a tweet during halftime of a game which created tons of buzz in the sports world.

I’m going to try and use the next few paragraphs to explain why Twitter is getting so much buzz. I’ll also help you get started if you are interested.

Twitter is very similar to the Facebook status update feed (and even the entire new facebook design) or AOL away messages (back when people use to leave clever messages). You can send a tweet from the twitter website or your mobile device — by text or mobile application. Just about anything goes as long as it’s under 140 characters (the limit for a text message). People often tweet about what they are doing or what they are thinking about. Sometimes, they might pose a question or reply to another person’s tweet. You might be asking yourself why anybody would care that you are about to take a huge dump. It’s a weird concept and the best way to understand it is to try it for yourself. You can check out my latest tweets.

Any one dude’s tweets isn’t all the fascinating. It is just a collection of their thoughts over the last few days or weeks. Where it begins to get interesting is to check the aggregate list of all the tweets from the people that you “follow” (you can follow anybody you want - from personal friends to celebrities). Since everyone’s tweets are public it shapes up as a bunch of little conversations within the community that you have created. You can jump in by replying to tweets or passively follow along just to stay in the loop or to live vicariously through those that you admire most.

Another interesting thing to do is to search twitter. You don’t even have to be a member to do this. Enter in any search term and you should find an up to the second “pulse” of comments and tweets on the subject. Right now I’m watching the World Baseball Classic (which, by the way, gets as much love as the NIT). America is about to lose to Japan and will be eliminated. I just searched the term on Twitter and there are hundreds of posts on the topic. It seems like most fans are disgruntled that the USA is going to lose a world tournament of “America’s Pastime”. Other trending topics (what people are tweeting about right now) include Twilight and Celebrity Apprentice.

Twitter has been utilized in powerful ways during the Mumbai attacks and the airplane that landed in the East River as many of the first reports were from people who happened to be there and tweeted about it.

One of Twitter’s addicting qualities is that it feels so alive. Anytime, you check your feed you’re bound to have new updates. In my opinion, it’s digital crack - which I blogged about last week.

Twitter for me and you
I’ve been using Twitter regularly for the last three or four months. Everyone on my dodgeball team (which is basically a collection of tech/digital entrepreneurs) is in love with the service and they are either twittering or talking about twitter at every game. I see why they like it. They are all part of one never-ending communal conversation with the same people that they already interact and communicate with in real life. It would be like if you had a BBM conversation going with everyone on your BBM list in one big chat room. You’d probably be glued to your blackberry all day long. Imagine how many more girls Roy could get if he didn’t have to retype his tight BBM game to each girl individually.

Although I follow about 70 people, very few of those are people that I communicate with outside of Twitter. Most of my real life friends are hanging out on facebook, BBM, AOL or through email groups that we’ve created over the years. I try to imagine what it would be like if all of you were on twitter. It would be super useful to grab a drink during the week or meetup for lunch if I had free time during the day.

Getting Started
Go to twitter and sign up for an account. Enter your email credentials so you can see which of your friends in your address book are already on twitter and start to follow them. You can also view the suggested users or check out twellow to learn about other interesting people to follow. Once you have a solid group of people you should start to see tweets stream into your feed. Jump in with your own tweets, or reply to others to join the conversation. You can choose to have updates go directly to your phone by text message. I would recommend tha the better alternative is to download Twitterberry for your blackberry and there are a bunch of twitter appls for the iPhone. These are applications that work a bit smoother than text messages.

The Future of Twitter
Your guess is as good as mine. Twitter currently does not have a business model (meaning they don’t even try to make money). They are focusing on building out a huge, captive and vibrant platform and hope that an obvious business model naturally formulates. Major brands have started to use twitter as a marketing and customer service platform so they might be on to something.

Twitter is still so new and developing that everyone has grand ideas on how Twitter is, and will, change the world. My guess is that it falls somewhere along the line of instant messenger, social networking and text messages as communication mediums that can shift the way people converse and share information. It will certainly be interesting and fun to watch how it all plays out.

Hope this little Twitter primer has helped. The best thing to do is take the plunge and join the nation of Twitteronia (as @the_real_shaq likes to call it).

Courtney came up with that name for me the other day as I was twittering away. I can’t say that I’m head over heels for the service, but I will be twittering from the NCAA tournament in Philly all day long from my phone. If tomorrow is anything compared to the first round of the tournament in Tampa last year than I’m in store for the best day of the year. I’m leaving from the city with Lisa, Kraz and my buddy Leor at 9am and I’m so excited I can’t sleep. Pappa Hoops already promised the family that he will strip naked and run through the arena if the Mocs of Chatanooga upset UCANT.

Also, check out this great video of Obama filling out his bracket on ESPN in a special episode of Barackotology with Andy Katz. Our President can look smooth doing just about anything.

Follow along throughout the day on my twitter page or on the widget on this webpage.