Overtime Media

HomeField: Answering Your Prayers

2010-02-10T13:18:00.001-05:00

By reece

“One issue that the MCLA deals with is scouting and preparing for upcoming games. There is no game tape to watch so it is very difficult to feel out your opponent before you actually step onto the field…I think if the MCLA were to create a website where every team could upload their game footage it would not only lead to an increase in the level of competitiveness in games, but also help the league and sport of lacrosse as a whole grow; buy letting people watch entire games online who would normally not be able see them.”

—MCLA Player Blogs: Alabama’s Blake Morris - Big Win Over Memphis and Making a Friendly Bet Happen | InsideLacrosse.com

Blake’s in luck. We’ve already answered his prayers with HomeField AND worked out a deal with the MCLA.

Introducing: Video Growler

2010-01-25T13:55:00.002-05:00

By Dan

In half a year we have watched you - the HomeField Coaches and Athletes - write thousands of comments about the video that you have uploaded. With time-coded comments, these discussions interactively played back the video at the exact moment you wanted to discuss. Hitting the play button didn't make it obvious that additional insights and discussions were taking place though. So we fixed that last week with the launch of the Video Growler...

When you play back your video, and hit a point where a teammate or coach has added a comment, the comment will growl in the upper right corner of your browser. Click the comment to go directly to that part of discussion, or click the time-code to repeat that part of the video.

I love the growler. I built it. But I'd love to hear from you, so please tell us what you think!

HomeField Email Issue

2010-01-20T08:18:00.000-05:00

By Dan

Starting on 18 January 2010 (and ending at 8am this morning) the HomeField mail server decided to get quiet. This is not a good trait for a mail server, as HomeField sends out lots of emails for our users.

No emails were lost. But if you signed up, invited somebody to your team, made a trade or commented in a discussion you may not have received the email you expected when you expected it. All emails that were supposed to be sent during this unfortunate quiet period were sent this morning.

I sincerely apologize for this delay of game. If you have any problems, questions, comments or concerns please let me know.

But now... Game On!

HomeField 2010 - If You Don't Know, You Better Ask Somebody!

2010-01-14T21:36:00.003-05:00

By Joe

Let's make a comparison of apples to oranges - HomeField in 2009, to HomeField in 2010. We officially launched HomeField to the public a year ago this month with a version we like to refer to today as HomeField 1.0. For a newly launched product that had barely been tested, it fared pretty well. We had over 20 paying customers in the spring, and a bunch more teams using HomeField’s free demo.

More importantly, we got to watch, listen, and learn a lot about how you wanted to use HomeField. With all that input, we created the version you see today. HomeField 2.0! We built the features you requested, added in some ideas of our own, and ultimately made it better, faster and even easier to use.

So how is HomeField growing so far in 2010? We are now through the first two weeks of January, and HomeField is already in use by 66% of Division I Men's Lacrosse, with 41% upgraded to Pro! And the season hasn't even started yet!

Johns Hopkins, Ohio State, Hofstra, North Carolina, Maryland, Rutgers, Brown, Bryant, Bucknell... shall we continue? Because believe me, the list goes on!

We not only have individual teams signing up, we have entire leagues! The CAA and the Ivy League jumped in early, though more leagues are confirming with us as they realize the benefit of having all of their conference using HomeField for film exchange.

And apparently word travels fast, because the women’s lacrosse teams are catching on quick! Already, the American Lacrosse Conference - home to dominant programs like Vanderbilt, Penn State, and the defending National Champs, Northwestern - has agreed to make HomeField it's official online video system! We're also working with the ACC, the Ivy League and other women's programs across the country.

The HomeField network is growing stronger and stronger with every new team, whether they’re men or women - NCAA or MCLA - Div I, Div II or Div III - even high school teams are jumping on HomeField.

If you haven’t already, sign up and get the HomeField Advantage today! And if you have, then tell your friends!

NYC Sports Startups FTW: GameChanger

2010-01-05T08:06:00.006-05:00

By Reece

Since we started Overtime Media two years ago we've met some great people along the way, especially some cool startups. In particular, we've had a kinship with the guys at GameChanger - one of the few other NYC sports startups (that we know of) - that has meant a few meetings and some great knowledge exchange. If we didn't all work so much, we'd probably hang out a lot more. Alas...

GameChanger is an iPhone app that does mobile scorekeeping and live stats updates (currently just for baseball, but more sports coming I believe). I checked out an early beta, and it's pretty rad. Here's a great blog post from founder Ted Sullivan as they really get going...

We like these guys because they're former athletes/sports obsessed techies like us, who understand the importance of using technology to improve the experience of coaches, players and fans alike.

So, congrats to our buddies - Ted, Kiril and Calvin. Keep up the great work! You can download GameChanger for your iPhone here.

Finally, if you're a sports startup - in NYC or otherwise - hit us up! We're always open to talk about our industry.

Stale Accounts Removed

2010-01-04T23:17:00.000-05:00

By Dan

We introduced HomeField 2.0 (the HomeField you all know and love today) after the end of our inaugural season last spring. This major upgrade included many improvements, but a small amount of cruft from the old version remained, including a few hundred unused accounts. I removed these stale accounts about an hour ago.

Although I'm confident that no active user accounts were deleted, I wanted to share this update with our community, in case anybody was affected. So, if you can no longer log in to your HomeField account, and resetting your password does not work, please drop me a line.

p.s. First post (of the new year)!

HomeField Improves its 40-yard Dash Time with "Dynamic Pagination"

2009-12-29T11:01:00.000-05:00

By Dan

The Holidays are a great time to step back, relax with friends and family, and recharge for the new year. They're also a great time to write code and push out awesome features. So I added a bunch of smaller (but much needed) features to HomeField, as well as refined some details to really smooth out and improve our user experience. Dynamic Pagination is the most visible of my stocking-stuffers...

Pagination (via the "Previous" and "Next" links with page numbers between them) is common on the web: it allows you to browse many results, one page at a time - instead of a single, overly long and very slow page. As HomeField usage has been going through the roof this year, we've seen users with many videos on a page, so it was time for pagination. As you'll see in your account (and in the picture to the right), whenever you have a lot of videos (or documents) in a category, they will be split up and those orange links will appear. This improves page load time drastically for users with many videos, while still showing you your most relevant videos on the first page.

Please check it out, and tell me what you think. By the way, I've called it Dynamic Pagination because you don't have to wait for an entire new page to load. When you click Next, your list of videos - and nothing else - gets updated dynamically. This makes the entire process smooth as eggnog. Enjoy!

(psst: If you aren't seeing pagination in your chalkboard, upload some more video!)

On Preparation

2009-12-10T17:19:00.001-05:00

By Reece

I had a meeting with a potential investor recently, for which I prepared a pitch deck and an extended executive summary.

Prior to my meeting, I went through every slide and every paragraph to make sure our story and our projections were air-tight.

I also had versions of both prepared in Keynote and Pages as well as in Powerpoint and Word. Then I made PDF versions of each, and for the pitch deck, I made versions including every stage of the builds and without. I had copies on my laptop, on a USB drive and in my Gmail.

When I got into the meeting, guess which docs I actually used?

None.

I sat down and simply started talking. I told our story from the heart and I rattled off our pitch, our plans and our trajectory with honesty and confidence. The result? A successful telling of our business, that had my audience interested in investing.

So it seemed all that preparation was a waste, but without it, I wouldn’t have been in a position to tell the story. Sure, at this point (two years in), I can pitch HomeField off the cuff. Likewise, Tom Brady can still throw a football pretty well. But does he still practice? You bet he does. In fact, in the lifetime of an athlete, you'll generally spend more time practicing than actually playing!

In my life - whether it’s sports or business - the game is always changing and practice is the eternal must. I’m glad I know how to do it and thankful for the people who taught me the importance of practice along the way.

The Importance of Sports Video: Justice Edition

2009-11-24T10:36:00.000-05:00

By Nick

For anyone who's been paying attention to the sports scene this Fall, you may have noticed a spike in players' being suspended for different acts on the field. A pulled ponytail here, an eye-gouging there... We've consistently heard the same responses from both the players' side and the spectator side. The spectator says, "There's absolutely no place for that type of behavior on the sports field." And the players simply say, 'These things happen all the time, (insert player's name) just happened to get caught this time, it's not a big deal." Maybe it's time for a re-evaluation of our sports justice system...

There are a few cases in particular that stand out. The first, happened in the second week of College Football, between Boise State and the University of Oregon. After the game had concluded, as it can sometimes occur, there were some words exchanged between the two teams. What ensued was certainly out of bounds:

Oregon's Senior Running Back LeGarrette Blount was appropriately suspended for the remainder of the season after the incident was reviewed on film. Provoked or otherwise, those actions simply cannot go unpunished. But this is a perfect example of why camera crews are continuing to roll film until every single person has left the stadium. You never know what can occur pre-, post- or during a game, and if the camera had missed Blount's punch, who knows if there would have been a suspension. It's difficult to punish a person based on hearsay or bystanders alone. The resulting suspension is exactly why we almost never see punches thrown, and in Blount's case, he threw away his Senior season for a sucker punch.

The second example that comes to mind happened earlier this month, when a New Mexico Women's Soccer Player, Elizabeth Lambert, was caught on film with a number of dirty, violent acts against the BYU Women's Soccer Team. Check the highlight below:

The baffling stat from this game is that Lambert was penalized only once (1 yellow card) over the course of the match. When officials went back and reviewed the footage, they found, obviously, a number of acts that could have been penalized and were ultimately viewed as dangerously violent. This in turn gave them no choice but to suspend Lambert indefinitely. Again, without the cameras rolling and keying on individual plays/players, those acts could very easily go unnoticed and therefore unpunished. It's fair to say we will not be seeing any ponytail-yanking any time soon, and now Lambert will forever be labeled by her actions on the field.

Everyone is realizing the importance of not only sports video, but thorough sports video and assessment of the footage. In both of the cases above, the players' actions were reviewed, and they paid the proper consequences. It's the occasions when the punishment does not fit the crime, however, that are a bit unsettling.

Take University of Florida's Brandon Spikes. In a game against the University of Georgia, Spikes attempted to eye-gouge a Georgia player during a pile-up after a play. As you'll see below, the zoomed-in cameras were at a perfect angle to catch Spikes in the act:

Anyone would agree that this is an inexcusable action. Though the RB wasn't ultimately injured, it was still a malicious attempt. So, what was his punishment? Suspended for the first half of the following weekend's game against sub-par opponent, Vanderbilt.

Needless to say, many analysts disagreed with that decision, and thought Spikes should have been more thoroughly reprimanded. But in a stirring development, the player on the wrong end of the eye-gouging, Georgia RB Washaun Ealey, thought Spikes shouldn't have been suspended at all, saying "We were just out there playing football ... We probably do it and other teams do too. It's all football. We're just out there trying to have fun."

What is going on here? Can eye-gouging and whatever else goes on at the bottom of a pile-up really be quantified by "just out there trying to have fun"? What kind of message are we sending to our players from a young age when they admit these acts are common and just part of the game? At what point do we finally say, these young men and women are trying to hurt each other in a non-sports-related fashion? It seems clear to me that the only way this type of dirty play is going to stop, is with the right consequences.

The video captured at games on a weekly basis has only improved and continues to get better. Having their actions caught on camera and available for public scrutiny and judgement is something that will certainly affect the players and be attached to their name, and likely will continue to for a long time. But that isn't punishment enough.

Officials need to take advantage of having this footage and recognize it as a privilege. The next eye-gouge attempt could be successful -- and then what?

LaxAllstars post: Chat with Brown Bear Rob Schlesinger

2009-11-19T13:11:00.002-05:00

By Reece

Like I said, we've hooked up with the LacrosseAllstars.com guys on a few projects, and I'm excited to show-off our latest effort - the first of many Brown Lacrosse posts featuring great players like Rob Schlesinger...

How did we help? Well besides the intro, we put together a few awesome clips of Rob from last year. Be sure to watch the video...

Fireside Chat With Rob Schlesinger, Brown University

From The Villa|

November 19, 2009|
0 Comments

Tagged:

Lax Nation Tools

We’ve heard there are some good players over in Providence, Rhode Island. They’re known as theBrown Bears. They took a trip to the NCAA tourney last year for the first time since ‘97, and things are looking up for 2010. One of the impact players Brown lacrosse fans are talking about is sophomore attackman Rob Schlesinger. According to BrownBears.com, he’s making a name for himself as one of the “most fearless, relentless, never-give-in competitors in the country.”

Schlesinger came up big as a freshman when his team needed him against Cornell and Hopkins. As a testament to his abilities, we have video evidence thanks to the guys at HomeField, a couple of which are Brown Bear alums and strong supporters of the program.

Check out some of his highlights from the 2009 season:

Now let’s sit Fireside and get to know this baller…

LAS: What is your fall ball schedule like this year? Are you guys doing anything differently than in years past?

Schlesinger: The schedule this year is pretty similar to those in the past, the only thing that has been different is our trip out to San Francisco. That was a great experience for us, and it definitely brought the team closer together. Right now we are done with actual team practices because of Ivy League restrictions, so we have two hour-long skill sessions a week and a couple captain’s practices.

Skill sessions are limited to 6 players per coach and we work on the fundamentals. We are also in the weight room 3 times a week and play basketball or football on Friday mornings. It’s too cold for football now, but of course the “Masshole team,” made up of high school superstars, dominated the Baltimore area team, the New York team, and the World team.

Who are some of your teammates we should watch out for this year?

We lost a lot of impact players to graduation and a few key players are abroad, so we are looking for a lot of younger guys to step up. On attack we return two starters, but look out for sophomores Parker Brown and Danny O’Brien who have been fighting for the third spot all fall.

The midfield is where we lost the most from last year. Four of our top five middies graduated, so a lot of new guys are going to see more action this year. Williams College transfer David Hawley has looked really good so far, as has freak-athlete freshman Alex Jones.

We didn’t lose a lot in the defensive side but look out for sophomore Brennan Bailey and junior Matt Greenburg. At LSM, freshman Roger Ferguson is definitely someone to keep an eye on this spring. In goal, we definitely lost a lot in All-American Jordan Burke but junior Matt Chriss has stepped up big this fall, highlighted by his 10 saves in only one half of play against UNC.

What are the team’s goals in 2010?

First and foremost our goal is to win the Ivy League championship. After that, we really want to build on our success from last year having made the NCAA tournament for the first time since ’97. It was a great experience, but we didn’t make it out of the first round. It’s not good enough for us to just make the tournament anymore. This year we want to keep winning and get a National Championship.

We hear you’re quite the competitor. How would you describe your playing style?

I’m really not a flashy player who is going to make highlight reel plays. I pride my game on physicality and playing with a fearless attitude, whether it is picking up tough ground balls or legging out a clear. That’s really how our whole team plays, and I would bet anyone who saw us play last year would agree.

What team are you looking forward to playing the most this year? Why?

Every Ivy League game is fun to play and I really look forward to those a lot. All the games are very intense and usually come right down to the wire.

Describe your pre-game… What do you do to get ready for a big game?

Everyone on the team does their own thing before we have our team warm-ups. In high school I didn’t have any real pre-game, but I kind of developed a routine last year. I’ll usually roll out my muscles for a bit in the training room, then head out to the field to shoot around about an hour before the game. After that I’ll go find a quiet place where I listen to country music and focus on what I need to do that game. While I’m focusing, I’ll have half a nutrition bar and a banana. I then head back into the locker room and meet up with the other guys who are usually bouncing all over the place listening to whatever that week’s mix is.

What’s your favorite part of Brown Lacrosse?

Brown State. You don’t understand it unless you play here.

Best place to eat in Providence?

I have to say that I really haven’t ventured out that far from the food on Thayer Street. If I want a sit down meal, it’s definitely at Spats for some nachos and a burger. If I’m looking for something quick, I’ll go for a burrito at Gordito Burrito, but there’s a new place called Baja Tex Mex that’s actually making a run for the best burrito on Thayer.

What are your three favorite songs right now?

I’m a huge country fan and I usually get a lot of crap for that being from the Boston area, but my old man liked it so I grew up listening to it. I really like anything country, but right now I would say it’s…

Hell on the Heart by Eric Church

If I Could Do it Again by Corey Smith

Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean

What kind of stick are you using right now? Type of head, shaft? String job? Tape?

I’ve always been a Brine Cyber/Cyber Pro guy, so these new rules are really messing with me right now. I was given the Brine Gospel this summer so I’ve been trying that out a bit this fall. I did order the new Cyber though, so I’ll probably use that when the shipment comes in. For a shaft, I use the Maverick Wonderboy. I’m not big on tape, I just put a little on the bottom to hold the butt end on. Stringing wise, I string all my own sticks, but no one else seems to like them. It’s probably because the ball crushes plastic on the way out.

_________________________________________________________________________________
This has been another Lax All Stars Fireside Chat. Stay tuned to the LAS Network for more interviews.

Kevin Garnett's absurd 3/4 court shot

2009-11-19T12:25:00.001-05:00

By Reece

KG! Ridiculous shot. It counts in my book...

Brown lacrosse compliment

2009-11-19T07:38:00.003-05:00

By Reece

We've started partnering with a few other sports/lacrosse communities online - in particular LacrosseAllstars.com - and so far the relationship has been fantastic. You'll hear a lot more about this partnership in the coming months, but yesterday I had a conference call with a student-athlete at Brown and one of the guys from LacrosseAllstars who followed up with this:

"So far it seems like Brown students/players know how to get sh*t done. Love it!"

I really appreciate that comment personally, but even more so because I know it's true of most of my teammates. The Brown Lacrosse program produces some really high-caliber young men, and I'm proud to be a part of it.

My Reason For the Stache (Apologies to come in December)

2009-11-09T08:25:00.007-05:00

By Joe

Anyone who knew me before I was 23, knew that my Dad and I had an undeniable bond. I would never admit this to his face, but he was my idol in everything. He was my living example, and I wanted nothing more than to have my life turn out exactly like his.

He would probably never admit this to my face, but he absolutely lived his life 100% in devotion to me (as he did with all his kids).

This past August was the 3rd anniversary of his death from cancer.

There are certain things that I will never forget about my Dad. His laugh was extremely infectious. Whenever something funny would happen, his laugh would let you know it, and chances are you were laughing with him. He had a sense of humor that can only be described as a "pain in the ass". Ask any one of my best friends who stopped calling my house in high school because they didn't want to be hassled by my dad on the other line.

He was also one of, if not the, strongest person I've ever met. He took care of me by himself for almost 10 years after my mom passed away in a car accident. His wife, his high school sweetheart with a child on the way, was taken from him unexpectedly in the blink of an eye, and he never missed a single step raising me. I was by his side, nearly 24/7 for a decade. I wouldn't be a fraction of the person I am today without him.

It was around November of 2005, while I was attending graduate school in Syracuse, that I got a call informing me that Dad had cancer. It originated in a cyst on his leg, and spread to his lungs. The Doctors gave him a 15% chance of living.

Throughout the next few months, Dad remained the strongest, and most optimistic person I had ever met. Fighting as hard as he could the entire time, saying, "I need to get better for my family." Only showing further the kind of man he was.

He lost his battle to cancer on August 22nd, 2006. When the Doctor told me it was a certainty that he was going to pass away in the next few hours, I got a chance to say goodbye in the best way that I could. To which he replied, "Don't give up on me yet, Joe." I was there by his side, and held his hand as he passed, just a few hours later.

In memory of Dad, I have joined a team of people to help raise money for cancer research. For those of you that don't know, November is also "Movember". A month where people grow mustaches to raise money to fight prostate and testicular cancer. It's the small first step in all I'd like to do to combat this disease, but for right now it's something I'm proud to do. Not only because it's for a good cause, but because in the first picture ever taken of my dad and I, he had a mustache. And I am damn proud to say that my mustache is growing in just like his... my idol.

If you have a few seconds, please take the time to donate to me and my team. Click here, and help us make a difference.

ps. Above is a picture of Dad and I from Halloween, 1989 (I think). It's one of the pictures I have in my room of the two of us.

pps. What a little jerk I was...

Re: LacrosseAllstars.com post: Where's The Love?

2009-11-04T10:16:00.003-05:00

By Reece

I left this comment on a recent LacrosseAllstars.com post discussing the reputation of lacrosse around the sports community and I wanted to share it here.

"There has been a ton of damage to the reputation of lacrosse over the years - starting with its appropriation from the Native Americans, its niche community hold in prep schools and the Ivy League giving it that snotty air (which is still healthy with that horrible A&F video), a situation made worse by the Duke Scandal, certainly not helped at all by the NLL (which makes it uber-violent) or the MLL (which just makes it uber-desperate for ___________ [Fill in the blank: fans, $$, a website that works, players who care...]) and finally made worse by tragic marketing (here and worse here) by the likes of Warrior.

Lacrosse is one of the truly great games on this planet and lacrosse players are real athletes. While it’s a shame that we have a bad reputation around town, it’s not insurmountable.

The fix(es)?

- Be a great lacrosse player. Play hard on the field and outwork every other team around you, regardless of sport.

- And be a great person, too. Sure, start your usual shenanigans, but when you tally it up at the end of the day, don’t be a douche.

- Coach younger kids! Help improve play at every level and we will all be better for it.

- Be an ambassador! I was once somewhat ashamed to be a lacrosse player, given the reputation on campus at the time. I didn’t tell people I played, because I didn’t want it to reflect poorly on me. Wrong approach! If you’re a good guy, there’s no reason to be ashamed! Tell people you’re a lacrosse player and next time you invite people to a game they’ll say “Oh I know one of those guys, he’s cool. Yeah, I’ll go to their game.”

These are just a few things we can do. I don’t have the time to write out the solutions for the NLL/MLL/marketing debacle (though I’ll find some soon).”

QB Throws Behind-the-Back Pass for a 2-Pt Conversion?!

2009-10-28T12:05:00.003-04:00

By Nick

Well, now I've seen everything. This is Will Briscoe of Central High School (Louisiana) throwing a behind-the-back pass for a 2-pt. conversion in the midst of a 58-0 blowout victory against Zachary High.

Style points? I would say so...

(via totalprosports.com)

Lax Can't Hack It

2009-10-27T10:37:00.000-04:00

By Dan

Of collegiate schools with football programs, the median revenue for Lacrosse is -$640,000 according to the NCAA. I was surprised, though not entirely shocked, when I saw the rest of the figures: almost all sports - other than basketball and football - are in the red, as reported by the NCAA and the Wall Street Journal article titled One Bowl Game Buys Many Lacrosse Sticks. In fact, baseball - which generates tremendous revenue in the majors: $5.5B in 2007 - is losing the most money at -$709,000.

At Overtime Media we're well aware that basketball and football are often the big ticket items for colleges. We've also seen, at the other end of the spectrum, how absolutely dedicated club teams can be (I'm looking at you MCLA). Why is it that some sports are able to generate so much revenue while others, with arguably equal passion and dedication from the athletes, have to be subsidized by the money making programs? More intriguing in my mind though: why do the sports burning through cash and not generating profits survive?

Passion. It's the passion of the athletes that keeps the machine running. Today's student athletes (those folks who manage a full time career in sports on top of their class work) become the coaches and administrators of tomorrow, with a clear commitment to keeping their athletic departments going. They are the engine of the machine now, and provide the support (in time and money) for it later.

With so many athletes going on to lead very successful business careers, I posit that those graduates who remain involved in college sports should be able to generate profits. And they do, for athletic programs as a whole. This leads me to conclude that schools intentionally have big ticket teams subsidizing the rest. Basketball and football pull in enough cash to allow the other sports to act as loss leaders, maintaining interest in their school and parity within the leagues.

But I think we can do better.

On Over Engineering

2009-10-26T23:00:00.002-04:00

By Dan

During our meeting with Fred Wilson last week he mentioned something fairly obvious about our company: we have too few engineers (i.e. just me). He was making the point that one particular path for our company could see it thrive (netting a few million a year in profits) with a small 10-12 person staff (7 engineers or so). But it started me thinking about it from the other angle: what if we had too many engineers?

I firmly believe one of the reasons startups create some of the most beautiful and expertly crafted products is that they have limited resources with which to produce them. Startups therefore, by necessity, build only to create value and build the smallest solution possible. This viewpoint is bolstered by 37signals’ Getting Real, Paul Graham in many of his excellent essays, and the principle of least effort (or path of least resistance, if you will). It’s why Rob Pacheco (a chef) says, “to find the most efficient way to accomplish a task, give it to the laziest guy in the kitchen.”

Conversely, when a startup grows (or starts) too big, it produces decreasingly beautiful products. Engineers, by definition, like to engineer. An average engineer - which most of them are, by definition of the word average - will not achieve perfection. Since these engineers have to do something with their time, the company they work for ends up with an over-engineered product (by definition!). It is the rare exception (i.e. Apple) that can produce many beautiful products by the labor of many engineers.

-A Lazy Engineer

Originally posted here.

Thoughts about "the winner takes it all"

2009-10-22T09:05:00.002-04:00

By Reece

Love this post below from @bijan. He’s absolutely right here.

In our experience building HomeField, we’ve learned of a number of competitors who offer feature X or feature Y or Z. Some of them are great features (and some aren’t). But we’ve purposely tried to avoid the ‘feature creep’ that so often spreads software too thin. Applications can so easily lose focus and don’t know what they’re trying to be. They don’t know what their core purpose is.

Instead, we’ve taken a customer focused approach - starting out very simply and letting our users tell us where to go. This helps us avoid wasted time on features that aren’t necessary, and it keeps the application focused on its core value proposition.

Originally posted at reecepacheco.com

bijan:

It’s only Thursday but I’ve already heard the expression “the winner takes it all” at least five times this week.
The concept is where the winner of a market dominates the entire market. Think ebay for auctions, amazon for online shopping, google for search, facebook for social networks etc.
Often advocates of the “winner takes it all” theory also tend to believe that the best way to compete with the incumbant is too build a better/bigger mousetrap or create the “blah blah on steroids”
I don’t think about markets like that.
Often times the winner doesn’t take it all. And the best way to compete with the winner (or current market leader) is by either doing less (not more) and focusing on one thing and doing it very well. It’s actually the opposite of the “blah blah on steroids” approach.
Few examples come to mind:
1. Jobs.
The market leader for some time was Monster. This is a huge market but it’s certainly not a winner takes all market. Instead we now have powerful companies building tremendous value by focusing on different opportunities in the job market with different business models and different experiences (ie Craigslist, LinkedIn, The Ladders and Indeed).
2. Smartphone
Apple built the amazing iPhone, iTunes & App Store. Those things work together in a smooth & beautiful way. They are killing it right now. The alternative: Not an iPhone on steroids. Instead, Andy Rubin and Rich Miner created Android. A free, open source alternative. Absolutely brilliant. Google understood that vision and bought the company very quickly. I’m extremely bullish on Android’s opportunity with mobile devices.
3. Social networking
Facebook is the market leader for sure. But its not winner takes all because its just too big of a category for innovation & creativity. Right now my social network for music isn’t on facebook (instead it’s on hypemachine and tumblr). My photo social net is on tumblr and flickr. My social net for television is Boxee. My information social net is Twitter. FourSquare and Twitter are my social net for places & events. The list goes on.
There are many more examples (gaming, ecommerce, payments, browsers, etc) but this post is already getting too long for it’s own good. So let me try and bring this puppy home with one last thought.
At the end of the day, I believe that entrepreneurs are just too creative, too ambitious and too optimistic to allow for a winner takes all world.

Video: Amazing goal by 9 year old hockey phenom

2009-10-16T10:21:00.002-04:00

By Reece

Absolutely unreal goal by a 9 year old hockey player from Maine at the Boston Garden (via @PTMaddigan).

I love sports.

Lacrosse Manifest Destiny Realized by CityLax, Inc.

2009-09-08T18:40:00.002-04:00

By Nick

On a gorgeous, sun-filled day in mid-August, I headed out to Southampton, NY to attend the Inaugural CityLax Summer Lacrosse Shootout. Although I wasn't suiting up to play on one of the participating squads, I was given the opportunity to catch some high-level lacrosse and a great organization in action.

CityLax is a non-profit organization located in New York City. Their focus is to introduce and expand the game of lacrosse into New York City schools across the 5 boroughs. Many of the schools and areas have little, if any, experience with lacrosse and are essentially made up of lower income families. Through a public-private partnership with the Public School system, and partnerships with other community organizations, CityLax has created more than 15 new boys and girls lacrosse programs since it's inception in 2005. And they don't plan on slowing down...

This was the first year that CityLax decided to host a fundraiser known as the Summer Lacrosse Shootout. Held at Southampton High School on Eastern Long Island, more than a few teams geared up and came out to compete. The day featured some characteristically fun and uptempo lacrosse action, as well as raffle prizes and official tournament t-shirt sales, with all proceeds going to CityLax.

Some of the teams that made it out were alumni from such Universities as Princeton, Harvard and Brown (which made for some hard-fought Ivy League games). UVA, Columbia and Southampton teams also competed, with two mixed CityLax teams rounding out the field. The clear-cut winners were the boys and girls in NYC who will get to play lacrosse because of inspiring days like this.

Check out some highlights of the day below...

One of the coordinator's of the day, as well as a founder and CEO/President of CityLax, Mat Levine had a few thoughts about the day:

"I have been involved with lacrosse as a player, coach, and organizer since 1963. As one of CityLax’s founders and CEO/President, to see 8 teams out here today playing on the Southampton HS fields in the spirit of serious, yet friendly competition supporting CityLax’s mission is truly heartfelt and appreciated. Yet, I am not surprised by this effort. With programs like ours, lacrosse continues to be the fastest growing team sport on a national basis. Yet the sport still retains its special sense of community and sheer fun to play. Today’s CityLax Summer Shootout tournament/fundraiser is a shining example of how the “lacrosse community membership” can help a cause like CityLax to advance and diversify the game beyond its traditional boundaries."

Well said. Being a student of the game of lacrosse and former player myself, I have to agree with Mat; it's no surprise to see the turnout for a day like the Summer Shootout, especially when the cause is in the name of expanding the sport. As lacrosse fans alike would certainly agree, though the sport continues to spread like wildfire nationwide, there's always more work to be done. CityLax is just doing it's part, and as Mat says, the hope is to "change some lives here through academics and athletics, maybe help some of these kids get college scholarships and other opportunities through lacrosse."

And they already have. Featured on the CityLax teams playing at the Shootout were 3 young men who are products of the organization. All 3 players hail from the Frederick Douglass Academy (FDA) in Harlem, NY -- a lacrosse program that was started in 2006-7 by CityLax and co-founder Armando Taddei. Khalif Yisrael, a midfielder, will be taking a post-graduate year at Trinity Pawling School in Pawling, NY. Ahmed Ajao, an attackman/midfielder, will be attending the College of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx. And Phillip Nesbitt, also a midfielder, will be attending St. John's University, a Division 1 Lacrosse program. The 3 talented players will continue to play lacrosse in college, after leading Frederick Douglass Academy to the semi-finals of the PSAL in just their 3rd year of varsity competition last season.

It's a testament to the whole staff of CityLax and their selfless efforts that we have seen real progress after only 4-5 years of work. They continue to press on and help further the bright futures of these young kids.

But to keep this mission going strong, the word needs to keep spreading. So head over to http://CityLax.org and see what they're all about. If you find yourself intrigued by the cause, don't be afraid to donate, you can be certain that every little bit means you're keeping the dream alive. And be sure to tell a friend. Who knows, maybe we'll even run into each other at the 2nd Annual CityLax Summer Shootout in 2010...

I know that HomeField was grateful to be able to help out and do our part with coverage on the day, and we're looking forward to the future of what CityLax has set out to accomplish.

Be sure to check out the rest of the photos from the day's events below...

How @OvertimeMedia relates to Paul Graham's "Startups in 13 Sentences."

2009-09-07T12:02:00.004-04:00

By Reece

Note: I just noticed some of the formatting is messed up. I’ll fix it in a minute...

I love Paul Graham’s essays. He consistently posts excellent thoughts on start-ups. I was reading his recent post about Determination, when I started across some of his older posts.

A favorite is Startups in 13 Sentences. Here’s how @OvertimeMedia fits into his picture:

1. Pick good cofounders.

I couldn’t be happier with my co-founders - @Spinosa and @JoeYevoli, and our first key employees @patrickohearn and @nromeo. Passionate, determined, intelligent. I love my team.

2. Launch fast.

In the last year, we’ve launched launched multiple versions of HomeFieldwith a complete re-writing of the application this summer. We’ve also built two other beta products. Paul’s right. You don’t really start working until you’ve launched.

3. Let your idea evolve.

HomeField has drastically changed since our initial concepts. We don’t say yes to every feature request, but we listen to our user feedback and use it to evolve HomeField accordingly.

4. Understand your users.

We love user feedback, but sometimes it’s not exactly clear. Users don’t know what’s possible technically, but they know how they work and we look at that and see how we can simplify and streamline the entire process. We’re proud of the changes we’ve made in HomeField 2.0, like scrapping scouting reports for discussions and allowing document and image uploading.

5. Better to make a few users love you than a lot ambivalent.

Totally agree here. We’re big fans of Seth Godin here as well, and the idea is to make a core group of people really love your product first, then allow them to spread the product for you. So far, it’s working. And to those early users, thank you!

6. Offer surprisingly good customer service.

I grew up in my family’s restaurant. It’s a fine dining establishment, and great customer service is one of our best qualities. We try to mimic that here at Overtime Media and we try to make ourselves perosnally available to all of our users. It’s easier at the beginning, but we are committed to maintaining the highest level of service as we scale.

7. You make what you measure.

We figured this one out recently, and we’ve started acquiring customers without any effort on our part. The viral

nature of HomeField is taking effect and we are working ahrd to continue this trend.

8. Spend little.

My mom is an immigrant and my dad is a chef. My mom only spends money when she gets a deal; my dad refuses to pay retail for food. By nature, I’ve been raised to be cheap, and I only spend money when it’s absolutely necessary. Funny thing is, my dad recently called me ”cheap!” I know this goes for my co-founders, too. It’s what has helped us survive this long on seed money.

9. Get ramen profitable.

We’re still working towards this. We’ve got some early revenues, and a LOT of potential in our business model. I can’t wait to get Ramen profitable… then move on to pizza profitable.

10. Avoid distractions.

This one has been tough, and I am personally guilty of it - by keeping a bartending job throughout our start - but it’s afforded me the cash to avoid taking a salary from our precious seed money. It is a distraction, and it’s tough to get up early after a long night behind the bar, but when you love what you do, it’s all worth it. Plus, I’m confident that I won’t be behind the bar too much longer.

11. Don’t get demoralized.

Luckily, long careers in competitive sports have taught us how to cope with this. I’ve had some demoralizing losses in my life as a lacrosse player, but that never stopped me from playing.

12. Don’t give up.

I love this. Giving up is the easy way out. Not for us. We realized that our business is going to change dramatically. That we are going to have a lot of ups and downs, but if we persist and evolve, we will be successful.

13. Deals fall through.

Yeah. We’ve had some deals fall through. It happens. Just like in sports, your opponents are going to score some goals - but if you stay focused and keep working, you’re going to win in the end.

Re: Will the future of TV start with sports? [@bijan]

2009-09-04T16:10:00.002-04:00

By Reece

So, I’ve fully bit into DISQUS and really love it. Consequently I’ve been participating in some great discussions online.

Here’s another comment I made on @Bijan’s blog asking “Will the future of TV start with sports?”

Great point about sports advertising, but like Bijan said, the DVR has done a lot of damage here. Last spring, I watched the Celtics in the NBA playoffs solely on DVR. Avoiding tons of ads, but I also had to turn off my phone/Internet to avoid spoilers.

Now, I don’t even own a TV, I’ve just got an iMac (on which the US Open experience is awesome). If the NBA could duplicate (and improve) such a robust viewing experience as this, then I’d be glued to the screen. And of course, same for the NHL and NFL.

I think it’s really about customization. Allow consumers to make choices about their content. Let me watch exactly what I want to watch. If you build a channel for consumers to do this, they will.

Bijan made a point above about piracy/P2P. It’s just like the music industry. People ‘stole’ lots of music, until there was the iTunes store, Amazon, Amie Street etc. Now that there’s a channel to consume legally, there’s a business there. (Just noticed Kirklove’s comment like this above. Total agreement here.)

The SEC almost made a serious mistake in banning social media at games. They have since fixed their mistake and clarified their terms, however, I think they need to go a step further and figure out a way to embrace a group of people (customers) who are so in love with their games (products) that they want to tell everyone about them.

I suppose my overall point is, there is a ton of sports media out there. All of it has value to someone, somewhere. The people in control of this media need to figure out the ways in which they can create value for their fans/customers, and in turn make a tremendous profit as well.

And where is ESPN during all of this? I think ESPN has the potential to become more of a portal or a switcher for the online content. They will act as the great curators of the sports world and people will use ESPN as a gateway… unlesssomeone beats them to it.

Finally, the one thing that sucks about sports video online? The quality is still catching up. This US Open video is great, but from a technical standpoint tennis (and baseball for that matter) are low movement sports making streaming video quality much easier. The good news? This will only continue improving. But for this reason, the NHL will continue to lag behind the other major sports, so I’ll be waiting for the Bruins via iMac a bit longer…

And to actually answer Bijan’s original question. Yes. The future of TV will most definitely start with sports. It is the most engaging content over time, attracting fans year in and year out (I know, I’m a Red Sox fan who rememberswhat it was like before 2004).

Sports on your Calendar

2009-09-03T14:59:00.003-04:00

By Reece

Sports and tech for the win! Google Calendar now allows you to add any of your favorite teams' schedules to your calendar. Prior to this, I'd hacked together some schedules on here, but this is a great feature. Thanks Google! (Now get college lacrosse schedules supported, too)!

"Now, when you look under "Other Calendars," click "Add," then "Browse Interesting Calendars" (or use this link to the Calendar directory), you'll find calendars for hundreds of teams in dozens of sports leagues — everything from the National Football League to the Korean FA Cup.

"When you subscribe to your favorite team's calendar, you'll see every game listed, updated in real time with the score as the game progresses."

Original post at the Official Gmail Blog.

Morning Realization

2009-08-28T08:26:00.004-04:00

By Joe

This morning as I was walking home from the gym, it had started to rain. On my walk home, which usually takes about 10 minutes, I passed a homeless man sitting on the corner crying asking for money to buy an umbrella. I felt pretty terrible and if I had any money on me I certainly would have gave him some.

"I wish there was something I could do for him." I thought to myself. "I wonder how he got in that situation. Life just isn't fair sometimes."

Then, as I walked a few blocks further, I passed another homeless man laughing out loud... while he bathed (The upper half of his body) in the rain.

"Ha!" I thought to myself. "Life really is what you make of it..."

Need vs. Want

2009-07-29T11:07:00.001-04:00

By Reece

@JoeYevoli and I had a great conversation the other night, as he wraps up his month spent living with my family and me on Cape Cod. We spent a lot of time discussing what it takes to be a good person, and a lot of our theories pointed back to our youth, and how we were raised.

I consider myself extremely fortunate. I have loving parents who supported me through school, sports, activities, etc., all while running the family business (a restaurant). Sure, sometimes I was picked up late from hockey practice by one of the cooks, but my parents made it work. And not just work, but they were (and are) successful.

But that didn’t mean my sister and I had it easy. We were taught to work, too. By the time I was 13, I had two jobs. At 15, I was working three summer jobs - a dockhand by day and at nightscooping ice cream at Smitty’s or bussing tables/dishwashing atthe family restaurant.

My parents fed me. Housed me. Put me through school. My basicneeds were taken care of. Why was I working so much?

I brought up our conversation to my dad last night.

“It’s needs versus want. We took care of what you needed. If you wanted something, you had to work for it.”

It’s a simple premise, but I think it’s lost on a lot of people these days, and it applies to more than just wanting spending money. It’s about working hard, and placing a value on your time, and your life.

In my experience, I’ve grown to appreciate the things I need in life. Sure, there are occasions when I want things that I don’t need - Smitty’s Ice Cream or a night out with friends - and I like being able to afford them with my hard-earned money, but I place less and less value on frivolous expenditures and a greater value on the things I need.

Think about it, really, and apply it to your life. Consider what you need and what you want, and over time, you may find that what you need, is only what you want after all.

Like right now, I need to get back to work (and it’s what I want, too!).

I originally posted this at reecepacheco.com, but it really applies to what we're doing here at Overtime Media. When building HomeField, we put the players' needs first. We knew that players needed better access to their game video and we knew coaches needed a better way to share it with them, but without sacrificing their playbook to the competition. The result? HomeField is 100% focused on game video, and it's totally private for your team. It's everything you need (and everything you'll want).