The Zoosse Chronicles

Welcome Back to the Zoosse Chronicles.

2010-01-28T11:42:00.001-05:00

Hello again. You'll notice if you look at the record here that I have fallen silent for almost a year here. I went quiet at about the same time as we brought a whole new development team on. It got very exciting around here, and we have been working 24/7 on the development process - a new site, new potential partners, new technology, new strategic directions...

So now that things have settled down a bit, I am getting back to the social media process, starting with our blogs. And I have some catching up to do. So...without further ado, I wil kick off this blog again with a story I told someone last night, that seems very poignant in many contexts.

I met Andre Agassi a few months ago. Someone asked him a question.. “when you are playing in a match, what point is the most important point? The first point? 30-30? Deuce? He said “No. I was down 2 sets to 0 in a match, and was down, 4-1 in the third in the finals. I remember asking myself “Why am I out here? What can I do, I’m getting hammered! Then I remembered something my coach Nick Bollettieri always said: The most important point in the match is This Point. It doesn’t matter where you are in the match, just win this point. I focused, said that to myself, and made every point in the rest of the match This Point. It was the turning point of my comeback, and in my life. So my answer is “The most important point in tennis is THIS POINT. I think in life too.”

There are many times when you think that you're in too big of a hole, that there is no way to dig yourself out of it. There are times when you're ready to pack it in, either in a match or game, or with a relationship, or in business matters. When I am in this kind of situation (and it seems I have had more than my share of them recently), I take this stance, and remember Agassi's words.

For what it's worth..I hope it helps.

Notes From The Nationals

2009-04-16T01:48:00.001-04:00

Everything I expected from the Nationals turned out to be right: The tournament was run perfectly, old friends and competitors were there (so it was great to catch up), the legends of the sport were there, the competition was intense, and my boys really enjoyed the whole scene. That was the coolest thing: They really got into it, watching the greatest players in North America playing their hearts out, hanging out with them, making friends, and sneaking on the courts, especially the really COOL glass courts.
I did acquit myself well, winning my first match against one of the best players in Canada, and then coming up against one of my college friends, and a legend of squash for the past 30 years, Will Bigelow.
I won the first game handily. Huh? I said to myself, that shouldn't have happened! I lost the next game in overtime, with a couple of chances to win that one as well. The third game was not quite as close, but it was long. Very long. The fourth game, with Will up 2-1, was like I came up against a buzz saw! Before 5 minutes were up, it was 8-2, and of those 8 points, he had hit 7 outright winners. I picked up my game a bit, and held up my side of the court, changing to a high game, trying to keep him away from this streak of shots, but he slammed two overheads into the nick for winners. I kept trying to keep him deep, but he would have nothing of it. I hit what I thought was a good cross court to his backhand, shoulder high, one of the hardest places to hit anything from, and he hit a cross court drop into the right wall nick, rolling on the floor. He won the last game, 11-4, and the match, 3-1. Gracious to the end, he tried to tell me how he thought he was a goner there. Yuh!
In all, the Nationals were as always a landmark in my life. This time, it marked my first time back in national competition in 12 years, the first chance my kids had to see top squash, and a great place to make new friends and build lasting memories. Hats off to Coach Assaiante and Trinity for such a wonderful facility, and to US Squash for hosting such a great event. I'll be back...and Will, watch out next time!

ZOOSSE VISITS TRINITY COACH PAUL ASSAIANTE

2009-04-07T06:56:00.003-04:00

While at the US National Squash Tournament at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, I had a quick chat with Paul Assaiante, the Trinity Squash coaching legend-in-his-own-time, who has led Trinity to 11 straight undefeated seasons, 11 National titles, and 202 team wins in a row. This is a record for intercollegiate competition in all sports, and proof that Coach Assaiante’s recruiting and coaching strategies have been immensely successful. The small coach’s office was very orderly, with a shelf full of trophies. On it were 11 rings; one for each of the team’s 11 National Titles.

This is how the conversation went:

Hey Coach, great event. Congrats.

Thank you, and thanks for coming. It’s great to be able to host the Nationals here.

What you’ve been able to do with Trinity, starting with a run-of-the-mill program, to 11 titles, has been absolutely amazing.

Thanks…I have been so lucky…

Undefeated in 202 matches, 11 National titles in a row.. Wow!

Eh, that’s just a matter of time. We WILL lose, so I try to get them not to focus on that. We almost lost one this season, it was really close, could have gone either way.

Your recruiting program has been able to bring in players from all over the world. Although this has given you an incredible pool of talent, which has been a key driver for your success, it’s caused some big hassles for you in the squash community. Obviously, you’ve proven that the strategy works.

It’s been great, to work with these kids, to see people who only had squash in common become a team, and real friends. It’s like our own little U.N.

But when you first started it, you were getting killed by everyone about it. They were calling you un-American, saying that you shouldn’t even compete in the U.S. Nationals because none of the kids were Americans, etc. What’s it like now?

Every day, I hear it. Still. Phone calls, articles, conversations with parents of kids who aren’t getting playing time or didn’t make the team…Every day. It’s horrible.

What do you say to them?

Look at what we’ve done. It’s not a slam against the American kids, it’s just that we don’t have the depth of talent in the U.S. We just can’t compete. That’s changing, with the urban programs, like City Squash ,Street Squash, and the like, and more courts around. But it’s still a country club sport, roughly speaking, so not enough people are getting into the game.

How do you see that progressing in the future?

There are definitely more public facilities, that are available to everyone. That will give many more kids the ability to play the game, and start much younger… like the one out by you, Southampton. How’s that going?

It’s been great.

So what’s going on out there?

(Wondering who’s getting interviewed) It’s going great! We have all the local schools getting involved, both public and private, and all demographics. And it’s only a year old. We have Sayed Selim from Egypt, and he’s running a great program. We’re really psyched about it.

That’s what’s going to make the difference. I see squash now like what tennis was in the ‘60’s and early ‘70’s. It’ll graduate out of the private clubs, and become a real great game for everyone. There are courts popping up all around the country. And then we’ll have many more people playing, and the level of play will just explode.

So there’s hope for us..

Oh yeah. And if it goes to the Olympics, it would add much more to the game here in The States. We could someday be well represented at the top of the game.

Then you’ll have more Americans on the team?

Of course, if it works out. But I have no problem with these kids; they’ve been absolutely wonderful. It’s been a really great experience.

Great, Coach, thank you.

Coach Assaiante was a great presence at the event. Along with overseeing the event from the College’s side, he also played in the 55 and over draw. He had a great match on Saturday, and it was great to watch. Almost his whole team was there to root him on, with yells and chants of “Coach, Coach, Coach”. Although he has been a controversial figure for internationalizing the game here in the US, he has obviously proven the wisdom of his strategy, and more than that, he is really loved by his team members.

And Finally, a Return to the Nationals..

2009-03-12T02:05:00.009-04:00

It's one day before the US Squash National Masters (Age Group) Championships. US Squash, the National Governing Body for squash, is running the tournament at Trinity College, just outside of Hartford, CT. This is going to be one crazy weekend. They are pulling off the impossible, running the Masters, which comprises all age-group players from 30 to 80 (yes, 80!), male and female, and, at the same time, the US Closed Championships (the best players of any age in the US).

400 individual athletes and their entourages will be descending on Hartford, on what seems to be a chilly, grey, otherwise run of the mill March weekend. My whole family - my wife and my three boys, are coming up to Hartford with me, to watch me play, to watch the spectacle of the Nationals, to get their first taste of top competition, and yes, to spend a few days cavorting in the hotel's pool. For them, it's a great break from the usual weekend chores and activities, with some excitement and a bit of enlightenment as to what happens on the national level.

But for every one of us who is playing (I'm in the 50's), it's a special weekend, the culmination of all the work and dedication we have put in over the past season. For me, the Masters represents my return to national competition after an 11 year hiatus. (Wow, has it been that long?) For this reason alone, it's both sad and nerve-wracking. It's sad because so much of my personna and self-image revolves around my being a top competitor, and that has been lost or superceded by my becoming a husband and dad over the past 11 years. ANd of course, it's nerve-wracking, because I have no idea how I will fare, against challengers known and unknown.

I know at least 10 of the 25 people in my draw from first-hand encounters on the court, past club affiliations, their reputations, or from their squash careers, as All-American collegiate players, teaching pros, touring pros or college coaches. (That in itself should be scary!) And in looking at the other age groups, I see the legends of squash throughout. I'm a little nervous, because after 11 years away from the circuit, I have no idea what to expect from my competitors. Are they all suffering from the wear and tear of 30 years of competition, and suffering hip and knee pain, or has time spared them, as it has me? And I've been working out and re-honing my game in a bit of a bubble, with no first hand knowedge of the level of my competitors.

Part of the genius of US Squash is their bringing together the current and past top players in one event, capped by a gala dinner on Saturday, and the finals on Sunday. Every year, for about a hundred years, US Squash, or its predecessor, the Unites States Squash Racquets Association, has put on this event, and generations of squash players have enjoyed the camaraderie, the competition, the coming together of the spirit of squash itself in one venue, and one grand event. I can't wait.

It was so much fun when I was playing tournaments up and down the eastern seaboard, rising to the top 10 in the age Groups, as well as the B's and then the A ranks. I played in dozens and dozens of tournaments, winning my share, and building my own reputation and rank, up to the top 10 in the A's in the New York area, and #3 in the 30's in the nation. And every time I played in one of them, I fought the nerves and anxiety all of us face. But most importantly, I always came away from them with a bigger game, more self esteem, and more determination to push my game to the next level. Every one of the tournaments I played in left a mark on me, with new friends, new shots, and eventually, the game I wanted, a game that could beat anyone on a given day. Eventually, my game proved to me that I could win.

If you're an aspiring player of any individual sport, or a club player with no real plans to rise to the top of your sport, but just want to see what it's like, I recommend doing at least some events you would otherwise consider over your head every year. It's a win-win situation. First, you get to see athletes at the top of your sport playing at the top of their game, and secondly, you come away just a little bit better, bigger, stronger, and jaded. The tournaments become less daunting and scary. Eventually, they become necessary parts of your life and your season. You are there to vanquish foes, and they are all within your reach. You come to tell yourself, "Pshaw, it's just another tourney, just another competitor."

But it's never just another tournament. It's always a landmark of your life. It's always an event you'll never forget. And you become a part of them as much as they are a part of you. Win or lose, they are important. And when you win, the trophies remind you of what you can achieve when you commit yourself to it. Not just in your sport, but in life.

So wish me luck, that I acquit myself well, and that I surprise some people who forgot I can play in the big time. Myself being one of them.

Steroids...

2009-02-23T09:58:00.006-05:00

So A-Rod has used steroids. Probably half of baseball players over 28 years old have used them. A few have been caught. Now, it's illegal, and you can get kicked out of the League if you are found "using", so probably about none of the MLB players are currently using them.

Steroids and other drugs are used not so much to enhance performance as to build muscle, decrease recovery time and decrease reaction time, through greater strength.

And they work. It's not a coincidence that most of the recent record holders in baseball have used steroids. They can hit harder and longer, move faster through sheer strength, and generally exhibit super-human physical capabilities. And they look like studs who are worth tens of millions of dollars a year.

But there are serious problems with steroid use; First, they screw up your personality. Steroid users become more aggressive, get more easily depressed, or exhibit other inappropriate behaviors.

Secondly, there is greater incidence of physical problems. Users get rashes or acne, or suffer longer-term problems. Others get serious injuries because of muscular size and strength greater than the rest of their bodies can handle.

Although I haven't seen stats on this, or if there is even a direct correlation, it seems that there is a much greater incidence of cystic fibrosis in football players' children than in the general public.

Thirdly, it isn't fair to the rest of us who are "clean", not using steroids either on principle or concern for our own health. I certainly wouldn't think of doing steroids to gain muscle mass, even though I would love to hit a ball harder and move more quickly.

Is there a "right place" for steroid use?

I personally think that NO place is the right place for drug use. I don't care how much better people play, or how much better people perform. It's wrong, an it can't be good, either for those performing, or for the kids who are watching their idols, and promising themselves they are going to be like them, and will do anything to get there.

But some differ.

We are pretty sure that WWE is rife with steroid use, for the purpose of entertainment. These guys are immense, and their fans LOVE it! So what are they supposed to do? Go off steroids and other enhancers, drop 50 pounds of ripped muscles, and look like their fans, or should they continue to give the fans what they are paying for? These guys make tons of money, and they know the tradeoffs and risks, and they are going for it. Is it wrong?

For that matter, we loved watching Bonds, A-Rod, Giambi, et al break records, and, outside of the stigma of steroids, would love to continue watching these idols perform better than we could ever imagine ourselves performing. These guys are after all entertainers, and there is greater entertainment value in watching them play on a superhuman level.

And football players - Watching a bunch of 150 pound guys running into each other isn't quite the same as the crack of two 300 pound linemen pounding into each other. When you're there in person, you can almost feel these hits in your gut, like a seismic wave! Now they don't use steroids, but it's obvious that most of these guys got there through steroid use.

Drugs are used elsewhere to enhance performance. Look at the art community. How many of the most respected and beloved artists have credited their own drug use for most of their best works? Over the past 40 years, you would have to say a great majority of artists have performed or created art while under the influence.

Look at Hollywood. How many of the actors at this year's Oscars have done drugs, have shown up on the set under the influence, or have gotten arrested for DUI?? Again, probably most have. So is that wrong?

I am not advocating drug use, by any means. In fact, I am 100% against drug use, for myself and everyone around me. We even try not to use decongestants and other medicines!

If I know someone who is "using", I will go out of my way to avoid them or try to confront them. But no matter what, when I know someone is using drugs, I discount them in one way or another. At very least, I will think less of them. I am training my kids to do the same.

But in general, and especially since there are notable exceptions to the the rule, as with WWE, our civilization is giving our up-and-coming athletes a totally mixed message. Is it right or wrong to use them? And is it worth the chance of getting caught, or the physical problems associated with use, to get the rewards that come with exceptional performance?

This is the crossroads we, as a civilization, are at, at least in terms of sports. Do we allow drug use for certain populations, as long as the results are great, or do we lay down the law, and say, without exception, that drugs are bad, and those using are expelled from participation?

Or, do we just set up some "separate and apart" system, where pro athletes can use them, appreciating that their enertainment value increases through steroid use, and that their achievemens have an asterisk next to them? Then, we can have pure amateur sports, with everyone on the same level, knowing that if they get caught using steroids, they will be permanently banished from their sports, and pure pro sports, like WWE, where it's a given that most of those athletes might be using, but WOW can they play their sports.

What do you think?

Zoosse.com in The Recession

2009-02-12T01:53:00.005-05:00

How has Zoosse been affected by the economic slump?

We are in the midst of a swift, brutal economic downturn that has sent seismic shocks around the world. One of the most brutally victimized business sectors during these kinds of slumps are startups, and more specifically, pre-revenue startups. Basically, pre-revenue startups are like the sick calves at the back of a herd being chased by lions.

The worst-hit "sick calves" within this sector are those whose A-rounds were only partially funded, with heretofore attainable, but now impossibly high benchmarks to hit for the rest of their funds to be wired in. I would bet that very few of these companies stand a chance of hitting their milestones. Meanwhile, they have hired staff, have built nice offices, etc., and are about to really have to prove their ability to make the tough decisions, and to generally manage to chaos. My bet: Less than a third will survive. In fact, we are starting to see the first victims being felled as I write this.

We had thought we were golden.

We had an LOI for our Angl Round funding, plus much more if we needed it, and were expecting it to hit sometime in November. Then, in September, this partner said that it looked like the funds would be in our hands by October! We were pumped. We made the mistake of telling averyone that we thought we were funded, and even worse, we stopped marketing the Angel Round to new investors. (Remember this, you young entrepreneurs out there - Never stop marketing your deal till the wire clears the bank, and even then, never spurn a potential investor.)

Then, the October crash hit, and ourplanned funding partner called and said that they had to push us off till February or March 2009, because their funding had been postponed. At that point, with economic news killing the stock market and the political scene causing chaos, this news was just another day at the bakery, and February or March seemed like an eternity away.

So - We were lucky not to have already gotten funded??

Of course, it would have been great to have been funded in October, according to the plan. But had we gotten funded in October, as our expected funding partner had told us they were going to do in September, we would have been one of those sad companies above, not willing to liberate staff, and finding it hard to bring in advertisers and groups of users. I would like to think that we would have been draconian by now, and would have pared down an already small firm to our core members.

As it was, it wasn't pretty. We saw EVERYONE who might have been an investor in Zoosse, on any level, pulling in their horns. Period. I spoke with people who said Angel Investors and VC's were closing shop, because there was no resale market for any portfolio investments. (Histrionics, of course…)

We had just spent a month smugly telling people that we were about to get funded, and had basically stopped marketing Zoosse to potential investors, because of the statements that our funding partner was making at the time. And then, like an Iraqi insurgent, the economic collapse blew that pipeline to dust, and with it, all hope for funding from other sources, until we could rebuild that funding pipeline.

Internally, this has been devastating. The lack of funds meant that we would continue not being paid for working here (something that I am all too used to!), and worse, that we could not make progress on initiatives that had to be started 30 to 60 days before their integration onto Zoosse. Although no one will miss them, we know internally that the site is lacking some very key components.

And NOW...

Now, finally, 3 very tight painful months later, we are begining to see the results of the restarted investor marketing activity, with two investors telling us that they will be investing next week.

But things seem to be getting more solid - our feet are touching bottom, I think. Potential Angel Round investors are starting to take more interest in Zoosse. Our original VC firm has asked to continue to "next steps" in the funding process, and two other funds have continued to show interest in Zoosse.

Yes, I'm very excited about the timing of our funding. Well, obviously any time is a good time for funding, but to be close to receiving the funds we need in an era where lower benchmarks are set, and longer times to reach them are expected, we can set lower goals with even greater belief that we will exceed them, and be within reasonable estimates made by other firms.

There is an adage that says if you start on a high, there is only one way you can go. I believe that the converse is also true.

Personally, I just can't wait to get past this funding, and to work on growing the company, not our warchest.

The Sports Industry is Counter-Cyclical

2009-02-10T12:48:00.005-05:00

Harold Vogel's 2005 book, Entertainment Industry Economics: A Guide for Financial Analysis, is a thorough study on the economics of all venues of entertainment. One of the most interesting parts of this book is a thorough description of the impact of economic cycles on entertainment in America. Obviously, the component of entertainment we care about is sports. This book, by a leading economics and business author, describes the countercyclicality of sports in America.

To be clear, this means that during downturns such as the one we are in the middle of now, the sports industry should not be affected, or if there is an effect, it should lead to growth in the sector.

This is not new news. Books, studies and articles for the past 20 years, at least, have stated the same thing, and during prior slumps in the economy, we have had a number of opportunities to prove this empirically. Actually, the evidence goes back to the Great Depression, when baseball games had lines as long as the bread lines, or so the legend goes.

This is logical, if you think of it. There are now 3 million more Americans out of work than a year ago. They are really frustrated, looking for jobs, and need relief from the stress. And we all know that a good workout is one of the best stress relievers there is.

So the out of work athlete, with 40 or so more hours on their hands, and their running shoes, racquet or bike screaming for use, is going to work out, at least as much, if not more than, he or she worked out when they were working. And those of us who are still working are feeling more stress too, just because of the economic climate, and will try to keep their workout regimens up.

Even youth sports is immune. Mom or dad lost their job, and the family is trying to continue some sort of regularity and consistency in their lives. The $100 or so it costs for Little League or soccer will be found.

Of course the other main venue for sports activity and spending is through school. School spending is pretty much immune to economic cycles. Budgets are fixed, and if anything, are set to increase to account for inflation. And scholastic and collegiate sports are growing, first because of the overall incease in sports in America, secondly because of Title IX, which requires schools to increase participation in sports by the female students, and third, because of the growth of the lower profile sports - lacrosse, crew, cheerleading and spirit dance.

We knew what we were doing: Zoosse was built to be recession proof.

As seasoned veterans of business, we specifically aimed to build in resistance to economic cycles by addressing the needs of the three audiences above - the individual athletes, the teams and leagues, and the school athletic programs. There IS a bit of genius behind the three operating activities, Zoosse, the site for individual athletes, MyAthleticOptions, for college athletic recruiting, and ZoosseTeams, our team & league management system.

Perhaps our timing was perfect, launching the Version 1 of Zoosse.com right in the trough of one of the worst economic cycles we have seen for years. But how do we get those 3 million out of work Americans to join Zoosse.com? I have an idea...How about you tell your friends to join Zoosse?

Web 2.0 is HERE.

2008-12-08T09:49:00.000-05:00

Something is happening on the Internet. I have been a member of Facebook (Look me up...Greg Burton) for a couple of years, and on Twitter (also Greg Burton) for about 9 months. Both were chugging along, growing well, and seemed like fine utilities. As the founder of www.zoosse.com, though, the relative tepidity of activity on these belwether sites sort of worried me.

Recently, though, something has been happening. Old friends have found me on Facebook, and "friended" me. People who I have never known are finding me, on both Facebook and Twitter. People who see my "Tweets" (what they call the short, max-140-character messages on Twitter) start following me, out of the blue. Like I matter to perfect strangers. This is powerful stuff!

Believing that this wave of real connectedness with each other would gain even more traction, we built a number of tools on Zoosse that bolster the connectedness and self-esteem of athletes. We have search tools by limitless criteria, featured athletes sections, even "Kudos", where people following me can send me a Kudo, congratulating me for a new win or achievement I post on my Profile. (I love this feature!)

It's thrilling that the fervor of social networking is building. More thrilling that Zoosse sits ready to benefit from this excitement.

Come join Zoosse and help us build that excitement!

Excited / Worried / Pumped!

2008-11-21T09:40:00.000-05:00

So Zoosse.com is almost fully done. All the tools are there, and now we're adjusting and tweaking. I'm finding a bit of a culture clash between the Canadians who are developing Zoosse and us down here in the states, but nothing both parties can't handle. We all know Zoosse.com is a kickass site, and can change the sports world, so we're all working hard toward the finish.

College recruitment partner, NRCCUA, is re-engaged. They had to rebuild their own site, and put the athlete recruiting site MyAthleticOptions.org on the back burner, until now. Call Weds. told me they're back at work. GREAT news! They said they will start pumping thousands of student athletes toward MyAthleticOptions.org as soon as 2-3 weeks from now, and Zoosse feeds off of them. Hoo hah!

Had a really exciting meeting on Weds., just before that conference call, with the head of an LP that is big enough to take all the Zoosse stock we would want to sell them, and a few of his partners also in, or entering, the sports space, with VERY complementary businesses. This guy is smart, and is surely thinking that one plus one is really three. I think he's right.

Worried...It's just such a troubling time on the national scene. Luckily, when I decided on this startup, two of the criteria were that a: the market would have to be recession resistant, if not counterrecessionary, and b: that the company would be addressing a market that is underserved, frustrated, and literally looking for solutions on its own.

Now that the rubber is about to meet the road, we will really be finding out what's up, so I'm of course worried like an expectant father...but PSYCHED!!!

We need your eyes and mindshare for www.zoosse.com. Join, look around, and tell me what isn't working for you, what is awkward, what you would change. And of course, tell me what's great.

Message me right on www.zoosse.com, or at greg@zoosse.com.

Greg

November 5: a new season, a new climate, same great opportunity

2008-11-06T00:04:00.000-05:00

Man, how things change in a few short weeks. In my last post, I talked about the imminent input of millions from a VC firm coming in earlier than previously expected. Then came the economic whiplash, and the bottom fell out of the markets, and now we hear that the VC funds are stalled a bit, awaiting for some settling in the markets. This is fine for me, as long as the Angel Round we are currently offering gets filled. The Angel Round will give us the fuel to comfortably get from here to the VC money,and at very least, to get us fully built out and producing revenue for our own operational purposes. Luckily, we seem to be close to some large funding within our current Angel Round, so our ability to get from here to there is starting to seem within reach. Also, the extra time between now and the VC funding gives us a chance to make more progress before then, which should allow us to garner a higher valuation upon that funding.

And we are making progress. http://www.zoosse.com/ is looking great, and all components are within days from being finished. I am planning to start getting the local schools to bring their students on board beginning this Thursday, to start seeding our population. The college recruiting company is reportedly preparing to load the college recruiting site, so Zoosse should start getting population within the month. As it turns out, all parts are coming together at the appropriate times.

As soon as the Angel Round is mostly filled, we will begin getting in front of the National Governing Bodies, to get them on board. This is a big move on many fronts, and will allow Zoosse to really separate itself from the pack.

And most importantly, we are in the midst of bringing in a hot CTO, who will be the lead person on all development efforts past the currently planned sites, and a solid CFO who knows and is excited about the opportunity we represent.

I'm really excited about where we are right now, and am more convinced than ever about our potential. Wanna hear more? Please call me at 631-702-5115, or email me at greg@zoosse.com.

August 18 - The Future Just Got Brighter!

2008-08-25T14:17:00.000-04:00

As insiders have known for weeks now, a Venture Capital Company has offered Zoosse a Letter of Intent (LOI) for our next Round of Capital, totaling between $3 and $4 million, to be invested by November 15. As you can imagine, this is a massive weight off of Management's shoulders. The Letter of Intent was signed and delivered to Zoosse on August 13.

On August 18th, in another conversation, the Venture Capital Firm notifies Zoosse that their infusion will most probably be over a month early! Yes, this is cause for celebration, and there was certainly a collective"wooo hooo!" from Management.

As usual, this creates a Catch 22 Situation, as much more needs to get done, now in 8 weeks instead of 12! It also requires our affiliates and partners to speed up their development, and for Management, particularly Greg Burton, to work more intensely, and quickly, on bringing the content partners into the fold. And of course, this will require the Company to finish the current Angel Round much more quickly, and to develop its services in 33% less time.

It can be done and it WILL be done. It is up to Management, current investors, those who have just been brought up to speed on Zoosse, and those who have been on a more casual, "wait and see" investment schedule, to step up to the plate and get this Angel Round done.

Along with this progress, the Investment Presentation has just been revamped, and now much more explicitly describes the very clear opportunity the Company enjoys. This Presentation, and all materials, are available by calling Greg Burton, at 631-702-5115.

Note, this is not a solicitation to sell or a request to buy any security, which may only be done via Investment Materials supplied by the Company.

August 15 - Blogs, photos and videos - and a new Board Member!

2008-08-25T14:09:00.001-04:00

As Zoosse fills out its services and products, the first to be added are blogs, photos and videos. Now users can load phots into their galleries, upload or embed videos, and begin building their online diaries, or blogs. These are the first, most basic tools that have been added. Much, much more is coming.

On the internal side, we have immense news: Laura Weil, ex CFO of American Eagle Outfitters and ex CEO of Ann Taylor, has agreed to join our Board. Obviously, for a young company, the addition of someone with such stature is a golden event.

August 8th - Zoosse Launches!

2008-08-25T13:22:00.000-04:00

August 8, 2008: Against the backdrop of the most beautiful Olympic Opening Ceremonies in memory, back in the United States, Zoosse, the first Real Athlete's Sports Portal, launches.
Quietly, without fanfare or bold announcements, Zoosse (Version 1) has begun operations. Over the following weeks, as functionality and services are added, Zoosse will begin to fulfill its goal, to provide a total, comprehensive resource for all the needs of participating and competitive athletes within the many competitive sports in the US (and around the world!).

By the end of the year, Zoosse and its affiliated sites (MyAthleticOptions.org and ZoosseTeams.com), will have solutions to most of the problems we athletes face year after year, in season and especially out of season. Watch as we unveil the most exciting web presence for athletes, that will invite all participating athletes to -Bring Your Sports Life Online at Zoosse!

August 7 Launch of Zoosse (beta) Set!

2008-07-10T08:46:00.000-04:00

We have set an August 7 launch date for Zoosse. I feel it's appropriate to have our first full day on the Internet coincide with the Grand Opening Day of the Olympic Games. I hope our design team and content people can deliver on time. If they do, it will be a great day for Zoosse, and a great day for athletes.

Zoosse (alpha), the demo site we launched in April, just got its 200th member. He is a Triathlete/IronMan contestant, and plays other sports as well. He is our perfect member. He joined a few groups, put up a kick-butt picture of himself racing, and reached out to a couple of other members. Although this proves that we can get interested people in, we need more of them. We are committed to bringing in people who are excited about their sports, ones who build great profiles with exciting pictures (as this member did), and who find value in repeat visits. As well, we need them to get involved with their community. We have a slew of great ideas for this, once the "real" Zoosse launches, and we can move on the populations we have ready to join.

We are athletes. We know what athletes need. We will give them all the info and news we can find, connect them with each other like no one else does, and build them the most exciting, immersive portal possible. We will give them a chance to build their own worlds on Zoosse, so they can give us all a glimpse at their lives and accomplishments, and so we can all share in each other's lives. New tag line we are toying with: Bring Your Sports Life Online with Zoosse.

How to be a sports family.

2008-05-20T01:25:00.001-04:00

I did NOT grow up in a sporting family. My folks not only did not exercise, but they were against me and my two sisters playing sports. In response, probably in rebellion, I, and one of my sisters, became sports junkies. Not fans, but players and competitors. We both have competed nationally and internationally in various sports, and still (we're old!) play seriously.

And even more radically, I am now the CEO of www.zoosse.com, a website devoted to an athlete's lifelong relationship with their sports and their athletic community.

I imagine everyone has their personal reasons for pursuing, or choosing not to pursue, sports. Some kids are not competitive, and they never will be. Some are Alpha Dogs, and will compete over who can balance 3 Cheerios on their nose the longest. However, with all the data we have about health, obesity, diabetes and other health implications, It must be a given that kids should be active.

So how does a family instill a desire to stay in shape in their children? How do you know if you are pushing a kid too hard to compete? How do you allow your kids to reach their potential, without being overbearing? What do you do with a kid who doesn't have that killer instinct? In forty years of sports, and ten years of parenthood, I have seen thousands of families try to work this out, and I would be the last one to say I have the answers, because I have seen so many different successes, and so many failures.

Here's a list of ways I see to instill a healthy love for sports, while allowing for individual aptitudes and aggressiveness:

1: Give kids every opportunity to "find their sport": Have sports equipment around, and let the kids play with them. And reward them when they ask you to go out and play with them.

2: Go to many local sports venues and competitions, preferably where the kids get close enough to touch the equipment, ask questions, and, ideally, to see people just a little older than they are, who are very good at their sports.

3: Play sports, or at very least, work out, yourself. Teach your kids how to do the sports you do, and to live healthy lives, every day. You are your kids' most consistent role model.

4: Respect the rules and cultures of the various sports: Wear white at traditional tennis clubs, get "rad" when you take the kids snowboarding. Loving sports means also loving their cultures.

5: Have sports idols, and share them with the kids. Wonder at Federer's backhand (I do!), talk about your kids' soccer idols, etc.

6: Play casually with the kids, and do active things with them just for fun. Have hopping contests, long jump games, tennis ball tosses, catches with stuffed dolls when they're young, etc.

7: Get them to play on a few teams, and get them lessons for a few sports. Let them decide when they've had enough.

8: Tell the kids stories of your great triumphs and your worst failures, and your own sports life. They'll love it, and remember every word.

9: Be the best sport on the sidelines. Root hard, laugh at funny mistakes, commiserate over bad games, and share the fun.

10: Only encourage. You can say don't do this or that, but then give the kid the right way to do this or that.

Here's a list of DON'TS:

1: Don't tell them what sport they will play, unless it's obvious. Even then, just hint. My eldest son and my youngest son both inherited my big muscular butt, so I know they will be soccer players, racquet players, or something terrestrial. The oldest son has "those feet", a way of moving them that is a gift, where it almost looks as if he were a marionette, and the feet were barely touching the ground. It's poetic, and every person I have seen with "those feet" has been either All American or a pro. Our middle son, who is 8, has long, lean muscles, a lanky gait, and no butt. He has the build to be either a swimmer or a long distance runner, except he has great eye hand coordination and loves fencing and hitting squash balls. The jury's out on him. And it should be. That was the point with this tip. Let them find their own path, but give them the opportunities.

2: Don't be overbearing. Most of the great athletes I have seen give up on their sports have done so because they were rebelling against overbearing parents. Give the kids the opportunities, espouse greatness in a sport, discuss the thrill of playing, but do not shove sports, especially any one sport, down a kid's throat. You will alienate the kid, and totally turn them off from that sport.

3: Don't live your sports frustrations through your kids. It's their time to be their own athlete, not yours. You blew out your knee while trying out for the Mets? Keep that history healthy: Sure, it stunk to lose your sports future to an injury, but being out of the pros opened up other doors, and left you with great stories to tell your kid. And if your kid knows your past, they'll respect you more, and they'll be begging you to take them out for a catch after dinner. Kids are dying to idolize their parents.

4: NEVER YELL IN ANGER FROM THE SIDELINE! Every parent I have ever seen do that has lost their kid's enthusiasm, and some have been asked never to come back to the field.

5: Never express disappointment unless your kid has given you permission to do so.

6: Never contradict your kid's coach, except directly to the coach, and even then, preferably out of earshot of the kid.

7: Don't be cheap with the equipment you get them. Poor fitting clothes, skates, shoes, etc., will hurt the kid and bruise their psyche. If you can compromise on equipment, they can compromise on working hard on the ice.

8: Don't show fear, whatever you do! If they are trying a new flip in gymnastics, trust the coach to spot them until they don't need it. Don't make that "Oh my God he's going to break something" face. If they see it, they will!

9: Don't have more important things to do. Nothing is more important than your kids, and they'll be gone, and with the wrong message to pass on to their kids, way too soon.

10: And never tell your kids they can't do something athletic. If you tell them they can't do it, and they end up doing it, you just lost traction with them. If they want to try, let them.

What are your sports family stories? How do you inspire your kids to play sports? Please come join me on www.zoosse.com to tell me your do's and don'ts, or join our PARENTS OF ATHLETES Group on Zoosse, and tell the rest of us parents your stories!

Greg Burton is a lifelong athlete. He was ranked in under-17 tennis, was an Olympic caliber fencer (and was recruited to Penn to fence), and then, when his back went out, ending his fencing career, he took up squash, eventually rising to #3 in the nation. He has been a pro racing sailor, racing on everything from J/35s to 115 foot maxis, and has taught and coached 5 sports. After a long investment career, Greg hung up his practice to build www.zoosse.com, an Internet sports portal that brings every athlete's sports world within reach through the Internet. He can be reached at greg@zoosse.com, or just find him at Zoosse.

Football…American vs. International

2008-04-13T00:45:00.001-04:00

I don't think much of football. Sure, it's a 'real' sport, with a bunch of really big guys banging into each other, and certainly there is strategy that has to be worked out and executed. And there is immense athleticism in almost all positions and aspects of the game, especially in college and pro ball. And there's pain. Lots of pain. I speak from personal experience, from when I was a kid and the other kids were all pretty much the same size. It hurt. I hurt. I can't even conceive of the pain these guys bear every day, from running into 300 pound linesmen, or catching and then wrestling to the ground 250 pound ball carriers.

My problem with football is that, except for a minority of the positions, it is just not a "healthy" sport. You just can't be 300 pounds and be healthy. This is borne out in facts given to us by the NFL Players' Association itself.

The average lifespan of a pro football player is a little over 59 (versus what, 81 now for Americans?). At least 80% of them suffer from pain every day of their lives during and after their pro years. It has been scientifically shown that pain lowers a person's lifespan, regardless of whether or not the problem causing the pain is life threatening, so these stats fit well.

I also have a big problem with what happens to pro players after they retire. (They usually don't get a chance to actually "retire" - usually they are just not asked back for the next season.) First of all, the pension plan stinks.

"The NFL's pension plan covers every eligible player (meaning he played four years in the league) since 1920. That four-year requirement drops to three for players in the league after 1992. Full benefits are available at the age of 55, with a minimum payout of $200 a month for each season played in the NFL. "

[*interesting that the average pro career is 2 ½ years, and pension doesn't start till 3 or 4 years!]

"That monthly payout, based on the number of seasons played, does not amount to millions. Even a veteran like Darrell Green, who retired in 2002 after 20 seasons, will only be looking at $5,805 per month. Approximately $70,000 per year or $290 a month for each season played." (AskMen.com writer Lewis Helfand)

Forget about the pension plan. The first few years out are the worst! Within 2 ½ years after retirement, over half of NFL players are bankrupt, divorced or both.

It amazes me that pro football players are put on such pedestals. What kind of role models are they? Is it good to see pro linesmen with 30 pounds of gut hanging out in front of their belts? Is it good for a ten year old to decide to train for football with big weights? Is it healthy for a kid to bang up his body before he is fully grown? Is it appropriate that kids look up to people who for the most part have no life skills, and whose lives begin falling apart the day they retire (at 25)? I have trouble with all of this. But mostly, I feel sorry for these football players.

But what I have the most of a beef about is that football is not a participating sport. Very few people play it - only 4 million people of all ages across the nation play football, as opposed to 20 million people who swim, 40 million who ride bikes, 16 million who play tennis and 14 million who play soccer (God forbid!). Yet, these days, from August to February, broadcast TV and now ESPN are crammed with football. And local channels have football, beginning with Friday night high school games and Saturday college games and ending with color coverage of Monday night pro football.

Why do I care? Because our kids are among the fattest kids on earth, and they have the highest rates of obesity and juvenile diabetes of any developed country. There are a number of causes for this, but I attribute a large part of this phenomenon to the fact that kids don't just idly go out and play football. You can't just go next door and find 23 other kids, or even 11 others, to round up a casual game of football. So kids don't. The sport that they see all the time, and that should incite them to go out and have a catch, is just not fun played out in the yard. Kids go out to ride their bikes, shoot hoops (the most athletic of mainstream sports), take jogs and play tennis, but they're not playing football.

The final point of this tangent is that we really should, and hopefully are finally starting to, be promoting the sports that are tough cardio vascular sports, that people can play alone or in small bunches, and that are really fun to play. Much to the chagrin of US traditionalists, soccer is one of the fastest growing sports, and now one of the largest sports, across the nation. Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport among both boys and girls. In schools where crew (rowing) is a team sport, some crew teams have three or four times the members of the football team. For example, Yale has 200 members on their crew team, and 60 on their football team. Conversely, "mainstream" sports across the nation are flat or losing players each year for the past ten.

The networks, the retailers, the manufacturers and the government that builds and maintains its infrastructure are for the most part still trying to maintain the status quo, trying to support football, baseball and basketball as the traditional national sports, and struggling internally with needs for soccer and lacrosse fields, swimming pools, squash courts and fencing strips.

Zoose is all about hastening this transition, from having most of the nation's attention on three relatively unplayed sports, to bringing all sports played in the nation into the public eye equally, with no traditional or monetary bias, only the demand of the athletes themselves, on a per-person, on-demand basis. We'll see what happens, what sports become the big sports on Zoose. It will be very interesting, and really exciting, especially for people who play or are following the lower profile sports, and who finally see their populations represented appropriately.

The Hardest Thing in Sports…

2008-04-13T00:42:00.001-04:00

I'm sure you've heard the statement that the hardest thing in sports is to hit a baseball. I just saw a show called SportScience, in which they determined that it's much harder to hit a softball. This is ludicrous. Go tell a baseball player to play fifteen minutes of basketball, and if they survive, they'll tell you that hitting a baseball is a piece of cake. But if you want to say that a single act or motion is the hardest, turn on the Australian Open, and watch these people return a serve.

First, the ball's moving over 100 miles an hour, versus 95 MPH max for a baseball, or 85 MPH for a softball. Roddick routinely serves at over 140 miles an hour.

A baseball has to fly between the edges of home plate, between the hitter's knees and shoulders, a total of 3.3 square feet, at most. If it's out of that area, the hitter doesn't have to swing. A serve has to bounce in the service court, which is 13'6" wide, which translates to a range of about 18 feet by the time the receiver hits the ball.

In the midst of the flight of the ball toward the receiver, it comes down from about 10 feet, it crosses over a net, which often creates interference in the sight of the ball, and then it bounces back up off the court. If the server put spin on the ball, it could have a variance of eight feet after it bounces, just from the slice.

When a baseball player actually contacts the ball, (which they do only about once every three tries!) they have a range of about 120 degrees in which to hit the ball into play.

A tennis player, on the other hand, has to hit the ball back over the net and into the court, with a reasonable target of only about 27 feet wide by 25 feet deep.

Hitting a baseball? Give me a break. It might be the hardest thing to do in baseball, but that's not saying much. And I also understand about the small percentage of actually hitting the ball, which is about 30%. In an average game, each player only gets about 25 balls to swing at. With that little practice, you're never going to get that percentage up! I just saw a single tennis rally that lasted longer than a whole night of hitting for the usual baseball player!

And I'm not even saying that receiving a tennis serve is the hardest thing in sports, but it's infinitely harder than hitting a baseball. Many sports have ridiculously hard actions, ones that stretch the athletes' capabilities, threatens them with injury or worse, or loads up one part of the body with inhuman stress. Look at weightlifters, lifting the weight of a cow over their heads, or gymnasts catapulting themselves 10 feet in the air, moving laterally farther than the length of a car. Watch a 10 meter diver, spinning their body within inches of the platform, on the way to a free fall toward water 35 feet down. Watch the bowman on a maxi boat, swinging 100 feet in the air on a line thinner than your pinky. The list of superhuman or death-defying feats in sports is literally endless, and the longer the list, the less consequential hitting a baseball really is.

When you get right down to it, baseball is an easy game, very straightforward with a bunch of sitting and standing around, interspersed with a few seconds of running or other activity. Thank God for the beers and hot dogs, without which going to a baseball game wouldn't make any sense at all.

IMHO

MySpace and FaceBook: I don’t get it.

2008-04-13T00:39:00.001-04:00

We just launched our first prototype for Zoosse.com. (go to www.zoosse.ning.com). We will continuously readjust it in the coming weeks, but we wanted to get something up, to start understanding what works and what doesn't, and what, in our perfect world, we would offer the athletes. Right now, I am pretty frustrated with how the site works, but I have many of the same frustrations with Facebook and MySpace as well. I really don't think any of these guys has figured out the optimum ways of communication yet, or a way to give the user a vision of the potential connections they could make on these networks.

Let's just take the way people can communicate with one another. There is no intuitive strategy of communication on these services. To me, there are basically three means of communication that should be offered by websites, and one cute interpersonal thing we will be doing on Zoose.

1: If you want to put a message onto someone's profile so anyone can read, that's one way to communicate. FaceBook's "The Wall" is a pretty good idea, but it still doesn't hit a homerun. We'll work something out more like a locker door or a post-it on a kid's laptop screen.

2: The next communication should be straightforward emails, which are private, between people: They should be sent by one person, to another person, either while they are visiting the friend's profile, or available off of their own profile.

3: Then there are chats, which can be ether private or open, like AIM and Yahoo Messenger. (I do think they have that well worked out.)

NEW IDEA: I also think that we should be able to put balloons, or post-it-notes, on people's profile pages, so those comments are related to specific parts or postings on the person's profile. Either a thumbtack or a mini-post-it note that expands when cursored-over would be cool.

Larger chats, with a bunch of teammates or friends, are great fun. Scheduled chats with a pro should be monitored or guided, but certainly are worth their weight in gold, if the pro is articulate and into it, and the attendees are either insightful in their own right, or are at least asking the right questions. This can be guided by the monitor of the Chat.

If these things do make sense, wouldn't you think that other people would have figured this out by now? It may be that either FB and MS are afraid of changing the users' current ways of doing things lest they throw some of them off-track, or that I'm wrong, and they have already worked out the best means of communication. Maybe, just maybe, these ideas do make sense. If that's the fact, let's just not tell FB and MS. It will be our little secret.

Don't make U.S. athletes suffer for stupid IOC decisions.

2008-04-11T11:56:00.000-04:00

This year's Olympic Torch Relay has been marred by demonstrations, riots and threats, both in Europe and in the U.S., in response to China's continuing violations of human rights, free speech, free press, and most recently, its oppression of the people of Tibet.

One can't help but wonder why, or how, the International Olympic Committee could have picked China for the home of these Olympic Games. There must have been dozens of more open, more free, less totalitarian countries in the running for the hosting of this year's Games. How could they have possibly picked China, and even worse, one of the most polluted cities in the world, Beijing, in which to have these Games?

This isn't the first time the IOC has made a bad decision when picking the host of the Games.In 1936, Nazi Germany was the host, and Hitler had a great time watching his Aryan athletes win the majorty of the awards.

In 1980, Russia was the host. Jimmy Carter decided to pull our athletes out of the Games to "punish" Russia for sending their tanks into Afghanistan. The outcome of that disaster was that tens of thousands of athletes, and hundreds of thousands of their friends and families, had their Olympic dreams destroyed, to prove a political point. And once again, the totalitaran regime, this time Russia, walked away with the vast majority of the medals.

So here again, in 2008, the IOC has chosen a totalitarian, Communist regime to host the Games, and once again, our politicians are threatening to pull our athletes out of the Olympics, or at least out of the Opening Ceremonies.

Once again, the politicians are contemplating using the poor athletes, whose only wish in the world is to compete in the most important sports event in the world, as pawns in their political games. It's not going to prove anything to pull the athletes out of the Games. It will just allow another totalitarian regime to walk away with more medals than it deserves, and it will once again ruin the lives of another few hundred thousand Americans with Olympic Dreams.

The most grievous shame of this is that absolutely innocent athletes, who are not in any way involved in the political world, may be materially affected by the political climate, and what should be the single highlight of their lives may become their darkest hour.

Olympic Athletes build multi-year training plans in order to reach their peak during the Olympic Games. They and their families rearrange their whole lives, often moving across the country to be closer to the right coach, and almost always, at great financial cost and at grave economic peril. Because of the rigors of this training, and the economic and physical toll this training takes on them, most athletes only have one shot at competing in the Olympic Games. In fact, less than 10% of Olympic caliber athletes ever have more than one shot at competing in an Olympic Event.

What happens to these athletes if we once again pull them away from the Games? What do we tell them? Do we tell them that they are no more than political pawns, in a game they have no interest in, or undertstanding of? Do we just tell them that our politicians think that it is more "politically expedient" to keep them home? That their absence from what should be the most important time of their lives is the product of a calculation made by someone in an office in Washington?

Granted, the politicians didn't cause this problem: It is the IOC, for picking China in the first place. By choosing China, a perennial antagonist in world events, as this year's host, the IOC has put itself in the crosshairs of human rights activists, and all people who believe in free and open societies, from around the world. And it seems that this time, the people themselves are really mad about that decision, more so than the politicians.

And once again, it looks like the most likely victims of this bad decision by the IOC will be American athletes, and by extension, all of the world's greatest athletes, who come to the Games hoping that their sports can overcome racial, cultural and political differences.

Isn't this, after all, what the Olympic Movement is all about? To transcend the forces that keep us apart, to celebrate our love for sports, in brotherhood with one another?

I ask you now: what do you think is worse? The oppression of Tibet, or the contemplated U.S. boycott of these Olympic Games?

GB