The Internet pops up with thousands of new websites each week, only to see most of them become space eaters and never to be touched again.
Much like starting a new business, there are those that seem to have the right appeal to catch on and be more than virtual litter. RootZoo, the site thought up by Jesse Boskoff (also known as jboskoff on the website) of Manhattan, New York, happens to be one of those sites that "got it" soon after launch. Close to a year after the site became public, it has swelled to around 20000 members. In other words, the site could sell out Madison Square Garden if every member attended.
One could find all kinds of sites to talk sports out in cyberspace, so what makes RootZoo different? Without a television channel or magazine to draw people in (like ESPN), RootZoo has really emerged from the ground to be an ultimate sports site.
Boskoff was working a typical company job in the biggest city in the country, having big thoughts himself. The corporate working thing was not for him; he wanted to be his own boss.
"I was washing my hands in the bathroom a few days before my last day and the idea just came into my head," Boskoff said. "It seems hard to believe, but it really happened just like that. Right away, I knew it was something I had to do. It just made sense to me."
It's one thing to come up with an idea, but in order for Boskoff to be satisfied, he knew he had to get this thing going. He knew sports was going to be the focus, but coming up with a domain name was the first tricky part he came across.
"Like naming a baby - it's something that'll stick for life," Boskoff said. "I came up with a list of probably 300 domains and only about 50 of those were available."
Despite this scientific way of narrowing down the name choice, RootZoo didn't make the list. Much like an undrafted NFL player, RootZoo was reconsidered and given a chance to prove itself, and on second thought Boskoff knew RootZoo would just work.
"It's easy to spell, easy to remember, fun and describes the premise of the site," Boskoff said. "It's a crazy place (zoo) where people talk sports and root for their teams."
The name and site was ready to go, and in March 2007 RootZoo's first version was launched. The web development firm Boskoff decided to hire to help him didn't exactly put the kind of website together he was hoping for, so he made the tough decision to rebuild it from scratch. The site started out much like Willie Mays: the bright star was called up to the majors, but realistically might not have been completely ready (Mays started his career in the majors 0-12).
Three months passed before the site was rebuilt, and on June 2nd, 2007, RootZoo was born. Any thoughts of the setback hurting the website were quickly put to sleep when a member from the Beta version posted a "RootZoo etiquette" thread.
In order to get the word out, Boskoff decided to do quite a bit of advertising. Unconventionally, he also thought of the idea to award prizes to entice people to join and participate. Since the prizes were such a hit, they continue to be given away at an alarming rate.
Running a sports website sounds almost like a dream job for some, but it is not all fun and games for Boskoff. For one, hours upon hours are spent on the website. Yes, Boskoff is on the site even more than the like of takerprizon89, Saints 4 Life, jprbulldog, etc. The time is spent not only on the site, reading through all the material, but also working with the development team. While he may not post, he is always getting the feel for what the masses are talking about.
Constant e-mails and the occasional spammer also eats up time for Boskoff and the other moderators, but most of the times any problems are put to rest. Adapting on the go has been one of the major pluses of having the person in charge work so closely with the members.
Boskoff is the figurehead of the organization, but many people are also working with him behind the scenes. It starts with the team of programmers, the ones responsible for making the dreams reality for the members. They are also the guys Boskoff calls to the rescue when the site goes down to bring it back to life.
A web designer makes all the pages look simple and clean, and many part-time and full-time people help with the little things such as entering pick'em games, sending out prizes and writing fantasy content. These people all have screen names, and include butangdmb, busyliving4evr and chessjoe as the programmers, as well as radrew, dblock, dsilver, cdieter and nyrangers3019 helping with other things.
With the site up for almost eleven months now, RootZoo and Mays seem to be having the same type of career. While not having one of his best years and struggling with consistency at times, Mays still was successful enough to win the 1951 Rookie of the Year award. Boskoff is pleased with the success the website has seen so far, but has bigger goals on the horizon.
"By next year, I hope to have a site with a handful of new features in place," Boskoff said. "I'd also like to develop some of the existing features on the site to make them even more useful and enjoyable. There'll be fantasy sports, our videos section and so many other new things that I'm not ready to talk about yet."
As for five years from now?
"I'm looking for RootZoo to be a household name in the sports world. There's a lot more detail I could go into there, but there's a lot of work to do before I get there."
Something tells me Mays might have had that same type of thought process. When Jesse moves him and his crew to San Francisco in 2014, just remember I told you so.