Hello Yo-BET'ers. It's been a while since the last post, so let's recap what's been happening, in our neck of the woods:

• "The Dojo" - You come to Yo-BETS.com as a young man, looking to hone your skills at creating matches against your friends. You then find yourself at the mercy of a giant rat
  
  This rat then teaches you how to successfully create bets, join a team, and become what some would call...a real rad dude (COWABUNGA!). This all just happened in "The Dojo". Everything dealing with matches, teams, and ego domination goes on in here, and maybe soon, you could become a Platinum ninja

• The Belt Series - By joining Yo-BETS, you are joining an elite club only full of the greatest warriors
  
  ...ok, some of the greatest warriors. Some look like they no longer fit in their Ninja jeans anymore..QUIT EATING SO MUCH RICE, CHAZ! Whenever you hit a milestone in your activity points, we will upgrade you to a higher belt. Once you become the highest points holder on the site, you will also be awarded, the PLATINUM NINJA..a statue that you can proudly display on your Yo-BETS Mantle....next to that weird picture of you and your "friend" in xmas sweaters.

September 5th is just around the corner, so Yo-BETS is in full force trying to get everything ready for the big release. Do you have any ideas for what would make this site even better? Let us know below. Happy Tuesday, and next week we will tackle the question; Orange - which came first, the color or the fruit? also, your laugh of the day, brought to you by Thugs:

blog directory

Yo-BETS.com has been doing some major work these last few weeks. Our biggest move came yesterday when we successfully integrated our site with most of the major social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) some lesser known sites (FourSquare, YouTube, Blogger) and some sites I have never even heard of (Yandex, Hi5, Daum). This got me thinking, "Why did I have that second helping of sauerkraut last night, I have the runs like Slater has mullets!” While in the little boys room, I then began to think “Do people really use some of these sites to log into Yo-BETS? What would those people be like? “ I thought so hard that I feel asleep and dreamt of what those people would be like on our site:

MySpace Connecters

MySpace connecters are 1 of 3 people

• VH1 Reality Stars (from the early 2000’s…what ever happened to Miss New York? )
• A DJ

•  People who like having really, really cool display names (I knew someone who had 8 $’s and 4 ~ in their display name. Their name in real life was Tami, on Myspace…$$$$~~  The NEW HOTNESS AKA Special T ~~$$$$....she was also a DJ)

They still use MySpace because not only are they looking for Mr. Right, but because they love listening to High School Bands put out Music on their page, and love putting up MySpace templates that have lots of glitter and fairies.

MySpace Yo-BETS: 

• Which band will be better at this weekend’s prom – Drunk Eagles or Ted and the Hacky Sackers?
• Which chick should I bring up on stage this weekend at DJ Hot Spurs?

Facebook Connecters

Facebook connecters are more of your “Look at Me” and “Know where I am at all times!” kinda people. They have more to say then twitter can hold, but are equally annoying when they tell you that they just checked in at their grandma’s house and her feet stink!

Facebook Yo-BETS:

• Just checked in at McDonalds, What will I get?
• I’m playing Farmville again; guess why I don’t have friends… 

Also, on a side note, I looked up facebook on Google AdWords and the top keywords were a little strange

I like how "bikini bikini" beat out "bikini bikini bikini" and of course, "bikini".

LinkedIn Connecters

These are you business types who want to tell you about how they got a promotion, or bother you over email everyday to put up a recommendation. When you interview for a job and they ask for recommendations, do you ever tell them to check your LinkedIn profile?

LinkedIn Yo-BETS:

• How long before I am the CEO of this company because I am that good ;)
• How many referrals can I get this week from my family?
• How long before I am no longer considered “un-employed”?

There are alot of other users we will be seeing Yo-BETS from; Twitter (wht rapper goes 2 jail nxt?), Friendster (Where did everyone go?), YouTube (what EpicMeal will we eat next?) and more. Stay tuned and start thinking about what Yo-BET you want to make.

September 5^th…Prepare your Ego. Also, this made me laugh:

Well folks, the NFL has decided to put pen to paper and we will have a 2011 NFL Season. I want to thank the NFL commissioner for 2 things.

1.   Figuring out how to part with some of that 9 billion dollars. Let me type it out longer so you can see how much that is. $9,000,000,000...Just this morning, me and my wife had to split up the $8.56 left on the Starbucks card...and I love my Chonga Bagel!

2.   Every time you speak, it's like free advertising for Sony. Has anyone seen you and the PS3 guy in the same room? Suspicious

Now that the CBA is signed, sealed, delivered (I'm yours!), let's take a look at how Free Agency will and has affected us Northwestern-ers (at least since I can remember...so since the 90's)

QB

You might of heard of this guy. He has only started 138 games for the Seahawks, completing 4,266 passes for 29,434 yards and 174 TD's. Mr. Matthew Michael Hasselbeck. He has been a staple at QB since the greatest QB from Central Washington (Jon Kitna) and Trent Dilfer were at the helm. He also is the only QB to lead the Seahawks to the Super Bowl and owns 35 different Seahawk's Franchise Records. If you’re wondering why the Hawks might not bring Hasselbeck back, last year, Hasselbeck was fighting injuries almost every week, along with throwing more Ints then TDs for the 3rd year in a row (Correction: in 2009, he had 17 TD's to 17 Int's.)

Reports show that the Titans are looking to prepare a sweet little offer for Hasselbeck to help groom another Seattle native, Jake Locker. Seattle is not looking to offer Hasselbeck as much money and might look to their back-up, who hopefully will play like he looks...Heavenly!  

Other Options: Kevin Kolb, Matt Leinart (Leinart to Mike Williams...this WSU alumni's nightmare), Tarvaris Jackson, and never rule out Brett Favre.

Worst FA QB: Kelly Stouffer - 4 seasons, 2,333 yards, 22 games, 7 TD's, 19 Ints. Those stats were almost as bad as when Seattle Drafted Shane Falco after losing the Sugar Bowl by 45 points in "The Replacements". 

DT

Brandon Mebane is a household name if you are a Seahawks fan. If you watch SportCenter, then you might know him for his sultry dance moves. If you aren’t in either of those categories, then you probably accidently got to this blog, instead of this blog http://www.angelfire.com/folk/morgan/catblog/  WAIT! This is amazing, a cat that blogs! I’ll be right back; I need to check this out too!

Ok, I’m back. Where was I? oh yea, how does he blog without thumbs, I know? Wait…Meow…Me. MEBANE, that’s right. Mebane looks to be headed out of town, due to the fact that he is young (26), at 6’1”, has great leverage and quickness, and teams love that he is semi-flying under the radar and that might mean he could be signed for less $$$ then say a Pat Williams or Haloti Ngata could demand.

Other Options: Re-Sign Mebane looks to be the best option. Carroll will need to find a spot for Mebane in the LEO defense, but he is good at disrupting the Offense, and no one has had this great of a Sack Dance since this guy, although I think he might have had a different sack in mind…IT’S FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES! 

Worst FA DT: Hard to pinpoint this one, since most of my childhood, I was busy trying to be as cool as “The TEZ” AKA Cortez Kennedy. I guess I would have to go with our first DT, Steve Niehaus as he lasted a whole 3 years with Seahawks and was out of the game by 79’ 

Secondary

Let’s take a look at who could be leaving: Lawyer Milloy, Jordan Babineaux, Kelly Jennings. Even with them last year, the Seahawks were 26^th in passing defense. With a younger secondary on the way in (Earl Thomas and Mark LeGree at 22, Walter Thurmond at 23, and Roy Lewis at 26) and only 1 real veteran that has been through the Hawks roller coaster (Trufant at 30, GO COUGZ!), the Seahawks would not be hurt if they added some veteran leadership. The Seahawks would love to see Nnamdi Asomugha or a Antonio Cromartie in the blue and green, but the way Pete Carroll has found diamonds in the rough through unwanted free agents, don’t be surprised if you see a Darrin Walls or a Jerrard Tarrant showing up on your scorecard

Worst FA DB: Fred Vinson. I know we had Shaun Alexander at RB, but how do you give up Ahmen Green for Vinson? Vinson ended up getting hurt playing a pickup basketball game before playing a single game for the Hawks. I’m not sure if you can be the worst DB if you never even played a down at DB…but I guess we owed Green Bay for Hasselbeck

Other note able FA’s the Seahawks need to sign or let go are:

DE Raheem Brock

OLB Will Herring

OLB Leroy Hill

OT Sean Locklear

K Olindoooooooo!

C Chris Spencer

DT Craig Terrill

And on the subject of bad transactions: Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo to Cleveland, Derek Lowe, Jason Varitek and David Ortiz to the Red Sox…No wonder the Mariners have lost freakin 16 in a row. I am this close to hoping we sign Tony Danza at SP, Adrian Brody and Matthew McConaughey in the OF, and Taylor Negron as my personal assistant!

YOU GOTTA BELIEVE!

The title almost sounds like a nerds best bar joke

Big things are happening here at the Yo-BETS labratory of Amazingness and Wonder. The official Yo-BETS.com BETA has launched. The basic functionality is up and you are able to begin travel around the world of Yo-BETS. The betting is still under construction, and the yo-bear has yet to move in...But speaking of moving, let me share what is currently one of the better bets I have heard of...in my life!

*Warning - Names have been changed to save their identity...also, puns may have been added, so you have been warned 

This story comes from the crazy city of Boston, Mass. A Mother (we'll call her Teresa) was flying into town to see her granddaughter get married. When she arrived, she realized that her car insurance had lapsed and she was not able to rent a car from the airport. After calling numerous family members, she was unable to get anyone to come help her out. After all of her begging, she decided there was only 1 option left....a sweet U-haul. Once the daughters heard that their mom would be rolling up in a U-Haul, one of the greatest bets was conceived; "What State Will Be Displayed on the Side of the U-Haul?

Yikes, must of been a hard one to pick (nailed it!). Numerous states were chosen, but when the mom rolled up in her sick ride, they were stunned by the state that had 26-1 odds at the moment:

No one had chosen North Carolina. From the looks of it, even the bride was surprised:

...or angry? or hungry? I’m not too sure....

One last shout out to one of our co-founders. This morning, he became the father of a beautiful baby boy. Congrats "Pipeline" and we look forward to getting this new intern into his office!

Stay tuned to Yo-BETS for new ideas, new features, and most of all, answers to the hard questions like: How far east can you go, before your heading west….think about it!

Hello future Yo-BET-iens..or Yo-BET-ers..whatever you want to call yourselves (comment below if you can think of a better name)

Last night, a few big things happened for Yo-BETS which started the wheels turning for an official launch. Let's just say, The Mariner's getting shut out again, a lot of Coors Light, and a few such phrases as "That's what she said", "Isn't that the truth", and "Sha Na Na" got it going. As the Yo-BETS founding fathers huddled around a laptop, deep into the night, we decided that now was the time to get the wheels in motion, so with 1 click of the mouse...and permission slips from our wives, the beginning of Yo-BETS began!

We've made a few purchases, talked to a few people, made a few calls...and drank more Coors lights, and now it is on! Mark your calendars now, September 5th, Yo-BETS.com will be live, waiting for you!

Where the heck do you get your calendars from?

Also, a little shout out to a couple of vendors, whose products are getting Yo-BETS off the ground: 

Before we leave to begin a weekend of British Opens and The Mariners dominating

Today, the Yo-BEAR visited the office and wanted to answer a few questions from the kids. First, I had to talk to security so that the Yo-BEAR can get an ID badge and stop being harassed by our TSA trained Security Guard: 

DANG IT FRED! Wake up and get the Yo-BEAR an ID Badge. While down there, I noticed that the Yo-BEAR had a strange looking box. 

I asked, "Yo-BEAR, what's up with the beaten up mailbox". He says, "It's my mailbox, You got a problem with it?".Yikes, the Yo-BEAR is a little touchy about those things...maybe if he was a little nicer, I wouldn't of drank all those Smirnoff's and dominated his mailbox with my Louisville Slugger...freakin jerk-bear...

Anyway, the Yo-BEAR thought it would be a good idea to go through some of his recent snail-mail questions and see if he can't shed a little light on this thing called Yo-BETS.

Question 1: Yo-BEAR, 2 questions. First, how did you get those mardi-gras beads? Second, I want to make an unusual bet about my second favorite event, The British Open in a couple weeks (My first is, of course, The World Bog Snorkeling Championships).

Yo-BEAR: I get this question a lot. Back in college, me and a few dudes were heading down to New Orleans to party hard! Our 87' AMC Pacer unfortunately didn't make it the whole way, so we dominated the party scene in Fart, Virginia (Look it up, it's REAL!). That is where the beads came from, and gosh darn it, I earned them!

First off, Team Oz Bog dominated last year’s Bog Snorkelling Championships, I'm glad you appreciate it! We love unusual bets here at Yo-BETS and here are a few we were thinking about for this year:

Who will ride home with the Facial Hair trophy…Presented by BRUT

Who will have the best pair of pants at the Open...no contest

Who wins the British Open? (I know, boring...but you asked my opinion, so if you don't like it, ask another talking bear)

Question 2: Yo-BEAR, I want to be in a Hall-Of-Fame, but I never was good at anything growing up, what can I do?

Yo-BEAR: Well you are in luck young under-achiever. The more bets you win and the more credits you earn, the higher your ranking goes until you hit the Yo-BETS Hall-of-Fame. Then you can tell all your facebook friends, mostly the ones who teased you in high school about the time your doctor made you sit on that "pad" because you had a sensitive bottom, just because your parents got you a new Sony walkman doesn't make you rad Chaz, quit making fun of me...GET THE VOICES OUT OF MY HEAD!...sorry, 80's flashback.

Oh, and it looks like our guard Fred finally woke up and has a question for the Yo-BEAR:

Fred: Yo-BEAR, I was just looking at the security camera from earlier and noticed you were doing this, what's going on?

Yo-BEAR:..Fred, this is awkward. The wife made chili last night and the old tum-tum is not taking it to well. I would advise you to not go outside for a few hours and to think about only breathing through your mouth

.....Well ok then, thanks for stopping by Yo-BEAR and Fred, it has been a pleasure. And to all our readers, stay tuned for more Yo-BETS blog updates, including an entry that finally asks the age old question: What does Age Old mean?

I told you about how Yo-BETS went from an idea, to a mission...

I told you about how Yo-BETS will turn those friendly handshakes into an online community of you, beating your friends, and telling everyone you know that you are cooler than them…

..Heck, I told you about a freakin Bear!

Now, it is time to start diving into the parts that will make Yo-BETS, as the kids say, Boss! (Hip old guy saying "Boss" Below)

Setting Up Your Match

Once you set up your account, you will want to start a match against your friends, to show your dominance. You’ll do this by creating a new Match. On this screen, you’ll be able to:

Set up the Type: 1-vs-1, team vs. team, Everyone vs. Everyone

Compete With: Put in your friends you want to compete against

Game: Is it a round of golf? Baby pool? The LARPing tournament…nerd

Category: Is it Sports? Video Games? Intellectual duel to the death?

Start and End Time: The start and end time will determine if users can still join the match or if the match is complete and results are pending

Point’s Wager: This is how many points are up for grabs to the winner. The more points, the higher your Hall of Fame status rises

Privacy: Can anyone join, or do you want to make this private for just you and your BFF?

Comment Privacy: Do you want comments to be able to be posted during this match, or are your friends nerds and say things like pwn and noob and Boss….dang it

Once a match is created, Teams can join, or individuals and the match begins.

Once a match has met its end time, the administrator of the bet will be notified and a winner will be proclaimed. Any protests can also be submitted once a winner is chosen (e.g. they cheated and saw my Prof. Plum card). Reward points will be paid out and your profile will be updated letting the world know, that you dominate and your friends all suck…and smell weird.

All right, a little sneak peek into the world of Yo-BETS. So prepare to suit up

(…speechless) and sign-up at Yo-BETS.com to be notified of when this magical and mysterious world of bragging rights will be ready for you.

Warning: This Blog will be jam packed with Bear puns, so if you want to prepare yourself, paws now...oh geez

In our first post, we mentioned that Yo-BETS was not only a site you could join to begin bragging about triumph's over your friends, it also included a freakin' BEAR! Let me show you the complicated algorithm Yo-BETS numerous Math & Science experts put together to come up with the so-called Yo-BEAR:

Ok, looking at the math, these might not be the brightest experts...more like the guys who walk around your work BEAR-foot. After seeing this, you may be asking yourself:

·     Yo-BETS Blog Guy, I now understand how this wondrous creature was born, now what the heck does it do?

Well my young friend, First off, Don't you ever yell at me again! Secondly, this bear holds such majestic and unicorn-like powers, they are almost un-BEAR-able. When you first log onto Yo-BETS, this bear will be one of the first faces you see. If you click on him, you will be transported into his majestic and enchanting den

...The maid comes tomorrow. Every day he boots up the 56k modem, logs into AOL (send him your free AOL cd's, he running out of minutes), and sets up his Yo-BEAR prediction of the day. He'll throw out Yo-BETS like:

·     The U.S. Open looks to be wide open without Tiger in the mix, who do you have winning it all?

·     The Wife Carrying Championship is being held in Finland, what husband do you think will win?

·     Waiting for Game 7 of the World Series is messing with my BEAR-ings, who you got?

These global Yo-BETS can net you a pretty chuck of Reward Points. If you choose correctly, your Hall-of Fame status could skyrocket...just PAWse and think about that.

Well my comrades, as I ride off into the sunset with the Yo-BEAR on my side saddle and a sippy cup full of Shirley Temple, I wish you a fantastic Yo-Weekend...and make sure to check back next week for more goodies on the soon-to-be-release Yo-BETS.com. also, here are some puns I could not get to today:

PAWsibly, BEARy, PANDAmoneum, StrawBEARy, BEARzerk...if you can think of more, add below!

The Beginnings:

The idea behind Yo-BETS.com started on the 4th hole of the Redmond Ridge golf course. After a few adult beverages, Our Trusty CEO said "Guys, I got an idea". He then began describing a site where users could make more then just sports predictions. They could keep track of Golf ventures with their buddies, they could create some smack talk on which squad would dominate at Call of Duty, or you could even keep track of which days were taken on the office baby pool. Throughout the round, more and more ideas were being flung around until Yo-BETS became more than an idea, it became a mission

Yo-BETS: The Bread & Butter

So what the heck can you do on Yo-BETS? Well my curious, young traveler of the interwebs, let me tell you!

• Yo-BETS can be created with as little information as what's the venture, how many Reward Points are involved (Reward Points you say? More on that later), and who is involved.
• What's Hot? Telling your firends that you just dominated and that you rule! Yo-BETS is also a social media site where you can post your victories, brag to your friends, and humble your foes. You also want your Facebook & Twitter friends to know? Fear not, Yo-BETS will be integrated with them as well.

• Hey, Yo-BETS Blog-guy, you said Reward Points again. What gives? Aren't you just an inquisitve one? Yes, everyone who signs up will get a nice little canvas bag o' Reward Points. You can use these Reward Points on your ventures

And that's just the foam on this Yo-BETS latte. We will be racking our brains with ideas on how to make the site more useful, and how to add more bragging rights for our winners. If there is anything you would like to see available on the site, feel free to contact me at ricky@yo-bets.com.

Oh, did I mention, THERE'S A BEAR!

More on the Yo-BEAR later...