BallHype, a new sports news and social networking site, came out of closed beta tonight and launched.
The site has a lot of Digg-like features. Users can add sports stories and other users vote those stories up or down, and add comments. Unlike Digg, though, categorization is very important. Sports fans generally care about local teams, or focus on one league. So BallHype allows L.A. Lakers fans to zero right in on relevant content. Or they can focus on L.A. sports in general instead.
BallHype also allows users to add friends and create groups (and other basic social networking features), so local fans can be in touch with each other.
Actual games are also displayed, and users can leave comments on those pages. Users can also vote for who they think will win, and gain points for correct guesses. If the winner is an underdog, more points are awarded.
The BallHype home page is customizable by the user to include local sports, game stats, etc.
BallHype has a long list of advisors to the company, including Matt Watson of USA Today and Gabe Rivera at TechMeme. A demo video of the service is here.
If the traffic level of BallHype comes close to Digg Sports then this is cool, if not then might as well stick with Digg.
I think that minor tweaks at Digg would pose a serious threat to BallHype.
I have had early access to the site’s beta for more than a month, and it surpasses anything Digg offers. This was built by sports fans, for sports fans, not sandwiched into a technology-focused site.
Ballhype is a great service.
Eh…. I browsed it a bit but I’m not sure I like it. Do sports fans want a digg-like interface? I don’t think so.
digg isn’t so much about tech-news as it’s about link discovery with a tech-slant.
Do sports fans need link-discovery? Or do they just to to ESPN.com and that’s “good enough”.
just my initial thoughts,
arn
I can only imagine how much worse sports fanboys are than Apple ones. I’m sure it’ll be a nice site, but not my cup of tea. Your team wins or loses– whether you knew about a trade a week before it happens has zero bearing on what happens in the league, so unless you’re a better it’s tough for me to enjoy sports discussions.
Totally minor, but I really don’t like the circle where the voting takes place. Looks messed up even though it’s totally centered, and it makes me think it’s a circle just because it’s ‘Ball’ Hype, which makes me think it’s kind of lame.
Other than that, pretty nice. I can’t stand sports reporting, but even I found something interesting to read.
the UI is cool.may it be a news social network ?but the traffic seems not strong.
#6, I wouldn’t expect a site that just came out of closed beta to have strong traffic.
Thanks Mike for the review–feedback from our beta testers has been positive, and we’re hopeful that it will appeal to a broader audience.
I agree that a lot of sports fans get really passionate about specific teams and players. We’re also tracking and analyzing 1600 sports blogs to help uncover the best sports stories for every category.
Swordofsearch, the traffic isn’t strong YET. The site was in very closed beta to begin and is only launching today. As Jason notes, the feedback has been very positive, and it should reach a much broader audience going forward. As with any new site there will be some small nits, but they will be taken on as they grow. I can personally attest to their bug-fixing skills.
Are you serious? I can’t believe you gave them a plug Arrington. Their interface isn’t that great and the functionality is nothing new.
What’s with all the new “hype” sites? cough*copycats*cough, lol.
I have been beta testing Ballhype for a few weeks now, and i love the potential that the site has to offer. It will never have the traffic of Digg, but honestly Digg’s sports section is week for the most part. Ballhype’s coolest feature is the ability to pick games. A fun way to keep you coming back for more…
I’m a huge sports fan and I would never use this site simply because I’m sick of copycats. Enough with the Digg clones. Innovation please.
Yes, it’s another Digg clone, but I like it. Good luck, Ballhype!
it looks like a super-generic version of http://yardbarker.com/ which has a WAY better interface.
Oh no! What a bit of creativity! Dont tell me its another copy of Digg with a little twist. These people are pure genius. I could never come up with something like that!
- heh – yeah didn;t deserve to be TC’ed
We can understand the Digg comparison – like Digg, Ballhype has user-submitted content, voting, and community comment moderation. However, Ballhype also has a content aggregation engine that tracks more than 1,600 sports blogs – at launch. Ballhype pulls in the most linked stories and videos from blogs and mainstream sources, as well as allowing users to submit their own stories. In this way, Ballhype isn’t limited solely to the interests of its users, as is the case with some competitors. Stories have multiple paths to the front page, and this will be tremendous for small or startup blogs or sites. You don’t have to be part of “the club” to get your stuff hyped.
I like it…..found some great blog content. The interface is cool. I think it could really take off. For those of you that consider this a Digg clone, take a look at Digg’s sports section. Nobody uses it. Probably because the Digg audience is more focused on tech news and world events.
I’m not a fan. No pun intended.
Looks similar to what http://www.sportspyder.com does with some web2.0 fluff
I’ve been using the beta and I really like it. I hadn’t heard of yardbarker though.
@Gabe: It’s not difficult to say “Innovation please”. Got any better ideas?
Are you kidding Mike?
I was a beta tester for a few weeks, but gave up. This site is a complete joke. The UI is horrible and the feature set is awful. This couple is a PERFECT example of people who “just don’t get it”. I’m a huge sports fan, and have worked at many a startup (I’m typing this from South Park, SF)…so I know what I’m talking about.
Site completely misses the spot.
I’d tend to agree with the posters who point out that this is just another Digg clone and looks an awful lot like Yardbarker. Nothing incredibly exciting or special, and actually quite plain. It doesn’t even feel “sporty.”
I guess this is a hint for anybody who wants to launch a startup and get featured on TechCrunch: clone Digg for a niche audience and you have a good shot at Michael reviewing it. Unfortunately, if this is where Web 2.0 is going, it doesn’t bode well.
do u pay mike to be TC’ed? how does the process work because some of the sites, not necessarily this one, have been featured that are just another brick on the wall
Don’t you mean a reddit clone? Seriously, the interface is blatantly reddit-inspired, to put it gently.
It does look pretty cool, though, I’ve been dying for a good web2.0 sports site.
How come theres a million niche “MySpace” and “YouTube” clones out there and no one says much about it? But as soon as someone does a “Digg” clone to fill a niche that Digg isn’t serving Everyone jumps on it as a bunch of crap? I think there needs to be these clones….Digg is a great concept and site and since they’re not taking care of a lot of different subjects, let the clones take care of it.
The “Digg of Bargain Shopping”: http://www.dealigg.com/
The “Digg of Travel Deals”: http://www.traveldugg.com
Yeah they are sort of lame, but they still serving a niche that Digg isn’t. Would people be happier if they were the “MySpace” of whatever??/
It has some cool features and definitely shows promise. Personally im not a huge fan of places that just go and spider anything and everything out there. Ive been a fan of Yardbarker.com for a while now and the idea of community actually feels to have been established because people post articles themselves.
I’ve been using Yardbarker for a couple months and I tried BallHype during the beta. There are things I like about both, but I’m pretty sure I won’t stop using Yardbarker in favor of BallHype (especially since it looks like Yardbarker just just launched a redesign today.
I do think the aggregation of stories on BallHype is a valuable way to discover new sports blogs, but will the average fan really care about this? Bloggers will probably like it, mostly for reasons of vanity.
On Yardbarker, I feel like I’m surrounded by actual fans, not just geeky bay area types who could never hold their own in a Boston sports bar.
Wow, some people woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning. Ballhype is cool. I haven’t checked out all the groups functionality, but the aggregation combined with voting is a solid step forward for sports sites. I hope these guys are successful.
@Alan – thanks.
@Amit, @Aaron:
One of the advantages of tracking sports blogs is that many of them do a great job of finding interesting stories … not just on other blogs, but also on mainstream media sites, YouTube, eBay, etc. A blogger linking to a story is effectively casting virtual vote on Ballhype–helping to highlight the best content.
And yes–some of us are geeky, but I know plenty of bloggers who hold their own in sports bars.
http://www.yardbarker.com/ this is one of the best digg/news/sports mashups out there and this ballhype is basically a pligg with benefits…
this is a trivial digg clone. what else do they offer?
good thing most hardcore sports fans spend hours a day on social networking sites, instead of doing things like watching espn. way to do your market research.
In all fairness, all of these new sports sites such as Ballhype, FanIQ, Fannation, Takkle.net have all been nothing but a HUGE disappointment.
It’s clear that that none of them have really captured what sports fans would really want. They’re trying to squeeze sports into models that have proven to be successful for other contexts.
People need to understand that niches are niches for very particular reasons that need to be reflected in the UI. This thing is wide open, it’s going to be very interesting to see what happens. =P
I’ve been following all of these sites for quite a while, and don’t think a lot of these sites really get it. Ballhype, FanIQ, Fannation all cater to a very broad audience with content that is easily found on a dozen other sites. This alone will detract from their popularity (and stickiness), given all the other sites out there. One exception is Takkle – they have focused on the high school demographic, and have a UI that is smart, easy to use, with some very compelling viral video concepts. If there’s one site that stands to differentiate itself, my bet would be on Takkle.
Agree with Kobe. Plus SI’s going to drop Takkle like a dog as soon as SI’s fanNation developers are done with new site functionality. FanNation’s redesign will be completed on April 16th and with SI behind the wheel, they’ll squeeze a lot out of that puppy quickly.
I agree with Kobe. As a sports fan, I want breaking news about my sports and teams I care about. These sites don’t give me the depth of content. I can learn way more about my team going to espn then I can going to these social sports sites.
Ive just seen the site and it looks very nice.
But if the traffic level of BallHype comes close to Digg Sports then this is cool, if not then might as well stick with Digg.
It does look pretty cool, though, I’ve been dying for a good web2.0 sports site.
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