Huey, Slapball, and Protein Shakes... oh my!

Hey everyone, I am Justin and I have been working for ICS for almost five years now. ChrisK gave me four boxes of Nerds so that I would grace you all with my presence. Three are left, and one was returned to sender because no one actually likes the cherry-flavored nerds. It was right before my freshman year at Syracuse University that I met Jeff Rubin and I have been working here ever since. Now as a full-time graduate student, I still find myself spending the majority of my waking hours here at ICS where I can look out the window to look at the barren landscape that we call Syracuse, NY. It’s been an awesome five years and I am very fortunate to be able to work with such talent and personalities.

Besides being a slapball extraordinaire… wait what’s that, you’re wondering what I do at ICS? Sure, I’ll tell you. I work in between just about every person that works here. I do coding changes, design changes, developing, customer training, go to the trade shows, keep the systems up and running, as well as act as one of the co-founders of the slapball ProLeague.

Outside of the office I like to go to the gym and lift weights, play racquetball and basketball (not at the same time though). I drink protein shakes a lot and I catch flack for that from the people in the office. They’re just jealous though and they don’t realize that is the reason why I beat them in slapball. I also like awesome music like Hall & Oates, Huey Lewis, and Led Zeppelin. I play the drums and guitar. ChrisK and Jesse also play drums, but ChrisK plays on an electric kit… Jesse and I prefer the sound of a regular kit.

So that’s a little about me. Any Hall & Oates fans out there?
Fragmentally speaking… Justin.

Shhhh... Don't tell anyone!

I think it’s time I let you in on a little secret. ICS is not only a leading provider of athletic website solutions, but we’ve actually managed to invent a game, too.

I think everyone has that point in their work day where they’re just spent, need to get up and walk around, stretch the legs a little, and gear up for the rest of the work day…. for me, it’s about 3 o’oclock. So, we developed a game that we can play to rejuvenate ourselves, and let a little of the workday frustrations out at the same time….. and, it’s called Slapball.

The concept of Slapball doesn’t stray too far from one of its predecessors, table tennis. The basics are simple: two players hit a ball back and forth between two tables, without letting the ball hit the ground. We even have a “net” of swivel chairs that separates the two tables.

I’ve included a photo below of the official Slapball court, located within Slapball Stadium (Syracuse, NY)

Now, as you can imagine, things can get pretty heated in the Slapball court…. I’d be lying to you if I told you there wasn’t a fair amount of trash talking that happens, not only between the two competitors, but anyone within earshot of the game.

Here’s a list of the “Official Slapball Rules”
1) When serving, the ball must bounce on your table first, before your opponents. (just like table tennis!)
2) When returning, you can either lob the ball back over the net, or bounce it onto your table to send it back over (not like table tennis!)
3) The side edges of the table count (and they will make or break you!)
4) Each player serves 5 points consecutively
5) First to 21pts wins, but you must win by 2. Ties result in alternating serves until someone wins.
6) Don’t break anything!
7) Have Fun!

For your personal enjoyment, I’m also including player features on each of the most common players. (In no particular order)

Mark “Bounce House” Frantz
PLAYING STYLE: “Bouncer” Mark is the only bouncer in the office – almost religiously bouncing the ball on his own table before returning it to his opponent.
NOTES: Mark’s a “giant killer” - he can lose 10 games in a row, but if someone is on a streak, he’ll break them.
WEAKNESS: The long shot – playing the ball long to him each time makes it very difficult to bounce it back at you.

Chris “Push It” Kirkegaard
PLAYING STYLE: “Push” Chris pushes and arcs the ball across to his opponents after the first bounce of a return
NOTES: Chris often plays a safe return and wears down his opponents with consistency. He’ll wait for you to sink your own ship.
WEAKNESS: As noted by his co-workers daily, Chris is the shortest guy in the office, and in such, he’s got short arms… he can’t cover the distance across the table as quickly as some of the taller gents.

Jeff “O Gosh” Rubin
PLAYING STYLE: “Push-Slam” Jeff pushes the ball most often, but if you give him a lob shot, he’ll slam it back at you like it’s his job.
NOTES: Whenever Jeff botches an easy play, he will exclaim “O Gosh!” (much to the delight of his opponent)
WEAKNESS: The serve. Rubin has been known to throw away up to 8 pts a game on service error.

Justin “Dirty” Breese
PLAYING STYLE: “Slicer” Justin has mastered putting massive amounts of spin on the ball, making returning it a complete nightmare for an unprepared opponent.
NOTES: Justin plays the side edges of the table often, making returning the ball impossible… hence the nickname, “Dirty”
WEAKNESS: Himself. Justin often tries to “innovate” on the court (and often ends up missing the table entirely)

Ravind “SLAM” Budhiraja
PLAYING STYLE: “Slammer” Ravind is a fan of rifling the ball back to you as hard as humanly possible.
NOTES: Ravind is still a newcomer to the Slapball court – and fine tuning his infamous “kill” shot
WEAKNESS: Although Ravind has mastered hitting the ball as hard as can be, he has about a 10% completion rate on getting points, landing the other 90% either across the office, or squarely into his opponent.

David “Rookie” Rosen
PLAYING STYLE: “Losing” David has a knack for losing the games with great splendor – final results such as 21-5 or 21-3 are not uncommon.
NOTES: David has not quite mastered the art of Slapball yet, and is still awaiting his first Varsity level win.
WEAKNESS: Lack of playing time has made David the brunt of many jokes – such as “Wow, you really Rosen’d that game” or “You got Rosen-fied!”

So, now you know…we make great websites, but we also manage to have a great deal of fun too.

If you are interested in courtside advertising within the official Slapball Stadium, please contact me at: chrisk@internetconsult.com

Super Easy Logos for SIDEARM Stats!

Hopefully by now everyone is using SIDEARM Stats. The flash interface really makes the stats during a game really easy to watch, especially with its super easy interface. One of the daunting things can be making logos for each school. I’m here to show you the super easy way to make logos….Chris and Jeff Passetti will disagree, but say no to Photoshop, here we come Microsoft Paint, yes Paint! Many years ago I mastered Paint, and it’s perfect for something as simple as stats logos….no we don't make headers in Paint. :) So here we go, I’ll be using Cornell as an example:

1) Visit the school’s athletic site and hit the “Print Screen” button on your keyboard.
2) Open Microsoft Paint, and select Edit -> Paste. This will paste the screenshot into the MS paint document. Then choose the select tool (looks like a dashed square ) and draw a box around the logo. When that part of the logo is selected, click Edit -> Cut.

3) Open another instance of Paint, and select Image -> Attributes. Enter a width of 300pixels and a height of 400pixels (we will resize the logo later to make it the required 150*200)
4) Then select Edit -> Paste to paste logo into the blank space. Then click and drag the corner of the pasted image to make it fit the size of the white box.
5) You can then position the logo in the center of the box by clicking Edit -> Select All and clicking and dragging the logo. If you need to fill blank space like I have to in this logo, use the Pick Color tool () and the Paint Bucket tool to fill the blank area…even if the colors are a little off, don't worry it will look normal after we resize it

->

6) Then select Image -> Resize and Skew. Enter 50% for horizontal size, and 50% for vertical size.

There you go, just save the image and you have a perfectly formatted 150x200 logo for you live stats! Feel free to email me if you have any questions… drosen@internetconsult.com

Photoshop Tutorial: Using Layer Masks

Do you use the eraser tool in Photoshop but get frustrated when you need to get part of that image or layer back? If so, then you need to learn how to use "Layer Masks" and I'm going to teach you right now!

The easiest way to learn about layer masks is to learn how to create one and then experiment with it.

To get started:

1) Grab any photo and open it in photoshop.

2) In the layer palette, right click on this photo layer (it should be called "Background") and click "Layer from background." Name this layer "Photo" and click OK. This will convert this background layer to a normal editable layer named "Photo".

3) In the top menu of photoshop select: Layer > New > Layer, name it "Red Background" and Click OK. Set the foreground color of your color palette to red and using the paint bucket tool fill this layer with red. Now put this new layer behind the "Photo" layer.

4) Now it's time to create a mask on your "Photo" layer. Select the "Photo" layer and click the icon at the bottom of the layer palette called "Add layer mask" (it looks like a circle within a square). After clicking on this you will see a link icon appear next to your photo layer which connects it to its new layer mask.

5) Notice how you can click on either side of this link icon and select whether to edit the actual photo, or the mask that's connected to it. If you click back and forth on each one you'll see the selected one highlight. Make sure the mask is highlighted as opposed to the photo. Now you're ready to start editing the mask.

6) Choose the brush tool, set the foreground color in your palette to black and start drawing anywhere on the canvas. You should start to see the photo disappear where you draw and the "Red Background" layer that's behind it show through. Now if you set the foreground color in your palette to white and paint on the mask, it will fill in the mask and make those areas of the photo reappear! If you click window > brushes you will make the brush palette appear. Play around with selecting various brush sizes and shapes and painting on the mask with black and white to see how painting on the mask affects the "Photo" layer it's connected to in a non-permanent way.

Editing layer masks isn't limited to the brush or any other drawing tool. You can also select an area on a photo you want to preserve and remove the rest. Using the marquee, lasso, magic wand or any other selection tool create a selection area on a photo. After the area you want preserved is selected, click the "Add Layer Mask" icon to mask the layer and remove anything outside of this selection.

As I said earlier, the most powerful part about layer masks is that you can always get the original photo or layer back. Do do this, either fill the mask with white, or right click the mask and disable or delete it.

Common uses for layer masks are:
- Cutting out people or objects in photos
- Fading photos into the background or other layers that are behind it

Things to try:
- Instead of using the "Red Background" layer, try dragging another photo in and see how masking the "Photo" layer will make this 2nd photo appear through
- Fill the mask with a black to white gradient to cause the photo layer to fade to transparent

Helpful Shortcuts Keys:
- To set your palette colors to Black and White hit the (D) key
- To switch your foreground and background colors hit the (X) key

These are helpful when you're doing quick editing and you want to quickly switch between erasing and filling in areas of a mask.

If used properly, you might not need to use the eraser tool ever again!

Hi My Name Is...

Since I managed to not burn everything down the last time I blogged, now would be a good time for an introduction. I'm Brian, and much like Ravind - I work behind the scenes here at ICS. I was born and raised here in the Syracuse area, and am recently married and expecting our first child this summer.

My job at ICS is mostly as a support programmer - I assist Mark and Ravind in anything they deem necessary, and help eliminate any issues that may arise in your web site.

When I'm not programming here at ICS, you can usually find me wearing the stripes of an official - either as an Umpire in Pop Warner Football, or as an official in broomball, ice hockey, or inline hockey. I also attempt to play mid-stakes poker either at Turning Stone, or online at a US Friendly site.

The benefits of social networking

With the way newspapers are failing, and media companies scrambling around to find a way to break even, social networking sites are one of the the few media conglomerates to be growing, expanding, and exploring new ways to seek revenue.

Why watch the train go by? Hop aboard. Here is a list of some of the benefits of having your sports organization form a social networking community.

The Benefits of a Fan Social Network Community (source: Relenet)

1. Members, supporters and fans of a sports club are highly committed to a fan social network as it offers the chance to establish, maintain and foster close relationships with other supporters of their club.
2. The common interests of your supporters will help you to market your social network and accumulate memberships to it.
3. The connectedness between and passion of the supporters will also ensure high membership loyalty to the social network which guarantees secure planning and financing of the social network.
4. You can advertise your club's merchandise directly to your fans and redirect them to your shop or even integrate a shop into the social network
5. Members of the fan social network can rate and comment on games or players, events and products and give direct feedback the team. This will guarantee high user contribution to the community.
6. For new fans a community is the chance to establish contacts to long-term members and get information and contacts. Therefore the fan social network helps to grow the club's fan base.
7. As operator of the fan social network you can charge members for extra services such as online club TV, live chats with players or access to special events or areas. Dedicated to their sport fans are usually willing to pay for extra services and information.
8. Events and happenings can be marketed and promoted to the members of the social network. Competitions for free entry to those amongst the most active contributors to the social network will ensure enhanced membership enthusiasm.
9. Members of the fan social network can form sub-groups and organize themselves and their activities. Fan clubs will find a highly useful infrastructure for their activities.
10. Members can share photos and videos on the fan social network.
11. Clubs can easily get in contact with their fans or supporters, e.g. vial email newsletter, polls or as moderator in the forums.

The list can go on about why social networks for sports organizations are beneficial. Hopefully you're starting to see why. For those organizations who take advantage of these networks, congratulations. And for those who haven't, it's not too late.

-Jeff Passetti

Redo your Headers Now and SAVE lots of $$$

Last week when I was heading to the office it was -2 degrees.

Today the sun is shining (note - it does not do that often in Syracuse) and it is a whopping 23 degrees (heat wave).

With such frigid weather it is hard to believe that many of you are starting your baseball seasons in the next couple of weeks. I sure the heck wouldn't be outside playing baseball (then again even if it were 80 degrees I probably wouldn't be outside playing baseball.

So while all of you have your hands full with your winter sports and many of you are already starting up your spring sports, here at ICS we are gearing up for the summer. It amazes me how much work all of you put in during the academic year. The dedication and commitment that you all show to your institutions can not be described in words. So when the summer comes around you certainly deserve some type of vacation!

While ICS can't send you Disney World we can get you prepared for next year by taking care of your graphical header updates early (I know... I know - even better than going to Disney World).

So - why do this now?

1. Taking care of this now ensures that you don't have to worry about it over the summer when you should be enjoying some time off.
   
   
2. Doing it now you save lots of money!
   
   
3. Your slow time is our busy time. The summer months at ICS are exciting yet busy. If we take care of your headers over the next couple of months then you can rest easy knowing them will be ready by next season (even if we don't launch them until July/August). If you request your header changes in June or July there is a chance we won't have them completed before your new season begins.

So here's the deal....

• If you request your headers and upload your images to ICS during the month of February we will knock 25% off the cost.
  
  
• If you request your headers and upload your images to ICS during the month of March we will take 15% off the cost.
  
  
• If you request your headers after March we will be happy to do them at our normal cost (we hate to do that to you so order now and SAVE)!

To order just login to the backend of your SIDEARM Website. Click on ICS Account (bottom left). Then click on the graphic that says Order Header Re-designs. (or simply login to your ICS account by going to: http://athletics.internetconsult.com)


Order in the next five minutes and we'll even throw in a set of ShamWow towels! (ok we won't but this post sounds like an infomercial).



Again to order: just login to the backend of your SIDEARM Website. Click on ICS Account (bottom left). Then click on the graphic that says Order Header Re-designs. (or simply login to your ICS account by going to: http://athletics.internetconsult.com)