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Social network lets athletes tap gear, apparel

These stories and other coverage of Boston’s technology and biotech scene can be found at the new betaboston.com site.

When you watch your favorite athletes on TV, it’s easy to see whose apparel they are wearing. Adidas cleats, perhaps, or uniforms made by Under Armour.

But what do they wear in practice or in the weight room, when the cameras are not on them? And what about the gear you cannot see, like shoulder pads and compression shorts?

A new social network called The Locker, backed by some local sports business luminaries, aims to reveal every piece of apparel and equipment used by professional and amateur athletes, so that other players can easily buy the same stuff.

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Athletes post the exact models of everything they wear — Nike Vapor Elite lacrosse arm pads, for instance — and also create wish lists of other items.

They can follow one another in the same way Twitter users do, to answer the question, “What’s in your locker?”

The site is open to athletes from youth leagues to major leagues.

“It’s not just about pros influencing the other 99 percent,” said founder Sean Morris, “but also the peer-to-peer influence.”

For now, The Locker is focused on lacrosse (Morris, a Marshfield native, starred at UMass and was the third pick in the 2006 Major League Lacrosse draft), but expects to add more sports in the fall.

The company is backed by an investment team that includes Dan Kraft, president of The Kraft Group’s international business, and Celtics co-owner Rob Hale.

The Locker’s business model is to partner with retailers and collect a commission when the social network yields a sale.

Its first partner is retailer Lacrosse Monkey, which sells all of the sport’s major brands. When a lacrosse player posts an item he wears, The Locker generates a link to Lacrosse Monkey’s online store, where others can buy that product.

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Membership is free.

“I think once they prove out the model and the platform, nearly every sport would be a logical fit for The Locker,” said Hale, who also is majority owner of the MLL’s Boston Cannons.

“There’s a strong interest from any child who’s playing sports to know what other players are using.”

Walsh answers range of queries

Last week Mayor Martin J. Walsh of Boston sat down at a computer and logged into Reddit for an “Ask Me Anything” session.

Here are our favorite parts:

Medicinal marijuana dispensaries

A redditor asked about medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Boston and for the mayor to elaborate on his concerns regarding the planned dispensaries in the city:

Walsh responded, “To be clear: I support the law and the will of the voters. My concern is the applications — there was incorrect information on some of the applications and I simply want to make sure that everything is in order. I know that this is the law and that medical marijuana will eventually come to Boston.”

Google Fiber?

Asked whether he would make a push to bring Google Fiber to Boston, Walsh said, “We’re working on ways to bring fiber to Boston. Stay tuned . . . ”

Uber, Lyft, and transportation startups

“We are in the process of forming a task force to look at all the forms of transportation in the city, not just taxi services but Uber, other livery services, and other forms of transportation,” Walsh said.

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Tech mayor

One of the best answers came when a user asked, “What is the one thing you would like to accomplish in the city that you think would be the hardest to pull off?”

Walsh responded by saying that he wants to make sure that every Bostonian has easy access to a computer as well as the Internet.

Another asked whether he has any “high tech” initiatives to “lure or keep tech industry startups” in Boston.

The mayor said Boston has a lot of initiatives in the pipeline, adding, “It starts here in my office at City Hall, with the installation of data dashboards that will help us deliver better city services — I think that in order to lure and keep tech here, we have to be the world-class city I know we can be.”

Take back Scott Brown?

A New Hampshire redditor asked Walsh to “Take back Scott Brown” because “New Hampshire doesn’t want or need him.”

Walsh quickly retorted, “No thank you.”