There’s this thing called the NFL Wordle and I gotta tell you, I am totally obsessed! For those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s basically a website that collects all the words used on NFL broadcasts and sorts them into word clouds. It’s pretty cool if you’ve never seen it before.
At first, I was a bit taken aback. It seemed somewhat strange that there was an entire website devoted to studying the language used in the NFL. I mean, who does that? However, then I started to look closer and really looked at the word clouds. That’s when it clicked – the site was incredibly cool. I started to recognize all the words used by commentators and announcers, and it became this sort of game to me.
I would spend hours trying to recognize all the words used in the broadcasts. I’d pause the game, go check out the word cloud, and then see if I could spot the words. It was fun to try and guess which of the words were said during the game. It was like a little puzzle every time I watched.
And then it hit me. These word clouds were actually a really great way to gain insight into how the NFL is talked about. I mean, if the commentators are using the same words every game, that gives you an insight into how they might be talking about the game. For instance, words like “tackled”, “touchdown”, and “field goal” were all pretty popular. That gave me a good indication of how the game would be discussed.
It also gave me a better understanding of how the announcers were recounting the players’ actions. During a great pass play, for instance, they would often invoke words like “great”, “visually stunning”, and “incredible.” This showed me the kind of style the commentators used to get across the exciting plays to the viewer.
But the best part was that it was so much more than that. I started to look for associations between the words, and I started to trace back how the NFL is talked about from the Wordle. It was fascinating to see the subtleties of the language used and how it formed into a narrative.
The NFL Wordle is so much more than just a collection of words. It’s a way to explore the language used by the players and the commentators, and it’s a great way to understand the game and the culture of the NFL. It’s truly an incredible site.