Cole
Ticknor & Ismael Munoz
Ms.
Hill
English
101
12/9/2013
NFL.com
The National Football League or NFL
is made up of 32 teams, 16 teams participate in the AFC division and the other
16 in the NFC division. Millions of
viewers either attend the games of their personal favorite team or watch the
game on television. Another source of
keeping up with the constantly updated NFL is through their website NFL.com.
Whenever the browser opens the website they are transported into a
football encyclopedia. The website
provides current stats, news, and other reports from around the league as well
as a full history of the sport of American football. This universal website can provide any
knowledge being searched for within the world of professional football. The creators of this website put much thought
in creating such an organized website. With a click of the mouse, the browser
can be teleported from a page of league leaders for each statistic, then hit
another link to the history of football, and the user can even travel to their
favorite team’s website provided by hyperlinks appearing as the team’s logo at
the top of each page.
Upon first entering NFL.com the web-surfer will encounter a news
page. This page provides the most recent
headlines from throughout the NFL. If
any of the headlines appear interesting to the reader, they simply click on the
headline and they will be placed in the full article of the headline. This trait is very convenient for it allows
readers to link between many different articles, yet the source to all the news
is in a central location. If you wish, you may create an account with the
website and get some features that people without an account will not get. These features include a lot of things, from
getting discounts on some merchandise and tickets, to setting your favorite NFL
football team and receiving any news about your team’s scores and even team’s
roster. You create the account by pressing the “Register” button on the top
left of the website, then you fill in some information and you’re set in less
than 5 minutes. Scroll down further and
the browser can be linked to analysis of specific teams, watch recap videos of
the past weeks, and even vote for the players they believe qualify for the pro
bowl and MVP awards. Another link the
website provides is the statistics from throughout the league. This consists of the league leaders for
rushing, passing, and receiving yards, tackles, sacks, and interceptions. These stats are the ones that are immediately
placed on the reader, but if I wished to view other stats such as forced
fumbles I simply have to click on that category. The stats window even allows for the user to
select a specific player in the league and view their individual stats. This feature is crucial for any NFL fan
because American football is all about out performing the other team, so
keeping track of the best player/ team easily is beneficial. NFL.com
provides the reader with instant facts about each team specifically down to
each player. It’s not only a stats
website though there are many different other links.
On
the top right of the website, right under the “Tickets” tab on the homepage,
there are a few other interesting and very helpful tabs that I believe to be
amazing and see that NFL.com went above and beyond.
The “NFL Network” tab contains
information about the television network. It has the schedules for when they
will be airing and what channels. It
also has the names and biographies of the people that talk during the shows. The “mobile” tab has all of the information
about the NFL’s apps that can be downloaded on smartphones and tablets. It also gives you a list of all of the official
NFL apps and they even have the games that can be played on your computer or
smartphone. The “En Español” tab is one
of the best tabs in this website and it clearly shows how influential Spanish
has become in the US. “En Español” means
“In Spanish,” if you click this tab, it will take you to the Spanish version of
NFL.com. It is a great feature for the
Spanish-speakers that might be following the NFL. Last but certainly not least, it’s the “Health
& Safety” tab. When you click this
tab, it will take you a different page that contains information about how
parents can make the game of football safer for their kids and everyone
else. Safety has always been an issue
with the, but if you ask me, it’s what makes this game so great. I think this tab is great to find information
about what is going on around the country and what the NFL is doing to make the
game safer. This page also has schedules
of when players or NFL physicians are going to be near your town to discuss
about new rules in the sport and how to teach the kids to be safer. The amount of information that this tab
contains about how to keep the younger people healthy is amazing and it truly a
great asset to have when you need this type of information.
NFL.com
contains pathways to all sorts of information about football. You can view the latest updates on the
fantasy football points scored that week, or even watch full game. You can even buy fan memorabilia and tickets
on the website. I particularly liked the
history link, which contained whole pastime of the sport. Within the stats tab, you can find “NFL
History” under the “History and Rules”
category. Then you are taken to a place
with four sections: Team Capsules, History, Behind the Numbers, and Records
sections. The Team Capsules section
gives basic information, such as overall record, coaches, and players, about
any particular team the browser chooses.
The History section has information ranging from the chronology of the
sport and its hall of fame to how Thanksgiving Day games started and the
overall paid attendance. Behind the
Numbers gives information on the overall team win/loss records and greatest
comeback, longest win streak, and most points in a game. It also contains my favorite fact about the
coldest games. The last history option
is all the various records kept in the NFL.
Some of these are most yards in a play, most passing/rushing/receiving/
yards in a game, and longest field goals kicked. This History section provides a lot of
background knowledge for anyone that does not have a firm grasp on the sport. Another link offered by NFL.com is the “Fantasy” link, which provides any
information needed to become a Fantasy Football powerhouse. Clicking on “Fantasy” will take you to a
homepage. This page shows headlines of the league and more links. These links are all fantasy football specific
for example rankings of current players and the points they provide, research
of what teams and players are expected to put out points, and even a “genius
community”. This “genius community” can
be hidden gem for fantasy players; it is a blog where fantasy experts discuss
smart players to pick up or draft to maximize your points in fantasy
football. The many different links even
include the ability to purchase merchandise of your favorite teams and tickets
to their next home game. Even with all
these places to travel in NFL.com, the website
is easy to navigate.
There are many different pages to
go and things to see on NFL.com, and this can
make websites confusing or overwhelming for less experienced browsing. NFL.com
solves this overwhelming problem by not filling their pages with lots of
words. The site sticks more to visuals,
like pictures of players in action, and headlines linked to more specific
information. This allows layout allows
the user to find what they want. If a
football fan wants to learn the news around the news they can easily link
there, if they want to know their teams schedule its just a click away, or even
going to any teams website is a readily linked emblem. NFL.com is
also football specific so unlike ESPN’s
website, it only has information about football and has the ability to sell
browsers tickets to games. I do feel
that ESPN has better coverage of the
current news throughout the league, but provides less statistics of the teams
and players. Between the two, I would
recommend NFL.com to the browser who is
focused more on seeking information specific to football, but if you want
current news about the sport than I would use ESPN’s
website.
NFL.com is a great website. Many people say that “it’s the worst football
website there is,” however, if you take the time to go over all of the features
and see that is very user-friendly, you will see that it is most likely the
best football website there is as of now.
Something that should be improved is the loading time of each video that
is being watched, it just takes too long.
Another thing that is not so great about the website is the many pop-up
videos and ads, they can get frustrating at times and prolongs the amount of
time you’re in the website. In my
opinion, from a college student to another, I highly recommend this website if
you’re planning to play some fantasy football or even just keep up with any
news around the league.
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