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Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King

Wolfram|Alpha tackles football stats in time for Tebow mania

By | January 13, 2012, 7:21am PST

Summary: Wolfram|Alpha brings its number-crunching-meets-search approach to the NFL.

Wolfram|Alpha never turned out to be that Google killer, but the search engine has a penchant for being useful whether it’s research, homework help or something that’ll occupy many folks’ weekends—the National Football League.

Tim Tebow at work. Source: Denver Broncos

The search/knowledge engine works best for number crunching and data. Enter the Wolfram|Alpha’s guide to pro football stats via sports research firm STATS. This stat fiesta is timed for the NFL playoffs this weekend and it’s a nice publicity stunt as the U.S. goes nuts for Denver Broncos’ quarterback Tim Tebow.

Wolfram|Alpha’s broader message, however, is clear: We’re very useful in presenting data. According to Wolfram|Alpha, its stat repository can turn up details in plain English via natural language search. The data is computed and can be downloaded as a PDF.

According to Wolfram|Alpha, its NFL data goes back to 1985. The company said it will also add baseball, basketball and other pro sports. Maybe Wolfram|Alpha won’t be a Google killer, but it can easily become a go-to site when fantasy baseball season rolls around again.

More on Wolfram|Alpha:

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Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

Disclosure

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn’t hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

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RE: Wolfram|Alpha tackles football stats in time for Tebow mania
30otnix 13th Jan
@Loverock Davidson- Thanks! I needed a laugh this morning!
Doesn't look like Wolfram|Alpha understands what a passing touchdown is...
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@30otnix
Nor does Tebow.
@Loverock Davidson- Thanks! I needed a laugh this morning!

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