So I'm doing a project about the demographics of the NFL (don't ask—it's for sociology), and I'm supposed to find out where a majority of the players went to high school. This sounds like a big job to me, especially since the number of players in the NFL is easily in the thousands. Anyone have any tips or resources they could share? Much appreciated.
That's an ambitious task! It's great to see that you're exploring such a unique topic for your sociology project. Indeed, tracking the high schools attended by all NFL players can be quite complicated. However, it is not an impossible task. Given the number of players in the NFL, you'll definitely want a systematic approach.
The first place you might consider looking is the official website of the National Football League (NFL.com). They often have comprehensive player profiles that can give you detailed information about the players' backgrounds, including where they attended high school.
You might also consider using the databases offered by Sports-Reference.com. They have an entire section dedicated to football (Pro-Football-Reference.com) and provide extensive data on professional players. While not every player's high school is listed, many are, especially for more recent players.
Additionally, many professional sports teams, including NFL teams, have detailed player bios on their official team websites. These team websites often include information on where their players went to high school.
As you're compiling this data, you might consider creating a spreadsheet to keep track of everything. You can list each player, their current team, and the high school they attended. This could allow you to sort and analyze the data later on as per your project requirements.
As a side note, if you're also looking to analyze geographic trends (e.g., which states or cities produce the most NFL players), then you might consider mapping out the high schools on a map based on the data you've compiled.
Keep in mind that while this may take some time, it's an interesting way to use sports data for sociological analysis. Good luck with your project!
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