To say the St. Louis Cardinals had a miraculous season in 2011 is an understatement. They captured our hearts and our minds with one of the more magical stories in sports history. It was the stuff of fairy tales and we felt it deserved something special in return for both the team and the fans. Today we’re turning the mirror around to show what the fans think about this team. By telling the story of the season through the conversations on Twitter we can start to see the living, breathing soul of the Cardinals as seen through the eyes of its fans. Twitter presents us with a new channel of discussion, not dissimilar from talk radio, or a group of barstools at the local sports bar. We all get to see these conversations unfold and that’s a fascinating thing.
For the mega-fans and data nerds out there (welcome to the club!) we’ve included a poster sized infographic below. Print one out for the Cards fan you love most, they make a lovely holiday gift! Be sure to leave a comment below and let us know what you think. After the break we’ve separated the individual graphics to better highlight the details.
The Tweet Is On – St. Louis Cardinals 2011
Daily Cards Highs & Lows
Daily volume levels of Cardinals mentions
Top 10 Cardinals Player Mentions on Twitter in 2011
Unsurprisingly, Pujols gets mentioned more than any other teammate over the season.
Emotional Tracking of Cardinals Mentions vs Games Out of First Place
Overall the emotion stayed positive from March forward, steadily increasing even into September when things were bleak.
Total Cardinals References on Twitter in St. Louis in 2011 vs 2010
The Cardinals bring home a championship and the fans just can’t talk about it enough.
Cardinals Mascot and Critter References on Twitter in St. Louis in 2011
The rally squirrel comes from left field (no pun intended) to emerge as the season’s most popular mascot. Is a changing of the guard in the air?
As the average sports fan becomes more comfortable sharing their thoughts online, the data we see becomes more representative of real life. As this picture becomes more clear, details take shape that tell a far greater story than previously possible.
What we show here is just scratching the surface of the possibilities, but it does show one important thing: The Cardinal fans, much like their team, don’t give up easily.
The Tweet is on – STL Cardinals 2011 by Infuz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.stltweets.com.
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