Building a high-performance NFL data platform from the ground up, combining real-time data ingestion with AI to provide deep insights about players, teams, and games.
Grid Iron Mind is a high-performance NFL data platform that I built from the ground up. It combines real-time NFL data with artificial intelligence to provide sports fans, fantasy football players, and developers with deep insights about players, teams, and games.
Think of it like a super-smart sports encyclopedia that updates itself automatically and can answer complex questions about football using AI.
NFL data spread across multiple websites - ESPN for stats, other sites for injuries and predictions. Like solving a puzzle with pieces from different boxes.
Most sites show raw numbers without context. They don't explain what the numbers mean or predict what might happen next.
Many sites update once per day. During game day, you need real-time information to make informed decisions.
By building a centralized data platform with AI, I could bring all NFL data into one place, use AI to understand patterns and make predictions, update information automatically in real-time, and provide this data to other developers through an API.
Extremely fast and efficient
Reliable complex queries
Super fast temporary storage
Analysis and predictions
Automatic scaling
Official NFL data
| Table | Rows | Size | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| teams | 32 | 128 KB | Team profiles |
| players | 8,500 | 42 MB | Player profiles |
| games | 4,352 | 87 MB | Game results |
| game_stats | 487,500 | 975 MB | Per-game player stats |
| player_season_stats | 15,240 | 61 MB | Season totals |
| scoring_plays | 30,000 | 75 MB | Play-by-play scoring |
| Total (12 tables) | 528,206 | 1.25 GB |
Real-time updates during games
Updated after games complete
Daily roster and injury reports
Design database structure first before writing code. Spent 2 days planning 12 tables on paper - only made 3 schema changes in 6 months.
87% of requests served from cache. Response times improved 4.5x. Database load reduced by 85%.
APIs fail. Networks are slow. Built retry logic with exponential backoff - achieved 98.7% sync success rate.
80% of requests are "Get current week stats" - optimized this to 47ms. Rare operations can be slower.
I'm always happy to talk about building scalable data systems, optimization strategies, and analytics infrastructure.