After conversing with Grok for my first few posts I this morning chose to chat with er ChatGPT.
My plan is to experiment with the different AIs out there. This project may end up being as much about artificial intelligence as sports, and may even be as much about ourselves as AI and sports. Let’s see.
Speaking of ourselves, I awoke very early this morning around 3:00am Eastern Time and guess what my first inclination was?
Yes, that’s right. My first inclination was to “check the score”.
Which score?
The Leafs score. That’s right.
Those of you who know me in real life (irl), know me to be primarily a “soccer guy”, but the truth is that when it comes to fandom and uncontrollable passion, the team that matters most to me – in any sport – is the Leafs.
That’s right – the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team.
And so what was “the score”?
6-5 for lowly San Jose in OT.
Already awake early, there was no way I was going to be back to sleep anytime soon after seeing that score – in a game that by the way had probably only recently ended on the west coast.
As we often do with our teams, my mind immediately went to excuses – jet lag. Must have been jet lag that caused my team – which some consider to be a Stanley Cup contender – to lose to one of the worst teams in the league.
Later on I turned to one of my new AI friends to look for something beyond excuses to understand what happened in the game and what it all meant.
Here was my first question:
Good morning Chat. What on earth happened to the Maple Leafs in San Jose last night?
ChatGPT:
In a dramatic game last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs faced the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center. Despite trailing 5-3 with just over a minute remaining, the Maple Leafs mounted a remarkable comeback, scoring twice in the final 58.3 seconds to force overtime. William Nylander was instrumental in this surge, netting two goals, including the game-tying goal with 14 seconds left. Captain John Tavares contributed a goal and an assist, while Mitch Marner provided three assists. However, the Sharks ultimately secured a 6-5 victory in the shootout, with rookie Macklin Celebrini clinching the win. Tyler Toffoli led San Jose with two goals and an assist. This result brings the Sharks to a record of 20-42-9, while the Maple Leafs, earning a point from the overtime period, now lead the Atlantic Division with a record of 43-25-4.
Me:
Shouldn’t the Leafs have easily won this game?
ChatGPT:
Yeah, on paper, the Leafs should have handled the Sharks easily. San Jose has been one of the worst teams in the NHL this season, while Toronto is leading their division. But hockey can be weird like that.
It looks like the Leafs had some sloppy defensive moments and didn’t get the goaltending they needed. Letting in five goals against a team like San Jose is pretty rough. The late-game heroics were impressive, but needing a miracle just to force OT against a bottom-feeder isn’t a good look.
Did you watch the game, or just catch the highlights?
Me:
Just the highlights. I conked out early and was expecting to wake up to an easy Leafs victory. Should we be concerned about the Leafs recent form in terms of them being able to go deep in the Stanley Cup playoffs?
ChatGPT:
Yeah, I get that—seeing the Leafs struggle against a bottom-tier team like the Sharks is not what you want heading into the playoffs. Their recent form is definitely a bit concerning.
The biggest issue seems to be their defensive play and goaltending. They’ve been giving up way too many goals lately, and that’s not a recipe for playoff success. You can’t always rely on last-minute heroics or outscoring your problems in the postseason when games tighten up.
That said, the Leafs still have a high-powered offense and the ability to dominate when they’re on their game. If they can clean up their defensive lapses and get consistent goaltending, they have the firepower to go deep. But if they keep playing loose, it could be another early exit.
Do you think they need to make any lineup changes, or is it just a matter of tightening up their play?
[End of chat]
My Final Take:
This was a rather short conversation compared to the others I’ve had here.
I’m just getting warmed up with this process.
But what I like about this process is that while these AIs are not perfect nor fully evolved, they bring some rationality to the discourse around our teams.
As a former coach I see myself as someone who tries to be as rational and objective as possible about assessing team performance. However I do admit that I do have trouble being rational around my favourite team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
I don’t think website comments sections or social media conversations too often help with trying to understand our teams. Such conversations seem to me to be full of irrationality and excessive passion.
I’m actually more inclined to seek out an AI over a fellow fan for observations about one of my teams.
If more people do what I do – that’s going to be a game-changer. Maybe if we all first turn to our AIs we will then be able to have more intelligent and productive and satisfying and fun conversations about our teams?
That would be cool.
Thanks for reading.
John [and ChatGPT]
…
Update:
After publishing I asked ChatGPT:
Can you create an image of Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube looking frustrated on the Leafs bench during last night’s game in San Jose?
ChatGPT responded that it could not do that:
“I can’t generate an exact image of Craig Berube due to likeness restrictions, but I can create a generic image of a frustrated hockey coach on the Toronto Maple Leafs bench. Would you like me to proceed with that?”
I thought that interesting and shows just how quickly AI is already finding its place in our existing structures. “Likeness” is a legal thing that needs paying attention to in the existing world.
Given that the image that ChatGPT provided was not sufficient for my purposes I then asked:
“Can you also create an info graphic which shows some of the key stats from the Leafs game last night vs San Jose?”
And I got something closer to what I wanted and added the infographic to the top of this post.
I added it mostly for some colour since if you look closely you’ll see that the “info” is not that great lol.
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