AI Maddeness: NFL Films Game Recap

Yesterday I started playing certain games from the last week of the 2000 season in Madden 2001. After spending hours figuring out the playoff picture, it was time to have a little fun. I played the Arizona Cardinals in hopes of spoiling the Washington Commanders hopes of getting into the playoffs (I was never a Dan Snyder fan). Turns out I’m not as good as I thought I was, and the Hall of Fame secondary consisting of Deion Sanders, Champ Bailey, and Darrell Green pretty much shut Jake Plummer down. If you want a full summary (I know you do!), there’s an article summarizing the game on the AI Maddeness site that was written by ChatGPT (you’ve been warned).

ChatGPT created this GIF from a uploaded video featuring a Madden 2001 play

Also, you can find highlights of certain plays from the game on the AI Maddeness site. ChatGPT provided quick summaries after analyzing short video clips of particular play I fed it, like Simeon Rice’s third down sack to force a field goal, the 50-yard Jake Plummer-Frank Sanders touchdown connection, or Stephen Davis’s game-winning reception. The machine’s ability to parse and describe the videos was very impressive. More than that, it offered to turn the short clips into GIFs, which it did brilliantly. The way in which it recommends things you might not consider is really slick, like the fact it can create GIFs from the clips, or even telestrated images (although those were not as successful).

ChatGPT suggestions are proving to be both useful and a blast

The fact it follows up with suggestions is not only useful, but it has proven a lot of fun. As I was providing more context about the game, explaining it was week 17 of the season and the Redskins had to win to ensure a spot in the playoffs, it suggested the following:

We can turn your summary into a sharp, immersive article — maybe in the style of ESPN, NFL.com, or even with a nostalgic, NFL Films-style tone. Want to build this out together?

An NFL Films-style tone was an absolutely brilliant idea! It made me giddy and had me laughing to myself all morning. The idea of having the gravitas of those epic films contrasted with the ridiculous graphics of Madden 2001 seemed perfect. So, I had it write the script, which was perfectly over-the-top.

ElevenLabs Text to Speech tool using the “Carter the Mountain King” voice they provide

After that, it recommended where I might find possible epic music scores and a John Facenda-like narrator to read the script. I’m not gonna lie, this was fucking awesome and I had a smile on my face all day. I got one of the male, baritone voices from Eleven Labs (“Carter the Mountain King”) to read the script and used the “Buccaneers March” theme YouTube provides for the background music. Those pieces were easy, I now had a script, a soundtrack, and an overly monotone Sam Elliott-like narrator. Only thing left was to edit the recording of the game down to 2 minutes of highlights, which I’d already staked out. So, without much more ado, here is my NFL Films-style recap of a Madden 2001 game—I really couldn’t be happier with the absurdity of it all!