Why do our sports pages look like this?
Instead of this?
Eastern Conference
Atlantic
Nets
76ers
Celtics
Raptors
Knicks
Central
Pistons
Cavaliers
Bucks
Pacers
Bulls
Southeast
Heat
Wizards
Magic
Hawks
Bobcats
Western Conference
Pacific
Suns
Clippers
Lakers
Warriors
Kings
Southwest
Spurs
Mavericks
Grizzlies
Hornets
Rockets
Northwest
Nuggets
Timberwolves
Jazz
SuperSonics
Trail Blazers
Those green and red lines are "sparklines"--a term invented, I believe, by Edward Tufte. They are little, word-size graphics that show a trend more quickly and clearly than one could describe it. In this case, each sparkline shows an NBA’s team record throughout the season; a green up bar is a win, and a red down bar is a loss.
In less space than a standard standings listing, we see the sustained excellence of the Pistons, the steadiness of the Spurs and Mavericks, the Raptors recovering from their awful start, the wheels falling off the Pacers, the mystery that is the Nets. These large multiples of small graphics recover some of the romance and drama that is a season.
For a really beautiful example of sparklines applied to sports, look to Tufte’s professional example here. If you know Python, Grig Gheorghiu has written a simple tool for generating sparklines.