Systems and methods for identifying a sports player of interest to a user despite the user being disinterested in the player's athletic accomplishments

1. A method for connecting a user with a sports competitor whose athletics the user is not interested in, but with whom the user shares a personal connection, the method comprising:

determining that a user is viewing playback of a media asset comprising a sporting event;

identifying a first plurality of competitors featured in the sporting event;

retrieving, from a database comprising a profile of the sports preferences of the user, information identifying a second plurality of competitors in which the user is interested;

determining, based on the first plurality of competitors and the second plurality of competitors, a third plurality of competitors that are competitors featured in the sporting event in which the user is not interested;

retrieving, from a profile of personal interests of the user stored within the database, information relating to personal interests of the user;

identifying, from the information relating to the personal interests of the user, interests that are not commonly shared by a general population;

determining whether an interest of the interests that are not commonly shared by a general population is shared between the user and a given competitor of the third plurality of competitors; and

in response to determining that the interest is shared between the user and the given competitor, generating for display to the user a selectable option to enable the user to perform an action associated with the given competitor.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining, based on the first plurality of competitors and the second plurality of competitors, the third plurality of competitors featured in the sporting event in which the user is not interested comprises:

determining a union between the first plurality of competitors and the second plurality of competitors; and

determining the third plurality of competitors to include each of the second plurality of competitors except for those competitors of the second plurality of competitors that are within the determined union.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying, from the information relating to the personal interests of the user, interests that are not commonly shared by the general population comprises, for each respective one of the personal interests of the user:

determining an amount of profiles of other users that share the respective personal interest;

determining whether the amount exceeds a threshold; and

in response to determining that the amount does not exceed the threshold, determining that the respective personal interest is not commonly shared by the general population.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining a geographical region in which the user resides;

defining the general population to consist of users whose profiles reflect that those users also reside within the geographical region, and wherein determining the amount of profiles of other users that share the respective personal interest comprises limiting the other users to those users who are also reside within the geographical region.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether an interest of the interests that are not commonly shared by the general population is shared between the user and the given competitor of the third plurality of competitors comprises:

retrieving, from profile information corresponding to each competitor of the third plurality of competitors, information indicating interests of each competitor of the third plurality of competitors;

determining whether an interest of the given competitor matches an interest of the interests that are not commonly shared by the general population; and

in response to determining that the interest of the given competitor matches an interest of the interests that are not commonly shared by the general population, determining that the interest of the given competitor is shared between the user and the given competitor.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a plurality of publications relating to both the given competitor and the interest;

detecting a selection of the selectable option; and

in response to detecting the selection of the selectable option, generating for display, to the user, a plurality of links, each link leading to a publication of the plurality of publications.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

monitoring a degree to which the user interacts with each link of the plurality of links; and

in response to determining that the degree to which the user interacts with each link of the plurality of links exceeds a threshold, expanding the plurality of links to include links leading to additional publications that relate to the given competitor, but do not relate to the interest.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the plurality of publications comprises:

determining a set of social media publication platforms to which the given competitor subscribes;

identifying, for each social media publication platform of the set of social media publication platforms, publications authored by the given competitor;

determining a subset of the publications authored by the given competitor that relate to the interest; and

determining the plurality of publications relating to both the given competitor and the interest to be the subset of the publications authored by the given competitor that relate to the interest.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying, from the information relating to the personal interest of the user, interests that are not commonly shared by the general population comprises determining a disability that has afflicted the user, wherein

determining whether an interest of the interests that are not commonly shared by the general population is shared between the user and the given competitor of the third plurality of competitors comprises:

accessing an injury report relating to injuries that have afflicted the third plurality of competitors; and

determining that an injury mentioned in the injury report matches the disability that has afflicted the user, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a selection of the selectable option; and

in response to receiving the selection of the selectable option, generating for display information relating to the given competitor's handling of the injury.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining whether the given competitor overcame the injury;

in response to determining that the given competitor overcame the injury, determining a treatment for the injury that the given competitor had received; and

recommending the treatment to the user.

11. A system for connecting a user with a sports competitor whose athletics the user is not interested in, but with whom the user shares a personal connection, the system comprising:

communications circuitry; and

control circuitry configured to:

determine that a user is viewing playback of a media asset comprising a sporting event;

identify a first plurality of competitors featured in the sporting event;

retrieve, using the communications circuitry, from a database comprising a profile of the sports preferences of the user, information identifying a second plurality of competitors in which the user is interested;

determine, based on the first plurality of competitors and the second plurality of competitors, a third plurality of competitors that are competitors featured in the sporting event in which the user is not interested;

retrieve, using the communications circuitry, from a profile of personal interests of the user stored within the database, information relating to personal interests of the user;

identify, from the information relating to the personal interests of the user, interests that are not commonly shared by a general population;

determine whether an interest of the interests that are not commonly shared by a general population is shared between the user and a given competitor of the third plurality of competitors; and

in response to determining that the interest is shared between the user and the given competitor, generating for display to the user a selectable option to enable the user to perform an action associated with the given competitor.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when determining, based on the first plurality of competitors and the second plurality of competitors, the third plurality of competitors featured in the sporting event in which the user is not interested, to:

determine a union between the first plurality of competitors and the second plurality of competitors; and

determine the third plurality of competitors to include each of the second plurality of competitors except for those competitors of the second plurality of competitors that are within the determined union.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when identifying, from the information relating to the personal interests of the user, interests that are not commonly shared by the general population comprises, for each respective one of the personal interests of the user, to:

determine an amount of profiles of other users that share the respective personal interest;

determine whether the amount exceeds a threshold; and

in response to determining that the amount does not exceed the threshold, determine that the respective personal interest is not commonly shared by the general population.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine a geographical region in which the user resides; and

define the general population to consist of users whose profiles reflect that those users also reside within the geographical region, and wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when determining the amount of profiles of other users that share the respective personal interest, to limit the other users to those users who are also reside within the geographical region.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when determining whether an interest of the interests that are not commonly shared by the general population is shared between the user and the given competitor of the third plurality of competitors, to:

retrieve, from profile information corresponding to each competitor of the third plurality of competitors, information indicating interests of each competitor of the third plurality of competitors;

determine whether an interest of the given competitor matches an interest of the interests that are not commonly shared by the general population; and

in response to determining that the interest of the given competitor matches an interest of the interests that are not commonly shared by the general population, determine that the interest of the given competitor is shared between the user and the given competitor.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine a plurality of publications relating to both the given competitor and the interest;

detect a selection of the selectable option; and

in response to detecting the selection of the selectable option, generate for display, to the user, a plurality of links, each link leading to a publication of the plurality of publications.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

monitor a degree to which the user interacts with each link of the plurality of links; and

in response to determining that the degree to which the user interacts with each link of the plurality of links exceeds a threshold, expand the plurality of links to include links leading to additional publications that relate to the given competitor, but do not relate to the interest.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when determining the plurality of publications, to:

determine a set of social media publication platforms to which the given competitor subscribes;

identify, for each social media publication platform of the set of social media publication platforms, publications authored by the given competitor;

determine a subset of the publications authored by the given competitor that relate to the interest; and

determine the plurality of publications relating to both the given competitor and the interest to be the subset of the publications authored by the given competitor that relate to the interest.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when identifying, from the information relating to the personal interest of the user, interests that are not commonly shared by the general population, to determine a disability that has afflicted the user, and wherein

the control circuitry is further configured, when determining whether an interest of the interests that are not commonly shared by the general population is shared between the user and the given competitor of the third plurality of competitors, to:

access an injury report relating to injuries that have afflicted the third plurality of competitors; and

determine that an injury mentioned in the injury report matches the disability that has afflicted the user, and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

receive a selection of the selectable option; and

in response to receiving the selection of the selectable option, generate for display information relating to the given competitor's handling of the injury.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine whether the given competitor overcame the injury;

in response to determining that the given competitor overcame the injury, determine a treatment for the injury that the given competitor had received; and

recommend the treatment to the user.