I am a hearing person. Me and some friends have made learning ASL one of our hobbies over the last couple years. I highly recommend it, it's very fun! It also opens a window into the deaf world that I find really fascinating.

There is a joke in the deaf world that hearing people are emotionally repressed. I don't think it's taken seriously, but it's because speaking ASL requires you to be so expressive with your face and body. For example, instead of raising the pitch of your voice to indicate you are asking a question, you raise or furrow your eyebrows (raised for a yes/no question, furrowed for an open-ended question). You also don't say things like "I REALLY like it", you just say "I like it" and show the REALLY part with your face and body. It's understandable how hearing people could look like a bunch of emotionless drones with that context! Learning to be visually expressive is one of the most fun parts about ASL.

As with the football team in the article, using ASL around hearing people can feel like a super-power. Imagine saying to your friend, "This place sucks, let's get out of here," while the bartender is right in front of you! Probably not the most polite thing, but useful. It's also great if you're somewhere crowded and/or loud. You can really zone out the noise and have a conversation.

Also, doing simple things like spelling people's names can be a fun party trick (for hearing people).

Anyway, I just wanted to emphasize that as a hearing person, there was so much more to learn about ASL and the deaf community than I thought there was. I can't recommend it enough.