FUN WITH GOOGLE TRENDS: BIRMINGHAM=OBSESSED
Google’s latest step in becoming the Omega point for all thought and human activity comes in the form of Google Trends, which tracks searches by region, frequency, and time. College football searches by major American metropole:
1. Birmingham
2. Omaha
3. Baton Rouge
4. Oklahoma City
5. Columbus
6. Austin
7. Nashville
8. Tampa
9. Atlanta
10. Houston
College football–the official sport of the ‘tweener set? Not only are most of these cities university or university-proximate towns, they represent highly populated regions stuck between big-league sports markets, or at least sit on their fringes. That they serve as the de facto teams for these cities is nothing new; to see it illustrated so dramatically in terms of active interest is fascinating. It also confirms our suspicions that no one, and we mean no one, ever works in Alabama.
Other results of interest:
Top city for searching “sweatervest”: Chicago, not Columbus.
Top city for “mustache”: Austin (we know we’d like it there.)
Top city for “badonkadonk”: Raleigh! Who knew? NORTH CAROLINA…
Top city for “NCAA”: Columbus. Don’t say you weren’t worried, Buckeyes–it’s on record now.
Top city for “Herpes”: New York.
Your work day is hereby declared over. Go to it.
Big in Raleigh, evidently.
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1
Pat @ BGS says:
Top City for “jean shorts”: Atlanta
May 11th, 2006 at 4:58 pm
2
Orson Swindle says:
NOT Gainesville. Take that.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
3
Stranko Montana says:
Tampa, Atlanta and Houston don’t quite fit the ‘tweener label. However, they are chock full of Alums from major football loving institutions.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
4
Orson Swindle says:
Most, Stranko, not all. We’d only really argue whether tampa is a “place” or an “uneasy, hot feeling not unlike being in the car too long after eating a whole calzone.”
May 11th, 2006 at 5:03 pm
5
Stranko Montana says:
The results for “sex” are interesting. It makes me wonder why Chicago is so repressed?
1. Delhi India
2. Cairo Egypt
3. Chennai India
4. Ankara Turkey
5. Mumbai India
6. Istanbul Turkey
7. Warsaw Poland
8. Chicago United States
9. Brussels Belgium
10. Zurich Switzerland
May 11th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
6
Stranko Montana says:
Top results For mullet
1. Tampa United States
2. Orlando United States
3. Salt Lake City United States
4. Brisbane Australia
5. Sydney Australia
6. Perth Australia
7. Chicago United States
8. Austin United States
9. Seattle United States
10. Portland United States
May 11th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
7
Orson Swindle says:
Chicago’s up there for evil and suicide, too.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
8
Orson Swindle says:
Hair gel? New York.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
9
Orson Swindle says:
One more, and we swear we’ll stop. Adult diaper? Philadelphia.
Those are dedicated sports fans.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
10
Brian says:
interesting results:
Bullshit brings up this list:
1. Tampa United States
2. Austin United States
3. New York United States
4. Chicago United States
5. Seattle United States
6. Philadelphia United States
7. St Louis United States
8. San Francisco United States
9. Irvine United States
10. San Diego United States
and searching Crap shows a disproportionate amount of Brits.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
11
Orson Swindle says:
Okay, we lied. Alcholics Anonymous? Austin. That’s two reasons to love Austin.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
12
Tommy Gee says:
There must be an error if “mullet” has no Canadian locations.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
13
Brian says:
searching “bowl championship series” brings up this list:
Birmingham United States
2. Austin United States
3. Oklahoma City United States
4. Columbus United States
5. Salt Lake City United States
6. Houston United States
7. Atlanta United States
8. Dallas United States
9. Tampa United States
10. Chicago United States
notice the lack of LA or Baton Rouge.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
14
Stranko Montana says:
It is just because of their low population. If it went by density of search to population, Canada would dominate
May 11th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
15
Orson Swindle says:
Please, someone look up “sex tourism” to see if Germany’s as high up that list as we think it is.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:22 pm
16
Phil K. says:
How has no one commented on the mesmerizing badonkadonk photo accompanying this entry? Christ, I haven’t even made it to the Google thing yet.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
17
Benny Friedman says:
Instead of college football being the official sport of the ‘tweener’ set, it’s the official sport of the South. Only Columbus is above the Mason-Dixon line. Even NASCAR has northern cities Cincinnati, Indy, Chicago, and Rochester (?) in the top ten.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
18
Orson Swindle says:
Does she need comment? If the Conscience of a Nation is reading, that would be “no.”
May 11th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
19
ACC_Expat says:
Tragically, “Fulmer Cup” hasn’t generated enough volume to make it to Google Trends.
However, “Ron Mexico” has, and your number one city is…Alberquerque?? Charlotte (god, I hate Charlotte) and Atlanta follow, and Grant Hill’s old stomping grounds of Reston are fourth. Lil’ Vick’s appeal is more regional; Blacksburg leads, with Richmond, Roanoke and Charlottesville in not-so-hot pursuit.
/is surprised she hasn’t put her city at the top of the “Brodie Croyle” list
//I entered “[name redacted]” for shits and giggles and it told me that my query looked like spam.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:32 pm
20
Roll Tide says:
doesn’t surprise B’ham is at the top. No pro teams to speak of in Alabama, and it’s home to tons of Auburn and Bama fans. There’ really nothing to do in B’ham except talk about and think about college football
May 11th, 2006 at 5:32 pm
21
PeteJayhawk says:
WTF…
“We’re sorry…but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can’t process your request right now.”
It worked for the first 5 searches or so, and now this. Not cool, Google.
May 11th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
22
Orson Swindle says:
EDSBS Labs pwnz Google Labs. Can they make this, eh?
May 11th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
23
ACC_Expat says:
Oh, I did the “sex tourism” search, and India takes the blue ribbon going away…no German cities made the list. Two Canadian cities (Vancouver and Toronto) vs. one US city (NYC)…
/Brentford, UK made the list…
May 11th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
24
JR says:
In defense as a Birmingham resident, I used to get a lot more work done before I discovered this site. Damn you, damn you all.
Roll Tide
May 11th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
25
tnirishfan says:
Top city searching BEER? Austin. I may need to relocate.
May 11th, 2006 at 6:38 pm
26
Auburn Fan says:
pu%%y and gay porn are both #1 in Irvine, California. What a place.
May 11th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
27
NewAZTiger says:
Them Canadians are all over Midget.
May 11th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
28
tbmd96 says:
Looks like Oregon State is the real “OSU” since Corvallis beats both Stillwater and Columbus. I have some questions, though, since Grove City is a suburb of Columbus and has a lot more hits.
May 11th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
29
tnirishfan says:
Cleveland Steamer = Indianapolis
Freaks
May 11th, 2006 at 6:52 pm
30
JR says:
Auburn Fan – you will also notice that Irvine is #1 for Dirty Sanchez
May 11th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
31
John says:
Columbia is number one for Steve Spurrier (Gainesville is #2), and as evidence that Redskin fans like to pretend he didn’t exist, Washington is only in ninth.
May 11th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
32
The Dude says:
The end all
Brokeback – New York, NY and Irvine, CA
May 11th, 2006 at 7:28 pm
33
Austin Dave says:
Try some creative spellings. The folks in Edmonton want “dimonds” more than the folks in Chicago, but just barely.
May 11th, 2006 at 7:37 pm
34
socalirish says:
As someone who works in Anaheim and lives in Newport, both of which are extremely close to Irvine, and as someone who has dated a girl from Irvine, I can only concur with Auburn Fan and JR, “What a place!”
May 11th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
35
Austin Dave says:
and I don’t know what pusy means in Riga Latvia (1), but I can guess what it means in Chicago (10).
1. Riga Latvia
2. Zagreb Hrvatska
3. Vilnius Lithuania
4. Bucharest Romania
5. Ljubljana Slovenia
6. Delhi India
7. Ankara Turkey
8. Istanbul Turkey
9. Warsaw Poland
10. Chicago United States
May 11th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
36
socalirish says:
It means those fu**ers in Chicago can’t spell!
May 11th, 2006 at 7:41 pm
37
Austin Dave says:
and look who wants “penus”:
1. Miami United States
2. Houston United States
3. Los Angeles United States
4. Birmingham United Kingdom
5. Irvine United States
6. San Diego United States
7. Brentford United Kingdom
8. Manchester United Kingdom
9. Chicago United States
10. Dallas United States
May 11th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
38
Brian says:
where the fuck is brentford UK? those sick bastards
May 11th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
39
John says:
In terms of the 12th man, Seattle has nothing on College Station.
May 11th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
40
Austin Dave says:
and the people of St. Louis (of course) want to know about George Busch:
1. St Louis United States
2. Santiago Chile
3. Frankfurt Am Main Germany
May 11th, 2006 at 8:00 pm
41
DC Trojan says:
I thought to myself, what filth hasn’t been looked up yet? So I searched on c*nt and it came up:
1. Tehran Iran
2. Milton Keynes United Kingdom
3. Perth Australia
4. Brisbane Australia
5. Chennai India
6. Delhi India
7. Manchester United Kingdom
8. Poplar United Kingdom
9. Auckland New Zealand
10.Sydney Australia
First place defies comment.
May 11th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
42
PeteJayhawk says:
Helsinki is #1 in Ron Jeremy searches. This means something, but I don’t know what.
May 11th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
43
PeteJayhawk says:
Even better? Dublin and Oslo are 1-2 for David Hasselhoff. No German cities in sight.
This is the best timekiller ever.
May 11th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
44
Andrew says:
Even stranger? #1 in searching for bukkake? Rome, Italy. Crazy pope and his fellow Catholics.
May 11th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
45
Thanks to Google … Chicago really does need pitching at Critical Fanatic* says:
[...] Thanks to Every Day Should Be Saturday for making me aware of the latest offering from Google — Google Trends — which tracks searches by region, frequency, and time. [...]
May 11th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
46
italiangator says:
I hate to think about what the NSA is going to be doing with this information…
May 11th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
47
Erik says:
Fun Fact: Chicago #1 in the USofA for both “Penis” and “Vagina” inquiries.
May 11th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
48
Erik says:
I love this one!
John Daly:
1. Dublin Ireland (In a Landslide!)
2. Austin Texas (with less than half)
May 11th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
49
dub says:
Damn Chicago is freaksville! number 2 on anal sex.
Turkey is ranked 1 and 3.
Atlanta # 9
May 11th, 2006 at 10:48 pm
50
baconboy says:
Have all the South Carolina fans moved overseas?? Cocks =
1. Milton Keynes United Kingdom
2. Birmingham United Kingdom
3. Perth Australia
4. Auckland New Zealand
5. Brisbane Australia
6. Melbourne Australia
7. Sydney Australia
8. Brentford United Kingdom
9. Manchester United Kingdom
10. London United Kingdom
May 11th, 2006 at 11:04 pm
51
Steven says:
It seems Raleigh has lost its grip on “badonkadonk.”
Damn you, Rochester!
May 11th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
52
NewAZTiger says:
the difference between nut and nutt pretty much sums up the electorate.
May 12th, 2006 at 12:14 am
53
Stephen Orr Spurrier says:
Ha! Now who’s the REAL “Carolina?”
Take that, UNCarolina!
May 12th, 2006 at 12:59 am
54
mss says:
Tampa ranks number 1 in camel toe.
May 12th, 2006 at 1:38 am
55
statprof says:
I’ts not *supposed* to be a population size thing — this is supposedly ranked by proportion of searches. But there is some kind of filtering on population size, because searches seem to turn up towns of roughly the same size.
“college basketball” the same kind of thing as “college football”:
1. Louisville
2. Raleigh
3. Kansas City
4. Cincinnati
5. Indianapolis
May 12th, 2006 at 7:22 am
56
Andy says:
Where’s Columbus???
“Cadillac Escalade”
1. Miami United States
2. Irvine United States
3. Phoenix United States
4. Tampa United States
5. Montreal Canada
6. Dallas United States
7. Houston United States
8. San Diego United States
9. Los Angeles United States
10. Atlanta United States
May 12th, 2006 at 7:44 am
57
au03 says:
Rim Job:
1. Chicago
2. Toronto
3. San Fransisco
4. LA
May 12th, 2006 at 7:46 am
58
Doug says:
Birmingham is finally first in something football-related? w00t! MARS, BITCHES!!!1!1!11!1one
May 12th, 2006 at 8:29 am
59
Odell 51 says:
I am now offically ruined at my job today. Thanks EDSBS!
May 12th, 2006 at 9:21 am
60
R.D. Baker says:
> Tampa, Atlanta and Houston don’t quite fit the ‘tweener
> Label. However, they are chock full of Alums from major
> football loving institutions.
If that’s the case, where’s Dallas? Just about every Big 12 school’s alumni seems to find their way there eventually
May 12th, 2006 at 9:24 am
61
Wooderson says:
I googled Fighting Irish, and got this:
1. Dublin Ireland
2. Indianapolis United States
3. Philadelphia United States
4. Chicago United States
5. St Louis United States
6. Washington United States
7. Toronto Canada
8. Atlanta United States
9. New York United States
10. Los Angeles United States
Now that is a national fanbase.
But what I find to be the most intruiging part of the search is the graph above the geographical areas, that indicates volume of stories with in correlation with hit volume on the search words. The ND-OSU Fiesta bowl generated insane loads of traffic, compared with the rest of our season. Also, the hiring of Charlie weis saw a massvie spike in searches. This tool is incredible, just from a statistical analysis standpoint.
Oh, and try doing “DUI”. 1st place goes to Littleton, colorado (yes, that Littleton), but take a look at the news stories that pop up on the right side of the screen. Do those count for extra Fulmer Cup points?
May 12th, 2006 at 9:57 am
62
matt says:
as a southerner transplanted to chicago a little over a year ago, I can’t say these results really suprise me…Chicago is full of sick fucks
May 12th, 2006 at 10:28 am
63
bitterhorn says:
Results for Cleveland Steamer:
1. Indianapolis
2. Louisville
3. Cincinnati
4. Detroit
5. Cleveland
6. St Louis
7. Raleigh
8. Pittsburgh
9. Columbus
10.Chicago
Thanks Orson, another day of productivity lost because of edsbs!
May 12th, 2006 at 10:32 am
64
Russ says:
“Tailgating” is indeed a southern sport:
1. Baton Rouge United States
2. Columbia United States
3. Des Moines United States
4. Cincinnati United States
5. Atlanta United States
6. Charlotte United States
7. Raleigh United States
May 12th, 2006 at 11:05 am
65
Nico says:
…and people in Orlando said I was crazy when I declared just how much people in Birmingham are obsessed with college football. At least my intuition is now backed by Google stats.
May 12th, 2006 at 11:12 am
66
Odell 51 says:
I must proclaim that Cincinnati is not located in the South! That is a big river. Not in terms of physical geography, more in terms of social disparity. Take it from a resident/native.
May 12th, 2006 at 11:46 am
67
bitterhorn says:
“I must proclaim that Cincinnati is not located in the South!”
Then why is their airport in Kentucky?
May 12th, 2006 at 11:52 am
68
Chris says:
Top city for “Doobie”
You guessed it..Austin, TX
May 12th, 2006 at 11:52 am
69
Geaux Irish says:
Typed in “crunk”…got exactly what I thought would be there…
1. Atlanta United States (Lil Jon shouts “Yeeeeeaaahhh”)
The rest:
2. Charlotte United States
3. Orlando United States
4. Miami United States
5. St Louis United States
6. Tampa United States
7. Chicago United States
8. Boston United States
9. Irvine United States
10. Houston United States
May 12th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
70
Orson Swindle says:
WHUUUUUT?
May 12th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
71
FreeShoesU says:
Who would have thought nashville is the leader in “redneck”?
May 12th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
72
Odell 51 says:
Then why is their airport in Kentucky?
I really honestly don’t know. Something to do with an illiterate dirt farmer named Cletus/path of least resistance/ kentucky good ol’ boys.
All the above, or take your pick.
May 12th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
73
RedTide says:
Did you read the fine print? It’s not the percentage of searches by that city for that topic vs the rest of the world. It’s the percentage of searches by that city for that topic vs the total number of searches FOR THAT CITY. I think that’s where your popluation equality comes in.
May 12th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
74
Chg says:
What’s with the Slovakian obsession with koalas?
May 12th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
75
Chg says:
Regarding #52, I assume you are referring to the “nut” searchers being so out of touch with average Americans they can’t even spell Houston’s name right. Either that, or they really are looking for nuts.
Either way, I think you’re right about it saying summing up the electorate.
May 12th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
76
fattus says:
NAMBLA
1. San Diego United States
2. Philadelphia United States
3. Denver United States
4. Portland United States
5. Pleasanton United States
6. Washington United States
7. Austin United States
8. Boston United States
9. San Francisco United States
10. Los Angeles United States
May 12th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
77
Lazer says:
“Boob Job” – you get what you would expect (LA, Miami, Tampa, etc), but there is a shocking #2 – Salt Lake City. Take that Mormonism! As a side note, “polygomy” has resounding interest in South America, and SLC is the only U.S. city that hits the top ten, coming in at 6th.
Also, in comment 17, Benny Friedman noted that college football is the sport of the South, and all but one city in the list is south of the Mason-Dixon. I would suggest that Mr Friedman use google maps to locate Omaha (#2 on the list). Not only is it north of the Mason-Dixon, it is west of the Mississippi, and therefore not even in the realm of dividing line. For shame sir bad geography!
May 12th, 2006 at 6:42 pm
78
rob says:
Sweater vest:
1. Chicago United States
2. New York United States
3. San Francisco United States
4. Atlanta United States
5. Los Angeles United States
You’re letting your man down, Ohio.
May 12th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
79
Nupe in VA says:
Badonkadonk?!? You guys kill me!!
May 13th, 2006 at 10:01 am