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.