04/26/24
December 23, 2002
Google's year-end review includes the 10 most-searched-for athletes in the world. On the assumption that it's a pretty good indicator of what young sports fans care about, the list is good news for the NBA, soccer, and women's tennis but bad news for baseball and the NFL.
Regardless of why they are searching, the fact that three women's tennis players are among the 10-most-sought athletes is pretty interesting. The sporting landscape of my youth -- where NFL football, college football, baseball, and boxing reigned supreme -- is being eclipsed because today's young people are losing interest in them. It's already happening with baseball, which isn't nearly as prominent or popular today as the coverage by the mostly white, mostly over 40 sports media would indicate.
posted by rcade at 02:12 PM on December 23, 2002
Not wishing to sound snarky, but in worldwide terms, baseball and American football are very much minority sports, so it is hardly surprising that athletes who represent sports which are not confined to one country, appear to be more popular. Having said that I have never heard of half the buggers and they may well represent synchronised swimming for all I know.
posted by Fat Buddha at 05:05 PM on December 23, 2002
I for one loved the Las-Ketchup-moving-across-the-World graph. Still, no Joe Thornton or Peter Forsberg in there. Hockey really is below all radars.
posted by qbert72 at 11:12 PM on December 23, 2002
So what does this really indicate anyway? I NEVER do searches for things like this because I already know where to find them...
posted by StarFucker at 08:14 AM on December 24, 2002
I don't know about that assumption. Something tells me that a lot of the people googling for Anna Kournakova, for instance, aren't necessarily fans of Women's Tennis. Ditto the Williams sisters. It's interesting that none of the top 10 Video Games were sports games. I guess not everyone wastes entire days playing NHL 2003 or FIFA. Incidentally, the gameplay in the newest installment of FIFA is fantastic.