On January 31, 2009, the day before the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers were set to clash on the gridiron in Super Bowl XLIII the anticipation for the players partaking in the event was surely running high. The same feeling however seemed not to be true for the rest of the world. The Super Bowl has consistently been the most watched event but you wouldn’t know it looking at the search trends the day prior to the event.
Google Trends reported that only 9 of the top 100 most popular that day had to do with football and all of them were related to the football hall of fame induction, not the Super Bowl.
Here’s the rundown on the football related search terms for January 31, 2009:
bob hayes
chicago bears roster
derrick Thomas
chicago bears number 17
lisa lampanelli chicago bears
rod woodson
nfl hall of fame
bruce smith
pro football hall of fame
Unrelated: The top search for the day was ‘google this site may harm your computer’ in reference to the URL of ‘/’ that was mistakenly added as a value to the badware list which affected all URLs. Google’s ambitious ‘Do No Harm’ motto may have extended itself a little too far in this case! TechCrunch has a great shot of Google flagging itself as harmful. Google was quick to resolve the problem and explains the issue on the Official Google Blog.
Shout out to fellow Quebec native and Canadian athlete of the year Georges St. Pierre for successfully defending his welterweight title in UFC94 and sharing the number 12 most popular search spot with contender BJ Penn. Bravo au Georges St-Pierre pour conserver son titre!
Super Bowl Sunday was up to the task of defending its search ranking, running away with 23 of the 25 most popular searches for February 1, 2009. In fact, 91 of the top 100 searches were related to football or the Super Bowl event. Many of the searches were related to the Super Bowl ads or to the performers (and spouses) at the event.
Super Bowl or football related search terms in the top 25:
hang in there jack
how old is bruce springsteen
denny s free grand slam
hangintherejack
e street band
joe Namath
walter payton
journey lead singer
david Abernathy
steve van zandt
vizio
denny s locations
jack in the box
denny s restaurant
steve perry
patti scialfa
max Weinberg
julianne Phillips
hyundai genesis coupe
santonio holmes
glory days lyrics
godaddy
bruce springsteen band members
As the adrenaline from the players participating in Super Bowl XLIII subsides, search interest for football related terms has already waned. Only 19 of the top 100 searches on February 2, 2009 – the day after the big game – were football related. Most of the terms had to do with the BOSS (Bruce Springsteen) and interest in the Super Bowl ads. Searchers’ attention shifted to Groundhog Day and Punxsutawney Phil biting Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
Super Bowl or Football Related Search Terms on February 2, 2009:
hang in there jack
joe namath
how old is bruce springsteen
hangintherejack
denny s free grand slam
vizio
e street band
hershey park stadium (springsteen)
pittsburgh post gazette
superbowl scores by quarter
denny s locations
steve van zandt
super bowl porn
steelers parade
jack in the box
santonio holmes
bruce springsteen tickets 2009
go daddy commercials
super bowl mvp
