the buzz log
What's the Buzz — August 7, 2008
Turmoil in Africa... your turn. A military coup up-ended the first elected president of Mauritania, and led to an online scramble for rebellion details, the country's location, and a timeline of the nation's growth. The junta marched with supporters and promised free elections, while the the daughter of ousted leader Sidi Cheikh Ould Abdallahi called for U.N. intervention.
.... Meanwhile, a blood trail leads to Laurence Fishburne as a possible new "CSI" boss. The tough guy catapulted into the top 50 terms, shooting past "paris hilton for president" queries. Methinks there's a veep candidate here.
...No relation to Han, but the force and Buzz beats strong for soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo (+270%), comeback kid for the USA women's Olympic team.
...And now, let's end with a Buzz Log eye-candy moment with Boris Kodjoe (+62%), soon to be in a romantic comedy near you.
Filed under: TV, Actors, Politics, Soccer, Military, Africa, Olympics
Wambach Wallops Search
What a great time to be a sports-addicted couch potato! Football has arrived, baseball's in full swing, the U.S. Open just wrapped, and the maniacs of NASCAR are continually racing 'round the track. But wait — there's more! The Women's World Cup is also scoring in Search thanks in large part to one standout striker.
Team USA's Abby Wambach is kicking butt on the field and in Buzz. Interest in the blond bomber jumped 73% after she rallied her squad past Nigeria. Should she lead Team USA to a World Cup victory, expect the searches (and endorsements) to roll in at an obnoxious pace.
Heather Mitts is the only female soccer star who can touch Wambach in Search. ESPN's one-time "Hottest Female Athlete" is currently among the top 200 overall searches, and recently surged an amazing 4,367%. All this despite the fact that she's injured and not even playing in the Cup. Hot chicks — is there anything they can't do?
Filed under: World Cup, Soccer, Women's Sports
Copa America Blasts Buzz
This weekend's Copa America final kicked up a wave of queries. The soccer tournament featuring the nations of South America bathed in Buzz for the duration of its three week run. However, interest in the finale pushed it to the summit of sports searches.
The final game of the tourney featured arch rivals Brazil and Argentina. Related queries on "brazil copa america" (+411%), "copa america final" (+170%), and "copa america schedule" (+158%) all scored with curious soccer fans.
Brazil blew out favored Argentina 3-0 to capture the Copa crown and searches on the "brazil soccer" squad notched a 218% increase. Brazilian futbol fanatics also rang up queries on "brazil vs argentina" (+475%) and "brazil flag" (+146%). Stars of Brazil's national side also experienced a bump in Buzz—searches on Robinho (+47%), Daniel Alves (+44%), and Julio Baptista (+34%) all found the back of the net.
And just for kicks, here's a graph comparing searches on Copa America and Major League Baseball over the past couple of weeks...
Soccer Goes Gold
Soccer's Gold Cup shone brightly in the Search box this week. Queries on the biennial tournament involving North and Central American nations were up 151% after this year's semifinal matches.
Sports fans also sought out "gold cup soccer schedule," "gold cup soccer 2007," and "concacaf gold cup." Searches on the awkwardly-acronymed CONCACAF, the regional confederation behind the Gold Cup, jumped 180%.
Spanish-speaking fanáticos looked up "copa de oro," "copa oro 2007," and "calendario copa oro 2007." Mexico's semifinal victory over the cinderella squad from the tiny nation of Guadeloupe spurred searches on "mexico soccer team," "mexico flag," and "mexico vs guadeloupe."
The American squad's victory over Canada didn't match the fútbol fervor inspired by Mexico's win, but we did see a 146% jump in queries on "usa soccer." We're sure to see one last flurry of Buzz when Mexico and the U.S. face off in the finals on Sunday.
Soccer Strikes Back
The global popularity of soccer is no mystery to us here at the Buzz. On big match days we see searches rocket into the back of the net like a Zidane free kick. Before the dust settled on the World Cup, European nations began the long process of qualifying for the 2008 European Championships. When national sides clashed across Europe last week, we saw searches on "euro cup," "euro 2008," and "euro cup 2008" soar.
This week brought Matchday 3 of the UEFA Champions League and another slew of soccer searches. The Champions League (+42%) tournament pits the top professional teams in Europe against one another and continues to create epic match-ups.
A bearded Wayne Rooney (+20%) and buff Cristiano Ronaldo moved beyond their summer spat to help Manchester United defeat FC København and searchers were all over the Red Devils. Thierry Henry (+15%) and Arsenal fell to CSKA Moscow thanks to a controvsial disallowed goal that created a stir in Buzz. Yesterday, star-studded Chelsea (minus injured goalie Petr Cech) overcame defending champion Barcelona and the wily (and buzz-worthy) Ronaldinho.
It's a long road to the final, but here are the favorite Euro clubs in Search right now...
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford 400 | Breakout! |
| 2 | Indonesia Ferry | Breakout! |
| 3 | Jordan Chandler | 3481% |
| 4 | Evan Chandler | 2322% |
| 5 | American Music Awards | 1841% |
| 6 | John F. Kennedy | 1529% |
| 7 | Turkey Stuffing Recipes | 1361% |
| 8 | Liam Hemsworth | 1172% |
| 9 | Lou Dobbs | 1142% |
| 10 | Hendrick Motorsports | 888% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Friday | +340 | 1290 |
| 2 | NFL | +489 | 670 |
| 3 | Jennifer Lopez | +451 | 515 |
| 4 | New Moon | -67 | 250 |
| 5 | American Music Awards | +236 | 249 |
| 6 | UFC | -36 | 239 |
| 7 | Miley Cyrus | +66 | 169 |
| 8 | Hulu | -11 | 154 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.