the buzz log
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
World Cup Wrap-Up
Following Sunday's dramatic World Cup final, one question puzzled searchers and pundits alike: what provoked France's star striker Zinedine Zidane to headbutt an Italian opponent in the chest? After the match, many of the over one billion viewers turned their attention to the Search box.
Searches on Zidane rose over 1,000% as curious fans tried to figure out the motivation for his red-card-worthy behavior. We also saw surges for "zidane head butt," "zidane video," and most importantly, "what did materazzi say to zidane." Marco Materazzi may have said something to set Zidane off, but he definitely inspired a flurry of searches. Queries on the Italian defender went from zero into the thousands.
Colorful flares also burned bright, wielded by soccer enthusiasts throughout a celebratory Italy. Buzz on the Azzurri players rippled the back of the Buzz net as Fabio Grosso (+443%), Fabio Cannavaro (+336%), Andrea Pirlo (+236%), Gennaro Gattuso (+234%), and Gianluigi Buffon (+208%) all shot skyward.
Queries on World Cup history jumped 228% as fans put the 2006 event in proper historical context. Supporters of the Italian side who remember the pain of losing on penalty kicks sent searches on World Cup 1994 up 223%. But not everyone was looking in the rear view—searches on 2010 World Cup were up 252%, and fútbol fanatics assessing the real long view sent buzz on the 2014 World Cup up 251%.
With so many story lines wrapped up in the world's largest sporting event, we saw a stunning array of Search spikes...
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Soccer's Top 20
When we checked in with the best international soccer players just two short weeks ago, Brazil's Ronaldinho held a comfortable lead in searches. The dazzling Brazilian playmaker had double the buzz of any other World Cup participant. He's still number one in Search, but his lead has almost vanished as other players dribble into the limelight. He nudged out Portugal's onrushing Cristiano Ronaldo by a head. Here are the top players in Buzz as we head into the semifinals...
A Cup Full of Search
It's no surprise that the biggest international sports event of the season is also a top scorer in the Buzz. "World cup" ranks in the top 20 searches, moving up 1,189% over the past month. Other soccer search terms getting some play in the Buzz include players "michael owen" (+60%) and "luis figo" (+41%), as well as "usa soccer" (+30%) and "soccer fans" (+24%)—which we still are, despite Team USA's defeat.
But with the U.S. team's elimination from the tournament, some of us here may have lost faith in "football." We're wiping tear-streaked red, white, and blue makeup off our faces. Meanwhile, the Cup is more optimistically half full for the rest of the world, and "world cup" and soccer searches continue to pour in.
Popular World Cup SearchesSoccer Stars on Center Stage
In 2002, World Cup buzz centered on the man with the fabulous fauxhawk, England's David Beckham. Beloved in Asia (where the Cup was held), searches on the one-man brand reached epic proportions four years ago. But this year's futbòl frenzy has kicked Becks to the curb in favor of Brazilian star Ronaldinho. The man with the fabulous footwork is bending more than twice as many searches as England's main man.
After the ponytailed playmaker took the pitch for Brazil, searches on Ronaldinho jumped another 27%, placing him firmly in our top three sports searches. Queries on "ronaldinho video clips" and "ronaldinho pictures" are also scoring with soccer fans.
We dribbled through the data, and here's how the top 10 footballers line up in the Buzz today...
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.