MAP: What we're known for — and it's not Minnesota State University

Someone recently said that if you Googled a university, chances are you’d find more results for the head football coach than you would for the president.

Here’s a twist on that idea:

You know how Google has that auto-complete feature that finishes off your search terms based on the most popular searches?

Cartoonist Dorothy Gambrell wanted to see what would come up if she Googled all 50 states — beginning with the state name and then seeing what came after.

The results: Some states had been searched mostly for their universities — such as Georgia Tech, Iowa State University and Indiana University. Others had been searched for their college sports teams — Wisconsin Badgers, or “Alabama Football” and “Ohio State Football.”

What did we get?

Minnesota Vikings.

See The Huffington Post’s take here.

About the blogger

Alex Friedrich

afriedrich@mpr.org

Alex Friedrich reports on higher education issues for MPR News. Among the stories he has covered: the fall of the Berlin Wall, aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, 2003 Moscow suicide bombing and 2004 presidential elections in the Republic of Georgia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s in European political economy from the London School of Economics.