Dubious distinction for Bangor

Deep within a column in the July 17 edition of Sports Illustrated, Bangor was crowned ground zero of New York Yankees hatred.

The Queen City didn’t earn that label for creative use of the English language in describing why the Olde Towne Team is simply better than the Evil Empire. Nor did it come for the city’s collective gushing over the fact that A-Rod is the Yankees’ defensive and financial problem, not the Red Sox’s.

No, the root of this distinction is much more basic and, to be honest, pretty tacky.

According to Google Trends, an Internet tracking device recently launched by that search engine giant, folks in Bangor have Googled “Yankees suck” at a rate greater than any other community in Maine, New England, the United States of America, and the entire world, for that matter.

Now this site doesn’t provide raw numbers to determine if Bangor fans are Googling that phrase by the hundreds, thousands or millions. In fact, Google Trends merely aims to provide insights into broad search patterns, and is basing its trends on a portion of its total results.

But what the information available does suggest is that those who live in the 04401 ZIP code are spending more time on the Internet searching out that phrase than the good folks of Oxford, Mass.; Needham, Mass.; Portland, Maine; Providence, R.I.; Manchester, N.H.; Hartford, Conn.; Cambridge, Mass.; Boston, Mass.; and Meriden, Conn.; which follow Bangor among the top 10 municipalities for such curiosity.

Of course, there is a two-way street when it comes to such searches, as Providence, Meriden, Boston, and Cambridge are among the top five when it comes to Googling “Red Sox suck,” too. (New York City is a lowly seventh on that list, by the way.)

“Yankees suck” Googlemania reached its zenith during September and October 2004, when the Red Sox rallied from 3-0 down to stun New York in the American League Championship Series and then went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals for their first World Series title in 86 years.

A similar uptick occurred last fall, but quickly faded away as Boston and New York suffered similar first-round ousters from postseason play.

One other fact from Google Trends that is either good or bad depending on how one feels about being crowned ground zero of Yankees hatred essentially for saying “Your mother wears Army boots” is that the Red Sox fans involved are of a one-track mind in this regard.

Nowhere else among Red Sox-Yankees topics are Bangor Googlers even rated in the top 10 when searching out other baseball demons and defectors who have been part of the rivalry’s landscape over the last 30 years.

Bucky Dent is a Google favorite in Miami, while Roger Clemens is sought out in New Haven. And Don Zimmer? He still has a big Google following in Boston, as does Grady Little.

It’s nice to be No. 1, I suppose, but given that the Red Sox are less than two years removed from actually winning a World Series while the Yankees are 0-for-the millennium, isn’t it time to take the high road?

Here’s an idea. The next time you visit Oxford, Mass., or Needham, Mass., or Providence or Hartford or Meriden, Conn., get on the Internet and start Googling “Yankees suck.”

Let someone else have the honor. For some people, it doesn’t mean much to be No. 1 if it’s only because you’re most prolific at stating the obvious.

Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or at eclark@bangordailynews.net.