Twitter Launches NFL Fan Map; Lions Fans In Alabama And Georgia [PHOTO]
By: Mike Sullivan
@mikesullivan
A very detailed, interactive twitter map was just released by twitter. It shows where each team's followers and supporters are by county.
While browsing around, a few things stood out to me:
1. The state of Michigan is obviously dominated by Honolulu Blue. However, the western half of the Upper Peninsula favors the Packers first and the Lions second, which doesn't come as a surprise.
2. The only county in the Lower Peninsula that does not have Detroit as their number one team, is Berrien County, which is the "southwest-most" county in the Michigan. The Bears are their favorite team.
3. Outside of Michigan, the only other places that have the Lions as their number one team are Harris County, Georgia where nearly 25% of the county root for Detroit, and Talledega County, Alabama which has over 21% support. I'm assuming that their Lions support is based on the fact that Calvin Johnson was born and raised not too far from them.
4. Northern Ohio appears to have some decent Lions support, which makes sense based on a geography standpoint. Nebraska has a good amount of Lions fans, which is related to Ndamukong Suh. Lastly, there are a few counties in South Florida that have moderate Lions support. I presume this has something to do with retirement locations from people who previously lived in Michigan.
5. There are tons of other miscellaneous counties around the nation who have small percentages of Lions support. I'm not really sure why, but it could be accredited to many different reasons: Player origins, history, or simply just personal reasons.
6. Other notables: Hawaii's team is the Seahwaks and Las Vegas supports the 49ers. Regarding huge fan bases, the Broncos, 49ers, Seahawks, Cowboys, Patriots, and (believe it or not) the Minnesota Vikings appear to a ton of support based on a geographic standpoint.
