• by Masha Geller , January 22, 2003

It looks like it’s all about researching football and beer online these days, which shouldn’t surprise anyone with less than a week left before the Super Bowl.

Yahoo! today said it is a "Raider Nation" indeed with Raider-related searches taking the lead this week based on searches conducted by Yahoo! consumers. In addition, searches for the highly-coveted Super Bowl tickets soared more than 300% and overall searches for the Super Bowl shot up by 175%.

Despite the Raiders' early lead, Yahoo! Search's professional surfers claim that Tampa Bay may `Buc' the trend soon, given that online searches for the Buccaneers have increased much more dramatically in recent days than Raiders-related queries.

"The Raiders have taken an early lead but Raiders' fans shouldn't claim victory just yet because we've seen a much greater increase in online searches by Tampa Bay fans than we have by Raiders fans this week," said Erik Gunther, editor of the Yahoo! Buzz Index at Yahoo!, Inc. "Searches for the Bucs are up by nearly 500%, while searches for the Oakland Raiders were up by only 150%. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if by the week's end Buccaneer-related searches overtake Raiders-related searches."

It also appears the "King of Beers" will reign during Super Bowl parties this year as Budweiser has taken the top spot in terms of beer searches for the week on the Yahoo! Buzz Index. While searches for Miller Lite's controversial "Catfight" commercial have increased by more than 2000% in recent days, Bud Light still managed to round out the list at the No. 5 spot.

And what will football fans munch on as they partake in that frothy game-time brew? According to their increase in online searches, viewers will likely feast on a carnivore's special of Buffalo wings and beef jerky, with searches for jerky increasing by a 300% this week.

Why anyone would search the web for jerky is beyond me, but such are the facts.