2014: The year of USA Sport Scandals

Caroline Sikes, Sporting News
and others
• 2 min read
tim-howard-121614-ftr-google.jpg

With 2014 coming to a close, it's a good time to reflect on the year that was.

Google, the most popular search engine in the world (duh), released its annual "Year in Search" data and there were lots of interesting nuggets from the sports world.

Of course, the World Cup and Ray Rice dominated searches, but there were plenty of surprises, too.

Here are seven takeaways from 2014:

7. Despite his free agency frenzy, LeBron James wasn't the most searched NBA player and he didn't even crack the top 10 for athletes.

6. Ray Rice, Tony Stewart, Donald Sterling and Adrian Peterson all landed in the top 10 for trending people in the United States. Unfortunately, none of them landed there for positive reasons.

5. The Mexico National Team coach Miguel Herrera made an impression on everyone who watched the World Cup. His over-the-top personality was an easy target for some of the year's best gifs, so this was no surprise:

SUPER SAIYAN HERRERA!

4. Who was the most searched athlete in the world in 2014? The surprise of the World Cup: Columbian player James Rodriguez.

Ray Rice landed at No. 3 globally.

3. The 2014 Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks also took first place in trending sports teams.

2. "World Cup" was the second most searched term globally. The Sochi Olympics also made the cut.

1. U.S. National Team goalkeeper Tim Howard was the top meme search, because OF COURSE. IT WAS AWESOME.

Here's a reminder of things Tim Howard could save:

All in all, it was a good year. Can't wait for 2015.

Author(s)
Caroline Sikes, Sporting News