World Cup Tie-Ins Show Geographic Illiteracy

Americans' interest in soccer (association-rules football) comes in go with the tide peaking at the time of the World Cup.  Every four years there is a surge of caring which recedes soon after Team USA's loss and elimination. This year the World Cup has caused an all time high in soccer-interest.  Team USA's victory over Ghana led to an outpouring of sports patriotism... and geo-illeteracy.

First Delta decided to celebrate victory by tweeting an image which represents the United States with the Statue of Liberty and Ghana with a giraffe. A major problem with the image is that giraffes do not live in Ghana.  All Africa is treated the same much like all Indians are thought of as the same in Siouxification.  Oddly, the sin Delta committed is the same that Kwanzaa is by nature treating all Africa as the same.

Next is a photo making the rounds claiming to show how most are immigrants.  The purpose of to the photo is to support immigration reform.  The problem with this image is that it is a racist and probably full of lies (not just untruths) because none of the players are actually immigrants.  It claims those with Hispanic-names are immigrants even though they were born in the United States and those born outside the United States are immigrants even though all of them were born citizens because of their parents.

Finally, Google cannot tell the difference between Ghana's flag and Cameroon's.

Geo-illiteracy is common and the World Cup is only making it more noticeable

Sochi: The Main Resort of the Russian Riviera

Back when Sochi was announced as the primary location for the 2014 Winter Olympics, some people may have thought a) why Sochi and maybe even b) but isn't Sochi as far south as Venice and right on a warm body of water?  Sochi is indeed a warm place with an average high of 50 Fahrenheit (10 Celsius) and an average low of 37 Fahrenheit (3 Celsius) in February.  In fact, the nice coastal climate has been given the name the Russian Rivera or the Caucasian Riviera.

So why Sochi?  Two reasons, first the nearby Caucasian Mountains and second the established tourism infrastructure.

Sochi.  From SeniorCitizen.Travel

The nearby Caucasian Mountains and their foothills give enough elevation for snow hills and tracks for many winter sports.  Meanwhile, winter and summer vacation has been popular in Sochi and the Black Sea Coast region of the Russian Rivera since the 1950s.  First it was for Communist Party elites but it slowly became more open to everyone.

Sadly some of the infrastructure began to fall apart in the 1980s and 1990s due to lack of funds and government priorities elsewhere.  This has left Sochi in a bit of a bind in which middle class Russian facilities and those for the ultra-rich are fine but facilities for athletes and foreigners are in such a sorry state that #Sochiproblems became a popular Twitter hashtag.

The main loser of Sochi, besides citizens who lost their pillows to foreigners and any anti-corruption Russian, is Abkhazia.  One in the de facto independent state/separatist region of Georgia can actually see of some of the Sochi facilities from the border.  Many Abkhaz's were hoping to cash in on the Olympics by offering affordable alternatives for staying and sight seeing.  However, Russia's anti-terrorism perimeter integrates itself to the Abkhaz-Russian thus practically closing down all traffic from the de facto republic to Sochi.

Map of NFL Team Loyalities

The above map comes from the unofficial Twitter account @NFL_Stats.  It reportedly shows fan loyalties to National Football League teams throughout the contiguous 48-states.  It is neat comparing this map to the map of Major League Baseball team loyalties.

• The Minnesota, western Missouri, and Colorado teams battle for the most wide open space, the Interior West, in both football and baseball.
• The South has more teams so the Georgia, eastern Missouri, Florida divide in southern baseball fan loyalties is not repeated in American football.
• And the Oakland Raiders is the only team in professional baseball or American football to still have a hold on their historical home (Los Angeles, which the Raiders left in 1994).

Geography of Where American Olympic Athletes Live

The Atlantic has an article on the geography of hometowns and residences of Summer 2012 Olympic athletes.  The article is a good read but I was fascinated on the breakdown of where athletes currently live.  There are several cores but California seems to be the place where summer fun becomes summer sports gold (silver and bronze).

An excellent take away:

The map above takes a second cut, charting the metros where America’s Olympic competitors currently live. 

Los Angeles is again tops, but now it boasts an even greater concentration of athletes: 68 Olympians, 15 percent of the U.S. team, currently call it home. Nearby San Diego is second with 38 or 8.5 percent of Olympic athletes. Colorado Springs is third with 21 or 5 percent.  These athletes are clustered around Olympic training facilities in Chula Vista near San Diego and Colorado Springs.
Other metros with significant numbers of Olympians include: San Francisco with 19 or 4.3 percent; Trenton-Ewing, New Jersey (which includes Princeton) with 17 or 3.8 percent; and Oklahoma City, Austin, and Miami, each with with 13 or 2.9 percent. California boasts 146 Olympians – which would make it the 19th largest national Olympic team.

When we control for population, the Trenton-Ewing, New Jersey, metro comes out on top, with a whopping 4.7 Olympic athletes per 100,000 people. Colorado Springs (3.5) is second, followed by Athens, Georgia (2.3) and Eugene, Oregon (2.0). The predominance of college towns makes sense: many Olympians come from their programs and train at their facilities.

One thing that's notable is the pronounced clustering of athletes in individual sports. L.A., for example, is home to six of 10 beach volleyball players, with two more from nearby Santa Barbara and Oxnard. Nearly half of America's fencers (7 of 16) live in New York. More than three-quarters of female rowers - 16 out of 21 of them - live in a single city, Princeton, New Jersey, while a large number of their male counterparts live in Chula Vista and Oklahoma City. 

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal suggests that the U.S. gains advantage from its more decentralized system for identifying and developing young athletes. Still, America’s Olympic athletes do cluster, especially around training facilities and locational centers of excellence. Mirroring the talent clustering that defines so many other dimensions of economic and social life, they also gain from training with, competing against, and being around each other.

Olympics Geography: Countries' Opening Procession March Air Time on NBC

Friend and geographer Andrew Shears has created the below map showing the amount of show time NBC gave the various Olympic teams' processions.

Click to enlarge

Three Anglo core countries, Australia, host United Kingdom, and NBC-based United States, had major coverage.  The Soviet Union-replacing rival People's Republic of China had the most air time for a non-English speaking country.  Canada did not have that much air time; possibly due to Canada's weak status in summer games and the fact most Canadians watch the Olympics live on CBC.

Europe and Asia had respectable air time amounts, though Southeast Asia was lacking.  African countries' coverage was light-to-moderate but overall consistent.  The real discrepancy was in Latin America.  Countries like Brazil and Argentina led the way in air time but others like Guatemala, Paraguay, Colombia, and Peru barely had any air time.  This is somewhat surprising considering the growing Hispanic population in America though those with strong ties to their homeland may watch Spanish-speaking broadcasts of the Olympics on other channels.

Geography of Summer Olympics Medal Winners

In a few weeks London will host the 2012 Summer Olympics.  This event will reinforce Europe's hold on being the primary host of the Summer Olympic games.

Like my 2010 post about the geography of Winter Olympics medal winners, I decided to take a look at Summer Olympics medal winners.  The trends are analyzed below the winners table:

	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
USA	929	729	638	2296
USSR	395	319	296	1010
UK	207	255	253	715
Germany	191	217	240	648
France	191	212	233	636
Italy	191	157	174	522
Sweden	142	160	173	475
Hungary	159	141	159	459
Australia	131	137	164	432
East Germany	153	129	127	409
PR China	163	117	105	385
Japan	123	112	126	361
Russia	108	97	112	317
Finland	101	83	115	299
Romania	86	89	117	292
Poland	62	80	119	261
Canada	58	94	108	260
Netherlands	71	79	96	246
West Germany	56	74	98	228
South Korea	68	74	73	215
Bulgaria	51	84	77	212
Cuba	67	64	63	194
Switzerland	45	70	66	181
Denmark	41	63	66	170
Norway	54	48	42	144
Czechoslovakia	49	49	45	143
Belgium	37	51	51	139
Spain	34	49	30	113
Unified Team	45	38	29	112
Greece	30	42	36	108
Ukraine	28	22	46	96
Brazil	20	25	46	91
Yugoslavia	28	31	31	90
New Zealand	36	15	35	86
Austria	18	33	35	86
Turkey	37	23	22	82
Kenya	22	29	24	75
South Africa	20	24	26	70
Argentina	17	23	26	66
Belarus	10	19	35	64
Jamaica	13	25	17	55
Mexico	12	18	25	55
Iran	11	15	22	48
North Korea	10	12	19	41
Kazakhstan	9	16	14	39
Ethiopia	18	6	14	38
Czech Republic	10	12	11	33
Estonia	9	8	14	31
Indonesia	6	9	10	25
Egypt	7	7	10	24
Nigeria	2	9	12	23
Ireland	8	7	8	23
Portugal	4	7	11	22
Morocco	6	5	10	21
Thailand	7	4	10	21
India	9	4	7	20
Slovakia	7	8	5	20
Mongolia	2	7	10	19
Republic of China	2	6	11	19
Georgia	5	2	11	18
Uzbekistan	4	5	8	17
Croatia	3	6	8	17
Latvia	2	11	4	17
Azerbaijan	4	3	9	16
Lithuania	4	4	8	16
Slovenia	3	5	7	15
Algeria	4	2	8	14
Trinidad and Tobago	1	5	8	14
Chile	2	7	4	13
Australasia	3	4	5	12
Colombia	1	3	7	11
Venezuela	1	2	8	11
Bahamas	4	2	4	10
Uruguay	2	2	6	10
Pakistan	3	3	4	10
Armenia	1	1	7	9
Philippines	0	2	7	9
Russian Empire	1	4	3	8
Zimbabwe	3	4	1	8
Tunisia	2	2	3	7
Israel	1	1	5	7
Uganda	1	3	2	6
Puerto Rico	0	1	5	6
Moldova	0	2	3	5
Cameroon	3	1	1	5
Iceland	0	2	2	4
Costa Rica	1	1	2	4
Peru	1	3	0	4
Dominican Rep	2	1	1	4
Malaysia	0	2	2	4
Bohemia (AH Empire)	0	1	3	4
Nambia	0	4	0	4
Lebanon	0	2	2	4
Ghana	0	1	3	4
Serbia	0	1	2	3
Panama	1	0	2	3
Syria	1	1	1	3
Krygyzstan	0	1	2	3
Haiti	0	1	1	2
British West Indies	0	0	2	2
Serbia and Montenegro	0	2	0	2
Ecuador	1	1	0	2
Suriname	1	0	1	2
Mozambique	1	0	1	2
Luxembourg	1	1	0	2
Hong Kong	1	1	0	2
Zambia	0	1	1	2
Vietnam	0	2	0	2
Sri Lanka	0	2	0	2
Singapore	0	2	0	2
Tanzania	0	2	0	2
Qatar	0	0	2	2
Tajikistan	0	1	1	2
Eritrea	0	0	1	1
Guyana	0	0	1	1
Iraq	0	0	1	1
Kuwait	0	0	1	1
Nigeria	0	0	1	1
Netherlands Antilles	0	1	0	1
UAE	1	0	0	1
Djibouti	0	0	1	1
Ivory Coast	0	1	0	1
Bermuda	0	0	1	1
Barbados	0	0	1	1
US Virgin Islands	0	1	0	1
Sudan	0	1	0	1
Togo	0	0	1	1
Burundi	1	0	0	1
Paraguay	0	1	0	1
Afghanistan	0	0	1	1
Macedonia	0	0	1	1
Senegal	0	1	0	1

Like the Winter Olympics, the Summer Olympic results are hardly cosmopolitan.

• Despite only having ten percent of the world's population, Europe has won 60% of all medals.  This is mostly due to European sports being played at the Olympics.
• The United States and Canada have won 18% of all medals.  This is despite the United States' individual dominance of the game.
• Asia, having 55% of the world's total population, has won only 9.6% of all medals.
• Africa has only received two percent of all medals.
• Middle, South, and Caribbean Americas have won 2.5% of all medals.

However, things are changing.  Much of Europe's wins came during the Cold War-era which saw heavy use of steroids from countries like Poland, Romania, and Hungary.  These countries are lucky if they do well now as the Olympics have clamped down on steroid use.  Meanwhile, the People's Republic of China has only competed in the last eight Olympics but has managed to become the eleventh best overall, and will soon surpass the dead East Germany for medals.  Asia will grow along with the People's Republic in the medal count as these countries finally master European-made games.  Africa is also growing its medal count with the increasing number track and field games.

Due to the ability of warm weather around the world and the proliferation of summer sports, the Summer Olympics will become the world's gaming event as the Winter Olympics, with the presence of many mountain sports, will remain a European stronghold.

Digital Ballparks: The Online Museum of Baseball Parks

During my travels across the United States one particular joy I have is being able to visit various baseball parks and enjoy America's pastime. Digital Ballparks is like traveling all across United States, Canada, and even some parks in Mexico.  There are over five hundred ballparks documented on the website; each park has tons of photos with the history of the park well described.  The website features Major League, minor league, independent, and college stadiums.

While we wait for the dead of winter to end this is the perfect website to get in the mood for spring training!

New York Times' Geography of College Football

American college football went through a dramatic series of changes during its off-season.  Many of the major schools switched leagues, which were primarily based on geography, for leagues more equal in terms of competition.  The New York Times college sports blog The Quad wrote The Geography of College Football Fans (and Realignment Chaos) which examines college football fandom and how geography impacts fans and the leagues.  It is a great article which deserves to be read in its entirety.

Training Geography Greatly Handicaps the United States' World Cup Team

The 2010 World Cup is about to begin and much of humanity is excited about watching their national soccer (football) team try to become world champions.

Every four years there are news stories about how "this is America's year" and "this year the United States could go all the way." Sadly though, America's choice in picking a place to train has already severely handicapped America's attempt to win the World Cup.

Most of 2010 World Cup games will be played at a high altitude affair. Six of the ten stadiums are above 4,000 feet (~1,200 metres). The stadiums and their altitudes are

• Johannesburg's Soccer City and Ellis Park Stadium at 5,751 feet (1,753 metres).
• Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium at about sea level
• Cape Town's Cape Town Stadium at about sea level
• Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld Stadium at 4,170 feet (1,271 metres)
• Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium at about sea level
• Bloemfontein's Free State Stadium at 4,577 feet (1,395 metres)
• Polokwane's (Pietersburg) Peter Mokaba Stadium at 4,076 feet (1,242 metres)
• Rustenburg's Royal Bafokeng Stadium at 4,921 feet (1,500 metres)
• Mbombela's (Nelspruit) Mbombela Stadium at 2,800 feet (853 metres)
  

To prepare for high altitude games many teams are practicing at similar altitudes to adjust players to the thinner air. Algeria is practicing in mountainous Switzerland at about 4,900 feet (1,500 metres), France is training in their Alps, and so is Italy. Even the long shot "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" (North Korea) is training in the highlands of Zimbabwe.

The United States will play all three of the first round games at high altitude. America's opponents have done their early, pre-South Africa training in mountainous Austria (the English team), Switzerland (Algeria's team), and the Alpine region of Tyrol, Italy (Slovenia's team). So where does the United States train? Perhaps at Denver, Colorado where the altitude 5,280 feet (1,610 metres)? No. Instead the United States team trained in New Jersey at about 215 feet above sea level (65 metres). The United States has a vast range of geographical landscapes and has the facilities to train at higher altitudes than the World Cup venues. America's team could have thought that the air was thicker in South Africa than in Denver and thus played at a higher level. Instead they will be thinking "We're not in New Jersey anymore."

The United States probably is not going to win anyways, no matter where the team trains. Soccer is just not that popular of a sport in the United States and the pickings are slim for good American players. Only two-thirds of Americans knew the World Cup was a soccer event and only eight percent were following news stories about the World Cup closely. Do not expect these stats to change much in four years.

OpenOrienteeringMap: Create Your Own Orienteering Map

Long time readers wknow that I am a fan of orienteering, a sport that combines outdoor track and map reading. One of the most distinct things of the sport is the unique map that is required. Many times it is difficult to find a map for an area let alone pay for a set to play with.

Fortunately some minds managed to combine OpenStreetMap with Orienteering to create OpenOrienteeringMap (Hat tip: Map Room Blog) One can go to any place on the Earth and use either a street or pseudo-orienteering basemap and then add control points. While the more serious orienteering clubs already have their geographic supplies, this is one tool for us amateurs to enjoy when we play.

Geography of Winter Olympics Medal Winners

Earlier I wrote an article about the geography of where the Summer and Winter Olympics have been played. With the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games starting I wondered what the geographic distribution of medal winners was.

The table is set to rank gold medals as the main factor.

	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
Norway	95	96	80	271
USA	74	76	55	205
USSR	72	47	50	169
Germany	65	63	44	172
Austria	51	61	65	177
Sweden	39	29	42	110
Finland	37	55	46	138
Switzerland	36	35	42	113
Canada	36	37	42	115
Italy	34	31	34	99
Russia	33	24	19	76
East Germany	29	28	29	86
France	25	23	32	80
Netherlands	25	30	23	78
South Korea	17	8	6	31
West Germany	12	16	14	42
Unified Team (CIS)	9	6	8	23
Japan	9	8	13	30
UK	7	3	10	20
Estonia	4	1	1	6
Czech Republic	4	7	3	14
China	4	16	13	33
Croatia	4	3	0	7
Liechtenstein	2	2	3	7
Australia	2	0	2	4
Belgium	1	1	3	5
Czechoslovakia	1	4	10	15
Poland	1	2	3	6
Bulgaria	1	2	3	6
Kazakhstan	1	2	2	5
Uzbekistan	1	0	0	1
Spain	1	0	1	2
Hungary	0	2	4	6
Belarus	0	3	3	6
Slovakia	0	1	0	1
Ukraine	0	1	2	3
Latvia	0	0	1	1
Slovenia	0	0	4	4
Denmark	0	1	0	1
Luxembourg	0	2	0	2
New Zealand	0	1	0	1
North Korea	0	1	1	2
Yugoslavia	0	2	1	3
Romania	0	0	1	1

The above table needs a little explanation because of geopolitical changes. Some may charge that the table is unfair to Germany and Russia.

• "Germany" reflects medals won by Imperial Germany, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, the East-West German unity team of 1956--1964, and modern reunited Germany. Combining "Germany" with West and East Germany ups the total to 300 medals (106 gold, 107 silver, 87 bronze). I thought long and hard about dividing the Germanys from the total. In the end I believe it is unfair to other countries because that allows two German teams for each Olympics.
• "Russia" is the modern Russian Federation. I separated Russia from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Unified Team (Commonwealth of Independent States) because it would be unfair to give medals won by Soviet Ukrainians and other ethnic republics to Russia. If the Soviet Union, Unified Team, Russia, and the former Soviet states were combined their total would be 290 (120 gold, 84 silver, 86 bronze). Regardless how one cuts it, Russia has made up for their late entry and has to be considered one of the best Winter Olympic teams out there.

From the table it is clear that Winter Games are dominated by Europe and the West. Out of the 2,177 medals awarded

• 1,750 (80.4%) were won by European countries
• 320 (14.7%) were won by the United States and Canada
• 102 (4.7%) medals were won by Asian countries: Japan, South Korea, North Korea, People's Republic of China, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
• 5 (0.2%) were won by countries in the Southern Hemisphere: Australia and New Zealand.
• 0 medals won by African or South American countries
  

There is a bit of medal inflation. The first Winter Olympic Games awarded 49 medals while the 2006 games had 252 medals.

The region that is geographically most likely to produce strong Winter Olympic teams is upper Central Europe: Austria/Switzerland up through Germany and into the continental Nordic countries of Norway, Sweden, and Finland. These countries experience long winters that allow for outdoor, natural cultural winter sports training, mountains for skiing, and indoor sports infrastructure. The exception to this is Denmark which has only a silver in women's curling. Denmark lacks mountains and large outdoor areas. This curbs many winter sports activities and retards Denmark's efforts in the Winter Olympics.

2010 Vancouver Olympics Venues Map and 3D Display

With the Winter Olympics almost upon us it is time to brush up on the games' geography. The New York Times has a nice looking interactive map which allows one to zoom in the general area and see photo albums of the various events. Meanwhile, Frank Taylor of Google Earth Blog has made a Google Earth-powered collection of 3D buildings where the various events will be held.

Related Post: Geography of where the Summer and Winter Olympic Games have been played

American Professional Sports Teams Who Play Somewhere Else

Edit: New Jersey Nets.... not New York. Thanks!

Hometown pride for the local sports team can be a very strong feeling. Some people stick with their native sports team all they're life because of the ties associated with their original home. However, modern expansion and cheaper land in the suburbs has lead some sports teams to play somewhere else rather than where they say they are. Here's a list for the major sports leagues in America.

National Football League
Buffalo Bills play in Orchard Park, New York
New York Jets play in East Rutherford, New Jersey
New York Giants play in East Rutherford, New Jersey
Miami Dolphins play in Miami Gardens, Florida
Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, Texas
Washington, Redskins play in Landover, Maryland

Major League Baseball
MLB has no misnamed teams ever since the Angles became the oddly named Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

National Basketball Association
Detroit Pistons play in Auburn Hills, Michigan

Major League Soccer
Chicago Fire play in Bridgeview, Illinois
New York Redbulls play in East Rutherford, New Jersey
FD Dallas plays in Frisco, Texas
Los Angeles Galaxy play in Carson, California
Real Salt Lake plays in Sandy, Utah
San Jose Earthquakes play in Santa Clara, California
The upcoming Philadelphia Union will play in Chester, Pennsylvania

National Hockey League
Phoenix Coyotes play in Glendale, Arizona

Women's National Basketball League
Chicago Sky play in Rosemont, Illinois

New York City is the biggest loser with three out of eight teams playing somewhere else.

Geography of the Summer and Winter Olympics

First off, congratulations to Rio de Janeiro for winning the ability to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. This makes the XXXI Olympic Games the first one to be hosted in South America. This fact made Catholicgauze interested in other geographic breakdowns of the games.

Here is a breakdown of countries that have hosted the games, as well as continental, hemispherical, and cultural breakdowns from 1896 to 2016:

Countries and Frequency of Hosting the Summer Olympic Games

United States	4
United Kingdom	3
Australia	2
France	2
Germany	2
Greece	2
Belgium	1
Brazil	1
Canada	1
China	1
Finland	1
Italy	1
Japan	1
Mexico	1
Netherlands	1
South Korea	1
Spain	1
Sweden	1
USSR	1

List does not count the canceled 1916 Berlin, 1940 Tokyo/Helsinki, and 1944 London Games. Also, 1906 Athens Games not counted as well.

Continental, Hemispherical, and Cultural Realms

Europe	16
Western Hemisphere	7
Non-Europe/European Cultural Realm	3
Southern Hemisphere	2

*Non-European/European Cultural Realm are People's Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea

Just for fun I decided to look at the winter games, too:

Countries and Frequency of Hosting the Winter Olympic Games

US	4
France	3
Switzerland	2
Japan	2
Norway	2
Italy	2
Austria	2
Canada	2
Germany	1
Bosnia	1
Russia	1

Continental, Hemispherical, and Cultural Realms

Europe	14
Western Hemisphere	6
Non-Europe/European Cultural Realm	2
Southern Hemisphere	0

Two things are clear when looking at the statistical geography.

First, there have been no Winter Games in the Southern Hemisphere. While the Southern Hemisphere is warmer overall, there are areas in South America and Australia/New Zealand where the climate can support the games.

Second, Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia have yet to host the games at all. While the Middle East has its own problems that need to be solved before games can even be considered there, South Africa is hosting the World Cup and success here could prove that Africa is ready for hosting the games. As for Asia, India may one day join China and Japan in hosting games.

Until then, let us all unite in the spirit of competition (hey, what the?!) and may the best men and women win!