Neat Map Project

I dig maps (who doesn't?), so I'm stoked about the Common Census web site, which takes user input such as where you live and what locality and big city you closely identify with, and creates a U.S. map based on major cities' spheres of influence. So check out the site and enter your data - the more data points the better.

AND for sports fans, it's got a sports map also that attempts to map out spheres of influence for pro and college sports teams. So far, only the NFL and MLB maps are available, but they both show some unexpected, if somewhat intuitive, results. On the NFL map, check out the Green Bay Packer's area down in Mississippi and northern Louisiana (Brett Favre hails from MS). And on the MLB map, there must be a lot of Chicago-area retirees itn Arizona, because it's evidently Cubs country out there. It's also worth noting that after 2,500 entries for the MLB map, Diamondback fans are non-existent, while the Devil Rays do have actual fans!

What would be really fascinating, was if this project collected data for 10, 20, 50, 100 years. How would the city spheres and sports team 'boundaries' change? Would identification with cities change with the economy/real estate market/job growth/etc.? And would the sports boundaries correlate with winning percentage, as would be expected? I couldn't help but notice the Orioles' area is very small, appropriate for eight straight losing seasons, while the new team on the block, the Nationals, have a huge area that currently stretches into he Carolinas. Would the Mets' area in the late 60s and early 70s have rivaled that of the Yankees? How huge was the Reds' area in the mid 70s, or the Twins in the late 80s? Are associations with metro areas and sports teams more fluid on the coasts, where one would expect that people are more transient than in Central and Mountain states?

Perhaps the coolest thing about this map project is that the founder of the site, some guy originally from "Up-State" New York with a poly-sci degree who now lives in Rio de Janeiro, conceived the idea over a barbecue lunch one day. Does this mean that I should try to do more deep thinking during my lunch breaks?