Remember how interested so many people from the United States were in soccer a few weeks ago? “Soccer” was prominent on many American mainstream news sites. Remember how almost everyone was talking about that upcoming game against Ghana, a game that was to be played on June 26? But then Ghana beat the U.S. That loss now allows us to run a little experiment. How many of those American “soccer” fans were in a “soccer” frenzy merely because the United States had a chance to win? How many of these American “soccer” fans were jingoists rather than true soccer fans?

Using Google Trends, you can see how the United States audience falls flat after the United States was knocked out of the tournament. It turns out that a huge number of American “soccer” fans only cared about soccer when patriotism fanned the flames of their “soccer” interest.