Top 10 Trending Athletes of 2014

After a whirlwind year, uSports thought it would be fun to look at Google’s top 10 trending athletes of 2014. And while some are quite predictable, there are a few that no one would have guessed.

The top two are quite understandable: the world likes scandalous material and both Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson unfortunately provided that. Worst of all, both cases lingered, as they positively changed precedence in the NFL, while also negatively overstayed due to legal battles resulting from Roger Goodell’s mishandling of the situations.

As for the number three athlete, it is far from surprising to see Richard Sherman here. After his outburst during last year’s post-NFC Conference Game interview, the athlete has been everywhere: even being voted on last year’s Madden cover by fans — he marginally beat out Cam Newton. And speaking of the Panthers QB, it is surprising to not see him in the top ten: yet Seahawks’ QB Russell Wilson somehow cracked the list at number eight.

As for NBA stars, it is not surprising to see Carmelo Anthony and Tim Howard in the top ten, but with Paul George, who has been injured since breaking his leg, it is. I am hoping people are attempting to check up on him and did not just google him to see that grotesque injury.

As for the final few slots, it is predictable to see everybody’s favorite captain Derek Jeter and the world’s bad boy Johnny Manziel here: they are respectively the sixth and seventh most trending athlete of 2014.

However, one of the MLB’s greatest of all time, who passed away in 2014, Tony Gwynn somehow broke the top ten; it is surprising and great that people are still talking about him. His passing last year was a tough loss for the MLB.