Some of you have been reading here for nearly a decade, while some of you found LGT for the first time this spring. Two weeks ago I asked Let's Go Tribe readers to answer a few questions about themselves as a way of getting to know one another better. 800 comments were made in that thread, with 120 people taking the time to actually answer most of the questions.
Here are some of the findings from that survey...
30% of respondents currently live in Ohio, while 70% live elsewhere. The Chicago area was the next most-represented home, with 8 respondents there. New York state had 7 respondents, 4 of whom are NYC. Pennsylvania, California, and Washington DC all had 4 people. There were also ten foreign countries listed, representing five continents (we've got to have at least one reader living in Africa too... Let you voice be heard!).
We're pretty spread out these days, but 68% of respondents grew up in Ohio.
Among those who identified a year/era when they became a fan:
- 1950s: 5
- 1960s: 5
- 1970s: 14
- 1980s: 42
- 1990s: 34
- 2000s: 5
- 2010s: 1
Having become a fan myself in 1986, it appears I'm pretty near the center of a fairly clean bell curve.
15 different current players (and Terry Francona) on the team/in the system were mentioned by at least one of us as their current favorite. The runaway winner was Jason Kipnis, who was mentioned by 38 people. Michael Brantley was second, with 18 votes, followed by Carlos Santana (17), Justin Masterson (13), and Yan Gomes (10). No other player was mentioned more than 3 times. I was very surprised that Nick Swisher was mentioned by only 2 respondents.
Going back into Indians history, the top five vote getters for former favorite all came from the same era (I bet you'll never guess which one!). Jim Thome was the leader, with 23 mentions, followed by Kenny Lofton (15), Albert Belle and Omar Vizquel (12), and Manny Ramirez (7). Among player who weren't on the 1995 team, Grady Sizemore (5) and Rocky Colavito (4) were the leaders.
There were three clear "winners" for least-favorite MLB player ever: Alex Rodriguez (18), A.J. Pierzynski (15), and Derek Jeter (12). The next most popular response was "anyone on the Yankees," which was mentioned 8 times. Jose Mesa led all former Indians with 4 mentions here.
No question was answered by fewer people than favorite book (philistines!). The leading response was To Kill a Mockingbird, mentioned by 5 people (all of whom have excellent literary taste).
Four TV shows stood out: Seinfeld (10), Breaking Bad (8), The Wire (7), and Arrested Development (6)
Han Solo was the most popular movie character, listed by 8 people. Five other characters from the Star Wars saga were mentioned too. James Bond placed second, with 7 mentions, followed by Jeff Lebowski ("The Dude"), with 6 mentions. Maybe "The Dude" will play James Bond someday...
The only musical act listed by more than three people was The Beatles, with 8 mentions.
A wide variety of travel spots were mentioned, but Italy was the winner by a comfortable margin, with 13 mentions. Europe was easily the most popular continent, with 51 of the 107 people who responded to the question listing a European destination. Australia was mentioned by 8 people, New Zealand by 6. Cleveland was the answer from 3 readers.
The superpower LGT readers are most interested in is time travel. Some people listed "stopping time," or controlling time," or "seeing through time." I've lumped them all together, and there were a total of 22 mentions for something related to controlling or traveling through time. Flight was second, with 14 mentions, followed by teleportation (7).
Finally, on the age-old question of what would win a fight between a grizzly bear and a gorilla (taken from a t-shirt my fiancee has), the winner (with 66.3% of the vote) is... BEAR!
We didn't accomplish much in terms of getting popular memes explained for those who aren't yet up to speed, but perhaps some other time. Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in the survey, and to everyone who takes the time to read LGT.