The New England Patriots don’t play until Monday night, when Tom Brady and the boys travel to Kansas City to play the Chiefs. But on this Sunday, Pats fans have something else to worry about, and it doesn’t involve the offensive line, Brady’s age, or the delayed emergence of Aaron Dobson or Kenbrell Thompkins.
No, it has to do with why so many Patriots fans seem to love Akon, the St. Louis-born r&b-rapper responsible for songs like “Right Now (Na Na Na)” and “Don’t Matter.”
The troublesome fandom was revealed in a recent Billboard and Bleacher Report survey, which took all the Facebook likes of NFL teams and tried to figure out who each franchise’s favorite artist or band is.
“Billboard hit up Facebook’s data crunchers, who looked at the music pages liked by fans of each NFL team, and then identified those liked by a higher proportion of each fan base when compared with all football fans as a whole,” the report says.
Hmmm, so while that might not say Akon is the most celebrated musician in Patriots land (we haven’t forgotten you, Tom Scholz), it does suggest we appreciate him more than the rest of the country. And that’s even among St. Louis Rams fans, who went with a more notable homegrown product, Nelly.
There are some obvious choices across the league, which you can find in full down below, like New York Giants fans also going home team in selecting Jay Z, Macklemore repping the Seattle Seahawks’ 12th man, and Kid Rock getting the call from Detroit Lions fans (maybe next time, Jack White). And there are some odd picks, as well, like Indianapolis Colts fans loving them some Nickelback and the Beatles holding strong in Buffalo, a city that’s still a few decades behind the rest of us.
But Akon for New England? Steven Tyler is probably so pissed right now.
Here are the team breakdowns…
[Note: LOL @ Dolphins, and Broncos, and Jags.]
[Note: Right on, Minnesota.]