Wikipedia is…..well, you know the pluses and minuses of Wikipedia. You know what it is and what it is now. For all its flaws, and there are many, the world is a better place with it.
Manchester United may be the world’s most iconic, beloved, well-known and polarizing sports franchise, but their Wikipedia entry isn’t the most edited sports related posting. Which is quite surprising.
It’s not even the most edited world football entry. I found this via must-read news aggregator Fark; who posted the findings of new ESPN property Five Thirty Eight.
The entry for Manchester United checks in at #73, having been edited close to 16,000 times. Real Madrid C.F. is the highest sporting related entry, at #21. It’s been edited close to 20,000 times. FC Barcelona is #31. Chelsea is #87. They are the only four professional sports teams, of any sport, anywhere in the world, on this list. The number of revisions to the online encyclopedia is a good indication of just how popular, polarizing and sometimes even controversial said entity being described is.
And the England National football team checks in at #96; the only national team of any sport to make the list. You can review the whole 100 here. As you might expect, politicians and Americans dominate the top ten.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on national talk radio. Banks, a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, has been featured in numerous outlets including NFL.com, Forbes and the History Channel. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)