For eleven months out of the year, professional cycling gets virtually no searches on the Internet. Then the Tour de France (#7) comes along in July and puts a usually-ignored sport near the top of the Lycos 50.

This year the Tour is actually a bit less popular than last year, when it peaked at #4. We believe that the Tour is so popular online because it doesn't appear very much on television; that means that fans have to track the progress of their favorite cyclists through the Net. The one network showing the Tour regularly is the Outdoor Life Network, and its searches are up to seven times normal.

With the exception of Tour de France replacing fireworks, each of the top eight items on the Lycos 50 remains in the same position as last week. But the summertime craze for tattoos (#2) is close to knocking Dragonball out of the top slot. Gotta show some skin in the hot summer sun!

BACK IN THE USA: Another big mover this week was the reality show Big Brother (#24), which premiered its third U.S. season this week on CBS. The oft-maligned program outdid its rival, FOX's American Idol, both in the Neilsen TV ratings and on the Lycos 50 (where Idol fell from #49 to #63).

The U.K. version of the show has been on the Lycos 50 for seven weeks, but it was clear that this week's searches are based on the American edition. Last week, 50 percent of Big Brother searches came from the United States and Canada, with 31 percent originating in the U.K. This week, the U.S./Canada searches make up 85 percent of Big Brother's total queries, while U.K. queries are down to 10 percent.

WHAT THE FAULK: Could anxiety over an impending baseball strike be pushing fantasy football (#41) searches to such early heights? Or is this just a continuation of a trend that has seen such simulation games get more and more popular each year? Either way, fantasy football arrives on the Lycos 50 a full month earlier than in 2001. Fantasy football searches this week are triple what they were last year at this time.

Luckily for sports fans and Lycos fans alike, we have two fantasy football games in concert with our partners at FOX Sports. Check out our football challenge game, as well as a league-format game that should be introduced shortly.

DROP THAT BAGEL: You can thank the New York Times for the return of the Atkins Diet (#37) to the Lycos 50 for the first time in two years. An article in last Sunday's NYT magazine described how mainstream doctors are beginning to believe that the controversial Dr. Atkins has been right all along, and that his low-carbohydrate diet plan is better for losing weight than the low-fat diet supported by conventional wisdom.

MORE MONEY: The lottery known as The Big Game is now called Mega Millions (#47), but a new name brings the same old interest from Lycos users whenever the jackpot rises into the stratosphere. As of last night's drawing, with no winner over seven weeks, the Mega Millions jackpot stands at $165 million.

SHORT SUBJECTS: Four weeks after it blocked trading of nearly all copyrighted materials, file-swapping program Audiogalaxy falls off the Lycos 50... Hot tourist destination Niagara Falls (#46) is back on our list -- it also made the Lycos 50 for two weeks in July 2001... With the new album By the Way hitting stores last week, the Red Hot Chili Peppers (#48) make their first-ever Lycos 50 appearance... Allen Iverson's legal troubles mean twice the searches and, almost, a place on the Lycos 50 (he's #57).

NEW THIS WEEK: Atkins Diet, Lord of the Rings, fantasy football, skateboarding, Carmen Electra, Niagara Falls, Mega Millions, Red Hot Chili Peppers, FAFSA.

DROPOUTS: Audiogalaxy, World Cup, Jennifer Aniston, American Idol, fireworks, Daniela Hantuchova, Wimbledon, The Who, Fourth of July.

ONE YEAR AGO: The big fish of 2001: shark attacks hit #15 on the Lycos 50.

TOMORROW: The big fish of 2002.