Are Google Real-Time Results a Boon or Bane for Soccer Fans?

Soccer fans around the world have been trained to proceed with caution when surfing the Internet and recording matches on television for later viewing. The obvious rules apply about avoiding soccer websites, blurring ones vision when accidentally seeing a BottomLine ticker scrolling by, and avoiding contact with Twitter or friends who like to blabber what the latest score is in a crunch game.

But now we have a new venue to be careful when visiting. And that’s Google, the search engine that used to be pretty safe territory in days of yore.

So what has Google done to be added to the list of websites that soccer fans should avoid? Just last week they unveiled their “Latest Results” real-time search feature which brings together the latest up-to-the-minute results from Twitter, blogs and other social media sites.

The way the feature works is that it appears near the top of very hot and timely search topics and then, without refreshing the page, scrolls through the up-to-the-minute headlines. Take a look at the above example from this past weekend shortly after the 2-0 win by Portsmouth against Liverpool.

The Latest Results feature is wonderful news for soccer fans who want to get the latest breaking news so they don’t have to visit Twitter search, Friendfeed or other sites. But, and it’s a big but, it means that soccer fans who timeshift and watch games at a later time have to be really careful what they type into Google in case they accidentally see up-to-the-minute news on their favorite club.

What do you think? Is the feature something you see yourself using in Google, or will you be trying to avoid the search engine at all costs during times when you may be at work recording games and surfing the Internet?