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Esquire jumped on the burger bandwagon recently, asking its readers to vote for their favorite burgers. Only, they're also calling it the "Most Life-Changing Burger." But therein lies the problem: "favorite" and "most life-changing" are not the same thing. We actually find it incredibly difficult to label any burger "life-changing," though, we suppose if you ate enough of 'em and send your cholesterol levels into orbit, in turn forcing you to get hooked up to a permanent Lipitor drip, well then that would certainly qualify as life changing. But just straight up eating a burger and having it change your life? That's a bold declaration. Anyway, enough of our semantics rant-- back to the Esquire poll. Eighteen burgers from across the country are up for the title of "Most Life-Changing Burger" and the D.M.V. is represented by two area favorites. Both Arlington's Ray's Hell Burger and D.C.'s Black & Orange made the final cut, though the chance either them grabs the top spot doesn't look good. The good news? B&O is currently in 4th place. The bad news? They're 55% behind the front runner. Even Ron Paul would say that's a long shot. We've never been fans of reader polls because, while we don't deny the passion they evoke, they inevitably turn into popularity contests and rarely represent the best of anything. In this online age, the subject with the best social media presence always has the leg up. Seattle's Dick's Drive In, currently leading with almost 60% of the vote, has six locations, over 192,000 "likes" on Facebook and more than 3,300 followers on Twitter. National burger juggernauts In-N-Out and Five Guys are in the mix, but they have shitty social network presences and are running a distant 2nd and 3rd, respectively. So, how do our local boys stack up socially? Not very good. Ray's Twitter account (@realhellburger) has only 133 followers and hasn't tweeted since 2010 and it has no official Facebook page (though a fan page for Ray's has over 5,000 "likes"). As for Black & Orange (@blacknorangedc), they're putting forth a valiant effort getting the word out on both fronts but have less than 500 followers combined on the two social media platforms. The result is a 4.4% total for B&O and 1.9% for Ray's in the Esquire poll. Now Dick's may very well have the country's most life-changing burger but the advantage they have in the social realm over the D.C. duo gave them a sizable head start before the voting even began. But just like it wasn't over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor, it's not over here either. The polls are still open and there's still time to show some hometown pride and give our local boys' numbers a boost-- no matter how small that boost may be. Cast your vote at Esquire here.