Memes / Sports

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You probably won't understand many of these memes unless you're a die-hard sports fan, but it's hard to deny their impact.

Memes for Formula One can now be found on its dedicated meme page.

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Please add entries in the following format:^note This notice is just here so we won't get fined.

• The meme. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme.[[/labelnote]]^ExplanationLike this.

Also, remember that Web Links Are Not Examples.

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Multiple Sports

• Thanks to his incorrect predictions (and self-deprecating responses to them), UrinatingTree has seen some of his comments go memetic.
  • "I just think Pekka Rinne is too good, right now."
  • This week, on Days of our Steelers^ExplanationThe 2018 Pittsburgh Steelers season was overshadowed by off-field controversy and drama, to the extent that Le'Veon Bell chose to sit out the entire season over his contract demands. The phrase, which aired on all of Tree's soap opera-esque videos chronicling the drama, quickly spread to the comments sections of articles on the Steelers' issues.
  • "The FUCKING PENGUINS."^ExplanationThe Washington Capitals are the subject of his first "Legacy of Failure" videos, describing the team's Downer Ending season by season. The Pittsburgh Penguins are their most frequent playoff nemesis, with each subsequent mention getting more and more invective. However, the Capitals actually defeat the Penguins en route to their first Stanley Cup championship in 2018 putting an end to the meme.
  • Teams being described as a dumpster fire.
  • Especially bad teams being referred to as LOL-Cows.
  • "Fuck you Spanos!"^note A Take That! to the Los Angeles Chargers' despised owner, Dean Spanos, for moving the team from San Diego to LA. Tree will take every opportunity to use this phrase, even in videos with nothing to do with the Chargers or San Diego.
  • Captain Fat Fuck, LEADER OF MEN ^ExplanationThe name Tree he gave to Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger after he went on a radio show and essentially threw his offense under the bus for poor play and is also notably husky. The name stuck in the community pretty much instantly and has been enduring, despite Ben no longer throwing his offense under the bus and actually slimming down a fair amount. Becomes Hilarious in Hindsight when he did a face reveal, to which many viewers noted his resemblance to Big Ben.
  • "STILLERS GAHNTA SUPER BOWL!!!!" ^ExplanationWhenever the Steelers show the slightest bit of promise, UT delivers this line in an exaggerated Yinzer (Western Pennsylvanian) accent.
• Don La Greca, the cohost of The Michael Kay Show on 98.7 ESPN Radio in New York, has provided plenty of meme-worthy phrases when he goes on one of his rants, which in addition to being hilarious, have provided New York sports fans with plenty of quotable lines. Noteworthy examples:
  • "ARE YA WATCHIN????" ^ExplanationThis resulted from a rant when a listener accused him of not having any hockey knowledge. Considering he does the pre-show for Rangers games and has stood in for Kenny Albert on occasion as the play-by-play announcer, he did not appreciate the accusation of being ignorant of hockey.
  • "ED! BLEEPIN'! KRANEPOOL!!!!" ^ExplanationOn a recent rant about the New York Mets' ineptitude at developing stars, La Greca brought up Ed Kranepool, an above-average first baseman for the New York Mets in the 60s and 70s. Until David Wright came around, Kranepool held most of the major Mets' career batting records, which for La Greca makes his point at how inept the Mets have been at developing and retaining talent. This rant also spawned the meme-tastic "THEY KILLED GIL HODGES!!! NOTHING'S GOOD!!!"
  • "WE KNOW JOSE REYES BEAT HIS WIFE!!! THAT'S THE DIFFERENCE!!! THAT'S THE ANSWER!!!" ^ExplanationIn response to an idiotic tweet regarding Jose Reyes, La Greca, finally sick of the idiocy, went completely nuclear in explaining why he wouldn't give a standing ovation to Reyes.
  • "ANSWER IT! ANSWERRRRR IT!!!!! FOR GOD SAKES THREE TIMES I'VE ASKED YOU!!!!!!!" ^ExplanationFrustrated with a caller's arguments about the Patriots not being as good as their record, La Greca asked said caller whether the Steelers or Patriots were better. La Greca immediately cut off any attempts to dodge the question by shouting the above.
  • "GOOD FOR THE GIANTS! GOOD FOR HESTIN! GOOD FOR MY WIFE, AND YOU KNOW WHAT? GOOD FOR ME!" ^ExplanationIn a discussion about the Mets being no-hit by the Giants, Michael Kay questioned why La Greca was hoping for the Giants to complete the no-hitter against his team. La Greca explained in a lengthy argument with Kay that among other things, it was the first time he'd ever seen a no-hitter in-person, and that his wife, who is a Giants fan, was very happy as a result. The above phrase was the capper in him explaining why he was rooting for the no-hitter to be finished.
• If a team hasn't won a championship in a very long time, their rival's fans will often turn their last championship into a taunt.
  • "1908" and "1945" for baseball's Chicago Cubs, prior to their 2016 championship.
  • "1918" for baseball's Boston Red Sox, before they won in 2004.
  • "1940" for hockey's New York Rangers, before they won in 1994.
• Drake has become a walking jinx for sports fans everywhere: whichever team or sports superstar he shows support for will inevitably suffer misfortune in given time. Examples include the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL^note Lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII, the Kentucky Wildcats in NCAA men's basketball,^note Fairly close friend of head coach John Calipari; the Wildcats, one of the most storied college basketball programs, haven't made the Final Four since 2015 and have noticeably regressed from their traditional dominance ever since and, before their 2019 NBA Finals win, the Toronto Raptors, but it has taken steps in soccer as well as of late: his victims so far include Paris Saint-Germain^note Takes a photo with Layvin Kurzawa, the Parisiens suffer a 5-1 beatdown from Lille OSC, Arsenal^note A photo with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang causes the Gunners to lose 1-0 at Everton, Manchester United^note Drake takes a photo with Paul Pogba, but the Red Devils end up eliminated from the Champions League by Barcelona, Manchester City^note Sergio Agüero's selfie indirectly causes the Citizens to lose 1-0 to Tottenham in the first leg of the Champions League round of 8, and Borussia Dortmund^note Another selfie, this time with Jadon Sancho. The result? Dortmund gets steamrolled 5-0 by Bayern Munich.. It has gotten to the point that Roma, through their English Twitter account, has posted a tongue-in-cheek ban to their players from taking selfies with the Toronto rapper.
• In the movie Semi-Pro, the Flint Tropics, a struggling ABA team, has to be 4th in the league to survive the NBA merger. Their coach/power forward/promoter generates buzz for the last game of the season by billing it as the Flint Megabowl, having a huge trophy made, and generally acting like the game is at all significant to anyone but him and his team. Since then, the term "Megabowl" has been used in sports communities to describe meaningless games (mostly regular season or preseason games) that fans of the winning team go crazy over. Say a Super Bowl favorite loses to a team that hasn't made the playoffs in a decade — the underdogs just won the Megabowl.
• The "Nosebleed" Section^Explanation The "Nosebleed" Section is the seats furthest from the playing surface in a purely vertical sense, named as such because nosebleeds are common at higher elevations.
  • "If it rains, you'll be the first to know."^{Further Explanation} This line from Lucius Malfoy in an early scene from the fourth ''Harry Potter'' film explains another prominent bit of information about the "Nosebleed" Section: They may be the furthest from the playing surface in a purely vertical sense, but that also means they are the closest to the sky above. While basketball and hockey games are almost exclusively played at indoor arenas, most teams in baseball, gridiron football, and association football have open-air stadiums for their home games.
• The "dreaded vote of confidence".^Explanation In the midst of media speculation over the future of a struggling head coach/manager, clubs will often make a public statement of confidence in the incumbent. It's so often followed by the firing/forced resignation of said individual that it's become a cliche for when fans believe a coach is about to be told to clear his desk. While most often associated with football/soccer, it's spread to many other sports.
• "Hunter Pence eats pizza with a fork."^ExplanationIn 2014, Mets fans in Citi Field started carrying tongue-in-cheek signs claiming that the notoriously goofy right fielder was guilty of various minor faults and faux pas, such as hating bacon, being unable to parallel park, or actually liking The Godfather Part III, a practice which quickly emigrated to other stadiums whenever Pence's team is visiting. Amusingly, Hunter Pence himself quickly embraced the meme.
  • Ditto former New York Giants head coach, Ben McAdoo (especially on Reddit.)

Baseball

• Russ Hodges calling Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" in 1951: "THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!"
  • Notably shows up in an episode of M*A*S*H.
• Cubs. World Series. Book it. Done.^ExplanationThis became a Running Gag on Fark for many years until the long-suffering Cubbies finally won the whole thing in 2016.
• The Red Sox were well known for one of the oldest memes in sports: The Curse of the Bambino. After trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1918, they couldn't win a championship again until 2004, where they came back from a 0-3 game deficit to win the ALCS and then made it a 7-game winning streak to become world champions. The team they came back from that deficit? The Yankees!
• Yankees radio announcer John Sterling's signature calls:
  • "It is HIGH! It is FAR! It is....GONE!"
  • "BALL GAME OVER! YANKEES WIN! THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE YANKEES! WIN!"
• Sometime past midnight of September 11, 2012 in the eastern time zone of the United States, in the late hours of an extra-inning Major League Baseball game between the Cincinnati Reds (home) and the Pittsburgh Pirates, a group of giddy and likely tired fans began an odd howling. Theories abound for the cause, including the fact it was "Bark at the Park" night at the stadium (in which fans brought dogs to the game), that it was inspired by a music video that had been shown before the game, and that it was started by one particular individual and caught on. The howling resurfaced the next game. Fan opinion was split as to whether the howling was fun, or just plain irritating. (Notable: The game in question was the longest played in that stadium ever and the longest Reds home game since 1967, so nobody could be blamed if they were a little punch-drunk.) Fans later picked up on reports which indicated that said howling had actually been done by Pirates fans at a home game at their stadium. Either something had carried over from there, or wildly, the phenomenon sprung up independently at the Great American Ball Park. It was still going strong in 2013 and had gained a name, "The Woo," though many had grown so annoyed by it that they were calling for a ban.
• "That's a clown question, bro" was young baseball phenom Bryce Harper's response to a reporter's question that Harper felt was, well, a clown question (it was a rather inane question). This resulted in people coming to his team's games wearing clown costumes and waving signs that said "Can I ask you a question, Bryce?"
  • Was a category on Jeopardy! 1/25/13.
  • For seemingly being a random quotable, this phrase has really taken off. Besides the aforementioned Jeopardy! reference, references to it are often seen on unofficial team merchandise (type the phrase into a search engine and look how many t-shirts pop up.) References to it are also made fairly often on twitter, especially after Bryce hits a home run ("That's a clown pitch, bro")
• The Washington Nationals thank you for your patience.
• Amongst Latin American baseball fans, there's the iconic shout by Ernesto Jerez every time there's a home run: "A LO PROFUNDOO Y ¡¡¡¡NO NO NO NO NO NO, DÍGANLE QUE NO A ESA PELOTA!!!!"
• Liván Hernández, the Cuban defector who was quickly escorted into the Florida^note now Miami Marlins' lineup, gave a broken-English speech that became a South Florida meme following the 1997 World Series victory: "Team happy...Miami happy...everybody happy!"
• Winning the World Series in six games? George Costanza seriously hopes you guys don't do this.
  • Also known as ISHYGDDT or "I shiggy diggy."
• Alex Rodriguez as a centaur.^ExplanationAn ex-girlfriend of A-Rod's claimed he had a self-portrait of himself as a centaur above his bed. Everyone who heard this rightly found it the most ridiculous thing ever, and years later it still gets mocked, even by actual news sources like ESPN.
• The SF Giants' Brandon Belt is a giraffe. It's blown up to the point where one of the giraffes at the Six Flags Vallejo Discovery Kingdom is named after him.
• 2011 World Series:
  • HAPPY FLIGHT!!! ^ExplanationEvery time the Cardinals won a postseason away game, it was a "happy flight". Rafael Furcal made this a thing.
  • The Rally Squirrel.
  • Torty Craig (Allen Craig's pet turtle).
• From worst to first. BOSTON STRONG!^ExplanationThe Boston Red Sox finished the 2012 season dead last, but started strong in 2013. Then the Boston Marathon was the target of a terrorist bombing. The Sox ended up winning the World Series at home.
  • This Is Our Fucking City!^ExplanationThe first home game after the bombing, and after the perps had been dealt with (one captured and one killed), Sox designated hitter David "Big Papi" Ortiz presented his gratitude to the law enforcement and first responders involved. During a live broadcast, he uttered this phrase. Not to worry, though. Julius Genachowski, then-chairman of the FCC, let it slide. He's a Boston native, BTW.
• WACHA WACHA WACHA!!! ^Explanation22-year-old pitcher Michael Wacha helped carry the St. Louis Cardinals to the 2013 World Series and became the youngest NLCS MVP in 20 years. Signs and t-shirts bearing this phrase and Fozzie Bear's picture/silhouette in a Cardinals cap popped up everywhere.
• "Greg Gibson, the home plate umpire, motioning to both players"^ExplanationThe official Major League Baseball YouTube channel ends their video clips with the option to click on video images to jump to another MLB video. However, the voice-over is always the mentioned quote related to Greg Gibson ending an epic national-anthem-posing standoff between LA Dodgers outfielder Scott Van Slyke and St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Joe Kelly during Game 6 of the 2013 NLCS. It has since made Greg Gibson a meme on Youtube to the point that any video related to the umpire, or a video that has the voice-clip at the end, would get flooded with motioning the players jokes.
• #umpshow^ExplanationAn oft-used Twitter hashtag for fans to call out an MLB umpire for blowing calls, ejecting players/managers, or just otherwise unnecessarily taking the spotlight. This has expanded to officiating outside of MLB.
• Bob Uecker, the longtime radio play-by-play announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers, has a beloved home run call. As heard here - twice! - when Ryan Braun and Christian Yelich hit back to back homers to tie and win the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning against division rival St. Louis.
  Uecker: The wind-up, and the delivery...and its a deep fly ball to right field! Hey! Get up...GET UP...GET OUTTA HERE...GONE!!!!!!!!
• "Our ass is in the jackpot."^ExplanationFormer umpire Tom Hallion told then New York Mets manager Terry Collins this after crewmate Adam Hamari ejected Noah Syndergaard for intentionally throwing at Chase Utley. For context, the Mets sought retaliation because Utley slid hard into Ruben Tejada when their teams met in the previous year's NLDS. The phrase has since come to explain someone not wanting to do something, but only doing it because it's part of the job. Whenever there's a video on Tom Hallion, expect commenters to type variations of his ass being in the jackpot.
• Cleveland Guardians of the Galaxy ^ExplanationThe MLB franchise in Cleveland, Ohio, which dropped the "Indians" name after the 2021 season, announced on July 23, 2021 that it would change its name to the Cleveland Guardians. The team's new name takes inspiration from the eight statues standing on the pylons of the nearby Hope Memorial Bridge known as the Guardians of Traffic. Naturally, jokes relating to Guardians of the Galaxy were made online, such as a sequel being baseball-themed. James Gunn even took notice of the new name and jokingly said the team should adopt a raccoon with a machine gun as the mascot.
• It's about the Mets, baby! Love the Mets! ^ExplanationKingpin's line "It ain't about the money, Spider-Man...it's about the swagger." from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was given a Gag Dub treatment where the villain professes his enthusiasm for the team with the background music replaced by an instrumental excerpt of "Meet the Mets". Famous lines from other celebrities and characters have been given similar treatment for the team.
• AL West caps spell out ASSHAT^ExplanationTaking the cap logos of the AL West members in this order, Oakland Athletics (A's), Seattle Mariners (S), Houston Astros (H), Los Angeles Angels (A), and Texas Rangers (T), spells out the vulgar word in question.
• The The Angels Angels^ExplanationLos Angeles is Spanish for "The Angels", which leads to the name being Department of Redundancy Department
• ESPN forgetting the White Sox's 2005 World Series title^ExplanationDuring the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians), ESPN's Sports Center displayed a graphic that represented the respective championships won by both cities since 1965 (the Browns had won the NFL Championship the year before, and it was Cleveland's last title until the Cavaliers won the NBA Finals in 2016). Chicago's side had the Bulls' six championships from the 90's, the Blackhawks' Stanley Cup titles from the early 2010's, and the Bears' Super Bowl from 1985. However, they left out the White Sox's World Series title from 2005 (not helping ESPN's case was that the Sox had a lengthy WS drought as well, it just wasn't as long as the Cubs' drought, which at the time, was over 100 years old. SportsCenter later realized the mistake and corrected it, but since then, every time the White Sox's title is mentioned, expect one of the automatic responses to be "The White Sox won a World Series? I don't remember it."
• Imagine if Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout played for the same team!^ExplanationDuring the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout were two outstanding players for Japan and the USA respectively, the former being named MVP when Japan ultimately won the tournament (also of note, the former struck out the latter to end the final game). At the time, Ohtani and Trout were teammates on the Los Angeles Angels, a notoriously underperforming team that has become a Memetic Loser in modern baseball. The contrast between the dominance of the two players individually during the WBC and the abysmal performance of the team they played on together led to heaps of jokes abusing the Angels (yet again).
• Tungsten Arm O'Doyle^ExplanationIn May 2021, one Matt English tweeted the following, commenting on the Angels' ineptitude despite the presence of Ohtani and Trout: "every time I see an Angels highlight it's like 'Mike Trout hit three homes [sic] runs and raised his average to .528 while Shohei Ohtani did something that hasn't been done since "Tungsten Arm" O'Doyle of the 1921 Akron Groomsmen, as the Tigers defeated the Angels 8-3'". From that point until Ohtani's departure for the Dodgers after the 2023 season, references to the totally fictional O'Doyle were frequently made in response to games in which Ohtani (and sometimes Trout) achieved a remarkable feat in an Angels loss. It's become identified enough with Ohtani that the Baseball Reference website now redirects "Tungsten Arm O'Doyle" to Ohtani's page.
• Every Phillies-Pirates game starts with POOP. ^ExplanationNBC Sport's MLB score bug has the visitor's cap logo followed by their score, then the home team's score followed by their cap logo. Whenever the two Pennsylvanian teams play each other, the resulting score bug to start the game is "P-0|0-P"

Basketball

• Atlanta has had a pro basketball team for decades. But every time they make the playoffs, the Hawks always choke. This has led to memes online of Atlanta being good in the top box in regular season and bad in the bottom box in post season. For example, one meme has their regular logo on top and Sesame Street Big Bird holding an H at bottom. The meme later expanded to other Atlanta sports teams in the Falcons (for obvious reasons) and Braves (blowing a 3-1 series lead in 2020 to the eventual champion Dodgers).
• Retired NBA player Brian Scalabrine, now a Celtics TV analyst, seems to be a Ridiculously Average Guy, mainly because he was a benchwarmer who didn't see much play in serious games. However, Boston and Chicago fans like him very much as they have edited him posing with his 2008 ring in many online memes and have elevated him to Memetic Badass levels. It also helps that Scalabrine had his own show "The Scalabrine Challenge" where he challenged normal people to a 1-on-1 basketball game and handed them a Curbstomp Battle every time, demonstrating that a NBA benchwarmer was above 99% of the population in terms of basketball skills. Notably, even ex–college basketball players stood little chance against Scalabrine in the Scallenge.
  Brian Scalabrine: I'm closer to Lebron than you are to me.
• The Brooklyn Nets are famous for being the team Kris Humphries played on. After his short marriage to Kim Kardashian, people mocked him and his playing career went downhill. Many people interested in sports say that's proof you should never marry a Kardashian, while others made ring jokes as Humphries never won a title. So Humphries was devastated in that abrupt marriage.
• Michael Jordan:
  • Crying Michael Jordan face◊. ^Explanation During Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame induction speech in 2009, Associated Press photographer Stephan Savioa caught the photo of Jordan crying and seemingly weeping as he tried to spoke his induction speech. This photo was first used as a meme in an image macro made in 2012, explaining why did he buy the then-Charlotte Bobcats; which in the shortened 2011-12 season clinched the worst winning percentage in NBA history. The most common usage, however, was Photoshopping Jordan's face and replacing another person's face with Jordan's face; usually a sportsperson whenever him/her or his/her team or the team that they supported loses an important match.
  • And I took it personally. ^Explanation While the caption depicted by the meme never appeared at any point in The Last Dance docuseries, the frequency to which Jordan mentioning that he took things personally made it easy pickings for exploitation, often used to jokingly exaggerate mild slights.
  • You bitch, fuck you. ^Explanation During one of the last episodes of The Last Dance, a clip of Michael Jordan hugging his former rival (and at the time, Indiana Pacers head coach) Larry Bird appeared, with Jordan uttering those exact words to him while hugging Bird at the end of the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals. The off-kilter remark by Jordan has been used as a point to show both hatred and respect towards someone at the same time.
  • Fuck them kids. ^ExplanationAfter agreeing to a bet with Chris Paul that he would give free Jordans to the kids at the Michael Jordan Flight School if he missed three shots, Michael Jordan proceeded to make all his shots, denying the campers said shoes. Because of this, the meme was created to poke fun at Jordan's competitive nature but later became a way for people to jokingly express their distaste for kids.
  • Stop it, get some help.^ExplanationIn 1987, Michael Jordan recorded an anti-drug PSA where he instructs watchers to not do drugs or to get some help if they were. Jordan's quote "Stop it, get some help" is the best-known part of the video thanks to Pop Culture Osmosis as it became a common reaction image to communicate disapproval of someone else's behavior.
  • I used to pray for times like these ^Explanation A picture of Jordan embracing his first trophy in 1991 gained traction when a lyric from Meek Mill's "Dreams and Nightmares (Intro)" was overlaid to it, now used as a reaction signifying happiness.
• Longtime Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki had a meme created in 2011. Dirk, the NBA's Germanic Efficiency standard bearer and his meme go along the lines of "taking talents to South Beach". This is in direct response to LeBron James and his Decision program where he said those words before joining Miami Heat. In 2011, Dallas beat the Heat and NBA fans created this meme to show that Dirk played extremely well in Miami in the 2011 Finals.
• ... Before Derrick Rose came back. ^Explanation Derrick Rose, then-star for the Chicago Bulls and now with the Detroit Pistons, has been injured frequently. Anytime anyone makes a career comeback or something in the world significant happens, they have done so before Derrick Rose came back.
• After LeBron James' infamous "Decision", depicting the Unholy Trinity (James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade) as the nWo. "He is the third man in this picture!"
  • And after James' extremely poor performance in the 2011 NBA Finals, wherein he seemed to vanish in the 4th quarter, the Internet flooded with jokes at his expense. For instance: "I asked LeBron for change for a dollar. He gave me 75 cents and said 'Sorry, I don't have a 4th quarter.'"
  • Prior to either of these, the biggest meme associated with "King James" was the "crab dribble" incident, wherein he defended an obvious travel by claiming it was the perfectly legal crab dribble (which is real, but involves actual, uh, dribbling). This eventually mutated into a YouTube fad of leaving "LeBron traveled" as a comment on videos featuring him, regardless of context.
  • James makes a lot of funny faces, with two in particular ("Lelbron◊" and "Lylbron◊", named after corruptions of "lol" used on 4chan's sports board) being popular reaction images. And, come on, look at them, they're hysterical.
  • Two frequent subjects when speaking mockingly of LeBron: His rapidly receding hairline and his tendency to flop like a madman in spite of his massive size.
  • He boomed me ^ExplanationA tweet that described Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum dunking on LeBron James in Game 7 of the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals where the latter expressing his admiration for the former quickly caught on like wildfire on /r/nba and spread to the rest of the website (and Twitter) in short time. "He's so good x4" is also a well-known reference to the infamous copypasta.
  • LeBron's name itself is fodder for countless nicknames by plugging virtually any word in place of "Bron."
• "I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER 'KING' WINS ONE." Um, yeah, Dan Gilbert's Caps Lock key is loud.^ExplanationGilbert was incensed that LeBron publicly announced his intent to play for the Miami Heat after the 2009-10 NBA season to try to win "not one, not two, not three..." championship rings, that he wrote an angry letter raving about LeBron's disloyalty to the city of Cleveland and its fans.^PostscriptThe Cavaliers did wind up winning a title... two years after LeBron came back to town.
  • Before, you simply announced that you were leaving a team. Nowadays, it's all about "taking your talents to" a different team.
    • "Taking my talents to South Beach" has become a catch-all expression for anything: Using the bathroom, masturbating, quitting a job, moving, leaving a party, etc.
    • Even Mario once proclaimed in an interview for Mario Sports Mix that he's taking his talents to the Mushroom Kingdom!
• How does this affect Lebron James's legacy? ^ExplanationLebron James is generally considered to be a contender for the greatest basketball player of all time, and since he is an active player as of 2023, he can still gain a few more accolades to improve his standing before retiring. As such, the NBA media like ESPN tends to discuss how his performances in both the regular season and playoffs affect his NBA legacy. Eventually, the phrase degenerated into an off-topic, spam response to discussions that have nothing to do with Lebron or the NBA. For example, one video dryly analyzes if the Fall of Constantinople affected Lebron's legacy in any way.
• Nobody touches the Shaqtus.
  • They can't touch the Shaqzongas either.
  • Shaq is sometimes referred to as "Shaw" after a common typo.
  • His infamously poor free throw shooting — to the point that promos for his turn as an anchor for Inside the NBA features him bricking an FT.
  • "Shaq, we're on live" ^Explanation After a close game against the Toronto Raptors during the 2003-04 season, Shaq complained about the referees during the live post-game interview, claiming that they were why the league was losing money and that they were "trying to take over the fucking game." (Complaining about the refs and cursing during interviews are both fineable offenses.) The reporter tried to salvage the situation with "Shaq, we're on live," after which Shaq looked directly into the camera and said "I don't give a shit." The incident still gets namedropped after players' hot mic situations or spicy interviews.
• Good effort LeBron, Good job!◊ ^ExplanationA young fan verbalizes praise for LeBron James' efforts in a tough loss for his Miami Heat versus the Boston Celtics.
• I'm just trying to get my NBA 2K Rating up. ^ExplanationHassan Whiteside, a center who's going through a Career Resurrection, gave this as one of his motivations during an interview.
• "Trust the Process".^ExplanationFans of former Philadelphia 76ers general manager/president of basketball operations Sam Hinkie saw merit in Hinkie's unorthodox team-rebuilding strategy of eschewing the free-agent market in favor of accumulating late-round draft picks that would hopefully yield star players later down the line and pull the Sixers out of the NBA's basement. The plan naturally had its fair share of vocal supporters and detractors, as the Sixers finished with a woeful 46 wins in the three seasons with Hinkie as GM (he left the team with four games to go in the 2015-16 season, a few months after he lost his president job; his resulting 13-page resignation letter would later become a joke in itself). Joel Embiid, the center whom Hinkie hoped to be the linchpin of the Sixers' offense, would adopt "The Process" as his personal nickname in reference to the phrase.
• FORM A FUCKING WALL! ^ExplanationCoined by Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy during a timeout while his team was down a point versus the San Antonio Spurs, on defense, with seconds left on the game clock. The Pistons wound up intercepting the inbounds pass and fast breaking away for the dunk, completing the upset and creating a legendary meme and rallying cry for Detroit.
• NO, IT'S RUDY GAY! NOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOO!!!! NOT THIS GUY! NOOOOOOOO!!! OH MY GOOOOOD!!! YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!! ^ExplanationA fan freaking out when Rudy Gay gets the ball during the last few seconds of a game, and then freaking out even further when he does hit the clutch jump shot.
• Thanks to a glitch in a TV captioning program◊, Nik Stauskas, at the time a rookie with the Sacramento Kings, has been bestowed the nickname "Sauce Castillo". The Internet picked it up and ran with it, and both Stauskas and the Kings have embraced the nickname.
• Kevin Durant:
  • You da real MVP. ^ExplanationNear the end of his acceptance speech as MVP of the 2014 season, Durant gave a tearful shout-out to his mother by referring to her as the real winner of that title. It has since spread as a way to thank someone, whether sincerely or otherwise.
  • My Next Chapter ^ExplanationAfter OKC lost a seven-game series to Golden State in the 2016 Western Conference Finals, Kevin Durant wrote the piece signifying his move to the latter team. The accompanying photo is usually edited to include the logo of whatever team the subject lost to.
• Sources: Cuban is beside himself. Driving around downtown Dallas begging (thru texts) Jordan's family for address to DeAndre's home. ^Explanation In the middle of the DeAndre Jordan's hilarious free agency kerfuffle in 2015, a tweet by sports analyst Chris Broussard claiming that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was driving around Dallas (later "corrected" by Broussard to Houston) desperately looking for the center mutated into a copypasta in Twitter and Reddit for its utter ridiculousness. Cuban later chewed out Broussard for the posts, with the latter taking the original tweets down.
• We got an [expletive] squad now. ^Explanation The way reporter Marc Spears described the interaction between the Cavs players in their blowout victory against Boston after the 2018 trade deadline sounded like a fanfic, lending itself as another copypasta fodder.

• J.R. Smith in general is a Fountain of Memes - ranging from asking a girl if she wanted "to get the pipe," partying shirtless in a championship parade, his memetic affinity towards drinking Hennessy (despite his insistence that he clearly hates the drink), and most memorably, his blunder when he thought Cleveland was ahead and ran out the clock in Game 1 of the 2018 finals. LeBron James' reaction in the last one spawned countless memes in the aftermath of the game and was resurrected when Smith joined the LeBron-led Lakers in mid-2020. Lately, as of August 2021, he's actually gone to college for North Carolina A&T State University, and due to a couple of loopholes in NCAA rules, Smith is now eligible to play for the university... on their golf team!^note 1. The NCAA allows current or former professionals in one sport to play a different sport in college, as long as they're otherwise athletically eligible. 2. Under NCAA rules, an athlete's eligibility clock does not start with high school graduation, but rather with enrollment in an institution that awards college degrees. Smith went straight to the NBA from high school, and never enrolled in college until arriving at NCAT. Only J.R., ladies and gentlemen!
• Los Angeles Lakers:
  • Backup guard Alex Caruso became a Memetic Badass thanks to a combination of his appearance, Photoshopped gym photos (which led to the NBA sending him a random drug test), and his tendency to be a walking highlight reel whenever he steps up to the court. Became even more of a meme after being a part of an NBA Finals winning team in 2020.
  • The 2018-19 (and to a lesser degree, the 2019-20) "Meme Team" Lakers got the nickname thanks to their hilariously colorful personalities.
    • The 2018-19 roster contained Michael Beasley (who's memetically high all the time), Lance Stephenson (known for his air guitar dances and most especially blowing on LeBron's ear during the height of the Heat-Pacers rivalry), Rajon Rondo (for his abrasive personality and taking Connect Four seriously), two-time Shaqtin' a Fool MVP JaVale McGee, Lonzo Ball (whose father LaVar really loves the spotlight), and of course, LeBron himself.
    • The 2019-20 roster was just about as colorful as the one from the previous season. Besides LeBron, JaVale, and Rondo, Alex Caruso turned into a high-flying Memetic Badass, whereas Beasley's Spiritual Successor Dion Waiters, and J.R. Smith joined later in the season (with J.R. joining for the 2020 NBA Bubble period).
• 1, 2, 3, Cancún! ^Explanation Often brought up whenever a team gets eliminated in the playoffs, the joke refers to said team taking a vacation in the resort town of Cancún in Mexico. Originally uttered by Lakers guard Nick Van Exel in the huddle just before the Utah Jazz swept them in the 1998 Playoffs, which led to him getting shipped to the Denver Nuggets a couple of months later.
  • Its equivalent in the Philippine Basketball Association is the Bora Cup, a long-running joke referring to eliminated teams taking vacations in the resort island of Boracay.
• In a similar manner to Alex Caruso above him, Boston Celtics back-up center Tacko Fall also became something similar due to a combination of his towering height (at one time projected to rival both Manute Bol and Gheorghe Mureșan for the tallest player in NBA history before the NBA recently implemented measurements without shoes on for official heights, starting with his debut season) and the fact that he willingly allowed himself to be a prop for one of Aaron Gordon's greatest dunks in the history of the Slam Dunk Contest (though it ended in a very controversial loss in 2020).
• Magic Johnson:
  • Thanks, Magic! ^ExplanationMagic Johnson's tendency to be Captain Obvious in his tweets gave rise to this sarcastic phrase.
  • I'm not gonna be here ^ExplanationWhen Magic publicly stepped down as the Lakers' President of Basketball Operations in 2019 before beginning their final game of the 2018-19 season, he uttered this phrase which caught on as a snarky/cynical way to describe deflecting responsibility.
• Confused Nick Young ^ExplanationA screencap of Nick Young's reaction is often used to express confusion.
• "Ohh, blocked by James! LeBron James with the rejection!"^Explanation"The Block", LeBron James' chasedown block on Andre Iguodala late in the 2016 NBA Finals has become iconic, both the block itself and the commentator's description of it.
  • "Irving puts it up... it's good!" ^ExplanationAlso iconic from the same finals is Kyrie Irving's three-pointer late in Game 7, nicknamed "The Shot".
• Mickey Mouse Ring/Title ^ExplanationDue to the extraordinary circumstances beyond the NBA's control, the NBA was forced to modify their 2019-20 season to have the NBA Bubble set up in Walt Disney World nearby Orlando, Florida. While the games played were held in suitable arenas fit for the rest of that season going from July-October 2020 (with the games held in three different stadiums hosting the NBA's games at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex), the multitude of changes made in the Bubble (most of which were done to protect the players, coaches, and other staff members from being infected with COVID-19, with some causing some significant changes in terms of crowd impact) caused people to question the validity of the 2020 NBA Playoffs and NBA Finals that season. So many people did so, in fact, that people tend to mock the Lakers' 17th championship won as a Mickey Mouse ring or trophy in spite of LeBron James' insistence on respect at hand there. The meme has since expanded to also include other teams that won championships recently (sometimes for ridiculous reasons), such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning Super Bowl LV due to them playing it in their home stadium (the very first Super Bowl-winning team to do so), the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the World Series in 2020 (which happened at a neutral site: Globe Life Field (the Texas Rangers' new ballpark) in Arlington, Texas), and NASCAR's Chase Elliott (who won the Cup Series championship in 2020 despite not being the best driver that season, and the changes in the schedule that occurred due to the pandemic).
• Plumbers and Milkmen.^ExplanationSome modern fans discredit retired NBA greats, such as '60s superstars Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, by claiming that they could only dominate in a weak era of basketball where players weren't too focused on basketball and had side jobs.
  • Twitch streamers and SoundCloud rappers.^ExplanationA rebuttal to the parent meme above, noting that modern NBA players have side gigs as well.
• X player(s) in China ^ExplanationThe originator came from a guessing game during the 2011-12 lockout season where a player named Aaron Brooks (who last played for the Phoenix Suns at the time) was brought up to guess where he played... only he was stuck playing for the Guangdong Southern Tigers (referred to as just the Guangdong Tigers by Shaquille O'Neal) due to the CBA's unique ruling on overseas players like Brooks being forced to stay in China throughout that season only due to the 2011 NBA lockout. As such, his name was brought up as the last trick question from that segment. However, the meme really took off nearly a decade later in the COVID-19 shortened and delayed 2020-21 season with players deemed overrated in the U.S.A. (like Ben Simmons after his time in the 2021 NBA Playoffs) jokingly being compared to players like Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and Michael Jordan if they decided to leave the NBA and entered the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association) to play for the Guangdong [Southern] Tigers, the Shanghai Sharks, or some other Chinese team there instead.
  • Get ready to learn Chinese, buddy. ^ExplanationA fake quote attributed to NBA comissioner Adam Silver. Used when a player underperforms or has a major scandal, meaning they may have to go overseas to continue playing.
• Rasheed Wallace wants you to know that both teams played hard.^ExplanationRasheed doesn't like talking at post-game conferences, so he'll say the minimum that's required of him to avoid getting fined.
  • He also wants you to know that "ball don't lie".^ExplanationIf a questionable foul was called and the player fouled misses one or both of his free throws, saying that the ball is a fairer judge than the referees.
  • Sheed is a veritable Fountain of Memes, illustrated below:
    • Singing "Paradise City" before an away game.
    • Dancing the Carlton before a home game.
    • A Detroit Pistons Christmas Carol.
• RONDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ^ExplanationChris Webber marking out over Rajon Rondo.
• Worst superteam of all time ^ExplanationThe Lakers had very high expectations coming into the 2021-22 season, thanks to having four players in the NBA's list of the 75 greatest players of all time, which included returning players LeBron James and Anthony Davis, as well as newly acquired veterans Russell Westbrook (well known for having impressive statlines and being the all-time leader in triple doubles) and Carmelo Anthony (a longtime league veteran who can score many points). With a star-studed roster filled with veteran talent, the Lakers were considered to be the favorites heading into the season, to the point where some were wondering if they would win 70 games. However, the team performed well below expectations thanks to poor defensive play and key injuries and were eliminated from playoff contention on April 5, 2022 with only three games left to play. Thanks to the Lakers' season being widely panned as a massive disappointment, they became a target of mockery, and one fan made a video summarizing it all and another made a "One Shining Moment" parody of their season.
  • Keep talking about my squad, our personnel ages, the way they play, we’re past our time in this league, etc etc etc!! ^ExplanationLeBron James made this (now-deleted) tweet in response to the criticism of the Lakers' roster consisting of mostly veterans of at least the age of 30. This was mockingly used after the Lakers were eliminated from playoff contention.
  • I’m out for the season officially. 🤦🏾‍♂️. See y’all in the fall. 👑✌🏾 ^ExplanationA tweet LeBron James made on April Fool's Day joking that he's done for the season. Ironically, he did play against the New Orleans Pelicans on that day, but that turned out to be the last game he played for the season, with some fans believing the tweet was actually not a joke.
  • LeCancun^ExplanationA nickname for LeBron James vacationing during the offseason. This increased further following the Lakers' elimination from playoff contention.
  • Adam Silver rigging the play-ins for LeBron^ExplanationFollowing the Lakers' elimination from playoff contention, many fans joke that NBA commisioner Adam Silver would expand the play-in field at LeBron James' request to give the Lakers a chance to get into the playoffs.
• KAAAHHHNNNN!!^ExplanationThe general reaction of Minnesota Timberwolves fans to the many inexplicable draft and personnel decisions made by David Kahn when he was the team's GM from 2009–2013. One of the most notable was in his first draft with the T-Wolves in 2009, when he picked point guards with the 5th and 6th overall selections, immediately before the Warriors picked Stephen Curry.
• P.J. Tucker's Dunked-on Reaction. ^ExplanationBucks forward P.J. Tucker's reaction after being called for a foul on a Cam Johnson poster in the 2021 NBA Finals got turned into a reaction image not long after.
• Kobe! ^ExplanationThe act of shouting Kobe Bryant's name when chucking something into a container originated from a Chappelle's Show skit, where Dave Chappelle shouts the late player's name while throwing a used condom into a trash bin.
• "Bitch Please" face ^ExplanationA still of Yao Ming making the titular face from a 2009 press conference became a well-known rage face in the early 2010s.
• Allen Iverson can't believe he's in there talkin' about practice. ^ExplanationIverson's 2002 rant after reporters dogged him with questions about his dedication to practice became infamous for mentioning the word "practice" 22 times. While disappointed by the snippets turning the rant out of context (Iverson's best friend had been killed months earlier), AI would occasionally make fun of it in his later years, notably splitting his sides when Yao Ming made a "practice" joke in his Hall of Fame enshrinement speech.
• Im trying Jennifer ^ExplanationThen-Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum wrote the viral tweet in response to the eponymous user who told him to "win a playoff game, then talk." The two eventually met just before the Blazers faced off with the Warrios during the 2019 Western Conference Finals.
• Child Porn 3 bowing to the Paul God.^ExplanationA Los Angeles Clippers shitpost of Chris Paul tripping in front of Paul George became ripe for snowcloning due to the absurd nicknames used for Chris Paul and Paul George respectively. Some examples can be seen here and here.
• Bucks in 6.^ExplanationBefore the first-round series between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat in the 2013 playoffs, Bucks player Brandon Jennings claimed in an infamous interview that his team, the #8 seed, would beat the Miami Heat superteam, the #1 seed, in six games. After the Heat swept the Bucks, Jennings's statement became notorious in the NBA fandom, especially among Bucks fans, so much so that it practically was the Bucks' unofficial slogan each time they reached the playoffs. During the 2021 playoffs, Jennings's prediction came true in the Eastern Conference Finals when the Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks in six games to enter the NBA Finals with the team's official YouTube channel acknowledging said meme in a video and again in the NBA Finals when the Bucks also defeated the Phoenix Suns in six games to become the 2021 NBA champions. As such, Jennings was a guest of honor in the Milwaukee Bucks' celebration parade, bringing the meme full circle.
• Patrick Beverley celebrates the play-in championship.^ExplanationAfter the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2022 play-in game to attain the seventh seed, Patrick Beverley commemorated the victory by throwing his jersey into the stands and hyping up the Minnesota crowd before crying out of happiness. Because of Beverley's overemotional jubilation, NBA's TNT crew mocked Patrick Beverley for rejoicing as if he won the NBA championship rather than a playoffs seeding match by playing Queen's "We Are The Champions" to a montage of Beverley's celebration. Later, a more famous TikTok video copied TNT's parody video of Beverley but used a different song, Aloe Blacc's "The Man", instead. The TikTok video then became a reaction meme, either to make fun of people bragging about their extremely minor successes as Patrick Beverley did or to self-deprecatingly boast about one's own inconsequential wins.
• The 2022 playoffs matchup between the Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Mavericks turned into a Fountain of Memes after the Mavericks dominated the Suns in Game 6 and Game 7 to win the series.
  • Luka Dončić's amused smile at Devin Booker in Game 6 is the signature image of the series, thanks to the NBA on TNT's edited photo of Game 7's lopsided halftime score.
  • Chris Paul hits a huge three to cut the lead down to 42.^ExplanationThis was the title of a video sarcastically congratulating Suns player Chris Paul for scoring a three-pointer that was ultimately rendered irrelevant by Mavericks' large lead in Game 7. Variants later arose in other sports communities to ridicule players trying to invoke a Curb Stomp Cushion.
  • Luka Dončić is Devin Booker father.^ExplanationDoncic and Booker are the best players of the Mavericks and Suns respectively in the 2022 playoffs, and there was a small rivalry between the two with Booker ridiculing Doncic's foul-baiting in Game 5 by calling it the "Luka Special" and Luka indirectly responding "Everybody acting tough when they up." In Games 6 and 7, Doncic outplayed Booker, the latter uncharacteristically putting up a poor performance in said games; as a result, certain fans joked that Doncic was Booker's father. In discussions of subsequent games between the Suns and the Mavericks, expect to see this comment spammed a lot, particularly if the Mavericks win.
    • The Phoenix Sons.^ExplanationAfter some Suns detractors mocked Devin Booker as Luka Doncic's son, it became an easy pun to label the larger Phoenix Suns team as Luka's sons.
• Light the Beam!^ExplanationDuring the 2022–23 season, the Sacramento Kings started a unique victory celebration of lighting a large purple laser beam atop their arena. This soon led to a fan chant of "Light the Beam!" during games, a player coining the nickname "Beam Team" for the Kings, and a great many light-related memes. Fans even got the beam listed as a "place of worship" on Google Maps, although Google removed it a few hours later.
• LeSwept/LeBroom ^ExplanationLeBron James is given these nicknames whenever his teams get swept in the NBA Playoffs, which has happened three times in his career. NBA fans and even some in the media had a field day after James and the Lakers got swept by the Denver Nuggets in the 2023 NBA Playoffs.
• Ice in my veins ^Explanation Originating from D'Angelo Russell's celebration after a clutch three, the pose saw adoption in TikTok years later in varying contexts.
• Kawhi Leonard is a fun guy ^Explanation During his Media Day appearance after joining the Toronto Raptors, Leonard introduced himself with a deadpan, hesitant "'...I'm a fun guy," followed by an awkward laugh. The video quickly became a meme and is largely responsible for Leonard's reputation as The Quiet One.
• Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors is something of a Fountain of Memes, including:.
  • Praise the Toaster ^Explanation A Reddit user asked Thompson to sign a Warriors-branded toaster in March 2017, after which a photo went viral of Thompson looking very confused about the situation. The Warriors then started on a 31-2 run and won the championship, causing fans to jokingly attribute the team's success to the toaster.
  • Scaffolding Klay ^Explanation Also in 2017, while the Warriors were in NYC to play the Brooklyn Nets, a local news reporter stopped Thompson for a man-on-the-street interview about the scaffolding on buildings, evidently having no idea who he was, and Thompson gave a detailed answer about checking whether the piping was safe.
• The Jordan Poole Baddie Effect ^Explanation Jordan Poole, who played for the Golden State Warriors then the Washington Wizards, is known for being somewhat streaky in his performance, leading to several video edits theorizing that he only plays well when there are "baddies" (attractive women) sitting courtside. This is very likely to be mentioned if Poole has a good game and has spread to players other than Poole.
• Quote cards featuring NBA figures have been widely used as reaction images, notably including:
  • I got one more in me. ^Explanation A quote from Vince Carter signifying his intention to play one more season in 2019 has since been used in self-deprecating and mocking contexts.
  • I owe you an apology. I wasn't really familiar with your game. ^Explanation Shaq's statement to Christian Wood used for unexpectedly impressive performances from sports figures.
  • What happened to the game I love? ^Explanation Former ESPN commentator Mark Jackson lamenting about a flagrant foul call against D'Angelo Russell in the 2023 Western Conference Finals has since been repurposed to complain about the state of whatever topic is at hand.

American Football

High School American Football

• "They had us in the first half, I'm not gonna lie."^ExplanationEast View Patriots high school football player turns a post-game interview into an inspirational speech and meme.
• Bishop Sycamore^ExplanationOn August 29, 2021, ESPN aired a high school football game between the IMG Academy powerhouse high school sports academy in Bradenton, Florida and the relatively unknown Bishop Sycamore High School that was considered located in Columbus, Ohio. Despite the unknown nature of Bishop Sycamore, they were somehow convinced to be a part of the finale match for ESPN's 2021 High School Kickoff series. During the game (which became a blowout match favoring the IMG Academy by a landslide, eventually ending with a 58-0 score), the ESPN announcers calling the game started questioning the legitimacy of Bishop Sycamore's Centurions players, to the point of saying this match is like 4-star and 5-star talented players going up against a junior varsity team. Later research on them eventually revealed a crazy rabbit hole that ultimately confirmed that Bishop Sycamore was nothing more than a scam on young, hopeful high school football players that had lost out on their money and in turn were not considered even good football players. Bishop Sycamore is now labelled as the football equivalent of frauds or a scam in the sport going forward.

College American Football

• The Stanford Band improperly rushed the field and interfered with play at the end of the 1982 Big Game. "OH, THE BAND IS OUT ON THE FIELD!!"
• Fuck Clemson. ^note The rallying cry of college football blog Every Day Should Be Saturday, or EDSBS for short.
  • PAWWWWWWWLLLL ^note :EDSBS's mockery of the average Paul Finebaum Radio Network listener, whose audience can be most charitably described as "redneck". PAWWWWWWWLLLL is also an EDSBS nickname for Finebaum himself.
  • Craig James killed five hookers while at SMU.
    • This one has achieved Ascended Meme status, as late Mississippi State coach Mike Leach, whose feud with James was quite well-known, signed copies of his book with "CJK5H".^ExplanationWhen Leach was the head coach at Texas Tech, Craig James and his son played a major role in his firing.
  • ROLL TIDE WHAT'S A ________? ^note Another EDSBS creation, this time making fun of clueless Alabama fans. The blank space can be filled in by common information (ROLL TIDE WHAT'S A COMPUTER?), mildly complicated words (ROLL TIDE WHAT'S A QUESADILLA?) or basic football strategy (ROLL TIDE WHAT'S A SECONDARY?).
    • In the late 2010s, it became common for people online to post "ROLL TIDE!" whenever the topic of incest is brought up, second only to posting "Sweet Home Alabama!"
• WE WANT BAMA!^explanationThe Alabama Crimson Tide football team, especially coached by Nick Saban, is commonly regarded as one of the best in the country.
• Kirk Herbstreit's earthquake face◊. While Herbstreit was being interviewed by Chris Fowler after the 2011 Oklahoma State–Kansas State football game, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake (the biggest in Oklahoma history) occurred and Herbstreit looked scared out of his mind while on air, yet didn't say a word until Fowler (finally) stopped talking to let him answer a question.
• Couging it^ExplanationNamed for the Washington State Cougars, which had many instances of playing well for the first parts of a game, only to seriously choke on the fourth quarter and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
• The Cheez-INT Bowl. ^Explanation The 2018 Cheez-It Bowl between Cal and TCU infamously saw the two teams throw for a combined 9 interceptions, including 6 in the first half.
• "Servpro. Like it never even happened."^ExplanationThe 2018 First Responder Bowl became the first ever bowl to be canceled due to weather, leading to the sponsor's ad slogan (they specialize in fire and water restoration) being quoted humorously.
• Clemsoning^ExplanationNamed for the Clemson Tigers, a college team that has been known, especially in the late 2000s and early 2010s, to have amassed a great degree of success early on, only to choke in critical games and dashing their title hopes in the process. Though they didn't "Clemson" in the 2016 and 2018 seasons, winning the College Football Playoff title game.
• Sad Urban Meyer eating Papa John's pizza◊ ^ExplanationA picture of retired Ohio State coach Urban Meyer after his loss against Michigan State in the 2013 Big Ten Championship game, his first loss as the coach of the Buckeyes, where he is eating Papa John's pizza. This picture would usually appear whenever the Buckeyes lose a game, especially the games that were rather embarrassing losses, which is not very often given how highly successful the team was during Meyer's tenure.
• WHOA HE HAS TROUBLE WITH THE SNAP ^ExplanationOriginated from the ending of the Michigan vs. Michigan State game on October 17, 2015, where Michigan punter Blake O'Neill whiffs the punt attempt near the end of the game, allowing Michigan State to win on a punt recovery (which ended up causing a season-ending injury for the scorer, Jalen Watts-Jackson). Part of what makes this line from play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough memorable is due to the voice crack while he was calling the very last play of the game. This became a common meme within the college football subreddit, as exemplified in one Trash Talk Thursday thread, thanks to the Narm Charm of the line.
• #9WINDIANA^ExplanationA meme originating from Indiana Hoosiers blog Crimson Quarry that explains how Indiana could win 9 games in the 2019 college football season due to a somewhat easy schedule and the author claiming to be drunk when he came up with #9Windiana. The Hoosiers, long known for being perennial doormats of the Big Ten, became Memetic Badasses after the blog was posted with some people even cheering them on. This nearly became Hilarious in Hindsight as Indiana actually had their best finish since 1993, but ultimately did not win nine games as they lost to Tennessee in the Gator Bowl by one point, resulting in an 8-5 finish.
• The Shoe Throw^ExplanationThe 2020 meeting between the LSU Tigers and the Florida Gators featured an infamous unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Gators where cornerback Marco Wilson threw LSU tight end Kole Taylor's shoe, turning what was going to be an LSU fourth down into a first down, eventually allowing the Tigers to make the game-winning 57-yard field goal in the fog. This drew plenty of jokes about the shoe throw, such as the Gators throwing a shoe at head coach Dan Mullen, referencing the shoe throw scene in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, and even combining it with the shoe throw at George W. Bush.
• #11 Ohio State^ExplanationClemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney had the Ohio State Buckeyes, who his team would face in a College Football playoff semifinal, ranked Ohio State #11 in his coaches poll because he believed a team who had only played six games did not deserve a shot in the College Football Playoff, raising some eyebrows. Naturally, after Ohio State defeated Clemson in a 49-28 blowout in what could be seen by some as Laser-Guided Karma, Dabo would be roasted by many people including Buckeyes fan LeBron James. This would also result in jokes that Clemson really did lose to the #11 ranked team instead of the #3 ranked team. Even Ohio State players got in on the joke after the win.
• Punt Bama Punt^ExplanationThe 1972 Iron Bowl featured an unbeaten Alabama team gunning for a national title. With 10 minutes to go, the Crimson Tide had a 16–0 lead. Auburn finally got on the scoreboard with a field goal, and forced Alabama to punt on the next possession. Bill Newton blocked Greg Gantt's punt, and David Langner ran it in for a touchdown, with the extra point cutting the lead to 16–10. A few minutes later, Newton blocked another Gantt punt, and Langner again recovered it and ran it in for a TD. The extra point gave Auburn the lead, and a Langner interception sealed the game for the Tigers and ended Bama's national title hopes.
• Kick Bama Kick^ExplanationWhile the 1972 Iron Bowl was not kind to Alabama's punter, the 2013 edition was unkind to the Crimson Tide kickers. Cade Foster, the main kicker, missed three kicks, leading Bama to insert redshirt freshman Adam Griffith to kick what they hoped to be the game-winning field goal in regulation. It did win the game in regulation... for Auburn, as a Properly Paranoid Gus Malzahn put senior defensive back and return specialist Chris Davis in the back of the end zone in the event the kick fell short (which it did, allowing Davis to run 109 yards for the game-winning touchdown). As you might guess, "Kick Bama Kick" was a call-back to "Punt Bama Punt".
• The Circle of Suck ^ExplanationThe schools of the Pac-12 Conference, which bills itself as the "Conference of Champions", have without fail ended up losing to the same teams every year despite their performance for the rest of the season◊.

NFL

• "NOOOOOO!!! He missed the extra point wide right! Oh my God, how could he do that?!" ^ExplanationNew Orleans, down to their final play trailing 20-13, scored a touchdown using three laterals (the original pass was caught by Dante Stallworth, with the laterals going to Michael Lewis, Deuce McAllister, and Jerome Pathon in that order; Pathon scored the touchdown), only for John Carney to miss the game-tying extra-point kick wide right.^PostscriptOther results that weekend would've eliminated New Orleans anyway.
• Pretty much everything John Madden has ever said. BOOM!
  • Now you see, to win the football game, you have to score more points than your opponents. If you let them score more points than you, *chuckles* well you've probably lost then, haven't you?
• "THE BEARS ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE! THAT'S WHY WE TOOK THE DAMN FIELD! NOW IF YOU WANT TO CROWN 'EM THEN CROWN THEIR A**! BUT THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE! AND WE LET 'EM OFF THE HOOK!"^note  Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green went on a tirade during a postgame press conference, after losing to the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football in 2006. The Bears overcame a 23-3 deficit and won 24-23 despite not scoring a single offensive touchdown (the game-winner was a kick return by rookie Devin Hester).
• The rather... unflattering sketch of Tom Brady during his NFL lawsuit.
• The already controversial Michael Vick became something of joke when it came out that he had gotten STD treatments at a clinic under the name "Ron Mexico". Very soon after, one could find Falcons and Eagles fans wearing custom jerseys reading "Mexico".
• Bill Belichick says that "X is what it is"
  • Bill Belichick? You surely mean Darth Belicheat, amirite?^note In reference to his seemingly being the working power behind the New England Patriots' two decade run of relative dominance in the 2000s and 2010s and being reviled for most of that time to the point of being compared to the Galactic Empire, as well as being caught breaking rules regarding taping opponents' signals.
• "Bless his heart, he's got to be the sickest man in America!" — Dallas Cowboys radio announcer Verne Lundquist, calling Cowboys tight end Jackie Smith's infamous end-zone drop of an easy touchdown pass from Roger Staubach during Super Bowl XIII.
• Butt Fumble.^ExplanationDuring the 2012 Thanksgiving game against the Patriots, Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez botched a handoff and ran headlong into guard Brandon Moore's butt, fumbling the ball, which was returned for a touchdown. This was during a 52-second span in which the Patriots scored three touchdowns (the Butt Fumble, scored by Steve Gregory, was the second of the three scores), and is regarded as the low point of a bad season for both the Jets and Sanchez. So infamous it has its own Wiki article.
• The [AMERICAN FOOTBALL TEAM] should sign Uncle Rico as QB. He can throw footballs over them mountains!^ExplanationWhenever an NFL team goes into a quarterback crisis due to injury or other Disaster Dominoes, NFL fans start joking that the RV-driving uncle would make a fantastic emergency replacement.
• The Razorcakes.^ExplanationThe Buffalo Bills are often referred to as the Razorcakes after a popular analogy for the team — a cake that looks great and tastes delicious at first but is actually filled with razors. They've certainly earned the moniker — there was a brief period in the 2011 season when they were at the top of their division after upsetting the New England Patriots, but they missed the playoffs after losing six straight games.
• Rex Ryan wants as many wins as he has chins.
  • Rex Ryan's newly discovered foot fetish.^note Probably killed now since Bill Belichick benched Wes Welker for the starting series during the divisional playoff game after Welker did a tongue-in-cheek press conference making fun of it. The Patriots went on to lose that game. Well, that and the discovery came because of a leaked audio sex tape that should've never have seen the light of day as it was.
  • He dyed his hair because he's looking to become a head coach.
  • I think we're the team to beat.
  • Kris Jenkins in a golf cart.◊
  • Ryan's predictions of the Jets winning the Super Bowl every year have become quite memetic. The first two years people laughed because the Jets got to the AFC Championship Game and choked, but things became absolutely hilarious in the third year because Ryan again predicted that the Jets would win the Super Bowl, yet the Jets failed to even make the playoffs. Namath he ain't.
• Who knew that upending a cooler full of Gatorade on Bill Parcells would start one of the largest celebratory trends in football?
• "Here it is! The season's on the line! Two receivers left and right! McCown takes the snap! He steps up! He's all by himself! Fires into the endzone- CAUGHT! TOUCH-DOWN! NOOO! NOOO! THE CARDINALS HAVE KNOCKED THE VIKINGS OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS!" ^note Minnesota Vikings radio play-by-play announcer Paul Allen, after witnessing the Vikings get eliminated from the playoffs on the last play by the Arizona Cardinals in the final week of the 2003 season. Cardinals wide receiver Nate Poole, who caught the game-winning touchdown received a key to the city from rival Green Bay (who won the NFC North because of the Vikings' defeat).
• The score is tied at 28. Fine. Because Brett Favre is the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings.
  • Speaking of Brett Favre as the QB of Minnesota, Paul Allen's call of the game-winning touchdown pass to Greg Lewis: "GREG LEWIS, WELCOME TO MINNESOTA!!"
• After a tie game with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2008, Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb reveals that he didn't know an NFL game could end in a tie.
• Hans Moleman Productions Presents: Man Getting Hit by Football
  • When Brett Favre was caught on camera being hit in the groin with a football during a practice session (seen here), comparisons being drawn to the above were inevitable — especially since at this stage of his career Favre's advanced age was a frequent subject of derision.
• Former Chicago Bears and current Washington Redskins QB Rex Grossman has mutated into Memetic Badass "Rax Grissman", a headstrong alpha male who invariably unleashes the dragon by throwing deep, after screwing up his Bears' sure-fire Super Bowl victory by tossing a long bomb even though that was the absolute worst thing he could possibly do in that situation. Rax Grissman's motto is "Fuck it, I'm going deep!"
  • "Unleashing the dragon" has spun off into a meme in and of itself, with "dragon" being shorthand for a spectacularly long pass, "leg dragon" a long-range field goal, and "land dragon" an impressive run.
  • Speaking of the Redskins, after a local DC sports radio host launched into a very long, furious rant about the team's shortcomings after a 59-28 loss to the Eagles, it has been customary to respond to any complaints about the 'Skins with the exclamation "GET 'EM!".
• A few days after the Denver Broncos (led by third-string quarterback Tim Tebow) were thrashed 45-10 by the Detroit Lions, editor Bill Williamson wrote a column stating that it was time to think about centering their game around a different quarterback. Anti-Tebow ESPN commenters took to the message boards posting strings of "X > Tebow" comments^note X = something or someone undesirable (ex. Ryan Leaf, JaMarcus Russell, two of the biggest QB draft busts of all time, growing more and more absurd with each post. Also a victim of the Streisand Effect, as moderators' attempts to quash any further "X > Tebow" comments only encouraged the meme to spread to other non-Tebow areas of the site. Which both gained strength and reversed after the Broncos won six straight, finished 7-4 under Tebow, beat the Steelers in overtime on a pass for 80 yards in the playoffs (before reality ensued and the Broncos got utterly curbstomped by the Patriots in the next round of the playoffs), and won multiple sloppy games ending in big plays for the win. And then there's this.
  • Tebowing would later inspire Bradying◊, which is the act of adopting the limp, sullen position taken by Tom Brady after his New England Patriots lost Super Bowl XLVI.
• yfw da bears win the superb owl.^ExplanationOriginating on 4chan's /sp/ (sports) board and accompanied by a picture of a happy-looking bear, it's typically cited as an example of the delusional nature of Bears fans, who seem to go into every season thinking they'll win it all. It has also spilled into other sports championships, such as the Worlds Eries, the NBA Champion's Hip/NBAF Inals, and the venerable Stan Lee Cup.
• "Couch in the shotgun. Throws. That's batted into the air! Intercepted AND THE BEARS ARE GONNA WIN IT! MIKE BROWN HAS DONE IT AGAIN!"^ExplanationChicago Bears Safety, Mike Brown, intercepted a pass in overtime for a touchdown for a Bears win. The following week, he did it again. The quote is from the second game.
• Peyton Manning's excessive use of "OMAHA!" as part of his quarterback cadence during the 2013-14 NFL season.
• "That is a Dis-GUSTING Act by Randy Moss!" ^Explanation Fox Announcer Joe Buck's reaction during a NFC playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. After scoring what was the game-clinching touchdown, Vikings receiver Randy Moss pretended to "moon" the home Packers crowd.
  • "Straight cash, Homie." ^Explanation Randy Moss was fined 10K for the above gesture by the NFL. When asked why he didn't write a check and how he paid the fine, this was Moss' response.
• WELL I'M THE BEST CORNER IN THE GAME! WHEN YOU TRY ME WITH A SORRY RECEIVER LIKE CRABTREE THAT'S THE RESULT YOU GONNA GET!DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT ME (...) CRABTREE! DON'T YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH ABOUT THE BEST OR IMMA SHUT IT FOR YOU REAL QUICK! L-O-B! ^Explanation Richard Sherman, after making the tip that sealed the game for the Seattle Seahawks, had an interview with Erin Andrews. He went crazy. The "L-O-B" at the end stands for "Legion of Boom", the nickname for the Seahawks secondary.
• I really, really like women^ExplanationGreen Bay Packers' Quarterback Aaron Rodgers' fairly unconvincing attempting to convince those who suspect him of being homosexual as not.
• I'm just here so I won't get fined.^ExplanationFormer Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch is infamous for his reluctance to talk to the media. On Super Bowl XLIX's Media Day, which every Super Bowl player and coach is mandated by the NFL to appear at, Lynch answered every question he was asked with some variation of this phrase.
  • The man himself is now selling T-shirts with this phrase printed on them.
• They should have run the ball.^ExplanationThe final play of the Seattle Seahawks offense in Super Bowl XLIX has become nothing short of legendary due to how it ended with Russell Wilson throwing an interception on the one-yard line. What makes matters worse is that many believe they were better off just handing the ball off to Marshawn Lynch to run it in, especially after accomplishing a 4-yard run on the previous play to set up the next play on the 1-yard line.
• "We're on to Cincinnati." ^ExplanationBill Belichick's press conference mantra after his New England Patriots were walloped by the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4 of 2014. Star quarterback Tom Brady had been benched in the fourth quarter for rookie Jimmy Garoppolo, leading to questions from reporters if the Patriots were going to "evaluate the quarterback position." Belichick's repeated four-word answer (their next opponent was the Cincinnati Bengals) was picked up by that same media and turned into the team's catchphrase for the season. New England went on to win Super Bowl XLIX.
• "UNICORNS! SHOW-PONIES! WHERE'S THE BEEF?!!" ^ExplanationThe New England Patriots were trailing the New Orleans Saints late in the fourth quarter. With no timeouts and down by 4, the Patriots needed a touchdown to win. The Patriots drove down the field and scored with just a few seconds left. Color commentator for Patriots Radio, Scott Zolak roared these words upon the touchdown. Even to this day, no one is quite sure what it means nor where Zolak got it from.
• "Buttfumble 2.0" ^Explanation The disaster that was the fake punt attempt performed by the Colts in their 2015 matchup against the Patriots has a lot of folk in agreement that it may finally dethrone the original Butt Fumble by Mark Sanchez. In this instance, the Colts had a 4th down with three yards to go on their own side of the field. Normally, one would punt in this situation. However, the Colts came out in a bizarre formation where the entire offense save for the snapper, Griff Whalen and one other player, Colt Anderson lined up to the far right of the ball. When the ball was snapped, Anderson was immediately swarmed by Patriots defenders, turning over the ball on downs and resulting in a Patriots touchdown in the next series. Even if the Colts had succeeded in getting the first down, it wouldn't have counted anyway since it was an illegal formation to begin with. Once it happened, there was a rush among commentators and journalists to come up with a name for this disastrous play. Some of those names include "What The Chuck" and "Snapfu".
• "YOU LIKE THAT!...YOU LIKE THAT!": Immediately, after a close, come from behind win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Redskins QB Kirk Cousins had this to say to the media.
• During a game between the Oakland Raiders and the Philadelphia Eagles, this pigeon was on the field during much of the play, seemingly allying itself with the Oakland Raiders. Eventually at half time, stadium staff safely removed the pigeon from the field with "Free Bird" playing over the speakers. Fans would later nickname it War Pigeon.
• Among Patriots fans, imitating Tom Brady's voice cracking pregame speech before the Super Bowl is a source of amusement: "It's about HONOR. It's about RESPECT."
• "YOU ARE A FACTORY OF SADNESS! ...I'll see you Sunday."^ExplanationA Cleveland Browns fan's epic meltdown at yet another pathetic loss from his team. The video followed a lethargic 30-12 loss to the Houston Texans in 2011 - and if anything, after that things only got worse; it wasn't until 2018 that the Browns managed to claw their way back to mere mediocrity.
• Best. Line. Ever. ^ExplanationThis picture showing off the Epic Fail of the Seahawks' Offensive Line at protecting Russell Wilson quickly became a mockery towards those who ignore how much of a necessity it is for a football team to have lineman that can protect their quarterback.
• “We want the ball and we’re gonna score!” ^ExplanationSo said Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck after winning the coin toss in overtime against the Green Bay Packers during the 2003 NFC Wild Card playoff game. Everyone in the stadium and watching on TV heard him say it because it was captured by the referee’s microphone, which was turned on and broadcasting to the Lambeau Field PA system at the time. It backfired in the most epic way possible when, during the Seahawks’ second possession, he threw a pass that was intercepted and returned for the game-winning touchdown by Packers cornerback Al Harris. Adding to the embarrassment factor was Hasselbeck having formerly played for the Packers as well as Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren having previously held that position in Green Bay.
• "Not bad for a running back."^ExplanationVery few people thought that Lamar Jackson could succeed in the NFL as a quarterback with many believing that he would be better suited at wide receiver or running back; especially at running-back due to his proven skills when he uses his legs compared to his mediocre passing. His incredible starting years in the NFL for the Ravens throughout the 2018 and 2019 seasons, the latter of which showed that he improved his passing skills greatly (not to mention ended up with him as league MVP), has all but shut up this criticism with many fans now spinning the mentioned meme in a way that includes whatever crazy stunt he pulled off in the recent weeks.
• Just checking to see if y'all still Dem Boyz^ExplanationDallas Cowboys fans are often associated with the phrase "We Dem Boyz!", resulting other fans mocking them with this meme: A seasonal meme image consisting of this phrase plus images of all the quarterbacks of teams that beat the Cowboys. The 2019 Dallas Cowboys were on a winning streak of 3 to open the season, then lost 8 of their last 13 en route to a failure to make the playoffs. Each of the 8 quarterbacks that beat the Cowboys (Teddy Bridgewater (NO); Aaron Rodgers, (GB), Sam Darnold (NYJ), Kirk Cousins (MIN), Josh Allen (BUF), Tom Brady (NE), Mitch Trubisky (CHI), Carson Wentz (PHI) the black cat that ran the field during the week 9 game vs the Giants, and finally the NFL Playoffs logo) looking down at a "dead" team - repeated every week after the Cowboys' fifth loss. This continued into 2020 with Russell Wilson, Carson Wentz, Kyle Allen, Baker Mayfield, Jared Goff, Ben Roethlisberger and Kyler Murray. This has also snuck a short joke in by cutting Murray's off at the nose. Every other QB is wearing a surgical face mask. NFL Memes also parodied it with Kirk Cousins, then cut it to a video of their victory dance The last week of the 2020 season (after the Cowboys 3 game winning streak prior), A loss to the Giants put them at 10 losses, the response? "We Ran out of Room!" (Blurring the quarterbacks behind the words)..
• The Dallas Cowboys Cycle ^ExplanationAnother meme poking fun at Cowboys fans, pointing out that the team and fanbase go through the same cycle year after year: The season begins with the Cowboys beating up a bunch of mediocre teams during the regular season, the fans start loudly proclaiming how they're going to win the Super Bowl, the Cowboys choke in the playoffs, and the cycle begins anew the next season.
• "I'm going in, bitch."^ExplanationDie-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan EDP445 is known for being a Fountain of Memes among NFL fans thanks to his rants regarding his beloved Eagles, his criticisms of the team's decisions and for inadvertantly admitting to being a pedophile on camera. After a blowout loss to the Cardinals that season, EDP would don gear and say he would play for the team for free (Video is NSFW). Fans of struggling teams, especially teams who are known to be Butt Monkeys, would repost the part of the video whenever their team keeps losing in humiliating fashion.
• Washington Football Team^ExplanationThe NFL franchise in Washington D.C., who were previously known as the Washington Redskins, were tentatively named the "Washington Football Team" starting on July 23, 2020. Thanks to how generic the teams' tentative name is, many people such as LeBron James and free agent wide receiver Dez Bryant ridiculed the franchise for this decision. Other people have made jokes on how bland and ridiculous the team's new (temporary) name is, such as having a star player being named "Firstname Lastname".
• Odell Beckham Jr.'s bizarre fetish^ExplanationDuring a Thots Next Door podcast, Instagram model Erica Early claims that Odell Beckham Jr. likes to be pooped on, which the Browns wide receiver would later deny. This brought in a bunch of memes poking fun at this alleged fetish.
  • No. 2 receiver^ExplanationA common joke regarding the situation, as a "number 2" is referred to as taking a dump, allowing people to joke that OBJ was really the Browns' number 2 receiver.
  • "So that's why OBJ was traded to the Browns".
• GPODAWUND^ExplanationThe "Dawg Pound" is the bleacher section within Cleveland Browns Stadium, and also the name of the most passionate members of the Browns' fanbase. During a 2016 game against the New York Jets, Browns fans sitting in the Dawg Pound section attempted a banner stunt with the three-piece banner reading "This is the DAWG POUND". However, said banner pieces were out of order, with the resulting banner reading "This is the GPODAWUND".
• "GET FUCKING SET!"^ExplanationIn the 2017 matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Tampa, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan yells at wide receiver Mohamed Sanu to get in formation and the ESPN broadcast crew picks up Ryan's Atomic F-Bomb.
• Worst 11-0 team ever^ExplanationThe Pittsburgh Steelers had strong start to the 2020 season, going 11-0 in the first twelve weeks. However, they were ridiculed for having an easy schedule and were accused of having the refs helping them out, thus being considered "overrated". This only escalated after the Steelers would go on to lose five of their last six games including their playoff game against the Browns.
  • Losing? Never heard of her.^ExplanationA tweet made by Steelers rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool after the team beat the Ravens that would further extend their winning streak. Over a month later, however, the Steelers would suffer a late-season implosion that would culminate in an embarrassing Wild Card playoff round loss to the Browns, which caused Claypool's tweet to resurface in reference to it not aging well.
  • The Browns is the Browns (sic) ^ExplanationA comment made by Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster about the Cleveland Browns, who had been a long-suffering franchise prior to clinching a playoff berth, referring them as the same Browns team that he is used to. It came to bite him, as the Steelers would end up losing to the Browns in the Wild Card game. Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield would later quote JuJu after leading his team to the playoff win.
  • Corvette Corvette^ExplanationJuJu Smith-Schuster is known for his presence on TikTok, thanks in part to his Corvette dance, which would later lead into his teammates doing TikTok dances as well. He would also dance on other teams' logos in pregame warmups (one in Cincinnati led to getting clobbered by a defender immediately as he tried to catch a pass). During the Steelers' late-season collapse, many people would poke fun at JuJu by referencing videos of people dancing while crying after a Steelers loss. This culminated after the Steelers' playoff loss to the Browns, where the Browns players would troll him by doing the Corvette dance.
• NVP! NVP!^ExplanationStarting in 2020, Nickelodeon took on expanded NFL coverage to help introduce kids to the game of football, with a weekly recap show, NFL SlimeTime, and even its own simulcast of one wild card playoff game per season. Normally, the Nickelodeon Valuable Player, or NVP, is SlimeTime's version of a regular weekly award, and the winning player gets a Nickelodeon blimp trophy and a customary sliming from his teammates. However, Nick's Wild Card game also gets its own NVP, which, unlike the others, is determined via a live online fan vote. So naturally, all the adult fans who watch the Nick broadcast have made it an annual tradition to stuff the ballot box for the losing team's quarterback, turning the playoff NVP into an ironic award. By the 2022 Christmas broadcast however, Nick had wisened up to this, as the only options were Los Angeles Rams players.
• I Still Own You!^ExplanationThe October 17 matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears included Aaron Rodgers yelling this toward Chicago fans after scoring a rushing touchdown - after one fan (according to Rodgers) flashed a double bird The whole line: "I will always fucking own you. I still own you! I still Own you!" Cue I Still Own You" t-shirts and viral images the next day.
• The Coin (2021) ^ExplanationBefore the start of the 2021 NFL season, a fan decided the winner of every game by the flip of a coin. While it ended up failing for 31 of the teams early on, there was one team that it guessed correctly for 11 straight weeks: the Las Vegas Raiders. NFL fans came to view it as a god-like entity of the Raiders until it finally guessed wrong in the 12th game against the Washington Football Team, though it got games 13 through 16 correct. It was wrong again in the final game against the Los Angeles Chargers, but the end result was a correct prediction of a 10-7 record and a playoff berth.
  • The Coin (2022) ^ExplanationThe coin meme makes a return the following year. Only this time around, it's for the New York Jets. However, it only guessed the Jets' wins and losses correctly for 10 straight weeks, as the Jets would ultimately finish 7-9 and miss the playoffs, instead of going to the AFC Championship.
• Mr. Big Chest^ExplanationAntonio Brown's self appointed nickname during an Instagram Live post in 2019, which has been endlessly mocked by fans and journalists alike for how dumb it sounds. The initials "MBC" have since become memetic in their own right, with many fans creating their own variations of the nickname any time Brown appears in the news.
• From Tom Grossi Comedy, "Kitty Goes Meow!"^note Grossi's series of NFL team's fanbases, when it reached the Cincinnati Bengals', depicted them as naive and innocent like a kindergartener for rooting for such a hapless team as the Bengals — at the time (2020) the team held the longest playoff win drought, having last won a playoff game in 1990 and had suffered eight consecutive playoff losses. Then in 2021 they rolled off an improbable playoff run all the way to Super Bowl LVI, turning it into a genuine, if still kind of silly, rallying cry.
• Burnt Toast/Apple Pack^ExplanationFollowing the Bengals' loss to the Rams in Super Bowl LVI, cornerback Eli Apple was absolutely ridiculed for his performance, particularly during the plays where he gave up two touchdowns including the game-winner. Given Apple's status as a trash talker, many fans and even several other players in the league roasted him through various means, with the most common nicknames given being "Burnt Toast" and "Apple Pack". Saints fans in particular saw Apple's humiliation as cathartic, given that he criticized the city of New Orleans, where he had played previously.
  • Cooper Kupp is Eli Apple's father^ExplanationBoth of Rams star wide receiver Cooper Kupp's touchdowns in Super Bowl LVI were against Eli Apple in coverage. Given how it was seen as a mismatch in Kupp's favor, there were jokes of him being Apple's father.
• $230 Million Guaranteed^ExplanationBecame a meme almost instantly as a means to poke fun at the Cleveland Browns the moment it was made official that Deshawn Watson, a talented quarterback completely shrouded in controversy due to sexual assault allegations against him from several dozen female masseuses, was still able to land a deal with the Browns that guarantees him at least 230 million dollars.
• Aaron Rodgers Looks like [X]^ExplanationThis is just a sample of the memes made off the slick-back/stoic Aaron Rodgers of 2022 and his tired demeanor went viral quickly on the NFL Memes page of Facebook.
• Russell Wilson became a huge source for memes later in his quarterback career when he left the Seattle Seahawks to join the Denver Broncos.
  • Let Russ Cook ^ExplanationOriginally used on Twitter in 2019 as a rallying cry to support then-Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, essentially meaning "Let Russ be Russ and do his own thing." Wilson liked it enough that he filed for a trademark on the phrase. After he was traded to the Denver Broncos after the 2021 season, signed a huge new contract with the Broncos, and severely regressed in 2022, it turned into an ironic commentary on said regression.
  • That's not what he wanted to cook! ^ExplanationOn Christmas Day 2022, CBS extended its Nickelodeon NFL simulcasts to regular-season games for the first time, airing the game between the Broncos and the also-disappointing Los Angeles Rams. The Nickelodeon simulcast featured Patrick Star from SpongeBob SquarePants on commentary alongside the CBS announcing team. When Wilson threw an interception in the first quarter of what ended up as a 51–14 Rams blowout, Patrick uttered this phrase, which instantly became a metaphor for Wilson's regression.
  • Let's Ride! ^ExplanationThis immediately became a joke Character Catchphrase for Russell as if he says it all the time after he says "Broncos Country, Let's Ride!" one time in a 2022 video. People rolled with it so much that after his Broncos stint went up in smoke, and he joined the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024, the catchphrase switches to something associated to the Steelers, like "Let's Forge!" or "Let's Steel!"
• "Giving him the business"^ExplanationIn a 1986 game between the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills, referee Ben Dreith famously called an unnecessary roughness penalty against the Jets as "giving him the business". NCAA referee Ron Cherry would later use the call himself in a 2007 game between the University of Maryland and North Carolina State. Dreith famously misidentified the culprit during his call (having named Mark Gastineau as the culprit when it was actually Marty Lyons).

  Dreith's call: There's a personal foul, on number 99 of the defense^note the actual culprit, Marty Lyons, wore 93; after he tackled the quarterback, he's giving him the business down there, that's a fifteen-yard penalty!

  Cherry's call: Personal foul, 69, offense. He was giving him the business.

• The culture is actually damn good.^ExplanationThen Washington Redskins team president Bruce Allen in response to accusations of sexual assault and an overall toxic work environment in the organization. Naturally, people didn't buy this and memed it every time new information of the scandal emerged.
• Toilet Bowl^ExplanationA common Fan Nickname for American Football games that go down between two lousy teams.
  • Or, if you are a UrinatingTree fan, "Tank Bowl."^ExplanationPro leagues in North America use a selection system, colloquially called the draft, for signing talented young players when they first become eligible in order to prevent massive arms races between teams via checkbook. In general, to promote competitive balance teams with the worst records the previous year are given priority to select and sign the most promising players. This does give teams who already have bad records an incentive to Throw The Fight by losing games for better draft picks, whether or not they actually do — colloquially it's known as "tanking".
• 35-3 ^ExplanationThe original insane comeback that occurred in the 1992 playoffs Wild Card game between the Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills. The Oilers blew a 32 point lead to allow the Bills to come back and win in overtime. The game has been dubbed as "The Comeback."
• 28-3 ^ExplanationIn Super Bowl LI, the Atlanta Falcons blew a 25 point lead over the Patriots despite having dominated the first two-thirds of the game. Aside from being one of the most infamous chokes in sports history, the game immediately became a Shocking Defeat Legacy for the Falcons, who swiftly gained a reputation for managing to lose games they should've won. You can expect the score to be brought up any time a team gains a 25-point lead as a reminder that the lead is not safe, especially if the Falcons are the team in question. Often gets combined with the "Never forget Team X blew an X point lead" meme.
• 33-0 ^ExplanationSimilar to the previous meme, the Minnesota Vikings during the 2022 regular season managed to pull off an insane comeback after starting off down 33-points against the Indianapolis Colts. It's up there as one of the biggest chokes of all time, and even has a Wikipedia page dedicated to it.
• 2023 NFL Draft
  • Mayo in coffee || Mayo-Man ^ExplanationTennessee Titans QB Will Levis, who previously played for the Kentucky Wildcats in college, is known for putting mayonnaise in his coffee, as well as eating bananas with a peel on (though he apparently did so only as a joke), which went viral leading up to the 2023 NFL Draft. When he missed out on being selected in the first round despite being widely considered by draft analysts to be a top 10 pick or even the first QB of the board, some joked or even unironically believed his bizarre food taste was the reason he wasn't picked early.
  • Anthony Richardson's younger brother's voice^ExplanationThe younger brother of Indianapolis Colts QB Anthony Richardson went viral for having a surprisingly deep voice despite being 13-years old.
• "Nine mistakes were made ahead of me"^ExplanationSaid by quarterback Josh Rosen moments after the Arizona Cardinals picked him at #10 in the 2018 NFL Draft. This line has since become a huge form of mockery towards Rosen after he turned out to be one of the biggest quarterback busts ever seen in the NFL. Not helping is that most of the nine draft picks that went ahead of him went on to have much better careers. Six of which have been selected as Pro Bowlers.
• "DIGGS! SIDELINE! TOUCHDOWN! UNBELIEVABLE!"^ExplanationIn the final seconds of the 2017 playoffs matchup between the Viking and Saints, Vikings wide-receiver, Stefon Diggs, manages to pull off an extremely improbable game winning touchdown that went for 61 yards. The mentioned quote is Joe Buck's infamous sportscaster narration during the play.
• StEeLeRs GoInG tO tHe SuPeR bOwL!!!^ExplanationA Running Gag quote from Steelers fan UrinatingTree any time it looks like the Steelers are doing good, or pull off some bullshit miracle to win the game and potentially make it to the playoffs. This is especially the case with the latter.
• Aaron Rodgers Jets Highlights ^ExplanationDue to Rodgers suffering a season ending Achilles injury just 4 plays into the first game of the season, this meme shot up instantly to "show off" the little time that Rodgers had playing for the Jets. The most common highlight, and his only highlight, is Rodgers introducing himself on the field by carrying out the American Flag to kick off the first Monday Night football game.
• The "Brotherly Shove" Play ^ExplanationA short-yardage play commonly used by the Eagles that gets on everyones' nerves due to how successful it is to get the one needed yard. Basically, when the ball is snapped, everyone on the offensive line pushes forward while two runningbacks push behind the quarterback.
• The Curse of the Giants Boat Picture◊ ^ExplanationA picture consisting of several New York Giants players goofing off on a boat in Miami days before they're about to play a critical 2016 Wildcard playoff game against the Green Bay Packers. They ended up getting destroyed in the game 38-13, which everyone mocked the Giants as a team who chose to fool around rather than prepare for the game. The picture has since become viewed as a curse having been placed on the Giants since the team for the most part has been struggling ever since the boat picture first appeared.
• No Fun League ^ExplanationUsually brought up any time the NFL does something that the fans believe is taking the fun out of the game. Particularly, penalizing and fining players for "taunts" and "over-celebrations" that don't appear negative in any way.
• "I'm talking to America here." ^ExplanationDuring the 2023 regular season game between the Lions and Seahawks, the Seahawks' QB, Geno Smith, tries to interrupt referee Alex Kemp during a penalty announcement. Not liking the interruption, Kemp's heard on the mic telling Smith that he's talking to America. The line immediately went viral over the internet afterwards, and is fondly looked back on as a great ref moment.
• The Manning Face ^ExplanationAn iconic picture of Peyton Manning that's usually used for internet trolling. Someone asks for a picture of a certain event or incident? Another person would bring up a link that leads them to the Manning Face instead.
• Days of our Steelers ^ExplanationOver the years, many fans can't help but notice the amount of drama that comes from the Pittsburgh Steelers. This was brought to light by a Steeler fan, UrinatingTree, where there was so much drama going on with the team in 2018 that he was able to make an almost two hour long compilation video detailing all the drama. Particularly from the team's three "Killer B's," Ben Roethlisberger, Le'Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown. There's been some more Steeler drama since then. Particularly amongst the later wide receivers they drafted. Hence, the WR diva meme right below this. However, nothing will ever quite match the amount of drama that the Steelers dished out in 2018.
  • Steeler WR Divas ^ExplanationThe Steeler drama from the wide receivers they draft has been especially noteworthy. Whether it's Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson, you name it. Their wide receivers are almost always stirring up trouble. It's to the point that fans believe that the Steelers are cursed to have their wide receivers always end up as divas.
• Antonio Brown's Long List of Drama ^ExplanationThe amount of trouble that the wide-receiver, Antonio Brown, has stirred up over the years is nothing short of legendary. It makes for such a Long List that users of Reddit have continued to add to it every time Brown does something questionable that makes the news.
• The Curse Wheel ^ExplanationCreated by Broncos fan, Brandon Perna, the Curse Wheel is a power rankings bit on his Youtube channel where each week, he will spin a "curse wheel" to randomly curse one of the teams that he ranked in the top-10. Perna's Curse Wheel became really notable in 2023 with it correctly guessing many top-10 losses along with some of the cursed teams receiving devastating injuries, even if they won.
• Flacco is elite. || Elite Dragon ^ExplanationDue to Joe Flacco being a quarterback who's been mediocre for the most part other than several streaks of brilliance, such as the 2012 Super Bowl run, many like to joke about Flacco's "elite" status in anything that's related to him. It's to the point that people compare him to a sleeping dragon that wakes up every once in a while.
• Double Doink ^ExplanationIn a 2018 NFC Wild Card game with the Chicago Bears hosting the then-defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, the Bears were trailing by one point with 10 seconds left in the game. The Bears' Cody Parkey attempted a 43-yard game-winning field goal that was tipped by the Eagles' Treyvon Hester, which changed the ball's trajectory, causing the ball to hit the left upright, then the crossbar, before falling in the endzone. NBC's Cris Collinsworth remarked that "The Bears' season's gonna end on a double doink". To rub salt into Parkey's wound, his first kick would've been good had the Eagles' head coach Doug Pederson not called timeout to ice the kicker.
• Travis Kelce yelling at Andy Reid. ^ExplanationA photograph of, well, Travis Kelce yelling at Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid during Super Bowl LVIII. Cue people captioning said picture to give Kelce various things to yell at Reid.
• "All-In" my ass. ^ExplanationIn January 2024, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, made a vow that they're going to go "all-in" for next season, which had many people wondering what he meant by that. The most obvious case being that the Cowboys were going to load up the roster like crazy to win the 2024 season's Super Bowl. The 2024 March free-agency then comes around only for the Cowboys to end up being the one team that barely made any new roster changes worthy enough to be mentioned, which led to many fans cracking jokes about the Cowboys' supposed "all-in" strategy
• New York Ravens / Ravens North ^ExplanationA Fan Nickname that people sometimes call the New York Jets due to how often they trade for or sign free-agents that came from the Baltimore Ravens.
  • Los Angeles Ravens / West Coast Ravens ^ExplanationThis Fan Nickname for the Los Angeles Chargers really picked up steam in the 2024 off-season due to them bringing in Jim Harbaugh (Ravens coach John Harbaugh's brother) to be their new head coach, along with signing former Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman, and even brought in two noteworthy former Ravens running-backs in Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins.

Association Football/Soccer

• Mickey Mouse cup. ^ExplanationThis originally was British soccer slang referring to weak soccer competitions, but it exploded in popularity in other sports fandoms after the 2020 NBA playoffs literally took place in Disney World due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• They think it's all over. It is now!
  • The Chinese secret police have shot them!
• Chilean soccer player Marcelo Salas? He is THE MATADOOOOOOOR!
  • "ME PONGO DE PIE, ME PONGO DE PIE, ME PONGO DEEEE PIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"^note Translation: "I stand on my feet, I stand on my feet, I STAND ON MY FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!" It's by Chilean sports commentator Pedro Carcuro, who said it first to celebrate Marco Tardelli's awesome goal in the Italy vs. West Germany match in the 1982 World Cup.
• HARRY KANE IS A _______-SEASON WONDER!^ExplanationAfter his breakout 2014/15 season, during which he scored 21 league goals and 31 overall, many fans and media hastily predicted that Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane would be a "one-season wonder", a term for someone who has one outstanding year and is average for the rest of their career. He proved that dead wrong the next season, leading the Premier League in goals, and then did it again the season after. As of this writing he's scored 20 league goals for the fourth consecutive season and is again leading the league in scoring. Use of the phrase is now meant to mock anyone who predicted him to be a one-season wonder, with the blank being filled in with how many seasons he's been playing. Variants such as "One career wonder" or "One lifetime wonder" also are used to mock those who wrote off Kane prematurely.
  • Hurri-Kane Warning/"Yer a wizard, Harry!"^ExplanationRelated to the rise of Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane starting in 2014/15, which has been nothing short of remarkable. He began the season as third-choice striker, but his excellent play in cup/European competitions led to him getting league opportunities. He made the most of it, entering the collective consciousness in a New Year's Day match against league leaders Chelsea, where he scored two goals, assisted on one, and won a penalty for Spurs, leading them to a 5-3 victory and humiliating Chelsea's defense almost single-handedly. The resulting performance led to the two phrases above being used frequently, especially on Twitter. He's continued to bang in goals since then, leading to their spread.
• _______ destituido, suena Míchel.^ExplanationLoosely translated as "________ sacked, Míchel's name rings". This one is particularly popular in Spain and refers to Spanish player-turned-coach Míchel, who at a point would be reported as a candidate to replace pretty much any La Liga coach who had just been sacked. It reached the point where, when Míchel himself is sacked, the main candidate to replace him will be... exactly, Míchel.
• "Cenas lamentáveis!"^note Translation: "Deplorable scenes!". Catchphrase by the Brazilian media regarding football fights, whether between players, between supporters, or both when there's a pitch invasion.
• Diego Armando Maradona tells his critics/bashers/whatever: ¡QUE LA SIGAN CHUPANDO!^translation"They can keep sucking it!" (i.e., his dick.)
• For US soccer fans: Dos a Cero ^ExplanationOver four consecutive (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014) World Cup qualifying cycles, the Mexican national team played their arch-rival, the United States, at the venue now known as Historic Crew Stadium (home to the Columbus Crew before it moved to the nearby Lower.com Field in 2021), and all four times, the US won 2-0. Furthermore, a key World Cup match in the 2002 tournament also ended in a 2-0 victory for the US over Mexico. Thus "Dos a Cero" ("Two to Zero" in Spanish) has become a common taunt used by US fans against Mexico during World Cup qualifying.
• "CRUZADOS SEGUNDONES!"^ExplanationThe Chilean soccer club Universidad Católica, nicknamed "Los Cruzados" for its uniforms, finished forty-four times as second place in the Chilean championship and couldn't win until April 2016. The anti-fans love to point out the team's inability to go past second place whenever they can.
• Le Cut Inside Man (sometimes Le Cut Inside And Shoot Man) is a nickname that /sp/ gave Arjen Robben in the build-up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup due to him constantly cutting inside from the right and scoring, and being so good at it that opposing defenders can't stop him even when they know exactly what he's going to do. Nicknames in similar forms, both complimentary and insulting ones, have been given to others as well.
• Lifelong^ExplanationDuring Leicester City's title winning 2015/16 season, some people in /sp/ took to calling themselves "lifelong" supporters since either the team or one of its players performed well at some point e.g. "lifelong since Jamie Vardy broke the Premier League record (of scoring in consecutive matches)/since that 3-1 win (away at Manchester City)/since Eden Hazard scored that goal (to end Tottenham's chances of catching up with Leicester)/etc", even though it was clearly all tongue-in-cheek as they were in awe of what Leicester had achieved (some actual lifelong fans were not amused). A clip of an actual lifelong fan reduced to tears when talking about his team's run to former player Robbie Savage served to propagate this behaviour, with the "lifelongs" using snippets of the speech like "Wear the fox, wear the blue". Since then, it has been used for other teams who perform unexpectedly well; some "lifelongs" have even proclaimed that they have "switched" allegiances to become "lifelong" fans of other teams.
• Several Newcastle United coaches have produced meme-worthy lines, albeit not always for the right reasons...
  • "I will love it if we beat them. Absolutely love it."^Explanation(Kevin Keegan in a radio interview, in response to Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson's claims that other teams upped their game when facing his side, and Newcastle had only led the table for so much of the season because other teams gave them an easier time. Newcastle subsequently threw away their lead in spectacular fashion, and Manchester United won the league fairly comfortably.)
  • "I'm bringing sexy football to Tyneside."^Explanation(Ruud Gullit shortly after his appointment, in response to criticism of the negative tactics used by previous coach Kenny Dalglish. Despite his promise, the season essentially ended up being a carbon-copy of the previous season under Dalglish, and Gullit called it quits a few weeks into the following season, with Newcastle second-bottom)
  • "Which one of you is Simon Bird? [...] You're a cunt."^Explanation(Joe Kinnear, to one of several assembled journalists who ridiculed his appointment as {supposedly} temporary manager in late 2008, with the team deep in relegation trouble. Kinnear proceeded to drop another Cluster F-Bomb or twenty during the course of his first press conference)
  • "I still think I'm the best coach in the Premier League."^Explanation(John Carver, having taken over as coach near the end of 2014 with Newcastle comfortably in mid-table, said this after he only managed to win 2 of the next 15 games. Newcastle stayed up that season after winning their final game, though other results meant they would have stayed up regardless of the result)
• IT'S COMING HOME!^ExplanationThe refrain of “Three Lions ‘96” by Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds, which was referring to the fact that England were hosting a major football tournament for the first time in (at the time) 30 years, therefore football was coming back to it’s spiritual home, was adopted as a catchphrase and a chant by English fans as soon as the song was released, however it really took off after a string of surprisingly good performances by England's national football team in the 2018 World Cup under ex-Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate, after many years of them being the butt of many jokes due to the team's lack of cohesiveness and teamwork, which brought them numerous humiliations in the international stage despite looking almost always strong on paper. In fact, the Lions have even broken one of their biggest taboos by beating Colombia in the round of 16, on penalties.
  • Coming home status: [x] not ^ExplanationExcept tournament dark horse Croatia begged to differ and eliminated England in the semifinals.
  • You’re going home… ^Explanation The Welsh fans were chanting this back at English fans when they started singing “It’s coming home,” during their clash at Euro 2016
  • It’s coming, Rome ^ExplanationA play on words of the above “It’s coming home,“ originally used as a headline by a British Newspaper referring to the fact that that England had to play one of their Euro 2020 matches in Rome, which was then adopted by Italian fans throughout the rest of the tournament. When Italy eventually won the final match over England (in Wembley Stadium), Italian center back Leonardo Bonucci shouted "It's coming to Rome!!!" into the television cameras.
  • It's home ^ExplanationThe overjoyed reaction when England won the 2022 Women's European Championship, their first major trophy at senior level since 1966. It got bonus points for the final being at Wembley, against Germany.
• Mouyes ^ExplanationDavid Moyes' dismal season in charge of Manchester United in 2013-14 led to many ">Moyes" posts throughout the season, from start to end. In the meantime, Chelsea's Jose Mourinho had a relatively poor start. Someone on /sp/ noticed a similarity with their names, and started posting ">Mouyes" when Chelsea had a poor result. Soon, Mouyes became a nickname for Mourinho. The meme went relatively dormant in 2014-15 when Chelsea won the league, but came back in full force in 2015-16 when Mourinho had a nightmare season, with Chelsea languishing near the relegation zone, before getting sacked.
• Anything said by Brendan Rodgers, former manager for Liverpool. From "judge me in 3 years"^NoteSaid in 2012. In the 2015 season alone, LFC lost Luis Suárez, finished 6th, lost 6-1 to Stoke at a home game in star player Steven Gerrard's last match, and Rodgers himself was dismissed early next season, less than five months later. to "When you’ve got the ball 65-70% of the time, it’s a football death for the other team"^NoteLiverpool would proceed to either draw or lose games where they had over 65% possession to "It's not difficult to coach to just get 10 players right on your 18-yard box and it is difficult to break through" ^NoteSaid after a 0-2 home loss to Chelsea in April 2014 that effectively handed Man City the advantage in that season's title race. Liverpool would continue to struggle defensively throughout his stint, including a 3-3 draw at Crystal Palace in their next match, where they conceded three goals after going 3-0 up, all but killing off their title hopes that season. Often shortened to "It's not difficult to coach to play defensive" which in turn is often shortened to "Defending is easy" to "We won't do a Tottenham"^NoteSaid after the 2014 season, where Tottenham finished 6th. Come next year, Liverpool finished 6th, it comes as no surprise that Brendan Rodgers is a symbol of mockery for both Liverpool fans and haters.
  • I AM FUCKING HORRIBLE^ExplanationA basic summary
• Starting with the 2011 Women's World Cup, apparently every time a football tournament comes down between the United States and Japan there will be a flood of Pearl Harbor jokes, sometimes extended to the atom bombings as well. (For instance, once Carli Lloyd scored a hat trick in less than 15 minutes during the 2015 final, with the last goal being a ridiculous shot from the midfield stripe, people were quick to call her "Enola Gay".)
• ¡Y Funes Mori lo erró!^ExplanationRogelio Funes Mori is an Argentine striker who first played at River Plate, and quickly became infamous for his incredibly bad accuracy when it came to scoring goals, how often he got caught offside and the amount of matches he played despite the aforementioned points. As a result, he ended being a laughing stock for football fans in Argentina.
• In the 2010 World Cup:
  • In every single about the Cup thread on 4chan: BRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.^ExplanationIn South Africa, a plastic horn called the vuvuzela is strongly associated with football, and played at every soccer match in support. It probably would have stayed there... if not for the World Cup there exposing everyone to the weird, droning noise of the thing. YouTube even joined in on the fun, with a soccer ball icon on videos that, when clicked, caused vuvuzela... sounds to play.
  • Also, anything related to Paul the Octopus and his "predictions". Namely, EVERY SINGLE ONE being correct...
    Encyclopedia Dramatica: It is a known fact that Paul makes Vegas bookies shit bricks.
  • On the other side of the luck spectrum, Mick Jagger became The Jinx of the Cup, due to his presence during USA, England, and Brazil defeats (and a network discovered he was also in England's eliminations in 1998 and 2006). 2014 had him strike back, with support for England, Italy and Portugal on tour eliminating all three on the group stage, and him attending the semifinal Brazil-Germany resulted in a German 7-1 massacre. In between, Brazilians making montages or cardboard cutouts of Jagger wearing the rival team's jersey became common.
• Brazil had many regarding The World Cup:
  • After the 2010 elimination two jokes became common: Felipe Melo's Unnecessary Roughness, and since the coach is Dunga - that country's name for Dopey - the soundtrack for the match being "Heigh Ho" ("Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, It's home from work we go...".)
  • The four years leading to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil had "Imagine on the Cup!" becoming a common phrase in discussion\press, given problems with building\reforming the stadia and infrastructure, overall corruption regarding preparation, embarrassing moments (the logo, the mascot's name), and the worst aspects of the country emerging in-between. Related, once protests broke out in 2013, the angry mob adopted "There Won't Be A Cup" as their motto (no, they couldn't stop it).
  • During the Cup, after many dazzling games with plenty of goals, Iran-Nigeria was a mind-numbingly boring game with barely any attacking and a 0-0 result. Thus that game became both The Scrappy of the tournament and the negative benchmark to which later matches would be compared: any game where teams took long to score, or after an early goal became a dull kickabout, would earn comparisons to Iran-Nigeria. The game even got some "love" during the days without any matches ("Give me a game, even a rerun of Iran-Nigeria!") and after the Cup was over ("I miss Iran-Nigeria!" during equally "exciting" games of the Brazilian second division).
  • The 2014 semifinal, Germany 7-1 Brazil, ended the hosts' campaign in a humiliating manner. And afterwards the Shocking Defeat Legacy kicked in, with Brazilians reacting with demeaning things their country did with "Germany goal!" (Gol da Alemanha), "7-1 wasn't enough!" ("7-1 foi pouco!") or "Todo dia um 7-1 diferente!" ("every day a different 7-1!") - and given afterwards Brazil started suffering with economic crisis and political scandals, and the team that took said beating was not showing any signs of progress, they had plenty of reasons to use those phrases!
  • The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro had Brazilians bring back the 7-1 memories (especially when medals were lost to Germany - or in the football tournament's case, when Brazil beat Germany in the final to get the gold) and see many athletes suffer drawbacks. Given the press usually started social media reports of defeats with "Não deu pro Brasil" ("It wasn't it for Brazil"), the phrase memed, either as a Berserk Button asking to use another phrase, or a sarcastic embrace, usually by the cynical.
  • The month prior to the following Olympics, the phrase "SE BUSCA RIVAL EN SUDAMÉRICA"^Translationin Spanish, language of the would-be rivals, "Looking For Rival In South America"; apparently started with arch-enemy Argentina taunting caught on during the Copa América, and became a snowclone during the Games, usually replacing the last word with host city Tokyo. Also common were "at sea"\"in Tokyo's waters" after golds on surfing, sailing and marathon swimming, and "SE BUSCA JUIZ IMPARCIAL\HONESTO EM TÓQUIO"^Translationin Portuguese, "Looking for Honest\Impartial Ref in Tokyo" after many Brazilian athletes were screwed over by questionable refereeing decisions.
• SE BUSCA RIVAL DIGNO PARA DERBI DECENTE^ExplanationIn a similar vein to the "SE BUSCA RIVAL EN SUDAMÉRICA" mentioned above, this phrase, Spanish for "Worthy Rival Wanted for a Decent Derby", came from a banner displayed by Real Madrid fans during a league match against cross-town rivals Atlético de Madrid, at a time where the latter were suffering a lengthy losing streak against the former. Was later cited as an Ironic Echo when Atlético managed to break said losing streak.
• Nicklas Bendtner is a Danish striker who was best known for his long tenure at Arsenal FC in the English Premier League. When he was breaking through in around 2009, he proclaimed that he would be the top scorer in the EPL within a couple of months. However, his career declined notably from 2011 (he only scored 2 premier league goals, both away from home, in 2010-11, and sometimes didn’t even make match day squads at the end of what was widely expected to be the season where he made it big, after his good form at the end of the previous one), and he never had any real success again, only scoring double figures for one more team after the Gunners - Norwegian side Rosenborg, where he was a one season wonder - and retired in 2020, aged just 32. People started making jokes for why he didn't do that, such as that he was purposefully holding back. It slowly evolved into him being "The Greatest Striker That Ever Lived" (or TGSTEL), and he became known as Lord Bendtner. Now, he's essentially become the Chuck Norris of football.
  • Some examples.
    • "Bendtner has scored more goals for Denmark than Messi and Ronaldo combined. Only haters will say Messi is Argentine, and Ronaldo is Portugese."
    • "Bendtner has more goals against Barcelona than Messi, Suarez, and Neymar put together. Only haters will say those three play for Barcelona."
    • "Haters? Lord has no haters."
    • The face you make when you meet your idol.◊
    • The◊ images◊ aren't slouches◊ in◊ this◊ department,◊ either.◊
  • A Danish gossip magazine bought Bendtner land that allowed him to use the title "Lord".
• "They'll be dancing in the streets of Raith tonight!"^ExplanationA remark made by a BBC commentator after Scottish football club Raith Rovers, who are actually based in the town of Kirkcaldy, earned a shock cup victory in the late 1960s. Variants of this phrase are often used to parody clubs who have names that in no way resemble the place they're actually from, most famously Welsh club Total Network Solutions (currently known as The New Saints)
• Jamie Vardy's having a party/Chat Shit Get Banged^ExplanationIn a similar manner to the above, these two phrases (the former created by Leicester fans in 2013 in honour of what late-blooming Leicester striker Jamie Vardy had achieved at that point, and the latter being a variation of "talk shit get hit" that Vardy posted on his Facebook page in 2012, and unearthed three years later) became popular in the 2015/16 season after Vardy went on a record 11-game scoring streak that propelled the unfancied Foxes to the top of the table and eventually led to the Foxes winning the Premier League. He and Kane were eventually locked in a two-horse race to be the league's top scorer for the season, which Kane eventually won.
• Marat Izmailov played for Benfica, Sporting and Porto, in Portugal... and unfortunately, across the ocean, a soap opera used a phonetically similar song, "Ex-My Love", for its theme tune. Jokes combining both became really popular.
• Come to Besiktas^ExplanationTurkish heavyweights Beşiktaş announced their signing of former Manchester City player Alvaro Negredo in 2017 with a very... Interesting video they posted on their Twitter.
• WILL GRIGG'S ON FIRE!!!YOUR DEFENSE IS TERRIFIED!!!^ExplanationNorthern Irish footballer Will Grigg had a breakthrough season with Wigan Athletic during their 2015-16 season, scoring 28 goals in 43 games in all competitions. In recognition of that, one Wigan fan, Sean Kennedy, uploaded a video of him singing Italian singer Gala's song "Freed from Desire", which he titled "Will Grigg's on Fire". Kennedy replaced the words "Freed from desire/Mind and senses purified" from the actual song into "Will Grigg's on fire/Your defense is terrified". Needless to say, the song quickly went viral, becoming a popular chant worldwide (especially in Grigg's home country, Northern Ireland), and saw extended use by Northern Irish fans during the Euro 2016 even though Grigg didn't play a single game during the Euros. Kennedy would later receive a free Wigan 2016-17 season ticket from Wigan's chairman David Sharpe as a reward for the massive success of the chant.
• Zinedine Zidane's headbutting of Marco Materazzi during the 2006 FIFA World Cup final. On top of being his last match, said match was being televised around the planet (it is, after all, the World Cup). Rather than being remembered as a great soccer player, he's now commonly associated with that incident; if you go to Google Images and look up "zidane", what's the first result you get? Besides the hero of Final Fantasy IX, that is.
  • Materazzi himself is known around the world for his violence. He even has Chuck Norris Facts about it: "Materazzi once broke an adversary's leg. Playing chess!"
• Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni became this following a legendary rant during his time at Bayern Munich. Phrases in broken German like "Spieler schwach wie Flasche leer" (players weak like bottle empty), "Struuunz! Was erlaube Strunz?" (How dare Strunz?) or "Ich habe fertig" (I am finish) are well-remembered even today.
• When both Manchester United and Manchester City were eliminated from the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League in the group stage on the same day (and later that season, again in the Round of 16 in the Europa League), posts mocking ">the city of Manchester" (with a ">" prefix, used for anyone who messes up) flooded 4chan's /sp/ board. When Bayern München and Bayer Leverkusen were both defeated in the first leg in the next stage (the former would go on to reach the final, while the latter would be eliminated after losing the second leg as well), this became ">the city of Bayer", despite the teams not being based in the same city. Since then, ">the city of X" been used for absolutely everything, especially things that aren't cities (such as ">the city of Arsenal" or ">the city of France", or even ">the city of Wenger"). Variants such as ">the shantytown of Miami", which became popular after the Heat fell apart against the Spurs in the 2014 NBA Finals, have also been used.
• >Torres ^ExplanationWhenever a player messes up during a match, it is common practice on 4chan to greentext their name in game threads using the > prefix, which is synonymous with ">the city of", as above. The single most popular target for this is former Chelsea striker Fernando Torres, who had a legendarily bad first season and a half at Chelsea, to the point where greentexting is synonymous with him.
• ¡¡ESTAMOS EN LA B!! ¡¡ESTAMOS EN LA B!!^ExplanationWhen the legendary Argentine football team River Plate were playing the second leg of their relegation tie, some guys decided to record the reactions of one of their family members, an especially hysterical fan, watching the TV. When the team conceded the goal that most likely meant their first relegation ever, he started screaming that, which means "We are in the B (series)". It's now commonly mocked every time a strong team is losing a match, even if it's completely pointless.
• Italian football player Mario Balotelli had an...interesting way of celebrating his second goal against Germany during Euro 2012. The image is extremely exploitable, leading to gems such as these.
• Bernd Schuster's "Es catalán. No hase falta disir nada más" (He's Catalan. There is no need to say anything else), awkward pronunciation included. That was his answer when he was asked about why the ref had had so many decisions against his team, Real Madrid. That line became gold when blaming any ref ever in Spain.
• "Jürgen Klinsmann! A great header! And he opens his account with a dive!" ^ExplanationIn his debut with Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur, Klinsmann scored a goal and celebrated by diving to the ground. In England, Klinsmann had a reputation for being a diver (pretending to be fouled), and he self-deprecatingly acknowledged this with his celebration. Since then, the Klinsmann Dive has become a common goal celebration, particularly among German players.
• Tim Howard can save anything!^ExplanationDuring the Round of 16 in the 2014 World Cup, the United States took on Belgium. Although the US eventually lost the match to Belgium 2-1 in extra time, their performance was mostly praised, particularly the goalie Tim Howard, who had a 50-year record of 16 saves during the game. Howard's exemplary performance as a goalkeeper gave rise to this meme, which depicts him, among other things, blocking the bullet that killed JFK, keeping Mufasa from falling to his death, blocking Hans's sword, catching Zoe Barnes from falling to her death and preventing Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction". Briefly, the Wikipedia page for the United States Secretary of Defense listed Howard as the incumbent.
• NO ERA PENAL!^ExplanationSpanish for "it wasn't a penalty". During the Round of 16 in the 2014 World Cup, Mexico were beating the Netherlands 1-0 with 2 minutes to go when the Dutch pulled a goal back. Deep into injury time, Arjen Robben was fouled in the penalty area, and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar converted the resulting penalty to put the Dutch through 2-1. The Mexican fans were furious, and immediately accused Robben of having dived. Robben later admitted that he had gone down too easily, but felt that it was still a penalty.
• THIS DOES NOT FUCKING SLIP NOW^ExplanationAfter Liverpool FC's victory over Manchester City, Steven Gerrard made a passionate speech to the rest of the team. In a later match against Chelsea, Steven Gerrard literally slipped while receiving a pass, allowing Ba to take the ball and score a goal unopposed, costing Liverpool the title. Liverpool's recent history of choking (such as them blowing a 3-0 lead to Crystal Palace) has seen detractors use the quote to mock Liverpool and Gerrard in particular.
  • STEVIE G, SENT OFF WHEN HE WANTS^ExplanationIn a 2015 game against Manchester United, Gerrard was sent on at the beginning of the second half. Less then a minute later, Gerrard stamps on a downed player and is given an immediate red card. /sp/, who are very firmly anti-Liverpool outside of a few vocal fans, had an absolute field day.
• You'll win nothing with kids.^ExplanationA famous statement made by pundit Alan Hansen after a youthful Manchester United side lost their opening game of the 1995/96 season. Became a major case of Never Live It Down for Hansen after United went on to win the double that year, but at the same time the meme arguably made Hansen's career, and he would later sometimes repeat the statement for ironic effect.
• Martin Tyler's famous "AGUEROOOOOOOO!" when Manchester City striker Sergio Agüero scored in the dying seconds of the final day of City's 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers to hand them the title on goal difference, after being tied with Manchester United on points.
• Bald fraud^ExplanationJosé Mourinho once claimed his arch-rival Pep Guardiola was bald because his job kept him in a constant state of stress. The phrase has exploded since then, and is often applied to Guardiola and his maniacal perfectionism and his stint at Barcelona being a Tough Act to Follow for him, as well has his perceived need to spend hundreds of millions of pounds at Manchester City (courtesy of owner Sheikh Mansour) to be able to dominate the Premier League. The phrase has since then been used to refer to bald people in football - be it players or managers - that get berated, whether or not they prove everyone wrong.
  • EXPOSED^ExplanationSame as above, except that it isn't just for bald people.
• Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger: "I did not see the incident." ^explanationRelated to Arsène Wenger's selective myopia. Wenger often is indignant when a player on his club commits a bad foul which leads to that player being sent off or conceding a penalty. Whenever he questions such a decision in the post-match interview, it's guaranteed that he'll claim confusion as to why such a decision was given, saying that he didn't see whatever it was that led to the decision against his club, no matter how blatant or visible the moment was. This has been widely mocked by nearly everyone who doesn't support Arsenal, and even some Arsenal supporters make fun of him for falling back on that. It eventually became an Ascended Meme, with Wenger quoting it during a skit in Sport Relief 2016.
• Boring James Milner.^ExplanationA Twitter account parodying Liverpool midfielder James Milner, who has a reputation as a dependable, hard-working, remarkably scandal-free midfielder. Milner is not only aware of the account, he thinks it's Actually Pretty Funny and has even read some of its tweets aloud.
• Lads, it's Tottenham.^ExplanationThis line comes from an infamous pep talk from Sir Alex Ferguson to his players during his spell at Manchester United before a match against Tottenham Hotspur, and is often used to poke fun at the Spurs's habit to pull off massive chokes, though it's also found use to tease other teams.
  • It's the history of the Tottenham.^ExplanationA separate meme to the above meme, but often used together with it is this quote originated from Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini. After Tottenham blew a 1-0 lead (and a 3-2 aggregate lead) during their last-16 Champions League match against Juventus in 2018, Chiellini (who plays for Juventus at the time) stated this line during his post-game interview to take a dig at Tottenham's lack of mental toughness to win big European matches.
• Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey has become a memetic walking Death Note thanks to several famous people dying shortly after he happened to score a goal. This coincidence was noticed in 2013 when Whitney Houston died, and when this meme seemed to have died in 2015, it returned in full force in January 2016 with David Bowie and Alan Rickman's deaths.
• You have a trash can for a heart.^ExplanationJuventus goalkeeper Gigi Buffon, now back at Juve after a season at Paris Saint-Germain, said this infamous line after being sent off in stoppage time during the final Champions League match of his first stint for the Italian club, the away leg of the quarter-finals against Real Madrid. The Spanish defending and eventual champions of the competition were awarded a controversial penalty in the last moments of the match while being 3-0 down, which was then scored moments later by Cristiano Ronaldo, kicking Juve out of the competition with a 4-3 aggregate score between the two legs. Buffon was well-known to be a mild-mannered and snarky individual, and coupled up with the fact that the line was directed towards game referee Michael Oliver - despite the infamous match-fixing scandal of 2006 that saw Juve relegated to Serie B, made this line quickly reach memetic status among football fans, and is often used in occasion of key episodes that happen at the end of an important match.
• BAILA COMO EL PAPU^ExplanationAtalanta striker and Argentine international Alejandro "Papu" Gomez collaborated with Italian football YouTubers Gli Autogol to make a summer song, titled "Baila Como El Papu" ("Dance Like Papu"). The music video instantly became viral in Italian football circles alongside the dance that came with it, and the hook is sometimes quoted whenever something good happens to the club where Papu currently plays, such as when Atalanta made the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time in their history in 2019.
• When Christian Eriksen scored against Stoke with his free-kick, Harry Kane lodged an appeal to claim the goal in a bid to catch up with Mohamed Salah (who was leading the race for the 2017-18 Premier League Golden Boot), even going to the extent of swearing on his daughter's life that he was the scorer as it glanced off his shoulder (replays showed it didn't). While Kane succeeded in his appeal, this resulted in him getting mercilessly mocked by other players and fans alike by having him claim all sorts of things, even things completely unrelated to football. Even Wembley Stadium's Twitter account got in on the act. And to top it off, he still failed to catch up to Salah, who would win the Golden Boot that season.
  PFA Chairman Ben Purkiss: Harry Kane is so prolific that he is able to score without touching the ball!
• "But can he do it on a cold, rainy night in Stoke?"^ExplanationAndy Gray tried to discredit Leo Messi's ability by questioning whether he could play at such a high level in the Premier League, especially in environments such as Stoke City. Although the meme was somewhat enjoyable while it lasted, it quickly became dead meme especially to those who actually pay attention to English football after Stoke City relegated to EFL Championship Division at the end of 2017-18 Premier League season by finishing 19th, failed to get promotion in their 2018-19 season, and in current 2019-20 season they got only 8 points, losing 11 of their first 15 matches, and possibly on their way into EFL League One.
  • "But can he do it in 38 seconds?" started circulating after Steven Gerrard's quick red card against Manchester United.
  • "We want our cold nights in Stoke!"^ExplanationThe meme got a brief new life during the fan protests against the Super League project spearheaded, among others, by the owners of the Premier League's "Big Six" (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham), with the cold nights in Stoke as a symbol of the football culture fans felt the Super League was a threat to.
• Big Cock Divock / Big Dick Origi / King Divock Origi^ExplanationDivock Origi scored three goals with only three shots on goal (in other words, 100 percent accuracy) during Liverpool's 2018-2019 Champions League run. Two of his goals were scored against Barcelona when Liverpool were trailing 0-3 from the first leg and the remaining one was the decisive goal in the final which buried any chance for Tottenham Hotspur to make a comeback. What makes it both funny and awesome is that no one in 2018, not even the most hardcore Liverpool fans with wild imagination would think that Origi could stay relevant, let alone help their team winning UEFA Champions League tournament by eliminating Messi's Barcelona in the semifinal. With those three goals mentioned above, Divock Origi had changed his own status from a "somewhat decent fella but not good enough" into "One of Liverpool Legends". Some fans even demanded that Liverpool must build a statue of Divock Origi and give him lifetime contract. After UEFA's harsh warning to a couple of supporters carrying "Big Cock Divock" banner in 2020, all "Big Cock Divock" or "Big Dick Origi" memes have become Discredited Meme, meanwhile calling Divock as "King" or "Lord" is still acceptable.
  • Corner taken quickly... ORIGI!!^ExplanationRelated to above meme, when Liverpool tied with Barcelona on 3-3 aggregate, Liverpool got a corner kick at 79th minute. Trent Alexander-Arnold was moving away from the corner as it looked like he was to let Xherdan Shaqiri take it. Trent, who saw Origi inside Barcelona's penalty area unmarked, did a 180 turn and quickly played the ball in to the box, where Origi easily kicked the ball for the fourth goal. Nobody saw it coming, no Barcelona players were on to Origi and before goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen could react properly, the ball had already crossed the goal line. Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi's expression as Liverpool players celebrated the winning goal had said it all.
• Zlatan Ibrahimović is the Chuck Norris version of football community, and for a reason. He was (and probably still is) one of the flashiest strikers in the world who managed to win top division league trophies in several different countries such as Italy, Spain, and France, and once famously reacted to the England keeper's botched headed clearance not by controlling the ball and trying to catch him off guard with a conventional shot, or crossing it for another player, but instead scoring a 30-yard overhead kick. However, age seems to be a hindrance to his legacy. He also claimed that he had conquered Premier League and English football in general, despite never winning that particular trophy.^note Zlatan helped Manchester United win the UEFA Europa League, League Cup, and FA Community Shield in the 2016-17 season, but his team finished sixth in the Premier League. His second season was cut short due to injury and falling out with José Mourinho's stale tactics, which saw him agreeing to move to Major League Soccer. After the 2019 MLS season, he returned to Europe with Milan. Despite this, Zlatan still considers himself as one of the big guys in the football world, and saying that he was ready if Manchester United ever need his help again. Whether Zlatan made this statement because he truly believed he could conquer the Premier League again (which he never had done in the first place) or just to feed all the meme creators in football community is up to debate.
  • He has started leaning into his reputation as a living meme, stating on Twitter in September 2020, "I tested negative to Covid yesterday and positive today. No symptoms what so ever. Covid had the courage to challenge me. Bad idea." More than one tweet responded, 'Zlatan didn't get Covid, Covid got Zlatan', He then joined a Covid information campaign a month later in perhaps the most Zlatan way possible, "The virus challenged me and I won. But you are not Zlatan, don't challenge the virus. Use your head, respect the rules: distance and mask, always. We'll win!"
• Pazdan-Man/One Punch Pazdan^ExplanationAfter Michał Pazdan's stunning performance during Euro 2016, someone edited a clip of Saitama's hero exam from One Punch Man with some Fun with Subtitles as "Pazdan's training", exploiting Pazdan's physical similarity to Saitama.
• Glory stealing John Terry ^ExplanationDuring the 2011-12 season, Chelsea reached the UEFA Champions League final. Unfortunately, Chelsea’s club captain John Terry was suspended for the final, and Frank Lampard took the role instead; when Chelsea won the game, not only was Terry the one to raise the trophy rather Lampard, he had also run onto the pitch to take part in the celebrations in his full kit, which gave the impression that Terry was desperately trying to look he had actually played in the game. Subsequently, a fairly common photoshop meme amongst English fans is to add Terry into photographs of other sporting celebrations, and even national milestones such as Prince William’s wedding photos. The meme even extended to using images of Terry in his England kit when it was appropriate.
• The rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester City in Premier League 2019-20 season sparks some noteworthy memes.
  • Mane's Diving Header/Sadivio Mane^ExplanationSeveral days before the big match between Liverpool and Manchester City in November 2019, Josep "Pep" Guardiola voiced his opinion about how "sometimes Mane's diving" which sparked numerous reactions from football community, Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool's head coach), and even Sadio Mané himself. Nevertheless, Liverpool ended up winning 3-1 against Manchester City at Anfield with Mane scoring one goal in a pretty unique style.
  • Next season started today^ExplanationManchester City's Raheem Sterling expressed his excitement for the future following his team's comfortable home victory over Liverpool that had been crowned champions with convincing score 4-0 and gladly exclaimed that "the next season started today" to the press. Then the unexpected happened; Manchester City lost their next match against Southampton with Che Adams scored the only goal of the match by lobbing the ball over Ederson's head who was too far from his own goal. The football community of course did not let this slide.
• El Barca, El Barca, que va a conseguir la Champions^ExplanationLiterally translated as "El Barca, El Barca, who will win the Champions League". This is the misheard lyrics of Champions League theme first used in 2006, few months after Barcelona won their second Champions League trophy by beating Arsenal 2-1. This mutation was used even more often by Barcelona fanbase during Josep Guardiola's regime as a manager between 2008 to 2012 when Barcelona always succeeded in reaching the semifinals and winning two Champions League trophies at the time.
• Palmeiras Não Tem Mundial^ExplanationPalmeiras Has No World Championship, as it is the only one of São Paulo's "Big Four" without either the Intercontinental Cup or the FIFA Club World Cup. The club itself, and by extension the fans, tries to claim a 1951 tournament with Europeans, which had the help of FIFA, counts as a World Championship, but everyone else disagrees; the message was even included on◊ Shenmue III by one of the game's backers!
• 2022 World Cup mascot La'eeb had already earned jokes comparing him to a ghost, Casper in particular. Once the tournament started host country Qatar's infamous anti-LGBT stance was transferred onto La'eeb, with his face alongside "🏳️‍🌈?" reacting to suggestive images becoming particularly popular.
• Penaldo, Pessi, Penandes, and all the "P" or "Pen" based namecalling. ^ExplanationThis is because some people decided it would be best to denigrate a player or a team with calling them only able to score on penalties. This namecalling method became a general one, though, and not strictly limited to penalties anymore, probably helped by the fact that "pena" is Spanish for "pity".
• Doing a Leeds.^ExplanationA reference to Leeds United's spectacular crash-and-burn in the early 2000s after they vastly over-spent on players and ended up with nothing to show from it, going from reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2001, to being relegated twice and only avoiding being ejected from the league system and shut down in the summer of 2007 thanks to Loophole Abuse that was enabled by there being almost no precedent for their situation. Other clubs have since experienced even more dramatic declines — most notably Portsmouth, who went from winning the FA Cup in 2008 to three consecutive relegations (and nearly a fourth) within the next five years — but Leeds remain the go-to example for when it comes to dramatic, ruinous declines.

Australian Rules Football

• After Australian Rules Football team Essendon won a close-fought match against the West Coast Eagles in 1993, Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy celebrated by whirling his jacket above his head. When the two teams faced off again in the finals, with Essendon winning, Essendon fans celebrated in the same manner, and when the Eagles won the next year, their fans did the same. The "jacket wave" has now become a tradition in matches between the two teams. Fittingly, Sheedy's last game as coach was against the Eagles.
• Another AFL one, Barry Hall's big hit on Brent Staker. Pawnch!
• Some famous pieces of commentary have achieved meme status:
  • From the 1966 Grand Final: "Potter has it, he can't break clear, it's taken by Breen, it's a... point! It's a point! ST KILDA IN FRONT! ST KILDA IN FRONT!"
  • Mike Williamson in the 1970 GF: "Oh, Jesaulenko, YOU BEAUTYYY!!!"
  • Robbie Muir punching Dennis Collins: "Down he went! Oh, TV Ringside!"^note TV Ringside was Channel 7's boxing programme
  • Slug Jordan's "He's done well, the boy" after John Bourke pushed over an umpire and attacked a spectator.
  • From the 2005 Grand Final: "Leo Barry, YOU STAR!"
  • Dennis Commetti, from the 2016 Grand Final: "And Franklin was run down! Tom Boyd's got it! Tom Boyd goes long! How will it bounce? The stadium holds its breath! IT'S A GOAL! AND THE WESTERN SUBURBS ERUPT!"
• The Greater Western Sydney Giants theme song is catchy enough that it became a meme around the time the Giants made their first Grand Final in 2019.
• "(Coach of underperforming team) has the full support of the board." ^note Alleged statement from a club board member days before their coach was sacked. The Australian rules version of the "dreaded vote of confidence" in the "Multiple Sports" folder.

Ice Hockey

• A common joke about the fights in hockey; "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out!"
• Among hockey fans, not qualifying for the playoffs or being eliminated from them usually leads to jokes about the players ending up playing golf. Even the press uses "sent to the golf course" as a synonym for elimination. Some found NBC relegating elimination games in the 2018 playoffs to the Golf Channel an extension of this. This actually dates back to 2004, as during their victory parade one of the victorious Boston Red Sox players held up a sign saying "Derek Jeter^note shortstop and captain of the Sox's hated rivals the New York Yankees, whom Boston epically rallied from 0-3 down to win the ALCS is playing golf. This is better."
• GO PERDS!^ExplanationA typo of "Preds" for the Nashville Predators, who have a pretty decent-sized fanbase for a team in the not-ice-hockey-traditional Southern United States.
  • We got so excited we couldn't type str8...but we'd like to let you know the playas are back in town.
• "Do you believe in miracles? YES!!!" That one's actually only about 10% meme and 90% Moment of Awesome, both for the USA hockey team and Al Michaels.
  • Also during that game there was a fairly innocent chant "U-S-A!!! U-S-A!!!" That phrase became one of the most famous chants today.
  • And John 3:16 became sports meme in that game too.
• Dammit, Pronger!^ExplanationFrom one hockey blogger's "NHL Suspension Flow Chart", used in relation to how superstar defenseman Chris Pronger can seemingly get away with anything.
• Kyle Wellwood is fat. Popularized by Toronto Maple Leafs blog Down Goes Brown.
  • Another Maple Leafs-based meme is Luke Schenn, which portrays the aforementioned Schenn as being able to impregnate people by simply looking at them.
  • Travis Hair, the proprietor of Five For Howling, a Phoenix Coyotes blog, along with Chemmy, who runs the Leafs blog Pension Plan Puppets created the "Throw the Snake" phenomenon for the team's 2010 Stanley Cup Playoff run, as a response to the Detroit Red Wings' octopus tradition.
• For the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the NHL released a series of ads showing great moments in Stanley Cup history (Bobby Orr's game-winner, Patrick Roy making a save in the '86 Cup Finals, etc.) reversed, with a line stating "What if Bobby Didn't Fly"? and then the Tagline "History Will Be Made". Naturally, hockey fans rallied to make parodies such this as well as this.
• Towel Power started when then-Vancouver Canucks head coach Roger Nielson raised a white towel on the end of a hockey stick, making a mock surrender to the dodgy officiating of the series with the Chicago Black Hawks in the 1982 Stanley Cup playoffs. Nielson was ejected after several players copied his sentiment. Ever since, Canucks fans have brought white towels to their games and whirl them enthusiastically to support the team.
  • So does everyone else. Including Chicago fans, who HATE Vancouver.
  • One Bruins fan had a suit made entirely of the yellow towels used in Boston.
• Gary Bettman is booed in every single NHL arena he walks in to. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.
  • It's simple: we kill The Bettman◊.^ExplanationAt the time this image was first added, Bettman was presiding over the third lockout of his tenure and it was possible that the season could have been canceled. Despite the fact that part of the season was salvaged, the fans are still quite livid.
• If a New York Rangers fan starts humming or whistling the tune "Let's Go Band", his fellow Rangers fans are always going wait for him to finish to respond: POTVIN SUCKS!
  • In addition to this, they used to chant "BEAT YOUR WIFE POTVIN, BEAT YOUR WIFE," and are the fanbase that created the affectionate "Assholes" chant for referees.
• NHL goalies tend to be the most memetic players in the sport. Blackh...err..Sharks fans know Niemi says "no" and Bruins fans know Tim Thomas LOVES his cheeseburgers.
• Pierre "Penishead" McGuire is high on young hockey players who are MONSTERS with BIG BODY PRESENCE!
• Dan Carcillo makes daddys proud.
  • turn on or no?
• "To everyone in Canada outside of BC, you're welcome." ^ExplanationFrom the Twitter account for the Los Angeles Kings, which posted the aforementioned tweet shortly after the Kings' Game 1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The tweet references the fact that just about everyone in Canada despises the Canucks because they're both highly visible and currently the only dominant Canada-based team, and because of their play style, which critics have described as dirty and whiny.
• Ilya Bryzgalov would like to remind you that's hockey you know. It's only game. Why you heff to be mad?
  • Overlapping with NHL 24/7, he gave us the following gems.
    • "Only thing I am afraid of is bear. But bear in the forest."
    • "Universe is like, humongous beeg."
• Grumpy Toews◊. No one knows why Jonathan Toews was quite so grumpy, especially since as the screenshot indicates, the Chicago Blackhawks (Toews' team) were beating the tar out of the Phoenix Coyotes at that point.
• Random Penguin: Tom Barasso. ^note On the 10/29/2012 episode of Marek vs. Wyshynski, co-host Jeff Marek moped about the missed opportunity of the merger of Random House and Penguin Books by not becoming "Random Penguin". He spent the rest of the episode by peppering his conversation during the show with random Pittsburgh Penguin players to drive co-host Greg Wyshynski nuts. Listeners then carried the joke since, with e-mails to the show often ending with mentioning a random Penguins player.
  • Congratulations, you came back from a broken leg. I died. ^note The 4/22/2012 episode of MvsW had Greg Wyshynski pretty much wishing Bill Masterton - the only NHL player to die as the direct result of an in-game injury - to be brought back as a hologram so he could chirp winners of his namesake trophy, who are always alive when they win it. Hologram Bill Masterton became another M vs. W in-joke, with even a Twitter account dedicated to the hologram.
• "Sleep with one eye open tonight, bird." ^ExplanationGritty, the new 2018 mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers, developed a Memetic Psychopath perception within mere hours of his debut, thanks to a combination of his bizarre appearance and on-ice antics, including apparently shooting a man in the back with a T-shirt cannon. The Flyers quickly started playing into his terrifying reputation, including having him send a veiled death threat to the Pittsburgh Penguins mascot - a move which, ironically, seems to have redeemed the character in the eyes of many fans.
• During the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Chicago fan Vince Vaughn attended Game 4 of the Blackhawks-Canucks series. Though the Blackhawks would eventually lose the series, they won the game (and the next one, and the next one), and a picture of Vaughn, in full Blackhawks gear, laughing at Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo for his incredibly poor performance◊ quickly became so iconic that the city itself is now often referred to as "Vaughncouver".
  • The Fratellis' "Chelsea Dagger", the Blackhawks' goal song, has become the anthem of the Canucks' failures, as in the past three seasons they've lost two playoff series to the Blackhawks, and in the third choked away a 3-game lead before winning in game seven. The song also has overall meme status, as it's easily the most catchy goal song in the entire NHL. And Hilarity Ensues when the song is played to the Canucks.
• "Shhoooooooot!" as a common phrase for Steve Smith of the Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks for Calgary Flames fans when Smith was in control of the puck after Smith accidentally scored on his own net during game 7. It was the series losing goal for the Oilers... on Smith's birthday.
• Tuukka Rask, now-retired goalie for the Boston Bruins, built several memes around himself in the prime years of his career:
  • HIDE YO' KIDS, HIDE YO' MILKCRATES ^ExplanationTuukka can get kind of angry when a game goes particularly bad for him or the Bruins, and will start bashing his stick on things. The meme comes from after a particularly nasty loss in minor league play, when a blown call and a questionable one caused Rask's team to lose. Tuukka subsequently lost his shit, broke his stick against the boards, and threw a milk crate on his way to the back.
  • Ask him if he gives a fuck◊
  • TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKK
• CROSBY SUCKS!^ExplanationHockey fans outside of Pittsburgh really don't like the Pittsburgh Penguins' captain, Sidney Crosby, and often make it known when the Pens come to town. It is most prevalent amongst the fanbases of the Penguins' divisional rivals, including the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders and their bitter in-state rival, the Philadelphia Flyers.
• The Ottawa Senators, thanks to an unbelievable final quarter of the 2014-15 regular season, made the NHL playoffs. This has been in large part due to Sens goalie Andrew Hammond, nicknamed "The Hamburglar" from his days playing college hockey at Bowling Green University due to his habit of "stealing" wins. Ottawa Senators fans have responded by throwing McDonald's hamburgers onto the ice after wins. A McDonald's franchisee noticed this and proceeded to grant Hammond a card which entitles him to free McDonald's at six Ottawa locations for life.
  • And then TSN started using the Senators' logo modified with the Hamburglar's face for a transition...
  • "Ottawa apologizes." ^ExplanationDuring the 1992 expansion draft, the Ottawa Senators management kept all their draft notes on a laptop... which they forgot to charge before the draft meeting. As a result, they selected several ineligible players, forcing them to say this no fewer than three times during the draft.
• "Should the NHL have the Hawks and Preds redo their series in case it was a big fluke?"^ExplanationIn the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Chicago Blackhawks (who had won three Stanley Cups earlier in the decade) faced off against the Nashville Predators (who had yet to even reach a Stanley Cup Final). The Hawks had the most points of any Western Conference team with 109, while the Predators had 94 points, the worst of any playoff team that year. In a stunning upset, Nashville swept Chicago in four games, holding the Blackhawks to just three goals the entire series. The stunning result later prompted a Reddit user to create this post on the hockey subreddit, asking if the NHL could redo the series, calling the Predators' series win a fluke because the Blackhawks were the better team record-wise. Since then, the meme has been used whenever an underdog team defeats a heavily favored team.
• Nashville's banners. Ascended in 2021, with the team "celebrating" being Seattle's first win.^ExplanationMockers will demand the Preds organization hang a banner whenever they accomplish anything frivolous after the team hung three banners in the 2018 offseason for regular season accomplishments instead of postseason success (including a banner for being division champions, which was made redundant by a banner for being conference champs, which was also made redundant for the President's Trophy banner to celebrate being the NHL's best regular season team that season).
• Bobrovsky #1 Cop in town! ^Explanation Sportscaster and jokester Jay Onrait thought Bobrovsky's name sounds like a 70's cop drama character, and has decided to run with it, as has his fans.
• Shut the fuck lil dick and go suck on your mummy's titties and stop wasting my time^ExplanationThe Vegas Golden Knights have a reputation for talking trash, but few of them ever took it as far as Jonathan Marchessault, who once spent a night firing insults back at fans of rival teams who went in his Instagram comments section to accuse him of diving, including this wonderful string of insults.
• THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS LOST AN ACTUAL NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE GAME, TO A 42-YEAR OLD ZAMBONI DRIVER, WHO WORKS FOR THEM!!!!!^ExplanationDuring the Toronto Maple Leafs-Carolina Hurricanes game on February 22, 2020, both of the Hurricanes' goalies were injured, forcing the team to rely on David Ayres, Zamboni driver for the Marlies (the Leafs' co-owned minor league affiliate). Toronto lost 6-3, and Leafs fan YouTuber Steve Dangle ranted about his team's failure.
• The Cannon Crew Cam ^ExplanationThe Columbus Blue Jackets have a cannon in their home arena, which fires whenever the Jackets score during a home game; the camera usually shifts to the cannon just before it fires, hence the name.
• McCauley Drama ^ExplanationReferee Wes McCauley has a penchant for adding drama to calls he announces. Four in particular are especially well-known: offsetting fighting majors in a game between Montreal and Boston, a Michael Grabner goal for the New York Rangers that was originally ruled a save by Ducks skater Rickard Rakell, a Melker Karlsson goal for the San Jose Sharks that stood, and a save by Thomas Greiss of the New York Islanders against the Philadelphia Flyers that McCauley encountered mic trouble on announcing. One of the commentators of the Islanders-Flyers game even said "It's fun when Wes McCauley gets to announce the call".

  the fighting call: Number 65 for Montreal, number 47 for Boston. Both guys, five minutes each for fighting!

  the Grabner goal: After reviewing the play, it was determined that the puck...completely crossed the line, we got a goal!

  the Karlsson goal: After reviewing the play, the call on the ice... stands! WE GOT A GOAL!!

  the Greiss save: After reviewing the play - the mic's not working; oh, there it is! After reviewing the play, the call on the ice stands: No goal!

  Reaves vs Johnston: Number 32, New York! Number 75, Minnesota! Both guys, five guys each, for fightiiiiiiiing!

• The Seattle Trogdors ^ExplanationThe Seattle Kraken's logo vaguely resembles the S-shaped dragon Trogdor (who is memetic himself) from Homestar Runner.

NASCAR

• Photoshopped pictures of Clint Bowyer running toward or away from any number of things became popular for a few weeks after his confronation with Jeff Gordon at Phoenix in November 2012. ^ExplanationSpecifically, these are taken from the part where Bowyer exited his wrecked car and began jogging from pit road to the haulers, presumably to "talk" to Gordon about the retaliatory strike he'd just paid Bowyer on the racetrack. An ESPN camera crew just happened to be at Bowyer's pit and followed him the whole way until he was restrained by series officials and his own pit crew just outside Gordon's hauler.^PostscriptThe two would proceed to finish the following race 1-2, Gordon in front, then spend a year together in the NASCAR on Fox booth in 2021.
• "Boogity, boogity, boogity!", Darrell Waltrip's call to start the races on NASCAR on Fox.
  • "You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel.", Darrell Waltrip whenever trouble for a racer is caused by a tire coming off. Lampshaded by his brother Michael when someone in a race Michael was in the booth for lost a tire (Michael referred to himself as more of a dancer thanks partly to one of his appearances in a NAPA Know-How commercial).
• "I'm Jimmie Johnson. BOOM. Confetti."^Explanationtaken from this commercial where Johnson goes shopping at a Lowe's store where some particularly enthusiastic fans work. One of them rigged a cardboard cutout of him to say it and spray confetti every few seconds
• Harvicking: A little push from behind to ensure that one moves toward their destiny.^ExplanationIn the 2014 AAA Texas 500, an on-track incident between Brad Keselowski and Jeff Gordon carried over off-track when Gordon confronted Keselowski. Keselowski had kept away at first, but then Kevin Harvick suddenly ran in and shoved him toward Gordon that sparked an all-out brawl.
  • And speaking of Harvick, "WHERE DID HE COME FROM?!" ^ExplanationKevin has a tendency to be in the right place at the right time when the leader runs out of fuel on the final lap. The line is Larry MacReynolds' usual line when Harvick does this.
• Alex Bowman also has multiple memes:
  • Alex Bowman destroys racetracks. ^ExplanationAlex Bowman's first win in a NASCAR national touring series was the 2017 Xfinity Series fall race at Charlotte's traditional oval layout, which got reconfigured to use its infield road course ("roval") in 2018. This eventually followed Cup Series wins at Chicagoland Speedway in 2019 (removed from the schedule), Auto Club Speedway in 2020 (a 2-mile oval removed from the schedule in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, planned for reconfiguration to a short track for 2023, but saw that plan fall into development hell), and Pocono Raceway in 2021 (reduced to one race in 2022 after two years as a doubleheader weekend).
  • Hack Bowman ^ExplanationBowman won a 2021 race at Martinsville Speedway with a bump-and-run move on Denny Hamlin that spun him out, nearly costing Hamlin his playoff run. In Hamlin's post-race interview, he derided Bowman (already eliminated from championship contention) as a hack despite Bowman having more wins that season. Naturally this gave Bowman a very easy marketing opportunity.
• "Bob, does (track) have lights?" ^ExplanationNASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass is frequently asked on Twitter if a racetrack is equipped with lights for nighttime racing, in case of weather delays. Whenever new venues are added to the schedule, he usually pre-empts the inevitable tweets by reporting if lights will be available before an emergency situation might occur.
• "NEWMAN!!" ^ExplanationMore associated with NASCAR ads featuring a group of drivers collectively known as "Gillette Young Guns" (Gillette was a partner sponsor of NASCAR at the time), if a Gillette-branded razor was used to prank one of the drivers, it was usually Ryan Newman who did it. Ryan was completely innocent of the pranks in the commercial for the Fusion Power Phantom razor (the actual culprit that time was Kasey Kahne), while John Cena yelled it in the commercial for the Fusion Power Phenom razor when the Young Guns proved to be skilled wrestlers (Newman's move that caused Cena to yell "NEWMAN!!" was a diving splash to the outside as John lay in the wreckage of the table Carl Edwards dropkicked John off the ring apron through).
  • Ryan Newman vs. flying cars at restrictor-plate tracks ^ExplanationDuring his NASCAR career, Ryan Newman had really bad luck at Daytona and Talladega, often because he was usually part of the equation somewhere when a car goes airborne in a crash. On at least three occasions, Newman himself was the one whose car went airborne.
• "TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT HE DID!" ^ExplanationAfter Ross Chastain's "Hail Melon" wallride at Martinsville in 2022 which advanced him into championship contention at Phoenix, commentator Rick Allen, still in shock at the move, urged the television audience to watch a replay of Chastain's move. This has been since used in video clips for other egregious manuevers in motorsports or racing video games.

Other/Unsorted

• "DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!"
• Chic Anderson's call of Secretariat's overwhelming, Triple Crown-clinching victory in the 1973 Belmont Stakes.
  "Secretariat is widening now! He is moving like a tremendous machine!"
• Some post-game speeches from players and coaches can become memes in their own right if they're outlandish or quote-worthy enough (and will eventually become memes on Sports Center, too). Case in point:
  • Dennis Green had some choice words when the Arizona Cardinals choked away a lead against the Chicago Bears in 2006:
    Dennis Green: The Bears are who we thought they were! That's why we took the damn field! Now if you want to crown 'em, then crown their ass! But they are who we thought they were! And we let 'em off the hook!
  • Jim Mora doesn't want you to talk about the playoffs.
  • Herman Edwards knows the real reason football players play.
    • Pretty much anything Coach Herm has to say, but most specifically his sage advice concerning Twitter
  • And thus You Play To Win The Game.
  • Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy demands that some critical sportswriters, and I quote, "COME AFTER ME! I'M A MAN! I'M FORTY!"
    • FAT!
  • Derek Anderson is not laughing about this. You think this is funny? He takes being a meme real (expletive) serious.
  • Don't ask (former) University of Colorado coach Dan Hawkins for more vacation time, because it's Division One Football!!
• "You're with me, leather."
• Let's Party.◊
• whooooooOOOOA-HOOOOOOoooooa!
• Tana Umaga wants you to know that this ain't tiddlywinks, mate.
• Cowboy up!
• "Why Always Me?"◊
• Terrell Owens doesn't want you taking smack about Tony Romo. Because that's his teammate! This gem has set up permanent residence in Reverse Funny Aneurysmville.^ExplanationT.O. bought the tickets to Mexico that Romo used before that lost playoff game, which could be seen as partly his fault.
• Be careful around Mike Tyson, or else he'll eat your children (even if you don't have any, like the man the threat was directed at!)...or your ear. He can't do either anymore, ever since he promised to "fade into Bolivian".
• "You've just won the Super Bowl. What are you going to do next?" "I'M GOIN' TO DISNEYLAND!!!" This one became an advertising slogan for the Disney Theme Parks.
  • And made it into Aladdin: "You've just won the heart of the princess! What are you going to do next?" (Though Genie, of course, would like Aladdin to free him first. And when he _is_ freed, Genie sports a very stereotypical Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist look, complete with Goofy hat)
  • Orel Hershiser also said it after the Dodgers won the 1988 World Series, though Phil Simms at the 1987 Super Bowl was first (according to The Other Wiki). Note that it wasn't spontaneous - he was paid $75,000 to do it. (As would John Elway have been, had the Denver Broncos won instead.)
• "Later he gets the rebound, passes it to the man, shoots it, and boom goes the dynamite!" Most. Awkward. Catchphrase. Ever.
  • "BOOM-SHAKALAKA!"
• Tecmo Bowl's Video Bo Jackson is the greatest athlete of our generation.
  • Bo Jackson is the smartest man alive. Why? Only Bo knows.
  • "Ready... down... HUTHUTHUTHUTHUTHUTHUTHUTHUTHUTHUTHUT..."
  • It's not so much him, as it's NHL '94!Jeremy Roenick. He's good.
  • "Bo knows X".
  • Bo Jackson running Brian Bosworth straight into retirement. "He was standing in the way of progress".
  • In Brazil, there is Allejo, The Ace of their team in International Superstar Soccer (where no real name players are used).
• You can put it on the booooooard.. YES!^explanationFrom former Chicago White Sox TV announcer Ken "Hawk" Harrelson. Unlike most announcers, he never bothered to hide his support for the Sox. This line is his home run call.
  • Also "Can o' corn."^note Harrelson's call of a routine fly and "He gone!"^note Harrelson's call of a strikeout by a Sox pitcher
• Many, many jokes have been made about Michael Phelps, the hero of the USA Olympic swim team, after he was discovered smoking pot.
  • Ryan Lochte, widely considered the sexiest man in swimming, will willingly tell the world that he prefers banana hammocks... jeah!
  • And, for all you baseball fans, Tim Lincecum. * sighs*
• HOOOLY COW!
• It's just [troubled athlete] being [troubled athlete].^ExplanationOften associated with former Major League Baseball outfielder Manny Ramirez, and first attributed to Mike Hargrove (Manny's first manager in his early days with the Cleveland Indians) when trying to explain/excuse some of Ramirez's controversial behavior on and off the field.
• WHOSE BEEPER KEEP BEEPIN' AND BEEPIN'?
  • "...what? I cut the sleeves off because it looks awesome! GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!"
  • "...where Adrian's moves will be making the guys in the booth say 'Lean back!' 'Ridonkulous!' and 'Play on, playa!'"
• Kevin Garnett says that ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE!
  • Chase Utley says the Phillies are WORLD F***ING CHAMPIONS!
• Philadelphia: where they boo Santa Claus. And Sarah Palin. And throw batteries at J.D. Drew.
  • It's a long drive to deep left-center field... this baby's OUTTA HEEEEERRRRREEEE!!^ExplanationAn instantly recognizable home run call by the late, great Harry Kalas, long-time announcer for Philadelphia Phillies games.
  • And Claude Giroux scores for a case of Tastykakes!
  • For some reason, a specific image of Orson Welles with the caption "AH HAHAHA FAGGOT" is extremely popular when mocking Philadelphia sports fans.
• 18-1◊
  • The 2011 Boston Red Sox were 77-0 when leading after eight innings... until they lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the game that knocked them out of playoff contention. 77-1 quickly became nearly as infamous as 18-1.
• Tony Kornheiser: Why◊
  • Michael Wilbon: Because◊
• Evgeni Plushenko loves his quads. Because if you don't do a quad, you're not a real skater. TRUFAX.
  • Platinum Medal.
• Anything involving UFC fighter Lyoto Machida and urine. (It seems that both he and his dad are aware of the meme enough to intentionally feed it.)
  • Ditto for Anderson Silva and dancing.
  • The "Just Bleed" guy from UFC 15 might as well be the mascot for the entire field of mixed martial arts...or combat sports in general. MMA content creator Napoleon Blownapart has a skeletal version of him as his logo.
• Little roller up along first; BEHIND THE BAG! It gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight and the Mets win it!
• These guys came to play [insert sport here]!
• At one point the Boise State University/University of Idaho sports rivalry flared up a bit more than usual when the BSU president, in a newspaper interview, referred to U of I fans as "nasty" and "inebriated". Since then, "nasty and inebriated" has become something of a meme, even being put on T-shirts.
  • Also, there are plenty of jokes about their bright blue football field◊.
• Devin Hester, you are ridiculous!
  • Don't get Devin Hester a Christmas present, because he'll just return it.
• In golf, Cigar Guy.^ExplanationTiger Woods at one point lobbed a shot right into a photographer's face (thankfully saved by an unfortunate camera). While the image of a blurry ball about to smack someone in the noggin is hilarious, photoshoppers worldwide focused in on a strange-looking fellow◊ who to all appearances was grinning ear to ear behind a ridiculous combination of Porn Stache, cigar, and a ginger wig that looks like a turban upon first glance.
• Marv Albert: VINCE CAW-TER!!! YES!!!!
  • "Bill Parcells does a sur-pris-ingly good me."
• Randy Moss is a slouch!
  • The gloves on his helmet actually make him look like a walrus.
• HOLY TOLEDO!
• I'm not a machine. I'm Albert Pujols.
  • Why didn't you eliminate them, Albert?
    • Shut up.
• Nom nom
• The supposed Randy Moss/Tom Brady "catfight" which came down to Moss saying Brady looked like a girl.
• Dennis Hopper for Nike. "Bad things, man".
• The Wave.
• Rats and octopi on the ice.
• "Havlicek stole the ball! It's all over! It's all over!"
• "...and that was the worst baserunning in the history of the game!"
• Jay Cutler doesn't always throw interceptions, but when he does, he throws them in the red zone. Also Philip Rivers made him cry.
• NOT SO FAST, HORN MAN! WAIT FOR THE RED LIGHT TO COME ON!
• THEY SUPPOSED TO BE SEC?
• One from Chile: Pedro Carcuro's Catchphrase "¡ME PONGO DE PIEEEEEEEE!" ("I'm now on my feet!") whenever a Moment of Awesome happens.
• Whenever something crazy or unlikely happens at the end of a game, a common explanation is that somebody pressed the Buffalo Wild Wings button.
• Tony Hibbert's long goalless run has achieved Memetic Mutation status amongst Everton supporters.
• OHHH! SHUT IT DOOOOOOOOWN! LET'S GO HOOOOOOOME!
• "This is not soccer!" - from rugby union referee, Nigel Owens. He was talking to Treviso scrumhalf Tobias Botes, who was appealing for a penalty. Rugby union is generally much less lenient on players who undermine the referee's authority than association football. Rugby fans took it up as their unofficial motto, because of the Fandom Rivalry between the two sports.
• "Rolf er ren" ^Translation"Rolf is clean" is a Danish meme that will always pop up in Danish cycling discussions when the subject goes to doping. It's a reference to the most winning Danish cyclist ever, Rolf Sørensen, who has never been proved to have done doping and has always denied it... until he confessed to doping in 2013.
• McKayla Maroney is not impressed. Credit to her for having fun with it.
• Bart Scott CAN'T WAIT.
• SPURDO GOALIES :DDD◊
• "Knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad" - a quip from the then-captain of Ireland's national Rugby Union team, Brian O'Driscoll^note and the subject of another meme, "In BOD We Trust" in an interview.
• Chuggaaconroy is a whistle! ^ExplanationDuring The Runaway Guys' LP of Castle Crashers, Chugga made a rather hilariously bad impression of the whistle/buzzer sound used during sporting events. Naturally, Jon suggested viewers edit the sound into various sports clips.
• BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE BRETT FAVRE ^ExplanationBrett Favre had a tendency to be mentioned a lot on channels such as ESPN, so /sp/ worshipped him, mainly by spamming his name
  • MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI MESSI ^ExplanationThe soccer version of this with Lionel Messi.
  • TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES TORRES ^ExplanationThe soccer version of this with Fernando Torres. This deserves special mention because due to Torres' constant mess-ups while at Chelsea, it made his outstanding moments stand out all the more, to the point that even threads not related to soccer get spammed with his name when they happen.
  • TSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU^ExplanationThe soccer version of this with Cristiano Ronaldo. Unlike for most other players, his name isn't spammed; instead, his celebration cry on winning the Ballon d'Or 2014, which is actually "si" (Spanish for "yes") but sounds like "tsu", is stretched out.
• The ridiculous memetic phrase "lustful cockmonster" (used often in relation to LGBT sports conversations), which came from a very angry Chris Kluwe.
• For tennis fans:
  • YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS! ^Explanation Immortalized by John McEnroe's infamous rant at a line official during the 1981 Wimbledon Championships: "You can't be serious, man. YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS! That ball was ON THE LINE! CHALK FLEW UP! It was clearly IN! You guys are the absolute PITS of the world!"
  • Nobody beats [player's name] X times in a row! ^Explanation Originated from Vitas Gerulaitis's famous comment on finally beating Jimmy Connors after losing 16 straight matches against him: "Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row."
  • We gonna see, no? ^Explanation Originated from one of Rafael Nadal's interviews.
  • I hope you're not comparing X to Y. DO YOU? ^Explanation Tomáš Berdych replied to an interviewer's query if his 2012 US Open upset of Roger Federer was similar to his countryman Lukáš Rosol's famous upset of Rafael Nadal at that year's Wimbledon with, "I just hope you're not comparing me with Rosol. Do you?"
  • DJOKOSMASH! ^Explanation Novak Djokovic is so well-known for being inexplicably poor at overhead smashes despite being superb in nearly every other aspect of his tennis game that any "overhead smash that hilariously gets hit into the net instead of the open court" gets his name attached to it.
• >we ^ExplanationWhile /sp/ is not the only case of disapproval of sports fans using "we" to refer to the sports team they support (it predates /sp/, in fact), /sp/ has taken it to a meme level by constantly quoting said fans.
• Can Richard Funk? ^Explanation A screencap of Canadian swimmer Richard Funk, who took part in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, made the rounds on Tumblr and other such sites due to the way the ticker wrote his name and nationality. Normally, the ticker (the box on the bottom) abbreviates country names, and in this instance, abbreviated "Canada" to "CAN". Of course, said country name abbreviation was put right next to Richard's full name, making it look more as if the ticker was asking if Richard could indeed "funk". Naturally the screencap took off, leading to many an image edit.
• Shhh. Just close your eyes. It will all be over soon.
• Anything by Spanish sports commentator Andrés Montes, thanks to his ability to nickname anyone that stood out and to make particularly funny sentences.
  • NBA players: Michael Jordan = Jordan Airlines/Welcome to Flight 23, Pau Gasol = E.T., Dennis Rodman = Guess who's coming tonight, Patrick Ewing = The Big Apple's Gable, José Manuel Calderón = Mr. Catering^note At a time, Calderón was best known for his layups, which were called "bandejas" ("trays") in Spanish, hence the connection to catering..
  • "Tiki taka, tiki taka!"^ExplanationDuring the Euro 2008 tournament, the Spanish national team successfully used this style, based on an abundance of short, precise passes.
• Floyd Mayweather just wants a hug. ^Explanation In one of the most hyped fights in boxing history since Ali and Foreman's "Rumble in the Jungle", Floyd Mayweather took on Manny Pacquiao on May 2, 2015. The fight was billed as the "Fight of the Century", and many otherwise non-boxing fans tuned in to watch it. The fight, however, proved to be extremely underwhelming, mostly due to Mayweather's defense-oriented strategy that involved repeatedly putting Pacquiao in a clinch (i.e., a hold, which in boxing stops the fight since the clinch must be broken up). Almost immediately people began making jokes involving Mayweather "hugging" Pacquiao; in light of Mayweather's troubles involving domestic violence, many people joked that he simply "didn't understand that he was supposed to hit Manny and hug his wife."
• Jay Wright: "Bang." ^ExplanationIn the 2016 NCAA National Championship Game, Villanova won their second-ever National Championship thanks to a buzzer-beating three-point shot by forward Kris Jenkins. After the pandemonium died down, it was noticed that Villanova head coach Jay Wright's reaction was unusually composed, saying "Bang" as Jenkins got the shot off, then nonchalantly walking away as people celebrated. Coach Wright later explained that his cool reaction was because he wasn't sure the shot counted. Since then, the two moments have been the biggest visual moment of Villanova's championship win.
• Don't let this page distract you from the fact that the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead. ^ExplanationThe Golden State Warriors, who had the best regular-season record in NBA history and were dominating the playoffs, were heavy favorites to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals. Despite getting off to a commanding 3-1 lead, the Warriors went on to lose the last three games, resulting in Cleveland breaking its long-standing championship drought. Variations of the above phrase ran wild on social media for weeks afterwards in response to the collapse.
  • In a possible moment of Laser-Guided Karma, the Cleveland Indians ended up giving away a 3-1 lead to the Chicago Cubs in the 2016 World Series just five months later, which also broke another long-standing championship drought. And yes, people did take the opportunity to turn this meme against it original source.
    • The Indians one did not last as long though, since the Indians were not favored to win and many were shocked they even had such a lead. Warriors jokes are still made nearly a full year later.
  • "3-1" seems to be turning into the sports meme equivalent of "Half-Life 3 confirmed", with fans coming up with Insane Troll Logic equations to get to 3-1, then somehow connecting it to the Warriors/Indians blowing a 3-1 lead.
  • And then the Atlanta Falcons blew a 28-3 lead to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI, losing 34-28 in overtime. For those that don't want to do the math, that's 31 unanswered points.
  • It happened again in the UEFA Champions League, as Paris Saint Germain blew a 4-0 aggregate advantage over Barcelona after Barca won the second leg with a 6-1 scoreline. FUTHEAD even referenced this by replacing the PSG logo with the Atlanta Falcons' logo during April Fools' day.
  • Roll out the memes after Georgia loses a 17-6 lead to Alabama in 2018 championship Game.
  • Join Us!^ExplanationAlready present on the roster: Oklahoma Sooners, Cleveland Indians, Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Falcons, Hillary Clinton, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Georgia Bulldogs are welcomed aboard the lead blowing bandwagon
• Bus photobombs Georgia Dome Implosion^ExplanationWhile The Weather Channel was covering the implosion of the Georgia Dome, a MARTA bus pulls out in front just as the explosives went off, ruining the live shot, with the cameraman reacting with a Cluster F-Bomb. The meme has been overlaid on crucial sports highlights and even became a customized Facebook profile frame.
• I don't think this semen slurping sport is for me guys^ExplanationA statement posted when nothing interesting is perceived to have happened or be happening in a game or match, often when it's low scoring, a draw/tie, or both. Usually refers to association football which is already naturally low scoring, but can apply to any sport if the game/match in question meets the above conditions. The World Chess Championship in 2018, which ended in 12 draws out of 12 and had to go to tiebreakers, was a very popular target, even if chess is not usually seen as a sport.
• The 2019 Cricket World Cup gave rise to jokes about "scoring the most boundaries", after the final coming Down to the Last Play with England beating New Zealand on boundary countback after the two teams were tied after the match and a super over. It quickly spread outside cricket fandom, leading to examples such as rugby fans claiming that the winner of the Rugby World Cup, taking place the same year, will be whoever scores the most boundaries^note despite boundaries being a cricket-specific term.
• Big BMW M8 GTE.^ExplanationFor some reason, BMW opted to use their 8-Series coupe as the base car for its new GTE/GTLM car, which made it look considerably bigger◊ than its competitors. Early during its Le Mans debut in 2018, an incident saw the BMW M8 GTE collided with a Ford GT GTE and one fan decided to photoshop the M8 GTE to be bigger in size. Fans took the idea and ran away with it, with the M8 GTE being photoshopped to be much bigger◊ than its original edit◊. The meme was so well received that iRacing referenced the meme◊ when they announced that the M8 GTE will be added to the game.
• #LORDMAHAVEER ^explanationIndian racing driver Mahaveer Raghunathan became infamous for his... tumultuous Formula 2 season, particularly for his utter failure to perform a three-point turn at the Baku round, which has earned himself an ironic cult following of sorts.
• "There are two teams out there. One is playing cricket; the other is making no attempt to do so." ^ExplanationQuote from Australian captain Bill Woodfull during the 1932-33 "Bodyline" cricket series between Australia and England, used to refer to unsportsmanlike play. Often misquoted as "There are two sides out there today, but only one of them is playing cricket."
• Nairo in green/Nairo Quintana is a sprinter. ^ExplanationDuring the 2019 Vuelta a España, Nairo Quintana wore the green jersey for 13 of the 19 stages where the jersey was available to be worn (it was not available on stage 1 or 2), despite only leading the points classification four of those days and fluctuating between second and fifth in that classification the other days. Nairo Quintana is a mountain specialist, while the green jersey and points classification are typically associated with sprinters. The absurdity of the rider in green being as far from a sprinter as anyone can be spawned the meme.
• Temple. ^ExplanationOn December 8, 2021, Temple University's official Twitter accidentally hit send on a tweet after only writing a single word, that being their own name. While it was actually the university's main feed, not their athletics department's, it took off on college sports forums as a catch-all response.
• Johnny Bairstow's stumping ^ExplanationThe Ashes 2023, second test: English batsman Johnny Bairstow was controversially given out after wandering out of his crease before the ball was "dead". The side-on image of Bairstow strolling down the wicket as the ball hits the stumps instantly went memetic.
• England's "moral victories". ^ExplanationThe English press has a habit of declaring their cricket team's losses "moral victories". This has resulted in the internet cricket fandom declaring every England match a moral victory, no matter how badly they lose.

Sports Announcers

• Gus Johnson orgasms on live television. Okay, not really, but with calls like this and this, you wouldn't tell the difference.
  • Gus is probably the go to man for these memes. He's credited for a lot of them:
    • "Batista with the CAAAAAAAAAAAAAATCH!"
    • "Rise and Fire" ^note this is part of his official Twitter handle.
    • "HA HA!"
    • "The slipper still fits!"
    • "The Runner!"
    • "PURE!"
    • "One man to beat!"
    • Chris Johnson has GETTING AWAY FROM THE COPS SPEED.
    • "My name's Al Harrington, I get buckets!"
    • "COLD-BLOODED!"
    • You got barbecue back there, and you didn't invite me? HURT! MY! FEELINGS!"
  • Part of the reason why he's credited with many (aside from the fact that he can make even the most mundane sport worth watching) was that if you didn't want a crazy finish to a game, there was one rule: DON'T LET GUS CALL IT! Seriously, nearly every time he calls a game, something unexpected happens! The "Gus Effect" seems to be its own, forever living meme. "Bottlegate"? The Brandon Stokely catch! The Hail Mary pass to end Jacksonville vs. Houston? All those close Gonzaga wins and losses during the Adam Morrison days? Guess who did play by play for ALL of them?
• Matt Vasgersian, other than him getting EASILY excited during big plays, seems to yell "SANTA MARIA!" for many of those same big plays.
• Kevin Harlan on LeBron James' sick dunk against Boston (during his first stint with the Cavs): "LeBron James, with no regard for human life!"
  • Another good phrase he does is when a player "Sucked the gravity right out of the [name of arena they are currently in]!"
  • "Up high, down HARD!"
  • His famous call of the streaker during a Monday Night Football game between the Rams and San Francisco is enshrined in history.
    • "The guy is drunk, but there he goes!"
    • History would repeat itself when another man attempted to streak, this time at Super Bowl LV.
      "Pull up your pants, take off the bra, and be a man!"
  • "I'm calling both games!"^note On the last day of the 2019 NFL season, the Kansas City Chiefs needed a win and a New England Patriots loss to clinch a first-round bye in the playoffs. With the Chiefs setting up for the extra point for a 31–21 lead over the Los Angeles Chargers, the Miami Dolphins simultaneously scored the game-winning touchdown to upset the Patriots, clearing the way for KC to earn the number 2 seed and the bye. When asked by his partner, Rich Gannon, about which game he was calling, Harlan replied with the above quote.
• Believe it or not, we can now add Joe Buck to this list. Despite him having a 50/50 popularity among baseball and football fans, he's been giving some emotional calls lately (and, to that effect, he hasn't been the boring announcer a lot of people knew him as back in the day)! The one that is standing out is the famous call of the David Ortiz grand slam at the 2013 ALCS: "Hard hit into right! Back at the wall! TIE GAME!"^note To put this moment into context, in Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS, with the Boston Red Sox trailing the Detroit Tigers 5-1 with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th inning, Ortiz hit the first pitch Joaquin Benoit, a man he had yet to hit a home run on up to that point, threw for a game tying grand slam. What made this even more memorable was Torii Hunter flipping over the right field wall in his attempt to the catch the ball. Ultimately, the Red Sox won the game, 6-5, and the series, eventually becoming the world champions.
  • He will always now be associated with the call when the Cubs broke the curse with his voice breaking when the final out of the 2016 World Series took place. ^note He has always mentioned that he wanted to make the call of the Cubs winning it all.
    • Similarly, when the Boston Red Sox won it in 2004 for the first time in 86 years, he had more emotion than usual in his voice when he made the call.
  "[Rentería] will take second, no stolen base. *pitch, ball is hit* Back to Foulke! Red Sox fans have longed to hear it! The Boston Red Sox are world champions!"
  • "NUMBER SEVENTYYYYYYYYY!!! How much more can you give us, Big Mac? NUMBER SEVENTYYYYY!!!"
  • "DIGGS! SIDELINE! TOUCHDOWN! UNBELIEVABLE! VIKINGS WIN IT!"
• Jack Buck (father of Joe) had a few memorable ones in his time with the Cardinals and CBS' TV and radio coverages of the World Series:
  • "Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!"^ExplanationOzzie Smith's walk-off home run in the 1985 NLCS, the first time Ozzie had ever hit a home run left-handed in the major leagues.
  • "I don't believe what I just saw!"^ExplanationKirk Gibson's home run in the 1988 World Series to win game 1; his only at bat of the entire series due to a bum leg.
  • "And we'll see you... tomorrow night!"^ExplanationKirby Puckett's walk-off in the 1991 World Series to send it to a 7th and final game (which Puckett's Twins won).
    • Joe has adopted this and used it at least twice. Once during a 2004 ALCS game between the Red Sox and Yankees ("We'll see you later tonight!")^note The game went into the midnight hour at that point., and then once more during Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.
    • Joe also used a phrase from his father when the Cardinals won the World Series in 2006. Jack, a local broadcaster for the Cards for years, always uttered "That's a winner" for a Cards win. Joe's line when the Cards won the Series: "For the first time since 1982, the Cardinals have a World Series winner!"
• Lead CBS Announcer Jim Nantz has a more sentimental meme to him, "Hello Friends" when he begins any sports broadcast. He can say why he does this and why it's so sentimental better than we ever could.
• In Brazil, criticizing announcer Galvão Bueno (present in most of Globo's sports broadcasts) is a national pastime. It reached severe memetic status during the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, when "Cala Boca Galvão" ("Shut Up Galvão") became the Twitter top trending topic worldwide. Seeing foreigners confused, a Brazilian created a fake explanation ("GALVAO is a very rare bird in Brazil. CALA BOCA means SAVE, the Brazilians are very sad because lots of GALVAOS die everyday.") that also became a meme, with the creation of a "Galvão Foundation" and saying Lady Gaga would record a song to help them.
  • One of the rare relished moments of Galvão is also a great meme, his enthusiastic shouting once Brazil won its fourth title in 1994: "ACABOU! É TETRA! É TETRA!"
  • Related to Galvão, a sample exchange with the on-pitch reporters is often used when people react very hurt online: "Galvão" "Diga lá, Tino." "Sentiu." ^note "Galvão?" "Say it, Tino." (Tino Marcos, one of Globo TV's field reporters) "Felt it.", as in an injury report. Even Globo itself has used it!
• Pittsburgh Penguins radio announcer Mike Lange is just full of memetic potential thanks to his colorful and numerous Catch Phrases. HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SHOOTSANDSCORES!
  • "And you can scratch my back with a hacksaw!"
  • "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis had just left the building!"^note Said whenever the Pens win.
• Randy Moller, the radio announcer for the NHL's Florida Panthers, takes suggested lines from callers to a local radio show and drops them in after goals are scored.
  Moller: "He fires! He scoooooooooooores!!!! LA FACE WITH AN OAKLAND BOOTY!!!!!"
• Chris Berman has been giving athletes nicknames since 1979. A few of them actually stuck, too.
  • HE...COULD...GO...ALL...THE...WAY...TOUCHDOWN!
  • "Bills over 49ers"
  • WHOOP!
• Herb Score, late play-by-play man for the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians), became a local legend for his interesting approach to the English language. Among his more famous ones:
  • "It could be fair; it could be foul... It is!
  • During the top of the eleventh inning, game six of the 1997 ALCS: "It's a fly to deep left-center... The Indians are going to the World Series! (Beat) Maybe!"^PostscriptCleveland actually did make the World Series, only to lose to the fifth-year Florida Marlins on a walk-off line drive up the middle by Edgar Renteria
  • His partner and current Guardians play-by-play man Tom Hamilton is well known for his enthusiastic home run call: "A-WAAAAAAAAAAY BACK AND GONE!"
• Pirates fans like the more pleasant phrase "Raise the Jolly Roger" from Greg Brown whenever the Bucs win a game! ^note A Jolly Roger is the traditional pirate sign, and raising the Jolly Roger would be raising a flag with that symbol of it, which was also the Pirates' logo for years.
  • Speaking of pirates-themed calls during Pirates games, "CLEAR THE DECK!! CANNONBALL COMIN!!"^note a home run call comparing the baseball to a cannonball and the seats full of fans as the deck of a pirate ship
• Otherwise competent Seattle Mariners broadcaster Dave Sims earned some local infamy with a disastrous call on a Kyle Seager homerun. "Hey Lloyd! Do some delivery. For the truck. To the airport." While it made a little bit more sense it context, it didn't make much more sense.
• LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLLLLLLE!^note Now trademarked by Michael Buffer himself.
• Bruce Buffer (octagon announcer for the UFC), the half-brother of the man who coined the above phrase, is credited for his own meme: Iiiiiiiit's! TIIIIIME!!!!!
  • He has some things he does that his half-brother probably could never do that have become staples of his announcing. Whenever someone is coming in as the champion, especially in the main event, he will emphasize that the fighter is the "REIGNING! DEFENDING! UNDISPUTED!" holder, and boy does he ever makes sure we hear those words.
  • Also something he has done a lot is a move of the "Buffer 180". Whenever he begins introducing the fighters, he turns to face the opposite corner, saying "introducing first" or "his opponent", do a quick turn to the fighter he's going to introduce, with a yelled "FIGHTING" out of that color corner.^note He's reportedly done a 360 before when introducing fighters, only to stop doing it because he suffered a blown out knee in doing so.
• The late, great Cricket commentator Richie Benaud: "Twoooooo for twenty-twooooooo".
• Now here's a guy...^ExplanationCris Collinsworth has a tendency to introduce a football player to explain some interesting fact using these Exact Words
• "I pride myself and think of myself as a man of faith, as there's a drive into deep left field by Castellanos, that will be a home run. And so that will make it a 4-0 ballgame." ^explanationAfter Cincinnati Reds announcer Thom Brennaman was caught using the word "fag" on air during a doubleheader, he attempted an apology in Game 2, only to interrupt himself after Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos hit a home run. This quickly became a copypasta as an Interrupting Meme.
  • Related to the above, Castellanos' penchant for hitting home runs at bad times. ^ExplanationSomething similar happened again the very next year, also in Kansas City. Castellanos hit a home run to the exact same part of the ballpark as the Kansas City Royals announcers were eulogizing a crew member's recently deceased war veteran father. Other notable incidents interrupted by Castellanos include the death of Osama bin Laden and the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the latter of which was again hit to the same spot of the ballpark and again made the score 4-0.
• The late legendary motorsport commentator Murray Walker is something of a Fountain of Memes, particularly due to his enthusiastic delivery, sharp wit, and occasional malapropers, to the point that his most famous lines became known as "Murrayisms":
  • "'I'm going for first,' says John Cleland..." ^ExplanationWalkers famously diplomatic commentary of Cleland showing his displeasure toward Steve Soper during the 1992 Silverstone BTCC race.
  • "...and OH! OH! OFF! IT'S TARQUINI!" ^ExplanationWalker during the 1994 Knockhill BTCC race, when the Alfa Romeo of Gabriele Tarquini suddenly barrel rolled into view.
• "Eeeeeehhhhh, I don't know, Jim [Nantz]." ^ExplanationFrequently used by CBS analyst Tony Romo in reference to close calls.

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