History Memes / Sports

* The Curse of the Giants [[https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bGwaoB1IHWpuPjIusZAhcsXUhWs=/0x0:1107x713/1400x1050/filters:focal(466x269:642x445):format(png)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/52559763/Screen_Shot_2017_01_02_at_3.04.18_PM.0.png Boat Picture]] [[labelnote:Explanation]]A picture consisting of several New York Giants players goofing off on a boat in Miami the day before they're about to play a critical playoff Wildcard 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 the Giants having become cursed as the team for the most part has struggling ever since the boat picture first appeared.[[/labelnote]]

** Mayo in coffee, [[FanNickname Mayo-Man]] [[labelnote:Explanation]]Tennessee Titans QB Will Levis, who previously played for the Kentucky Wildcats in college, is known for [[BizarreTasteInFood 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.[[/labelnote]]

** Mayo in coffee[[labelnote:Explanation]]Tennessee Titans QB Will Levis, who previously played for the Kentucky Wildcats in college, is known for [[BizarreTasteInFood 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.[[/labelnote]]

* Mayo-Man [[labelnote:Explanation]]A FanNickname for Titans QB, Will Levis, who many can't help but note his odd taste of putting mayonnaise in his coffee.[[/labelnote]]

* 33-0[[labelnote:Explanation]]Similar 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 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Indianapolis_Colts%E2%80%93Minnesota_Vikings_game Wikipedia page]] dedicated to it.[[/labelnote]]

* The "[[https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/9k5mZHEKUrVf60N3Dj8Qkw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTE2MDA7aD01OTQ7cT01MA--/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2023-10/7d183600-6921-11ee-b8fb-7e85ec20fdd5 Brotherly Shove]]" [[labelnote:Explanation]]A 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.[[/labelnote]]

* Bob Uecker, the longtime radio play-by-play announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers, has a beloved home run call. [[https://youtu.be/lkxOz1BgYDU 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.]]

** Corner taken quickly... [[SayMyName ORIGI!!]][[labelnote:Explanation]]Related to above meme, when Liverpool tied with Barcelona on 3-3 aggregate, Liverpool got a corner kick at 79th minute. Trent 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. [[ThisCannotBe Luis Suárez and]] [[DespairEventHorizon Lionel Messi's expression]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX78b90_Ms0 as Liverpool players celebrated the winning goal had said it all.]][[/labelnote]]
* Zlatan Ibrahimović is the Creator/ChuckNorris 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 offguard with a conventional shot, or crossing it for another player, but instead scoring a 30 yard overhead kick. [[BadassDecay However, age seems to be a hindrance to his legacy]]. [[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/07/01/came-said-conquered-zlatan-ibrahimovic-confirms-manchester-united/ 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 [[EpicFail 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.[[/note]] Despite this, Zlatan still considers himself as one of the big guys in the football world, and [[https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-united-news-zlatan-ibrahimovic-premier-league-still-cut-it-la-galaxy-a9081416.html saying that he was ready if Manchester United ever need his help again]]. Whether Zlatan made this statement because [[SmallNameBigEgo he truly believed he could conquer the Premier League again (which he never had done in the first place)]] or just to [[MemeAcknowledgement feed all the meme creators in football community]] is up to debate.

** Mane's Diving Header/Sadivio Mane[[labelnote:Explanation]]Several days before the big match between Liverpool and Manchester City in November 2019, [[https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/11852637/pep-guardiola-accuses-special-talent-sadio-mane-of-diving Josep Guardiola voiced his opinion about how "sometimes Mane's diving"]] which sparked numerous reactions from football community, Juergen Klopp (Liverpool's head coach), and even Sadio Mane himself. Nevertheless, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSk_Ztcr7r4 Liverpool ended up winning 3-1 against Manchester City at Anfield stadium with Mane scoring one goal in a pretty unique style]].[[/labelnote]]

* El Barca, El Barca, que va a conseguir la Champions[[labelnote:Explanation]]Literally translated as "El Barca, El Barca, who will win the Champions League". This is the misheard lyrics of Champions League theme [[https://youtu.be/O7MGTe73eyY 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 semi final and winning two Champions League trophies at the time.[[/labelnote]]

* Tuukka Rask, goalie for the Boston Bruins, has built several memes around himself in recent years:

** Alex Bowman destroys racetracks. [[labelnote:Explanation]]Alex 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 and eventually reconfigured to a short track for 2023), and Pocono Raceway in 2021 (reduced to one race in 2022 after two years as a doubleheader weekend).[[/labelnote]]

* Be careful around Mike Tyson, or else he'll [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NB_CB1p5Q4 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".

* [[LargeHam You can put it on the booooooard.. YES!]][[labelnote:explanation]]From 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[[/labelnote]]

* Bald fraud[[labelnote:Explanation]]José 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 ToughActToFollow for him, even though he's dominating the Premier League outright as the manager for Manchester City. The phrase has since then been used to refer to bald people in football - be it players or managers - that get berated only to prove everyone wrong.[[/labelnote]]

* Lifelong[[labelnote:Explanation]]During 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. "[[BlatantLies lifelong since December 2015]] when they went five points clear", 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 [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03cl1cc 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.[[/labelnote]]

* Anything said by Brendan Rodgers, former manager for Liverpool. From "judge me in 3 years"[[labelnote:Note]]Said 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.[[/labelnote]], to "When you’ve got the ball 65-70% of the time, it’s a football death for the other team"[[labelnote:Note]]Liverpool would proceed to either draw or lose games where they had over 65% possession[[/labelnote]] to "We won't do a Tottenham"[[labelnote:Note]]Said after the 2014 season, where Tottenham finished 6th. Come next year, Liverpool finished 6th[[/labelnote]], it comes as no surprise that Brendan Rodgers is a symbol of mockery for both Liverpool fans and haters.

* Aaron Rodgers Jets Highlights [[labelnote:Explanation]]Due to Rodgers suffering a season ending Achilles injury just 4 players 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.[[/labelnote]]

* Penaldo, Pessi, Penandes, and all the "P" or "Pen" based namecalling. [[labelnote:Explanation]]This 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.[[/labelnote]]

** Ditto former New York Giants head coach, Ben McAdoo (especially on [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Website/Reddit Reddit.]])

** Ditto former New York Giants head coach, Ben McAdoo (especially on ''Website/Reddit''.

** Ditto former New York Giants head coach, Ben McAdoo (especially on [[Website/Reddit]])

* "Hunter Pence eats pizza with a fork."[[labelnote:Explanation]]In 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 ''Film/TheGodfatherPartIII'', a practice which quickly emigrated to other stadiums whenever Pence's team is visiting. Amusingly, Hunter Pence himself quickly [[https://twitter.com/hunterpence/status/497113752173424640 embraced the meme]].[[/labelnote]]
** Ditto former New York Giants head coach, Ben McAdoo (especially on ''Reddit'')

* Music/{{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[[/note]] 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[[/note]], Arsenal[[note]]A photo with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang causes the Gunners to lose 1-0 at Everton[[/note]], Manchester United[[note]]Drake takes a photo with Paul Pogba, but the Red Devils end up eliminated from the Champions League by Barcelona[[/note]], 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[[/note]], and Borussia Dortmund[[note]]Another selfie, this time with Jadon Sancho. The result? Dortmund gets steamrolled 5-0 by Bayern Munich.[[/note]]. It has gotten to the point that [[https://twitter.com/ASRomaEN/status/1117853209538650112 Roma, through their English Twitter account, has posted a tongue-in-cheek ban to their players from taking selfies with the Toronto rapper.]]

* The "dreaded vote of confidence".[[labelnote: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.[[/labelnote]]

* "(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. Now a cliche for when fans believe a coach is about to be told to clear his desk.[[/note]]

* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJzpoj_NxqQ DIGGS! SIDELINE! TOUCHDOWN! UNBELIEVABLE!]]"[[labelnote:Explanation]]During 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.[[/labelnote]]