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Introducing the ESPN Sports Meme Hall of Fame

Happy 10th birthday, Crying Jordan! The GOAT sports meme was internet-birthed in April 2012, and sports memeing has never been the same. So when we created a sports meme Hall of Fame, we fast-tracked Crying Jordan in. Then we asked a panel of ESPN experts, ranging from the ESPN social team to on-air memeologists Mina Kimes, Gary Striewski, Sarah Spain and Pablo Torre, who else belonged in the HOF. We gave them 34 top candidates and asked them to vote in five more inductees. And the winners are ...

MJ Took That Personally

may 2020 Leave it to the GOAT to give us a new Hall of Fame meme right as "Crying Jordan" was finally fading — a little bit — from social media consciousness. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was clamoring for new entertainment options, and "The Last Dance" — the 10-part documentary on Michael Jordan's 1997-98 Chicago Bulls — delivered. As new episodes were released over a five-week span in April and May, meme-savvy viewers noticed that Jordan felt personally slighted during his career — a lot. Whether it was LaBradford Smith saying "Nice game, MJ," or Dan Majerle being touted as a good defender or Toni Kukoc existing, MJ frequently expressed how he turned the smallest offenses into fuel for his success, birthing a new meme in the process. Anytime you need to express your wild overreaction to the tiniest slight (or no slight at all) whether sports-related or not, there's MJ sitting on his chair, glass of tequila by his side, ready to tell the world, "and I took that personally" (though, ironically, he never actually said that word-for-word in the documentary).

“I hated them. That hate carries to this day. They made it personal.” Michael Jordan on the Bad Boys Pistons

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Scowling McKayla

august 2012 At the 2012 Olympics, McKayla Maroney nailed her first vault but fell on her second attempt. The gold-medal favorite dropped down to second place, good for a silver medal. As she stood on the podium afterward, she says she felt sad, upset and yes, unimpressed. A photographer happened to capture that look, and the resulting image became internet gold for the next 48 hours. Over those two days, Twitter blew up with memes of Scowling McKayla, unimpressed, photoshopped into momentous events in human history, like the Mars landing and Kate's and Will's wedding. A decade later, Scowling McKayla remains a go-to sports meme for shoulder-shrug moments, and Maroney herself has embraced it so much that she turned it into her own GEICO commercial.

“I remember thinking, did I just make a face? Because it’s natural. I do it all the time. I have pictures of me when I’m little doing it. I have it on my Mac computer when I’m like 13.” McKayla Maroney

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Lebron yells at JR

may 2018 Let's set the scene. It's Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals. The Cleveland Cavaliers, behind an all-time performance from LeBron James, have a chance to upset the heavily favored Golden State Warriors. George Hill is at the line with a chance to put the Cavs up 1. He misses, but JR Smith grabs the offensive rebound. And then he... dribbles out to the perimeter, nearly letting the final 4.7 seconds run off the clock. Cue LeBron's incredulous reaction that lives on in meme infamy to this day. Anytime you need to express your frustration with someone's inability to do even the simplest of tasks, there's LeBron — arms outstretched, face contorted with a mix of confusion, anger and sadness — ready to single-handedly do the work for you (much like he single-handedly put the Cavs in position to even be able to steal that game).

“I laughed about that s--- that night ... I’m not a person to hold on to s---. I’m not going to hold on to no grudges. I’ll never forget it but players f--- up, it just so happened that mine was in the Finals. ... We’ve all messed up.” JR Smith

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I’m just here so i don’t get fined

January 2015 There are mandatory media sessions at the Super Bowl, and for decades, NFL players obliged with no significant issues. Then along came Marshawn Lynch in 2015. The quiet Seahawks superstar tried to avoid his media day at Super Bowl 45, but relented when the NFL threatened a $500,000 fine. Lynch found a loophole, though, setting his own timer and staying for the bare minimum of five minutes. For those 300 seconds, he repeated the same basic phrase over and over again 29 times. Reporters asked everything from how his flight was, to whether he liked cat or dog videos more. "I'm just here so I won't get fined," he repeatedly said. Within hours, social media had exploded with repurposed images of Lynch's media day spectacle. To this day, it remains the perfect way to signal to the world that you're interested in putting the bare minimum into an activity (popular uses: large family get-togethers at the holidays). Lynch got the last laugh, ultimately, by getting an actual trademark for the saying, with portions of apparel sales with the phrase written on it going toward his foundation.

“So y’all can go make up whatever y’all want to make up because I don’t say enough for y’all to go and put anything out on me.” Marshawn Lynch

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James Harden Side-eye

november 2015 If you're a basketball fan, you probably know James Harden as an NBA MVP, a scoring champ, and maybe one of the league's best foul-drawers/most notorious floppers (depending on which team you root for). If you're just a non-fan on social media, you almost certainly know Harden as the creator of the most epic "get outta here with that nonsense" side-eye the world has ever seen. After a 109-105 win over the LA Clippers, Harden — then with the Houston Rockets — was asked if his back-to-back 40-point performances proved he "got [his] rhythm going now?" Harden responded the only way he could, and birthed a reaction GIF that would be going strong more than six years later. "Thanks, James," was the response from interviewer Matt Bullard, and the thoughts of anyone who has made use of this meme over the years.

“We got some open shots, and I was just being aggressive.” James Harden

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Next Five

With any Hall of Fame, sometimes the most fun conversation is the "maybe next year" group. The Debatable crew gave us their takes on who should get more consideration in the future, though their picks differed from what our voters picked as the next five strong contenders for the Meme HOF. At No. 6 in our polling, Lance Stephenson's infamous huffing and puffing into LeBron's ear came this close to being the final Hall of Famer. Then Tom Brady memes got hot from the corner, with his terrible courtroom sketch coming in at No. 7 and his massive Coat, with a capital 'C,' finishing 10th with our panel. At No. 8, our voters loved the impact of Nick Young's unforgettable early celebration of a 3-pointer that clanged off the rim as he tried to rally the crowd (oops!). And at No. 9 on our "maybe next year" gang, the world's favorite way to signal it's humanly impossible to care any less about something: the meme equivalent of a hilarious shoulder shrug... Smokin' Jay Cutler.

Written by Ryan Hockensmith, Adam Reisinger.

Produced by ESPN Creative Studio: Michelle Bashaw, Heather Donahue, Jarret Gabel, Luke Knox, Joseph Maese, Munehito Sawada.

Illustrations and Animations: Ryan Inzana

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