I usually do a list every year with the greatest moments in sports. (Check out last year’s.) I wanted to do a different spin on things this year. There were some great stories, and there were some disturbing ones – instead of focusing on things we already know, I wanted to bring to you some videos, memes, gifs and articles of relevance and humor that I found and hoarded over the course of the year.
Think of it as kind of a spinoff of Grizzly’s Top Memes of 2012 List.
-thevhb (edited by grizzly)
Previous Year-End Lists: The Best Memes of 2012 | The Best Music Videos of 2012 | The Best Mixtapes of 2012
Replacement Refs
After the NFL and Referee Union weren’t able to reach a deal, replacement referees took over. There were some missed calls, but none will be more famous than the end of the game between Green Bay and Seattle and ‘The Fail Mary.’ One referee signaled interception, the other signaled touchdown. They still didn’t get it right after replay. Thus, intertouchdownception was born along with many others. Check out the complete history of the replacement refs. As a bonus, Conan did a nice spoof on them. As did Jimmy Kimmel.
The Lelbron
Almost to a T, Lebron James’ pose resembled the troll face that originated the whole ‘trolling on the internet’ thing. Too good. There are numerous examples of other memes and gifs with Lelbron.
Mo Farah / McKayla
The Olympics brought a variety of memes. We all know about “McKayla’s not impressed” meme, but there were a few others that hit the mark. The one above is Mo Farah of the British team after winning some long-ass races. “Mo Farah running away from things.” – Google that.
Linsanity
Jeremy Lin (formerly of the New York Knicks, now of the Houston Rockets) took the sports world by storm. In almost a blink of an eye, people started comparing his excellent play to that of Tebow. Where you scratch your head and continually ask yourself why the uproar? Memes surfaced as a result. Check them out here.
WTF is Russell Westbrook Wearing?
An entire tumblr was dedicated to the (lack of?) fashion sense of OKC’s Russell Westbrook.
Chris Bosh
He was the subject of many memes, velociraptor jokes, the odd one out, and pretty much any and all kinds of jokes. He even has a twitter parody account. However, the GIF below was incredible and captured by ESPN after the Heat won the NBA Finals and there never needs to be another Chris Bosh meme again, because this is the undisputed winner.
Runners Up: Chris Bosh Videobomb | Chris Bosh’s “Dafuq?”
Dwight Howard
Before Dwight was traded to the Lakers, he lost a lot of respect for constantly changing his mind. If you want more, simply google “Dwight Howard Memes” or anything of the sorts.
These are all self-explanatory:
There’s about a million more. I mean, hell, just follow @NFL_Memes or @SBNATIONGIF on Twitter, or read DeadSpin.
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SNL: Stephen A. Smith
Jay Pharoah took on the Stephen A. Smith personality on SNL and in great fashion. The video above was his first go (on SNL) as Stephen A, while he did one a few months back on Tim Tebow. Smith on Tebow, SNL.
Uncle Drew
Kyrie Irving teamed up with Pepsi Max to dress up as an old man and play in some pick-up basketball games. There was a second video with Wes Unseld (Kevin Love). Here’s the clip of Part 2.
Paul Rudd vs. Ray Lewis
Madden NFL 13 put out a number of commercials with Lewis and Paul Rudd that were amazing. The one above is the newest one that surfaced earlier this month.
Old Rivals | Rewind | Black and Yellow
Chicago vs Chicago
Nick Offerman and Craig Robinson had a slew of videos in New Era’s “Chicago vs Chicago” series.
ESPN: Michael Jordan
Part of ESPN’s “It’s not Crazy, it’s Sports” series – and we had a version dealing with the name Michael Jordan. Brilliant.
Other great videos of note:
+ Dustin Brown’s F Bomb on TV.
+ Rainn Wilson interviews Blake Griffin.
+ John Clayton: This is Sportscenter.
“Can I Have Your Hat?”, Discount Double Check, etc etc.
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The Internet and specifically Twitter, ushered in a new wave of trends and traditions in football. Last year brought us the joys of planking and eventually Tebowing, but we had plenty of good ones this year.
Bradying
After the Superbowl loss to the Giants, #bradying took the internet/twittersphere by storm.
Bolting
Bolting found its way to us after this year’s Olympic season.
Shermaning
Ok, so this wasn’t real, but we had to throw it in. Richard Sherman posted this on his damn Twitter. Awesome.
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+ Grantland compared Team USA Hoops to the Mighty Ducks: I re-watched The Mighty Ducks because of this article.
+ Team USA played a prank on NBA rookie, Anthony Davis. U mad? (U mad brow?)
+ The Elite QB Conversations from ProFootballMock. You know, before this whole thing was beaten to death.
+ Tim Tebow’s Hacked GMail account.
+ Dikembe Mutombo teamed up with Old Spice to bring us the best and most addicting Internet Game of 2012. Besides Juicy J’s venture in the same arena.
These are just a handful of the great things we came across this year. We’re positive we left plenty off the list, so feel free to shoot em over!
-grizzly and thevhb