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About
Basketball is an internationally popular sport where two teams with five players each compete to score the most points by throwing a spherical ball through the other team’s basket. The baskets are mounted at a height taller than the players and difficult for them to reach, one on either side of a rectangular court.[1] The sport can be played indoors or outside. In the United States, the professional league for the sport is called the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the sport is played internationally and at the Olympic games. There is also a popular college league, administered by the National College Athletics Association, or NCAA. This sport is often referred to as “College Basketball” in queries. At the turn of the century, it is the world’s second most popular sport after football/soccer, played in over 200 countries.[2]
Online Presence
Both the NBA and NCAA maintain large online presences. As of June 2015, the official NBA website, nba.com, was ranked the 187th top site in the United States by Alexa web rankings.[3] The NBA Youtube channel has more than 6.28 million subscribers[5]. The official Twitter account has 15.1 million followers,[6] and their official Facebook page has over 26 million likes.[7]
The NCAA, distributed through universities, does not maintain such a centralized presence, but the sport is popularly discussed on ESPN and other sports television networks. Despite it’s decentralization, in the United States, college-level basketball, in aggregate, is actually more popular than the professional level, as reflected in the search results below. The finals of the NCAA college tournament, referred to as March Madness, and it is one of the largest sporting events in the world, and has its own media presence. On Facebook, the official March Madness page has over 873,000 likes.[8] The March Madness Twitter account has over 408,000 followers and its YouTube page has 13,000 followers.[9][10]
BleacherReport, another popular central sports blog, is number 95 in the United States according to web rankings, and users often leave upwards of 500 comments on individual posts.[4]
Fandom
Fantasy Basketball
There are two central hubs for Fantasy Basketball for professional basketball, ESPN Fantasy and Yahoo Sports.
Video Games
NBA 2K15 Facescan FAIL
“NBA 2K15 Facescan FAIL”http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nba-2k15-facescan-fail refers to poorly-scanned 3D models of players faces using images captured with the PlayStation Eye or Xbox Kinect in the basketball video game NBA 2K15.
Controversies
Donald Sterling Racism Controversy
The Donald Sterling Racism Controversy refers to an ongoing controversy surrounding Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling after a tape was leaked in which he makes racists remarks against African American athletes in the National Basketball Association.
Related Memes
Kobe Bryant “White Hot” Cover Photo
Kobe Bryant “White Hot” Cover Photo refers to a photoshop meme based on a magazine cover photo of NBA superstar Kobe Bryant posing in an all-white designer suit. Published in May 2010 by the LA Times Magazine, Bryant’s cover photo led to an outpouring of criticism from online sports communities and a slew of photoshopped images featuring Bryant’s “white hot” look.
#Linsanity / Jeremy Lin
#Linsanity is a Twitter hashtag used to describe excitement surrounding New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin following his breakout performance in mid-February 2012.
LINNING!
Linning is a secret handshake originally done by basketball players Jeremy Lin and Landry Fields. Still images usually consist of the final pose of the meme, making “nerd glasses” toward a friend or the camera.
Lebron James-related Memes
Lelbron
Lelbron is a photoshop meme featuring a picture of James wearing pair of black-rimmed glasses and a smile that involves superimposing a cutout of LeBron’s face into other base images of various contexts.
LeBroning
LeBroning is a photo fad in which the participant stages an exaggerated dive after intentionally bumping into an unsuspecting passerby and shares the recorded footage on Vine. The fad was named after James, who has earned a reputation for frequently resorting to “flop,” or the act of intentional falling upon slightest contact with an opposing player in order to draw a personal foul call.
Lance Stephenson Blowing in LeBron James’ Ear
Lance Stephenson Blowing in LeBron James’ Ear is a photoshop meme based on a close-up footage of the Indiana Pacers shooting guard trying to taunt the Miami Heat forward by breathing into his ear during the fifth game of the NBA Eastern Conference finals.
“LeBron Travelled”
“LeBron Traveled” is an expression often used in YouTube comments among basketball enthusiasts to mock James for performing the basketball violation known as “traveling.”
Shaquille O’Neal-Related Memes
Shaq Fu
Shaq Fu is a video game developed for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Super Nintendo, released on October 28, 1994. It is a 2D fighting game, featuring O’Neal as the protaganist. The game has gain infamy for it’s absurd setting and poor gameplay. A sequel is currrently under development, titled Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn.
Shaquille O’Neal’s Epic Fall
Shaquille O’Neal’s Epic Fall is a photoshop meme, derived from a still image of O’Neal tripping over a wire during the TNT sport television program Halftime Report. (Video shown above, examples shown below)
Villanova Crying Piccolo Player
Villanova Crying Piccolo Player, also known as the Villanova Crying Flute Player and March Sadness, is a photoshop fad based on a video clip of a college marching band mate playing the flute in tears that was displayed on Jumbotron during a NCAA men’s basketball tournament match between Villanova University and North Carolina State University in late March 2015.
Jim Boeheim’s Jacket Removal
Jim Boeheim’s Jacket Removal is a photoshop meme featuring a cut out image of Syracuse University basketball coach Jim Boeheim angrily removing his jacket in protesting a charging foul call made by a referee during a regular season match against Duke University in February 2014.
Riley Curry
Riley Curry is the daughter of Stephen Curry, an American professional basketball player and point guard for Oakland’s Golden State Warriors. Riley gained significant online fame in June 2015, particularly among the NBA fan communities and Black Twitter, due to her comical interruptions in the middle of official NBA press conferences.
Kevin Durant MVP Speech
Kevin Durant MVP Speech was a heartfelt speech given by professional basketball player Kevin Durant while accepting his Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in May 2014.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Wikipedia – Basketball
[2]BBC– The Canadian who invented basketball
[3]Alexa – Ranking: nba.com
[4]Alexa – Ranking: bleacherreport.com