The crying Michael Jordan meme has become the universal social media post to convey a crushing loss in sports — or life, period.
Just ask Ronda Rousey, who got the treatment following her brutal loss to Holly Holm last November, as the Internet rushed to superimpose a teary-eyed MJ onto the fallen UFC star's body.
However, its widespread use on social media outlets such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook following North Carolina's loss to Villanova in the NCAA National Championship game on Monday night all but shut the Internet down.
Why? Well, because MJ himself was in attendance at the NRG Stadium in Houston to witness his alma mater suffer the devastating buzzer-beating defeat, serving up the perfect springboard to flood the Web with the crying meme.
Now, social media is taking the continuing popularity of the crying MJ meme to another level, having spawned a faux ESPN 30 for 30 trailer for a fake documentary, Crying Jordan the Greatest Cry, detailing the origins of the now-notorious meme and how often it gets used.
Black Twitter 30 for 30 Presents: Crying Jordan The Greatest Cry pic.twitter.com/TuKN1WrIS3
— Die Wrecked Her (@YoungQwan) April 5, 2016
Hilarious! The meme was Photoshopped from Jordan's emotional September 2009 Hall of Fame induction speech, in which he shed tears. Within the past few years, the image of MJ crying — just his face — has continued to be cropped out and superimposed on other athletes' faces to universally signal a bad loss or even an embarrassing moment on or off the field. It's not just relegated to sports and athletes, as the meme gets used casually between friends as well.
Part of the Internet's attempt in delivering this fake trailer is to force the hand to actually make it happen, as there's even a plea to start a Kickstarter campaign. Unbelievable that social media has reduced arguably the greatest basketball player in NBA history and current owner of the Charlotte Hornets into nothing more than a crying meme, and refuses to let the meme's use die down over time.
In fact, doesn't it feel like every time it's dying down, it just rages back in being used on a widespread scale?
