Here at BC we feel it's our duty to keep Barkers everywhere up to date on the latest and greatest in the trends, happenings and everything else that makes up the bleeding edge of the zeitgeist, especially when said happenings are kinda sportsy. It should come as no surprise that It Boy of the Minute (Or was it Last Minute?) Tim Tebow is at the center of this one. Barely a week ago, Tebowing elbowed its way into the 'sort of hip to reference but gets old a LOT faster than the referencer probably thinks' space in the public consciousness that was previously occupied by #winning. As of this minute it looks like Tebowing is out and a new entrant is in, as can be seen in the comments section of this ESPN.com article on Tebow and the Broncos.
Elegant in its simplicity, the new meme is '(Fill in the blank) > Tebow'. As any good second grade math student knows, the > (alternately described/drawn as Pac Man, The Alligator, or any other exemplar of perpetual hunger) wants to 'eat the bigger number', so it always opens up towards whichever of the two values in question is greater. Some of the people/entities/actions deemed to be > Tebow thusfar have included:
Paying for Porn
Jamarcus Russell's Determination
Kim Kardashian's Marriage
Tower Heist's Reviews
People are coming across this article, seeing what's going on in the comments section and directing other people to check it out (I was alerted by a tweet from Sailor). Watch the posts roll down the screen - at the moment there are several new ones popping up each second. Obviously something like this article going viral isn't mindblowing given how interconnected and networked we've all become, but there was something striking to me about the visual representation of virality as the posts just kept rolling down. Hopefully the comments section of this post will become replete with some funny ____ > Tebow entries of our own, but I'm also in a pondering mood about things like:
- How many people have been guided by the media in all Tebow-related thoughts and are now on at least their third or fourth personal flip-flop as to Tebow's pro future, worth as a symbol and the general Meaning of Tim?
- How many media members are on their OWN third or fourth personal flip-flop?
- Is there any other profession/industry analogous to mainstream sportswriting, where its members are A) accorded a forum and audience due to professed expertise on a topic, B) are quite often hilariously, spectacularly and publicly wrong on the majority of their takes/stances/opinions/predictions on said topic and C) keep their forum and audience intact?
- Is anyone going to remember how horrendous my NFL picks were last week and mock me for the above?
- Is there a sadder visual than 'the alligator' aiming its ever-hungry maw away from Tebow in favor of things like 'Casey Anthony's Parenting Skills' and 'The Baja Men's Second Album' - does it conjure the image of even a steadfast Gator Nation abandoning their Golden Boy in his time of struggle?
I'm interested to see if the spread and culture-worthiness of this insta-meme reaches or surpasses that of Tebowing. The light that burns brightest, burns briefest...