2. Flawed masculinity- Lebron James, Michael Jordan

Flawed masculinity is the second aspect of Shifman's typology regarding memes. The notion of flawed masculinity can refer to men's failure to contemporary masculine expectations in behaviour, appearance or performance. For instance, the overwhelming use of the "Bad Luck Brian" image to convey messages of failure and bad luck. Brian's image has been used as a core communicator to conversations regarding the daily lives of people, to debates about sports, politics and a host of various world issues. By society's expectations, Brian is considered a "geek", his red hair along with his freckled face and braces-laden teeth are considered to be representation of the traditional ideals of what is "uncool". If Brian did not appear the way he did, the memes simply would not be as successful and certainly would not be as humorous. 

Similar trends also occur in basketball memes. For example, the consistent focus on Brian Scalabrine's perceived lack of talent has been prominent among the online basketball fan community. Such attention has effectively evolved Scalabrine's star image from a rarely-used bench player to that of a cult hero. However, perhaps the most telling example of such theme is within the memes concerning the sports biggest names. Memes concerning the Charlotte Bobcats mainly refer to the team's lack of success. The Bobcats also happen to be owned by basketball legend Michael Jordan. Perhaps the Bobcats' poor performances are justifiably criticised, it does make an arguable point that if Jordan was not the team owner, the Bobcats may not have been under as much scrutiny. Conversely, memes concerning superstar Lebron James tend to focus on his failures on the basketball court, such as his inability to hold his nerve during big match situations and his long-standing quest to win a NBA championship. If such memes targeted the other several hundred NBA players who have not won championships and are considerably lesser known compared to James, the memes simply would not work. 

1. For ordinary people- Brian Scalabrine

Limor Shifman describes memes as "conceptual troublemakers". She alludes to the notion regarding the wide academic debate over the theoretical usefulness of memes ever since Dawkins coined the term in 1976. Memes have evolved into a prominent mode of communication for net users, as uncontested normalities within daily routines. Shifman suggests that memes can be a powerful concept in revealing different aspects of digital culture, such as the influences of "viral" and "memetic" works.

Shifman argues that while the terms "viral" and "memetic" are often used interchangeably- distinguishing them may lead to more enhanced understanding of networked digital culture. That is not to say they are different but rather, instead Shifman suggests treating them as "interconnected video-types". A viral video is a clip that spreads to the masses through digital networks via "word-of-mouth" mechanisms such as sharing and reposting on social media, with the core video remaining without significant changes. In contrast, memetic videos involve a different kind of participation. Memetic videos are inspired by popular clips or clips that garner attention which invokes creative user engagement in the form of parody, remixing or mash-ups. The Hitler downfall parodies, or more recently, Justin Bieber's "boyfriend" music video are particularly well known memetic videos. Off course, many memetic videos begun as viral videos, and many become viral as a result of wide spread reproducing. 

According to Shifman, both viral and memetic videos seem to coincide with what Henry Jenkins refers to as "spreadable media", yet the distinction between them illuminates the two different elements of participatory culture. Viral relates to the diffusion and spread of media, while memetic relates to the prevalent mode of meme-based communication. Academic insight thus far has predominately focused on "viral" videos, while studies into memes have been less prevalent. Studies into meme culture may benefit our understanding of contemporary digital culture. 

Shifman's analysis of memetic videos contextualised six common features:

1. focus on ordinary people
2. flawed masculinity
3. humour
4. simplicity 
5. repetitiveness
6. whimsical content. 

Furthermore Shifman suggests that these attributes make the video as "incomplete or flawed", therefore invoking further creative dialogue. That is, "bad" amateur created content in fact make "good" memes in contemporary participatory culture. Using Shifman's typology, basketball memes of the graphical kind also exhibit similar features. 

1. Focus on ordinary people.

The Brian Scalabrine memes focuses on NBA veteran Brian Scalabrine's basketball achievements and talents (or lack thereof). Scalabrine, a career bench player is ordinary compared to the superstars of the game such as Lebron James, who has won numerous accolades and has been in the pinnacle of the sport throughout his career.  Basketball memes focuses on Scalabrine's ordinary attributes and convey them in a manner that mockingly perceives him to be one of the sport's legends. The theme structure of these memes all interchangeably refer to his lack of playing time and the apparent "shock" when he scores or makes an impressive play. Scalabrine's ordinariness essentially invokes creativity among basketball fans.

NBA2K Memes

From its roots on 4chan and its original membership premise of doing it for the "lolz", this internet phenomenon known as memes has evolved into a conventional form of communication for net-users. That is, no longer are memes simply a avenue for humour, but it has also become a form of communication allowing people to connect. In that sense, meme communities can also be regarded as collective intelligence (Lévy 1997) in practice. Lévy’s work contextualises the concept of collective intelligence through knowledge societies. Collective intelligence is shared knowledge which emanate from collaborations and contributions from many individuals. Contemporary meme communities like NBA Memes or NBA humour are knowledge communities which circulate data contributed by basketball fans. The collective contribution of memes enables all members of a community to have access to knowledge because as Lévy (1997, 20) states, “within a knowledge community, no one knows everything, everyone knows something, all knowledge resides in humanity.” Consequently, this collective effort among members allows the internet-based social community to become more personal and authentic in which friendships are formed and norms within the community are, as Howard Rheingold (2000) says, “established, challenged, changed, re-established and rechallenged, in a kind of speeded-up social evolution".

The meme community NBA 2K memes, is a fitting example of Lévy and Rheingold's ideas. On the "about" section of its Facebook page, it encourages users to create memes based on their NBA 2K game play experiences, thus ensuring the longevity of the community via collaborative sharing by individuals bounded by common interests. For the most part, the memes typically take on a humoristic tone by incorporating fecund themes from both basketball and the overall meme culture, such as incorporating the image of "Bad Luck Brian" to convey messages of misfortune or failure, displeasure over Brian Scalabrine's low player ratings within the game, Lebron James's inability to hold his nerve in tight contests, or Kobe Bryant's over willingness to shoot the basketball.

 

 

 

Longevity

Longevity is Dawkins' third major characteristic of a successful meme. The longer a meme remains viral, the more it can be replicated and spread onto new minds, ensuring its ongoing circulation. Longevity can only occur when ideal conditions for a meme's replication, innovation and evolution are in place. That is, circulation at an optimal time, such as coinciding with current events and spread within ideal affinity spaces, such as appropriate networks with relative opinions. A prime example of a long-surviving joke that has made its way into the digital world where it has become a fecund meme is what is known as the "Lebron ringless" meme. The memes of this joke can vary in terms of content but the main message of the joke remains constant, that is the theme of Lebron James's inability to win a NBA championship during the first 9 seasons of his career. Memes regarding the situation range from comparing him with other championship winning athletes, mobile phone ring tones and the Olympic logo. Since James has now won an NBA championship, the meme continues to live on, by comparing various cultural aspects of daily routines as having "more rings" then Lebron, for example, a phone usually rings more the once. The longevity of this particular Lebron James meme, among the many that is in circulation, is also due in large part to people connecting with the humour behind it, otherwise the meme would not be as long-lived as it has been. Indeed, some fans may claim that only a marquee player such as Lebron James could have generated such attention. However, what is perhaps most significant is that collectively, the Lebron James memes exhibit an aspect of fan culture that is diverse and yet complex, with an abundance of themes being contradictory to his star image.

Clearly, the memes' contradictions between James's pubic persona and marketing strategies and what a global fan base is thinking, hooked into a sizable and ultimately widespread discontent with James's personality. The Lebron James memes has proven to be robust and long-lived. A quick search on Google using terms like "Lebron James memes" or "Lebron ringless memes" brings up a plethora of links and images to websites that have reproduced different variations of meme concerning James, with many adding their own input and creations to the designs. The memes are infectious because of the absurd humour contained in the macro images, such as comparing James's lack of championships to the number rings that make up the Olympic logo. The humour within the exchange does not hide the notion of the high degree of generativity that exists within online sports fandom.

 

 

 

White Mamba has retired

After failing to gain interest from any NBA teams this off-season, Brian Scalabrine has announced his retirement from professional basketball and has accepted a position as a colour commentator for Boston Celtics games next season. The news of Scalabrine's retirement sent the online NBA meme community into a tailspin with tributes flooding in from fans. Meme communities such as NBA Humor and NBA Laughters marked the day of tribute as the "Scalabrine meme palooza". The search has already begun of who community members think is the next "best" player in the NBA, so it will be interesting whether if Scalabrine memes will continue to flourish or fade out like many have already previously. But for now, tribute memes devoted to Scalabrine have begun circulating en masse.