White Mamba for Team U.S.A

Memes are much more then just inside jokes between friends. Memes are building blocks of culture- they can be anything from fashion trends to religious and political ideas. They are copied from one individual to the next, forming fundamental ideas and values that gain more credibility with each new host. However, not every meme is successful but any meme has the chance to go 'viral' once it is circulated on the internet. Burgess (2008) argues that internet memes are "a medium of social connection" and the value of a meme is based on its ability to generate more content on its "spreadability". That is, in order to fully understand the cultural influence of memes, it is necessary to see them as signifier of ideas that are absorbed in practice within social networks, not just as texts that are produced and consumed but also as ideas that are mutated by being reproduced and imitated in new works, forming more new meanings and new communities.

Indeed, websites like knowyourmeme.com and quickmeme.com offer participants templates to use, ensuring that "anyone" can contribute to the community. As touched on in the previous blog post regarding the attention economy and the notion of "trend spotting", are also reasons why memes have become such a diverse and popular from of express on the internet, with many site owners encouraging for contributions from visitors. For instance, it is common for site owners to call on visitors to contribute memes based on certain topics or images, as templates to create memes that can form different meanings and different ideas. This is often the case with the NBA Humour and NBA Memes websites on Facebook in which they often seek contribution of memes concerning Brian Scalabrine, and as an incentive for fans, the meme with the most "likes" will be featured on the websites. These spaces are considered “cool" and are seen as worth participating in what is considered a trend setting environment- either as readers, contributors or comment makers. So when fans are making memes supporting Brian Scalabrine or mocking the game's superstars Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, they are not simply following a popular trend because it is considered cool to do so but they are also contributing to the prosperity of the community. In this instance of communication through static graphic-articles or video-articles, and especially with the function of comment spaces, it allows for an open flow of multi-dimensional communication. This kind of social interaction in a space of convergence provides for an ideal environment for memes to flourish.

For instance, numerous pre-Olympic memes concerning the U.S Men's basketball team were related to Scalabrine. NBA fans sarcastically proclaimed what a great basketball talent he is, dubbing him the "White Mamba" or propose far-fetched scenarios involving him, such as trading him for another team's superstar or more recently, suggesting he be named to the U.S Men's basketball team. For example the meme below uses an image from the popular cartoon, SpongeBob Squarepants. The Patrick character typically proposes silly ideas. The meme exploits this notion and uses Scalabrine in the same connotation. Memes containing similar messages have also circulated throughout the internet.

 

Superstar Lebron James has literally thousands of memes dedicated to his long-term inability to win an NBA championship ring. James has been a member of the U.S basketball team in 3 Olympics, but is being mocked about only participating in the games to win a "ring".

Although, as of the 2011 - 2012 season, James is now an NBA champion, memes continue to mock him for having less championship titles to other players.

The Attention Economy- More Brian Scalabrine

So far throughout this blog, I've analysed basketball memes in terms of information and social relationships to diverse the types of memes that exist on the internet and how networked digital media has played a role in blurring the traditional distinctions between producer and audience, and also in spreading and reproducing memes very effectively. And to this point, I've emphasised the notion that memes are used as a form of expression by fans, whether it is to exhibit their passion for basketball or their frustrations with various aspects of the sport. The most popular memes mutate from mass spreading, reworking, reaction and attention. Burgess and Green (2009, 68) in their study of YouTube videos found that people tend to respond more to user-created content and such videos tend to dominate the "most responded" and "most discussed" categories of the website. These videos also tend to be the most spread, with their themes becoming templates for replication and imitation. Thus, it can also be argued that the prominence of memes can be partly attributed to the "attention economy". Davenport and Beck (2001, 20) writes, "Attention is focused mental engagement on a particular item of information. Items come into our awareness, we attend to a particular item, and then we decide whether to act. In the digital environment, attention is perhaps the most valuable commodity. For instance, attention can be directly linked to mimesis on YouTube- the number of variations spawned by a certain video, image or even just an idea is an example of attention and in turn the videos itself draws attention, in a reciprocal process. While content created by amateurs is not guaranteed attention, in fact some generate no more then a few views, attention however, can be accumulated through mimetic activity (Shifman 2011, 199). 

Consequently, trends are formed and adopted. That is, there are websites associating with reporting on the latest trends with what is considered "cool" (e.g. boingoing.net, slashdot.com, getwhitit.com, reddit.com). These spaces provide readers with the latest on what is "cool" from technology to fashion, and are seen as worth following and participating in, either as contributors or readers. The same logic applies to memes in which it is considered cool to create new memes and even cooler if the meme becomes successful (Knobel 2006, 416). Examples of popular memes include the "Hitler meme", "All your base are belong to us" and "Lolcats". For the most part, these memes are often akin to inside jokes between friends and outsiders will likely have difficult in seeing the humour in or point in a lot of memes. However when a particular graphic or a video draws considerable attention either through its high rating, high voting scores or being featured among popular websites, the meme becomes successful and it is then considered cool to spread and imitate. For instance, in the world of basketball, it has become a common trend for fans to create memes featuring basketball player Brian Scalabrine. Unlike superstars Lebron James and Kobe Bryant, Scalabrine, who has spent his entire career as a sparingly used reserve, has become a cult hero among basketball fans. Scalabrine memes epitomises the logic of participatory culture and the attention economy. Memes concerning him begun spawning on popular meme sharing websites and basketball fan communities on discussion forums and social networks, setting a trend that it is in fact "cool" to support the unknown "hero", to the point where individuals not familiar with basketball may mistake him to be one of the game's marquee players through the many memes associated with him. This trend would manifest to YouTube shows dedicated to him and to influence live basketball matches with fan signs and chants showing support for Scalabrine, thus exhibiting the influence of spread through digital media. 

YouTube videos-

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The White Mamba

Although Brian Scalabrine has spent his entire career as a backup power forward, with career averages of 13 minutes and 3 points per game, he has become a fan favourite across the NBA. Known to basketball fans as "The White Mamba," a play on Kobe Bryant's nickname of "The Black Mamba.", Scalabrine's popularity due to his distinct 'whiteness' and his lack of playing time, has become the subject of an abundance of meme creations throughout the internet.

Whilst these memes are light hearted in nature, they also represent the diverse and yet at times complex ways fans relate to sports in that memes can be used to convey more serious socio-political issues, such as the common perception of inferiority of Caucasian athletes compared to their African-American counterparts. Fans who generate memes negotiate and appropriate their object of fandom become textually productive in that they create new objects of fandom for others. For instance, memes allow for different connotations of a star's image to develop, thus establishing new fan bases in ways traditional media can not. Basketball fans will understand the satirical tone in the Scalabrine memes but non-basketball fans who read the memes may mistake him to be one of the NBA's marquee stars, which is a contradiction to his role in basketball and his overall image.