Best Memes of the 2011-12 NBA Season

When reflecting back at an NBA season, one aspect that people usually don't talk about are memes. They really aren't all that important to the game or the season itself. However, for whatever reason, memes became a huge craze in pop culture, and infiltrated basketball too. It seemed like almost every day, I would find myself checking NBA Memes on Facebook for a good laugh. In fact, I was probably more likely to check out NBA Memes at the end of the night than to look at highlights for a game. Memes are great because not only do they give us a good laugh, but because they do tell us a story of how fans viewed the NBA season and what stood out.

I don't know how long this fad of memes will last, but I thought they were important enough to this past season for me to devote a post too it. I'm going to unveil what the best memes of 2011-12 were, but this isn't going to be my opinion, but PUBLIC OPINION. Tastes and humor vary to much from person to person for me to select my own personal list of the best, so I wanted to pick a list of memes that NBA fans (or meme fans) really enjoyed.

Methodology:

My methodology for doing this had a couple steps to it. First, I went through ALL the wall photos on the NBA Memes Facebook Page, and selected ones that had more "likes" than the ones that came out during its time. Since there were more fans of NBA Memes now than their were in February, the memes that came out earlier had a lot less likes. So I had to use my own discretion to pick memes that had an unusually high number of likes than those that came out around the same time it. 

Once I had selected what I dubbed "exceptional" memes and recorded their number of "likes", I put the data into a scatter plot. The y-axis were the number of likes, and the x-axis corresponded to which memes came out first. For instance, the first meme was x=1 and the second meme was x=2. The points followed an exponential path, so I inserted an exponential line of fit and Microsoft Excel produced an equation for that line. 

Using the equation, I was able to project how many "likes" each of the exceptional memes were expected to have, based on when they came out. Using the formula (actual-expected)/expected, I was able to determine how much each meme exceeded the expected likes for an exceptional mean for its time. With that, I was able to have a ranking of the best memes!

Okay, so I'm sure no one came to this post to read this rather long explanation, so without further ado, here are the Best Memes of the 2011-12 NBA Season!

#10.

RATING: 40.4%

Poor, Chris Bosh. I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel last night, and he seems like a really nice guy. Too bad people say he looks like an ostrich or dinosaur or whatever. What I like about this meme is that it makes fun of Bosh without Bosh actually being in the picture. And by making fun of LeBron, it also compliments Bosh...

#9.

RATING: 40.5%

One of the more popular meme topics this year had to do with Luke Walton and the bench. This isn't the most unique Walton meme, but it works so well just because of Kobe Bryant's reaction. 

#8.

RATING: 41.2%

Another subject people like to make memes about? The Bobcats sucked. The best memes are the ones that take double jabs rather than one. Not only does this meme make fun of the Charlotte Bobcats, but it also laughs at High School Musical too.

#7.

RATING: 42.3%

Memes are kind of like caricatures, in that they don't necessarily show reality but rather exaggerate or show stereotypes. Kobe Bryant did average 4.6 assists a game last season, but people like to think of him as someone who doesn't pass the ball. What I like about this meme is that it SHOWS Kobe not passing, instead of saying it.

#6.

RATING: 47.6%

Here is an example of the NBA and current events mixing together. This meme makes light of a rather serious event, alluding to the notorious man-eater of Miami back at the end of May. I'm not a big fan of this one, but with over 60,000 likes, it was one of Facebook's most popular.

#5.

RATING: 58.9%

This is another example of memes not quite accurately depicting reality, as Dwyane Wade has even said that the Heat have become LeBron's team. However, the excellence from this meme comes from just how perfect the pictures are!

#4.

RATING: 84.5%

It's a little bit lengthy, but it gets the message across. LeBron James can't (now it's couldn't) win a ring. Kobe Bryant doesn't pass.

#3.

RATING: 90.2%

With over 76,000 "likes," this was the most liked meme on Facebook. The facial expressions are absolutely priceless, especially James Harden. Throw in a caption of something that really isn't all that exciting, and you've got an amazing meme. Perhaps this also makes fun of the Thunder's youth?

#2.

RATING: 111.7%

I think this meme just shows how much America dislikes Justin Bieber. I got to admit, I don't like him that much either. This meme has nothing to do with any NBA player or stereotype, but just throw in Bieber, and it's a hit!

#1.

RATING: 113.3%

I was afraid that the best meme would be the Justin Bieber one, which wouldn't be right because it's not too basketball related. However, this one barely edges Bieber out. I can say this, that NBA Memes won't be as interesting next year without all the LeBron ringless jokes. Maybe seeing all these memes is what motivated him?

Check-in for the remainder of my season review:

Part I: Looking back at my preseason predictions

Part II: Best NBA Memes

Part III: Best "Wow...Look at this!" moments

Part IV: Best NBA Teams

Part V: Best NBA Players