By Jon Bois - Featured Contributor
In 2011, fans made hundreds of animated GIFs of the best, worst, silliest, and most amazing moments in the world of sports. Here are the 50 greatest animations we saw all year.
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Jan 4, 2012 - Hello, friends, and welcome to our grand retrospective of the year 2011, and the sports happenings to which we bore witness. As we did last year, we are taking a look back through the lens of the humble animated GIF.
What is an animated GIF? Well, here's an example of a GIF I sent my associate Spencer Hall last year, and his reaction over instant message.
Spencer: oh god
Spencer: [expletive]
Spencer: I'm dying
Spencer: help
Spencer: my stomach hurts
Like him, I laughed uncontrollably. Why? I don't know! It just hits this mystical forbidden note of funny. That is what GIFs tend to do. Others document ridiculous moments, and still others are downright heartwarming. They are the silent tellers of stories, of which the world of sports has no shortage.
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Here, then, I've listed the 50 greatest sports-centric animated GIFs of the year 2011. I've broken them up into a series of pages -- sorry to make you click through them, but GIFs are rather technologically inefficient, and placing too many on a single page is capable of making one's browser explode.
A note before we proceed: almost none of these GIFs were made by me. Many come by way of @bubbaprog, @jose3030, @cjzero, @LookoutLanding, and @mccoveychron. If you like sports, and you like GIFs, you should probably follow them.
Onward!
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4 comments
Featured Contributor
You have never read a sportswriter more recently than Jon Bois. He is an associate editor at SB Nation, he is an enthusiast of the Chiefs, Braves, and Royals, and he lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
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Comments
This is why I love SBNation.
I look forward to these each year/month/week/day.
by TXinDC on Jan 4, 2012 12:21 PM EST reply actions
These posts are now my second-favorite thing about sports.
by thehakujin on Jan 4, 2012 2:11 PM EST reply actions
For those interested in the amazing horse race gif
Here is the equally hilarious video: http://youtu.be/-vNRcsNqNi8
by CheckersLangely on Jan 4, 2012 4:02 PM EST reply actions
Hard to believe
that you missed Invisible Sack..
"I am willing to donate to the charity that is working on the prevention of whatever the hell Dick Vitale has." - noobmaster
by rickmbari on Jan 6, 2012 12:10 AM EST reply actions
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