The Greatest Animated Sports GIFs Of 2011

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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.

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!

Intro | 50 through 46 | 45 through 41 | 40 through 36 | 35 through 31 | 30 through 26
25 through 21 | 20 through 16 | 15 through 11 | 10 through 6 | 5 through 1
The 2011 GIF Hall of Fame inductees: Chris Bosh | Jack Wilson | Shane Victorino

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Jon Bois

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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