GIF Tournament III: No. 2 'Tim Lincecum' vs. No. 15 'Matt Elam'

GIF TOURNAMENT -- FIRST ROUND
(2) TIM LINCECUM VS. (15) MATT ELAM

TIM LINCECUM.

Automatic bid. Finished first in Week 18 of THIS WEEK IN GIFs with 511 votes.

Sometimes a GIF is shallow, short, and one-dimensional -- like, say, Mark Sanchez running his face into his lineman's butt. And that's perfectly fine, but GIFs like this one are special and to be cherished for all time. I've never seen such cinematography in an animated GIF before. If the camera didn't pan across the dugout like it does, this would have been 10 percent as wonderful.

In the first go-round back in September, we were having trouble figuring out who's sitting next to him. In the comments, we decided it was either Hunter Pence or Barry Zito. In either case, that doesn't look like a terribly rewarding conversation.

MATT ELAM.

Special nomination. Finished third in Week 21 of THIS WEEK IN GIFs with 110 votes.

This is how Matt Elam says, "good tackle, teammate. Well done." And it gives me an idea for a football variant, which I guess I'd call "mercenary football" or "rogue football" or something. 22 guys, no teams, every man for himself, competing in a polygon with 22 end zones. Actually, I think everyone would die. Nevermind. Well, that was a fun 25 seconds.

VOTE!

GIF TOURNAMENT III -- EAST REGION -- FIRST ROUND

(1) ZLATAN IBRAHAMOVIC vs.
(16) PEYTON MANNING
Voting is live!

(8) BARRY ZITO vs.
(9) NAPPIN' MIKE FRANCESA
Voting is live!

(5) MARK SANCHEZ vs.
(12) REPLACEMENT OFFICIAL
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(4) JADEVEON CLOWNEY vs.
(13) ICHIRO SUZUKI
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(6) PADRES BULLPEN CATCHER vs.
(11) WADE BOGGS
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(3) SCREAMIN' MARINE vs.
(14) FELIX BAUMGARTNER
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(7) JOEY CRAWFORD vs.
(10) TEXAS FAN/CAMERAMAN
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(2) TIM LINCECUM vs.
(15) MATT ELAM
Voting is live!