A photo of a crying Michael Jordan on the day of his Hall of Fame induction has taken on a life of its own over the last year, and is now being used to preemptively troll LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Since late 2015, Twitter users from all corners of the web have photoshopped Jordan’s tear-soaked face onto the heads of athletes who have just lost big games or choked in big moments. The meme quickly expanded to include entertainers and politicians and has inspired thousands of photos, a pair of sneakers and even album art for rappers.
#SB50 Panthers fans rn pic.twitter.com/mvaEBZXYP2
— SPUN (@SPUN) February 8, 2016
goodnight pic.twitter.com/d2BD643HIQ
— nick pants (@nick_pants) December 4, 2015
Sad day for Andrew Jackson... pic.twitter.com/hCECyK0TA5
— Bryce Wood (@woodymlb4) April 20, 2016
But if you type cryingjordan.com into your browser right now, it will automatically redirect you to the Cleveland Cavaliers' website.
According to For The Win, the domain name is owned by Troy Machir, a digital producer for Comcast SportsNet. According to Machir, he’s owned the domain name for some time and changes the redirect to whichever team is “peak Crying Jordan.”
The redirect to the Cavaliers' page is perhaps a bit premature. The Cavs recently came up with a 112-97 win over the Golden State Warriors on Monday in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to stave off elimination. They can force a winner-take-all Game 7 with a win at home on Thursday.
Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.
