About
Sad Virginia Fan is the nickname given to a supporter of the University of Virginia’s collegiate football team Virginia Cavaliers who became the subject of photoshopped parodies online for his reaction to the game-winning touchdown by the University of Notre Dame’s quarterback DeShone Kizer during the last minute of the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) match between the two teams on September 12th, 2015.
Origin
On September 12th, 2015, the FBS football season match[2] between Virginia Cavaliers (University of Virginia) and Notre Dame Fighting Irish (University of Notre Dame) kicked off at Scott Stadium in Scottsville, Virginia. While most college football fans and experts anticipated an easy win for Notre Dame, Virginia Cavaliers outperformed the expectation of many by securing a one-point lead with less than two minutes remaining in the last quarter. However, Notre Dame’s backup quarterback DeShone Kizer managed to flip the lead and ultimately seal the victory with a 39-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds remaining in the game.
Immediately after Notre Dame’s game-winning touchdown, ESPN turned the camera to a Cavaliers supporter in the seating area heavily slouched over the brick wall in dismay. Following the broadcast, a screenshot of the fan’s reaction entered circulation on Twitter after the image was near-simultaneously tweeted by sports columnists Timothy Burke[15] and Erik Malinowski[16] at 5:01 p.m. (EST).
Spread
In the following hours, numerous sports news sites and college football blogs began highlighting the screenshot to summarize the fans’ reaction to the outcome of the game, including Deadspin[18], SB Nation[8], ESPN[19], Sports Nation[20], Bleacher Report[14] and GameDayr.[9] By 5:13 p.m., a novelty Twitter account had been launched in honor of the newly-dubbed “Sad Virginia Fan,”[13] garnering over 360 followers in the matter of a few hours. Throughout the weekend, a slew of photoshopped parodies featuring a cutout of the slouched fan began to emerge on Twitter.[12]
Examples
Search Interest
[not yet available]
External References
[1]Wikipedia – 2015 Virginia Cavaliers football team
[2]NCAA– Notre Dame 34, Virginia 27
[3]The Washington Post – Against Notre Dame, Virginia falls 12 seconds short of a perfect day
[4]CollegeSpun – “Sad Virginia Fan” Is The Next Great Internet Meme
[5]Uproxx – Watch Notre Dame’s Miraculous Last-Minute Touchdown Pass To Avoid An Upset In Virginia
[6]Uproxx – The Internet Is Losing Its Mind Over This Sad Virginia Fan
[7]MSN– ‘Sad Virginia fan’ becomes a meme after loss to Notre Dame
[8]SB Nation – Sad UVA Fan has officially taken on a life of its own
[9]GameDayr – ‘Sad Virginia Fan’ Winning The Internet Following Late Loss To Notre Dame
[10]Kansas City Star – Late Notre Dame TD breaks the spirit of one poor Virginia football fan
[11]Twitter – CBS Sports’ Tweet
[12]Twitter – Search Results for ‘Sad Virginia Fan’
[13]Twitter – Sad Virginia Fan
[14]Bleacher Report – Notre Dame’s 39-Yard Bomb Beats Virginia with 12 Seconds Left, Devastates Fans
[15]Twitter – Timothy Burke’s Tweet
[16]Twitter – Erik Malinowski’s Tweet
[17]Cheezburger – Let This Sad Virginia Fan Be Your Monday Morning Spirit Animal
[18]Twitter – Deadspin’s Tweet
[19]Twitter – ESPN’s Tweet
[20]Twitter – SportsNation’s Tweet