A week ago today, we launched GIF Tournament V and reviewed each of its 48 GIFs. Since then, we’ve cast a grand total of 184,526 votes. Now we are down to six, and today, we’ll send half of them to a three-way championship deathmatch. These are my personal feelings.
GIF Tournament V: The Satisfactory Six open thread
The Terrible Twelve of our GIF Tournament has been whittled down to the Satisfactory Six. Today, we vote to determine which three animated sports GIFs we’re sending to the national championship.
WASHINGTON STATE FAN, aka Popcorn Man, aka Time-Travelin’ Asics Dad, has quickly become a fan favorite. He’s convincingly defeated all his competition so far, having won his first three matchups with 62, 64, and 66 percent of the vote.
But Wednesday, he goes to war against a GIF with a considerable pedigree. We’ve discussed the artist-less artistry of ADAM WAINWRIGHT/YADIER MOLINA, but I should also point:
- The last GIF Tournament champion also featured a Cardinals pitcher.
- The last two GIF Tournament champions have both featured pitchers (Tim Lincecum won GIF Tournament III).
- The last three GIF Tournament champions have been baseball GIFs (Buck Showalter won GIF Tournament II).
History is on WAINWRIGHT/MOLINA’s side, and so follows my heart.
Each tournament, a GIF will sneak into the final rounds that I don’t find to be particularly noteworthy. This time around, that GIF is ARTHUR JONES. I don’t see what’s so fantastic about it, but in the end, I am not the final arbiter of what is and isn’t a great GIF. The voters are. Perhaps this GIF is to serve as a reminder of that.
ASTROS is the sixth of seven GIF chapters in the DAMN IT, ASTROS saga. This series is not finished, I’m sure. In a few weeks, the Astros will set to work on their fourth consecutive 100-loss season, something we haven’t seen a baseball team do in a half-century. You may kill it today, but its descendants will return to haunt GIF Tournaments of the future.
At the start of GIF Tournament V, I argued that while we don’t see very many good hockey GIFs, the ones that are good tend to be spectacular. This axiom has been supported by the developments of the last week: there were only two hockey GIFs in the entire tournament, and both of them have reached the Satisfactory Six.
If you’re unfamiliar, please have a look at what I consider to be the two best hockey GIFs of all time: HOCKEY MASSACRE, and HOCKEY SORCERY. Neither GIF was able to win their respective tournament. We know for certain, though, that one hockey GIF will reach the final. As BUTTGOAL’s come-from-behind overnight victory shows us, Hockey Twitter is more than able to assemble, mobilize, and flood the vote. Look out.
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