# Sportsball Sportsball is an internet slang term for any ball-based sport, used sarcastically by people wanting distance from mainstream sports fandom[7]. User Balcerzak posted the earliest documented definition to Urban Dictionary on March 3, 2007[5], and the word spread through webcomics and Threadless merch in the early 2010s[8]. By Super Bowl Sunday 2021, Twitter account @mcmansionhell was telling anyone still using it they sounded stuck in 2012 Reddit culture[16]. ## Origin Sportsball's online origin point is hard to pin down. The earliest documented definition appeared on Urban Dictionary on March 3, 2007, when user Balcerzak posted an entry calling it a sport whose name ends in '-ball,' used with a derogatory edge[5]. That site now holds multiple competing definitions covering both the mocking and the general-athletics meanings[5]. Two years later, on October 14, 2009, Los Angeles filmmaker Peter Atencio uploaded a short sketch titled 'Sportsball' to Vimeo, in which office workers rave about the fictional sport[6]. G4 Network's 'Web Soup' aired the segment six days later, giving the word a first stretch of television exposure[7]. - **Platform:** Urban Dictionary (earliest documented use) / Vimeo and webcomics (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2007 ## Overview Writers deploying the term typically pair it with a sarcastic reference to a current big game, posted alongside a photo of a book, a craft project or an empty bar. Webcomic artists set the early template[1]. In 2011, xkcd published strip #904 centered on recycled sports commentary and interchangeable sportscaster cliches[2]. On September 3, 2013, The Oatmeal added a webcomic about an office worker trapped in a one-sided football conversation with an uninterested coworker[3]. A typical post attaches the '-ball' suffix to whatever sport is in the news, flattening football, baseball and hockey into interchangeable noise. Variations lean into invented stats, mangled rules and nonsense play-by-play. In 2019, satirical outlet The Hard Times ran a first-person piece from a fictional pro Sportsball player narrating 'the 4th half' with 'ten seconds left on the sportsclock' and running out of 'pausies'[4]. Playing dumb on purpose is the punchline, which lets the writer skip knowing any real rules. ## How to Use Pair the word with a current major sporting event, like 'Enjoying your sportsball?' on Super Bowl Sunday or 'Did your team win sportsball?' during the World Series. Common variants lean on mock stats or invented rules, like The Hard Times' 'goal baskets' and 'sportsclock' terminology[4]. Writers often attach a photo of something highbrow, a book, art project or garden, to drive the contrast. Self-aware posting is part of the gag: the speaker is positioning themselves as above sports, which is itself the setup that late-2010s backlash writers aimed at[15]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Sportsball? Sportsball is an internet slang word for any ball-based sport, used sarcastically by people wanting to signal distance from mainstream sports fandom[5]. ### Where did Sportsball come from? The earliest documented appearance is a March 3, 2007 Urban Dictionary entry by user Balcerzak[5]. Peter Atencio's 2009 Vimeo sketch gave it an early video treatment[6]. ### What does Sportsball mean? It refers to any sport with 'ball' in its name like football, baseball or basketball, and is almost always used to mock sports fandom[5]. ### How do you use Sportsball? Posts often attach the word to a current big game, such as 'Enjoying your sportsball?' on Super Bowl Sunday, sometimes with invented stats or fake rules like The Hard Times' 'goal baskets'[4]. ### Is Sportsball still popular? Pushback branded the word cringe starting in 2017, with The New Yorker and Junkee both running critical pieces that year[14][15]. By Super Bowl Sunday 2021, Twitter users were actively mocking anyone still using it[16]. ### Who created the Sportsball term? The origin is unclear[7]. User Balcerzak posted the first documented definition on Urban Dictionary in March 2007[5]. ### What is the Rooster Teeth Sportsball show? A weekly comedy web series that premiered on August 15, 2015, hosted by Joel Heyman, Jack Pattillo, Geoff Ramsey and former ESPN radio host Tyler Coe[12][18]. ### Why do people say Sportsball is cringe? Junkee and The New Yorker both argued in 2017 that it was less a joke and more a signal of intellectual superiority, with the New Yorker piece parodying the self-congratulatory tone directly[14][15]. ### Is there a Sportsball video game? Yes. Newgrounds user CTincknell released a Flash scrolling arcade game called Sportsball on April 19, 2015[11]. ### What did @mcmansionhell say about Sportsball? On February 7, 2021, @mcmansionhell wrote 'If you still call any sport "sportsball," I hate you. this isn't le 2012 Reddit,' drawing more than 15,000 likes[16]. ### Did xkcd make a Sportsball comic? xkcd published strip #904 in 2011, centered on templates of generic sports commentary and interchangeable sportscaster cliches[2]. ### What did The Hard Times write about Sportsball? The Hard Times published a first-person satirical rant on September 18, 2019 titled 'I Actually Do Play Sportsball and My Team Did Score the Most Goal Baskets and Your Comments Offended Me,' written under the fictional name 'Hoops Gerbrawlsky'[4]. ## References 1. [https://vectorbelly.com/electrical177.html]() 2. [https://xkcd.com/904/]() 3. [https://theoatmeal.com/pl/working_home/piggers]() 4. [https://thehardtimes.net/blog/i-actually-do-play-sportsball-and-my-team-did-score-the-most-goal-baskets-and-your-comments-offended-me/]() 5. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sportsball]() 6. [https://vimeo.com/7060519]() 7. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sportsball]() 8. [https://www.threadless.com/designs/varsity-sportsball]() 9. [https://cottonbureau.com/products/sportsball]() 10. [https://www.reddit.com/r/RealSportsball/]() 11. [https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/656406]() 12. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMM8EYf2100]() 13. [https://www.wonkette.com/sportsball-year-in-review-it-was-mostly-awful]() 14. [https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/smart-things-i-have-done-while-you-were-watching-sportsball]() 15. [https://junkee.com/rip-sportsball-talking-loving-sport/99629]() 16. [https://twitter.com/mcmansionhell/status/1358572949096304640]() 17. [https://twitter.com/ShammyTV/status/1358525817454800899]() 18. [https://roosterteeth.com/series/sportsball]() 19. [https://www.buzzfeed.com/danieldalton/hashtag-sportsball]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/sportsball Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library