Sad Bill Simmons

About

Sad Bill Simmons is a reaction image of the Boston sports fan and writer Bill Simmons taken during the Boston Celtics game 7 loss to the Miami Heat in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals in late May 2023. His facial expression, similar to the reactions of other Boston basketball fans following the loss, was rapidly turned into a meme online as Simmons' glum-looking photo became the face of disappointment among the Celtics fandom.

Origin

On May 29th, 2023, the Boston Celtics hosted the Miami Heat for game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The winner of the game would be going on to the NBA Finals, with the Boston Celtics trying to become the first team in the history of the NBA to complete a reverse sweep. After losing the first three games of the series, Boston regrouped and won the next three, forcing the final game to be played on their home court (typically regarded as an advantage). After the blowout loss of 103-84, fans such as Simmons could be seen in utter disarray, as noted by @SportsIllustrated^[1] on its YouTube channel (shown below).

That same night on May 29th, Twitter^[4] user JamesEdrick3 was one of the first to post the screengrab of Simmons, tweeting it alongside two crying laughing emojis and receiving over 1,400 likes and 300 retweets in three days (seen below).

Spread

On May 29th, 2023, Twitter^[5] user manerayo posted a meme using Sad Bill Simmons while comparing the image to Kendall Roy from the series finale of the show Succession, garnering over 2,900 likes and 440 retweets in three days (shown below).

Outside of the rivalry between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics, a greater rivalry between the Celtics and other franchises has existed for decades, as the Celtics are one of the NBA franchises with the most wins (meaning their fans are often described as trash-talkers). This has led to animosity towards the franchise, which then showed itself with reactions from NBA fans on May 29th, 2023, who were happy that Bill Simmons and Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports were sad at the loss, as seen in the tweet by @TysonMoll^[2] that received over 3,500 likes in three days (shown below).

As the meme of Bill Simmons began to spread around following the game's final, it was also picked up by people outside of the sports memesphere, leading to it being used in TikToks and other forms of content. For example, on May 30th, 2023, the TikToker glazyfriend^[3] uploaded a TikTok in which Bill Simmons' face is placed over a compilation of various crying and sad figures (shown below).

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