--- title: Crying Lionel Messi Becomes Meme After Copa America Loss description: An image of Lionel Messi crying after Argentina's loss to Chile has gone viral, furthering the Internet's fascination with crying athletes. canonical: https://time.com/4383734/crying-lionel-messi-meme/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-27T17:15:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:33:47.627Z og:title: The Best Memes of Crying Athletes, Ranked og:description: From Michael Jordan to Lionel Messi og:url: https://time.com/4383734/crying-lionel-messi-meme/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Best Memes of Crying Athletes, Ranked twitter:description: From Michael Jordan to Lionel Messi twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Best Memes of Crying Athletes, Ranked > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c816b911-b2b1-4aa0-be4d-5789ad3a0bc7&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 27, 2016 5:15 PM UTC  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 27, 2016 5:15 PM UTC For better or worse, the Internet wastes no time in capitalizing on the emotions of athletes. This proved to be the case for [Argentina’s Lionel Messi](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975%5F2111976%5F2112092,00.html), the veritable GOAT of international soccer, when his tears [after a heart-breaking loss to Chile in the Copa America championship](http://time.com/4383261/messi-quit-argentina-football-soccer-team/?xid=homepage) quickly went viral, placing him in the ranks of other athletes whose crying moments have become legendary memes. The [“Crying Jordan” meme of Michael Jordan](http://time.com/4369791/schoolboy-q-crying-jordan-album-art/) at his 2009 induction to the Basketball Hall of Fame has become a ubiquitous sight on sports Twitter, but other [crying athletes](http://time.com/4375049/crying-lebron-jordan-game-7/) have quickly joined him as the Internet’s favorite way to express the full range of human emotions. From Messi to Jordan, we’ve rounded up the most memorable crying athlete memes of all time, below. ### Lionel Messi, Copa America Championship, 2016 Messi’s highly emotional moment after Argentina’s loss to Chile during the Copa America championship will be one for the books — especially since Messi hinted at his [retirement](http://time.com/4383261/messi-quit-argentina-football-soccer-team/) after the match. > [](https://twitter.com/CastlesNdragons/status/747273740912758784) ### LeBron James, NBA Playoffs, 2016 After Cleveland’s number one son ended the drought for his city with a [long-promised championship](http://time.com/4374422/cleveland-cavaliers-golden-state-warriors-lebron-james-nba-game-7-basketball/), his crying face was hailed as the new “Crying Jordan.” > [](https://twitter.com/LatinaGawd/status/744725426296229888) Although, [teammate and shirtless wonder J.R. Smith](http://time.com/4378814/j-r-smith-cavaliers-championship-parade/)‘s emotional moment after the game gave King James a good run for his money. > [](https://twitter.com/D%5FTwoSeven/status/744725673776922624) ### Tom Brady, _The Brady 6_, 2011 The beloved Patriots quarterback shed copious tears during an interview in the documentary, _The Brady 6_, while recalling the 2000 NFL Draft, where he was selected in the 6th round. The footage of him crying has made countless rounds on the web, especially during the [“Deflategate](http://time.com/tag/deflategate/)” controversy. > [](https://twitter.com/JasonRomano/status/724624122349817861) ### Tim Tebow, SEC Championship, 2009 Tebow’s famous ugly-cry after Florida’s major loss to Alabama was probably only upstaged on the Internet by [“Tebowing.”](http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/09/bradying-the-poor-mans-tebowing/) > [](https://twitter.com/nfl%5Fmemes/status/393474637470130176) ### Michael Jordan, Basketball Hall of Fame induction, 2009 Jordan’s famous speech has given us the greatest meme of all time, featuring the greatest basketball player of all time. With this much raw emotion, it’s no wonder that Jordan has become the face of feelings on the Internet. > [](https://twitter.com/StephenCurry30/status/696542942656266243) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4383734/crying-lionel-messi-meme/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4383734/crying-lionel-messi-meme/"},"headline":"The Best Memes of Crying Athletes, Ranked","datePublished":"2016-06-27T17:15:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:33:47.627Z","description":"From Michael Jordan to Lionel Messi","url":"https://time.com/4383734/crying-lionel-messi-meme/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Sports topic","Lionel Messi"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4383734/crying-lionel-messi-meme/","name":"The Best Memes of Crying Athletes, Ranked"}}]}] ```