Why I Hate Griffining

So Brent of @BurgundyBlog managed to single-handedly start a nationwide trend of people taking pictures of themselves in Robert Griffin III’s seated, arms-raised, post-touchdown pose. This is a pretty impressive bit of social media work and VERY 2012, and Brent deserves all the kudos in the world for it. With that said … UGH PLEASE MAKE IT STOP. Whomever is behind @StopGriffining provides a terrific summary of the opposition point of view, but here for good measure are a few reasons why the trend rubs me wrong:

1) The spelling. Dear god, the spelling. There was some intial debate about the correct spelling, but it settled on the wrong one. The word “griffining” should CLEARLY be pronounced “grih-FINE-ing,” which makes it even worse. Just because it’s an inherently annoying concept doesn’t mean it’s okay to spell it incorrectly.

2) The pose. Tebowing was dumb, but at least it was imitative of something that Tebow was doing DELIBERATELY and REPEATEDLY. If RG3 had his way, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t’ve been sitting on the turf for his first NFL touchdown, and I’m also pretty sure that he won’t celebrate future touchdowns by sitting down. (At least, I devoutly hope not.)

3) The earnestness. Maybe I was misreading the original Tebowing meme, but it sure seemed to me that there was at least SOME sense of tongue-in-cheek mockery there. I mean, the original definition was “to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different,” which reflects at least SOME sense of humor. I don’t really get that from Griffining (UGH THAT SPELLING BURRRRRRRRRNS).

4) The formality. There’s something inorganic about saying, “Hey, everyone, do this!” and everyone doing it. I don’t want to invoke Poochie, because I hate relying on Simpsons references, but this just feels somehow focus-grouped and derivative. Redskins fans are a clever lot; surely we can come up with some way of celebrating that isn’t a fifth-generation internet meme.

5) The timing. Folks. Look. I hate to be Captain Buzzkill on this, but it was ONE GAME. With a sideshow like Tebow, building a meme off one game is all well and good — you’ve gotta grab onto that comet while it’s still passing nearby. But the hope with Griffin — at least for me — is that he actually become a long-term NFL success story. Maybe we should wait just a couple of games before doing this kind of thing?

In summary: GET OFF MY LAWN YOU COT-DARNED KIDS! IT CAME OVER MY FENCE, IT’S MY BALL NOW!

Image via the indispensable @recordsANDradio