#ThingsTimHoward CouldSave

Examining the hype and the man behind the meme.

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Background

Timothy "Tim" Howard is an American soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for English club Everton and the United States national team. He is the most capped goalkeeper of all-time for the United States with over 100 saves since 2002. During the United States vs. Belgium game in the 2014 World Cup he set a record for the most saves in a match with 16.

You can find Howard on social media via his twitter @TimHowardGK and/or instagram @timhow1.

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Tim Howard completes 16 saves in their game against Belgium during the 2014 World Cup.

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Snapshot of Tim Howard saving a goal in the second half of their game against Germany (0-1).

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Photoshopped picture of Tim Howard “saving” the White House from an alien invasion.

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Photoshopped picture of Tim Howard “saving” a swimmer from a great white shark, as shown on the movie poster for the 1975 film Jaws.

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Photoshopped picture of Tim Howard “saving” the RMS Titanic, as pictured in the 1997 film Titanic.

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Photoshopped picture of Tim Howard “saving” Elsa from Hans, as Anna did in the 2013 Disney film Frozen.

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Photoshopped picture of Tim Howard “saving” America from the 2014 threat of the Ebola virus.

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Photoshopped picture of Tim Howard “saving” Donald Trump’s hair.

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Photoshopped picture of Tim Howard “saving” a fumble during a college football game.

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Photoshopped picture of Tim Howard “saving” Kanye West from interrupting Taylor Swift during the 2009 Video Music Awards.

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Photoshopped picture of Tim Howard “saving” one girl from hitting the other with a shovel. An interesting correlation is made between these two images since the overall picture uses two memes, the “#ThingsTimHowardCouldSave” meme and “Shovel Girl” meme.

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US vs Belgium post game interview on Good Morning America.

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The Impact of the #ThingsTimHowardCouldSave Meme

Tim Howard set a World Cup record with 16 saves while in goal while playing against Belgium. Although the U.S. lost the game (2-1), the outcome would have been worse for the team if it weren’t for Howard’s brilliant goalkeeping. The U.S. may have lost the World Cup, yet Tim Howard managed to “break” or win over the Internet. In the midst of the game, and especially afterwards, the Twitter hashtag #ThingsTimHowardCouldSave went viral with over 1.6 million tweets in the first 12 hours. 

The hashtag would caption edited pictures in which Howard was “saving” a situation with dangerous and/or iconic consequences. Examples included popular movies, historical issues, national events, award shows, sports, and other memes in our digital culture.

However, the popularity of this meme would only last until the hype of the World Cup died down weeks later. With highly publicized events, such as the the Super Bowl, the Olympics, and various Awards Shows, memes and trending social media patterns may become viral. Although, the favorability of these trends typically only last as long as the fad event is relevant.

In my opinion, Andrew Boyd’s philosophy regarding meme warfare in his essay Truth Is A Virus is fitting to the 2014 trending hashtag #ThingsTimHowardCouldSave. Within the article Boyd quotes and refutes the idea from theorist Douglas Rushkoff, who believes “a media virus travels through the networks of the mediascape. The ‘protein shell’ of a media virus might be an event, invention,visual image...or even a pop hero—as long as it can catch our attention.” The American people were so impressed with Tim Howard and his nearly impossible saves during the World Cup that it compelled social media users into starting a new viral trend. Towards the end of the article, Boyd concludes with the statement “Social movements cannot live by meme alone... a vital movement requires a hot and happening meme.” I believe this statement fits Tim Howard’s sudden and short-lived internet popularity, because the meme was only popular as long as the World Cup was in the media.

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