The crying Northwestern kid is back. And he's all grown up.
It's always a kick to see memes grow up. Remember "Success Kid" resurfacing as a teenager?
Well, we've got another instance of a kid, once a meme, now all grown up. Back in 2017 there was a very expressive, very sad kid who was sobbing as Northwestern basketball lost to Gonzaga in the men's NCAA basketball tournament, otherwise known as March Madness. He became known as Crying Northwestern Kid.
Well Crying Northwestern Kid is actually named John Phillips, son of Jim Phillips, who was Northwestern's athletic director back in 2017. Phillips is now the commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Phillips duo was spotted at a NCAA tournament game featuring the ACC's University of Pittsburgh. And Crying Northwestern Kid is all grown up. Well, he's not like grown up but he's definitely not the 12-year-old he once was. Crazy how time works.
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The Athletic confirmed it was, indeed, John Phillips once again at the NCAA tournament.
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Sporting News published an article on Phillips on Wednesday. He's now a freshman at Harvard and wrote about becoming a meme in his admissions essay. He reflected on the passion that led to him becoming a meme.
"As the dust settled, they knew this wasn’t something I was ashamed of," Phillips told Sporting News. "It was just something that happened. That's how passionate I was, and it just happened to get picked up by TV."
A few years later and the TV cameras spotted him again, but this time, no tears.
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Tim Marcin is an Associate Editor on the culture team at Mashable, where he mostly digs into the weird parts of the internet. You'll also see some coverage of memes, tech, sports, trends, and the occasional hot take. You can find him on Bluesky (sometimes), Instagram (infrequently), or eating Buffalo wings (as often as possible).
