Pete Weber’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are, I Am!’ Clip Went Viral All Over Again On Its Ninth Anniversary

Some highlights live on longer in the memories of sports fans than others. “The Shot” that saw Michael Jordan eliminate the Utah Jazz. Bobby Orr diving across the crease in overtime to win the Stanley Cup for the Boston Bruins. The Immaculate Reception, maybe. But no sports highlight quite contains the power of bowler Pete Weber asking an unanswerable question, then answering it anyway.

Friday marked a big anniversary in sports history, and amid the chaos of everyday existence during a pandemic many on social media took time out to honor Weber screaming nonsense after winning a bowling championship. In 2012 while Weber was bowling to secure his fifth US Open title, he captivated the sports world with a celebration that’s been shouted all over alleys across the country when random people stumble their way into crossover strikes.

Weber’s shout of “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, I AM?” is the stuff of legend, and the clip instantly broke contain from the sports world for a variety of reasons. The nonsense of the phrase, his signature style of wearing sunglasses indoors, and a general detachment from the reality of the athletic feat Weber had accomplished with that single strike meant it was an instant viral hit.

Every so often the clip would go viral once more, and it happened again on Friday when people celebrated its nine-year anniversary.

It’s actually impressive how many different tweets containing the same video were widely shared on Friday as people reveled in the anniversary of one of the greatest sentences in the history of television.

https://twitter.com/JeffEisenband/status/1365307531015426048

There were even some parodies done by other pro teams.

There are actually a lot of layers to the clip, as were also discussed on Friday.

As explained in a NJ.com story, the phrase was the capper to an epic day of trash-talking. In the second frame of the match, he was going back and forth with a heckler in the crowd and complained that people were moving behind him during his shots. And he had another legendary comeback after the win, dismissing concerns that some say he’s “washed up.”

“Everybody keeps asking me, ‘When are you going to retire, grandpa? Do you need a cane?’ I’m like, ‘you know what? … ‘ ”

He finished the sentence by holding up the middle finger on each hand, and smiled.

Double birds all around in honor of the king. You are, as you made clear nine years ago, one of a kind.