What's The Story Behind 'I Used To Pray For Times Like This'? The Meme's Connection With Michael Jordan Explained

NBA memes were all over the internet this year, from the fake infographic of NBA commissioner Adam Silver saying Get Ready To Learn Chinese Buddy, or Vince Carter being quoted saying, I Got One More In Me.

But what's a collection of NBA memes minus the original G.O.A.T. Michael Jordan? Here's how a picture of the basketball legend crying as he clutched his first NBA title came to be associated with a seemingly random Meek Mill lyric.

Where Does The Image Featuring Michael Jordan And I Used To Pray For Times Like This Come From?

On June 5th, 1991, Michael Jordan led his team the Chicago Bulls to victory over the Lakers in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. It was Jordan's first NBA title, and photographer Andrew D. Bernstein captured the moment Jordan was caught sobbing into his trophy with his father by his side (seen below).

The meme showing the aforementioned image paired with Meek Mill's lyric "I used to pray for times like this" from the music "Dreams and Nightmares (intro)" comes from an iMessage feature called Genius image cards, where users can combine lyrics from the music website Genius with an image of their choice. The earlier known public appearance of this image is from a September 2021 Twitter post, but the photo had likely been shared across private messages before.

How Is 'I Used To Pray For Times Like This' Used In Memes?

The image of Jordan combined with the Meek Mill lyric is often used as a reaction meme to express happiness, relief, and euphoria. But the meme is also often juxtaposed with events of happenings that don't warrant that degree of joy. This ironic gap is laid out in some of the meme's earliest reposts on X.

What Are Some More Examples Of The Meme Being Used Online?

For the full history of I Used To Pray For Times Like This, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.