On September 9, 2012, Washington rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III made his NFL debut against the New Orleans Saints. Late in the first quarter, he delivered a pass to Pierre Garçon that turned into an 88-yard touchdown. Griffin had been knocked to the turf as the play unfolded. From a seated position, he lifted both arms, index fingers raised, celebrating the score. A memorable image—and an internet trend—was born.
How the original site defined Griffining
Griffining (verb) – Find anywhere that feels right, sit down and put both hands in the air making a #1 with your fingers.
Original Griffining.com sidebar, visible in the September 11, 2013 Internet Archive screen recording
The archived homepage also included a sidebar video labeled @RoFloESPN, describing a “#Griffining Segment on Sportscenter hosted by Robert Flores.” The recording shows that the Wayback Machine did not preserve the playable video. This identifies a historic embedded-video lead, not a recovered or republished video.
From a touchdown to a phenomenon
The touchdown helped Washington to a 40–32 road victory. The photograph of Griffin sitting on the field was quickly copied by fans in homes, schools, airports, and landmarks. Posts appeared on social media with the hashtag #Griffining, inviting people to imitate the pose: sit down, spread your legs, and point both arms upward.
The meme was often compared with Tebowing, another early-2010s photo trend tied to an NFL quarterback. What made Griffining distinctive was its mix of an unmistakable seated pose, RG3’s high-profile rookie debut, and a spontaneous touchdown celebration.
How the story spread
- September 9: Griffin and Garçon connect for the 88-yard score in New Orleans.
- September 10: CBS Sports covers the photo trend and displays early recreations.
- September 11: NFL.com reports on the @Griffining account and fan photographs, including a kindergarten class and Baylor campus.
- September 12: Griffin publicly responds to the sensation, calling it amusing.
- October 1: Reports document Griffin striking the pose alongside Olympic hurdler Kellie Wells.
Griffining.com: the photo archive
The original Griffining.com brought together fan recreations of the pose in categories including Kids, Landmarks, Celebrities, Geographical, Top 10, and Baylor. This 2026 revival aims to recover its original photographs, post information, and contributor credits from historical files and web archives. It is a restoration, not a claim that every original submission has survived.
For a closer look at surviving early fan photos and their credited accounts, read our 2012 fan-photo source guide. It distinguishes contemporary reporting from photographs confirmed to have appeared on Griffining.com.
Explore the primary-source directory for a dated inventory of the original reports, newspaper issue and 2012 archive snapshots.
Our working inventory of 63 identifiable original Griffining.com entries was transcribed from a recording of a September 2013 Wayback Machine snapshot. It preserves historic captions and dates for recovered JPGs, while identifying additional images still missing. The chronological original-photo timeline displays the 29 published photographs with verified historic dates. Our missing-photo checklist tracks 36 additional original entries for which the correct media still needs recovery. Surviving original logos, illustrations, and promotional graphics are documented in a separate visual-artifact archive.