Editor’s note: This story was originally published Oct. 4, 2016. Ahead of Saturday’s showdown between No. 10 Oklahoma and No. 12 Baylor, we’re bringing it back.

Today's college football fans live in an alternate universe to 2006. In this modern era, anyone can become the latest Crying Jordan meme or devastated surrender cobra.

A decade ago, Internet infamy was harder to achieve -- and impossible to shake.

Just ask Jonah Israel, a 21-year-old lifelong Oklahoma Sooners fan and suburban Dallas resident. This Friday marks the 10-year anniversary of Jonah's entry into the Internet's dark side, when he became one of the first viral memes in sports. He still hears about it today.

Israel picked the wrong time to skip his weekly pee-wee football game and join his family at his first Red River Rivalry game between Oklahoma and Texas. Along with his brother and parents, Jonah sat a few rows up on the right side of the OU end zone.

Pictured here with his family in 2016, Jonah Israel - one of sport's original memes - is second from left.

The Israel family watched as their Sooners fell 28-10 to Colt McCoy's Longhorns. What they didn't know was a TV camera panned over to a crying Jonah with 2:51 left on the clock.

"He wasn't crying because we were losing," said Cathy, Jonah's mother. "He wasn't even really paying attention. He had gotten into trouble, and he was sitting next to me and bugging me... He was crying because he had gotten into trouble."

The world didn't know that. The play-by-play TV announcer, Brad Nessler, chimed in once he saw the sobbing 11-year-old.

"Oh boy," Nessler said with a chuckle. "You know, it's a football game. It's just a football game. But maybe it's his first time here."

It was. Following the game, Jonah's older brother Ethan informed the family about his youngest brother's 10 seconds of fame. Soon after, each family member was flooded with text messages.

Jonah ignored it and called his football coach to see how his team had done. His coach immediately picked up the phone out of concern, as he, too, had seen Jonah's embarrassing moment. Flustered, the 11-year-old decided to watch the recorded version at his friend's house the next night. He was mortified.

"[At the beginning] I thought it was pretty hilarious, honestly," said Eli, Jonah's older brother by a year.

Almost instantly, the Israels' thoughts on the video switched from funny to concerned. When Jonah arrived at football practice two days later, his teammates laughed at him. His mom's Longhorn friends showed her nasty online articles written on the matter.

And she couldn’t help herself. Cathy went on a searching spree, finding unsettling content on her own at BurntOrangeNation.com and other websites.

"Horrible things were said," Cathy said. "Pedophile-type things were said, and threats too. It was crazy. Jonah was very afraid."

Jonah became curious as well. Late at night after his parents fell asleep, he'd search "OU crying kid" and read the material written about him.

“The Internet convinced me the world had a problem with me,” Jonah said.

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Soon, the viral clip donned a nickname -- the "Sobbing Sooner." The Israels recall ESPN or Sports Illustrated using it as their "Picture of the Week." That's when it really took off.

A Longhorn fan promptly sold T-shirts featuring Jonah's crying face. Posters were created. Virtually overnight, what began as an Internet sensation turned into a nightmare.

It escalated so far that the Israel family hired a lawyer. They sent out cease-and-desist letters to halt T-shirt production. An ESPN lawyer generously helped remove some online content including the original video.

But nothing on the Internet disappears completely -- or, especially from people’s memories. Most of Jonah’s friends, and enemies, couldn’t stop talking about it at school.

"If I could erase any memories from my life, most of it would be from middle school," Jonah said. "That was right when I was hitting puberty and right when I was figuring out who I am, discovering girls and everything. I couldn't even talk to a girl back then because that's what they knew me as."

Logan Watenpaugh, a childhood friend of Jonah's, said his peers used the video as ammunition.

"I remember people would always say, 'Hey, don't cry about it,' whenever something happened to him in sports or something," Watenpaugh said. "They'd always make the little crying face at him."

Jonah dealt with relentless bullies in middle school. He said most times he walked into a computer lab at school, each screensaver had been changed to his picture.

"One time, a kid he used to fight with in middle school went and printed off a stack full of [the picture] and handed them out at school," Eli said. "He put them up on walls. That was definitely where it went too far."

The Israels’ strong loyalty to OU never wavered. Jonah and his family attended the 2006-07 Fiesta Bowl the same year, but Jonah shaved his head and sported Dallas Cowboy garb out of fear of being noticed.

“Jonah was like, ‘Will there be cameras? Where are we sitting? Who are we going to see?’ He wore Cowboys stuff... because he’s so afraid somebody is going to see him,” his mom said.

RELATED LINKS: Baylor prediction | Matt Rhule knew that Baylor would return to the national spotlight. This time, for all the right reasons. |

Jonah said he still can’t go long without hearing about the Sobbing Sooner. One year, he watched as the Longhorn cheerleaders held up his crying face on posters during College GameDay. Longhorn buddies saw the picture blown up on a freshman orientation PowerPoint.

In an attempt to turn it into something positive, Cathy wrote a letter to Bob Stoops a few years back. Stoops answered.

"I'm sitting at home and my mom hands me a letter, and it's from the office of Bob Stoops. ... Me, my mom, my dad and Eli all went to a closed practice up there three weeks before the season," Jonah said. "We were the only people there. ... We got to meet Blake Bell and some other players."

Time heals all wounds, as they say. By junior year of high school, Jonah was able to laugh it off and let it go. He even wagered and lost a bet with a close friend in the 2013 Red River Rivalry.

The terms stipulated he would have to tell a group of Texas fans he’s the Sobbing Sooner and take pictures with them. Jonah did just that after OU lost 36-20.

"They said, ‘That was you dude? No way. We had that poster [of you] in college, man,’ " Jonah said. “So then a group of three drunk guys turns into 10. Then it turned into 20. And the next thing I know... I spent two hours taking pictures with people and meeting nothing but Texas fans.”

Looking back, Jonah said he's glad it happened to him because he learned from it. He could also handle it for the most part, even at 11 years old.

No one can watch a game now without seeing a losing, weeping fan on TV or Twitter. While the upset fan might receive the Crying Jordan treatment, the embarrassment is short-lived. There will be a new person to laugh at the next game.

That wasn't the case for one of college football's first memes, the "Sobbing Sooner." And to think, his crying wasn't even related to the game's outcome.

“I literally cried for 15 seconds,” Jonah said. “That’s why it was so shocking that it was actually on television, because I cried for maybe 10 or 15 seconds.”