Terrific Athlete

Homestar Runner, do your best!

"Everybody loves the Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete." are the opening lines of The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest, the book that originated Homestar Runner. This description of the title character is oft-repeated, with "terrific athlete" in particular still being used to describe the running man.

The entire phrase was frequently repeated verbatim in , on the opening pages of books and onscreen in , to quickly establish the character and tone of the work. In later years, the phrase became more connected with Storybook World toons that deliberately evoke the simpler, more childlike tone of the classic storybooks.

Appearances

• Original Book — The first page of the book reads: "Everybody loves the Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete."
• Homestar Runner Goes For The Gold! — Though never completed, the script for this book again opened with "everyone loves the homestar runner. he is a terrific athlete."
  • Introductions would continue to use "Everybody" and "Everyone" interchangeably, though the wording of the rest of the phrase remains more consistent.
• Where My Hat Is At? — The book opens with "Everyone loves the Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete."
• Old Intro — The now-familiar introductory text returns, with "he is a terrific athlete" receiving its own screen.
• Old Characters Page — Homestar is again described with "Everyone loves the Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete." as well as the addition: "He will share his ice cream with you."

Everyone Everyone loves Homestar Runner

• Old Intro 2 — "He is a terrific athlete" appears in the introductory text. Notably, the caption no longer calls him "The Homestar Runner".
• Fan Stuff — A pudgy illustration of Homestar is jokingly described as showing his younger days: "He was not a very terrific athlete at this point."
• Email flashback —
  • The opening lines of the story are a clear reference to the phrase: "Everybody loves Strong Bad. He is an okay guy."
  • The Homestar Runner introduces himself by saying "Some folk say I'm a terrific athlete." Tiny-Handed Strong Bad retorts that Homestar is "a terrific liar!"
• Yahoo Store — A recreation of the Duckie Shirt Homestar wore in flashback promises "Some folk will say you are a terrific athlete when you wear your very own Duck Shirt!"
  • The Shopify listing for the shirt again referenced being called "a terrific athlete", though the Teespring version did not.
• Strongest Man in the World — A remake of the original book, the toon opens with Homestar restating the opening sentence in first person: "Everybody loves the me! I'm a terrific athlete!"
• The Homestar Runner Gets Something Stuck In His Craw — This storybook tale uses the classic introductory phrase "Everyone loves The Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete."
  • Coach Zee pronounces the phrase as "terrific airthlete".
• Where My Hat Is At? (toon) — This remake begins by showing the original page, with Homestar then restating it: "If there's two things I know about the Homestar Runner, it's that everybody loves the him and he's a terrific athlete."
• Homestar Runner Goes for the Gold — Strong Bad reads the book, beginning with the classic phrase "Everyone loves The Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete."
• The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods — Strong Bad misreads the introductory text as "He is an athletic terrife," much to The Homestar Runner's confusion.
  • In a bonus scene shared to Twitter, Homestar is presented with a lifetime achievement award for being a terrific athlete.
• Fangamer — The description for an Embwoidered Hoodie featuring an illustration from the original book opened with "Everybody loves the Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete."
• @StrongBadActual tweet (14 Oct 2023) — In response to an online listing for a pair of jogging pants called "The Homestretch Jogger", Strong Bad spoofs the iconic phrase: "Everybody loves The Homestretch Jogger. He is a terrific athletic pant."
• Talk-It-Yourself Homestar Runner Puppet Plush — A character says "I'm a tewwific athlete" as part of a terrible Homestar Runner impression.

See Also

• Sports
• Sewiously
• Peow
• Oops! You bwoke it.
• I think I has the solution