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Mannequin Challenge: Grading Sports Teams That Have Already Taken Part

By Jacob Kornhauser
Published on: 10:04 PST, Nov 7, 2016

There are some weird things that end up becoming national sensations. We had the Ice Bucket Challenge, which was a great charity campaign for ALS. We had the running man challenge, which was simply bizarre. Now, we have the “Mannequin Challenge” in which groups of people just stand still in posed positions, like mannequins.

It has already gained a lot of traction in the sports world with several different teams doing their own versions of the Mannequin Challenge. This fad is still relatively young, so expect to see even more in the future. For now, let’s take a look at some of the teams that have already participated in the challenge and grade their efforts.

Kansas Jayhawks Basketball: B+

The level of difficulty on this one really gets the Jayhawks some extra points. For goodness sake, someone is balancing on their head without really budging. One thing you could knock about this one is that it doesn’t necessarily look like an everyday situation.

One player is standing near his locker, holding his shoes upside down. Nonetheless, this is one of the better videos out there. Stay tuned for other college basketball programs to take the Mannequin Challenge on as college athletes are the prime target for challenges like this.

Dallas Cowboys: A

For once, the Cowboys can do no wrong. They are 7-1 at the midpoint of the NFL season and they are absolutely killing the Mannequin Challenge. What makes this so great is that the plane is completely full. The guys look like they’re just on any old flight back to Dallas, but they are frozen in time.

It almost looks like one of those movies where one of the main characters is able to pause time and do whatever he wants. Not only is Dallas in first place in the NFC East, they are in first place in the Mannequin Challenge game too.

The rest of the league should be taking notes from these guys. Also, props to the cameraman who weaved between players and coaches who were completely frozen without hitting into them and ruining the challenge altogether.

TCU Football: C

Again, props to the cameraman for navigating around all the coaches and players in the locker room and not screwing it up. He did his job; however, a couple members of TCU’s staff did not. A couple times, you can see people just walking around the locker room. I’m not sure when the last time you saw a mannequin walk was, but it wasn’t anytime recently.

While the Horned Frogs may have knocked off Baylor in a huge road upset, they lost in the Mannequin Challenge game. If it weren’t for a few slackers in the locker room, this one would have gotten high marks, but you’re only as strong as your weakest link.

New York Giants: A-

First of all, you have to love all the paused handshakes in here. Guys were clearly getting pumped and then time just stood still. That is the idea of the Mannequin Challenge, at least that’s what it seems like at this point. Big props to the guys mid-handshake who didn’t move a muscle.

You also have to love the short cameo from Odell Beckham Jr. admiring a teammates’ shoes. It’s always good when superstar players get really into challenges like this because it only makes them a bigger and bigger deal. Now, he has to find a way to incorporate the love of his life, the kicking net, into one of these and the Giants would be golden.

Penn State Football: C-

For some reason, this one has seemed to go the most viral out of any of these so far. It is some shabby work, to be honest. Yes, everyone is perfectly still, but they are so clearly staged that it isn’t as cool. The best ones of these are the ones that look like it’s just real life paused.

There is also a cameraman walking around that can be seen in this version of the video, which also gets them docked points.

There you have it: the Mannequin Challenge graded. Welcome to 2016, where that is something that actually just happened.

[Featured Image by Sakchai Lalit/AP Images]

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