With the off season on, this college basketball challenge has been creating a craze that has spilled over into the NBA and could be infecting timelines well outside the world of sports. It's called the Running Man Challenge.
Maryland Terrapins guards Jaylen Brantley and Jared Nickens started it all by issuing the initial challenge on Instagram about a week ago.
"Who wanna battle," the two ask in the Instagram post.
Who wanna battle?????? @jnickens_
A video posted by Jaylen Brantley (@jaybriddle_1) on Apr 13, 2016 at 2:57pm PDT
Those rockin' 808s and other drum machine hallmarks are the sounds of Ghost Town DJ's 1990's roller rink hit, "My Boo." That song, coupled with the swagged our prance known as the Running Man, went viral throughout the world of college basketball as players from other teams took of the challenge.
The Running Man craze eventually spilled over into the NBA. First-year big man Justise Winslow of the Miami Heat took up the challenge on Tuesday, posting a pair of videos of him and his sister doing the Running Man.
NBA player doing the Running Man Challenge https://t.co/HlQlTEimUY pic.twitter.com/neFqZop45f — Jolq Benavides (@JolqBenavides) April 21, 2016
Around the same time the challenge began infecting the NBA, there was an outbreak reported in college football. University of Michigan footballers LB Mike McCray, OL David Dawson, FB Khalid Hill and CB Channing Stribling shared a video of their reply to the Running Man challenge.
Vikings. Challenge? https://t.co/kO50A3nGON #fhsspirit #allinvikes
— Fremd Softball (@FremdSoftball) April 21, 2016
If that isn't enough evidence proving that the Running Man Challenge is nearing pandemic proportions, Whistle Sports rounded up some of the best video responses to the initial challenge and packaged the clips in a YouTube video.
The BEST of #RunningManChallenge!
For the historians out there, here's the original song and video straight from YouTube's hall of records:
