The Highs and Lows of the Milk Crate Challenge: TRAINA THOUGHTS

Milk Crate Challenge has gone mainstream, so its moment should be over soon

1. For several days now, social media has been taken over by the Milk Crate Challenge.

If you are not aware of this trend, it’s basically a game in which you line up and stack a lot of milk crates to form up-and-down steps. Then you try to walk or run up and down the crates without falling.

It seems that 99% of the people who do the challenge fall in a nasty and vicious way and then they or someone they know posts the video on TikTok, because it’s 2021.

We’ve reached the point of the trend, though, where old, out-of-touch people like myself and mainstream outlets, such as the Today show and the New York Post, are covering this phenomenon, so that means it will no longer be cool and hopefully people will stop doing it and injuring themselves.

TikTok has even banned the hashtag #MilkCrateChallenge because it’s so dangerous.

Even Stephen A. Smith, who guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night weighed in on the Milk Crate Challenge.

While this very questionable moment in pop culture history needs to be over as soon as possible, we do need to point out one positive: Some creative people have set these videos to music, which creates a whole new—and quite frankly—enjoyable dynamic.

And when someone does successfully complete the challenge, like this woman, it’s hard not to get hyped.

Of course, the Milk Crate Challenge has also been ripe for outstanding Twitter material.

2. I've been totally bored by Hard Knocks this season but thought it was just me. However, Sports Business Journal reports that viewership for the HBO series is down big time from 2019. According to SBJ, the series is averaging 295,000 viewers after two episodes. Last season, which featured the Rams, Chargers and COVID-19, it averaged 262,000 viewers. The 2019 edition featuring the Raiders averaged 719,000.

3. Speaking of ratings, just how enormous was CM Punk’s return to wrestling?

His appearance on Friday night's episode of Rampage generated 1.1 million viewer, up 53 percent from the previous week. The show was up 75% in the key 18-to-49 demographic. It was also AEW's largest rating in the 18-to-49 category since the debut episode of Dynamite in October 2019.

4. Here's who will be calling CBS's NFL telecasts this season.

5. White Sox manager Tony La Russa went off on his catcher, Seby Zavala, on Monday night because Zavala didn't look into the dugout to get a sign.

6. Happy 76th birthday to Vincent Kennedy McMahon. I've posted this video a thousand times over the years of writing Hot Clicks and Traina Thoughts, and I will post it again because it's so awesome.

7. Joe Buck is the guest on this week’s SI Media Podcast, and he discussed his week as Jeopardy! guest host and weighed in on James Holzhauer’s snarky tweet about him. Buck also talked about the Field of Dreams game between the Yankees and White Sox, embarking on his 20th season with Troy Aikman, the NFL’s emphasis on taunting this year, whether he'll mention teams covering point spreads during games and much more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

8. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper is back with more of his truly excellent work.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.