Sports Fads That Died Off in a Hurry

Fads, by definition, don't last. No one really "Kaepernicks" anymore, and tennis players definitely don't wear jorts.

Don't get me wrong—some sports fads don't appear to be going anywhere. Twitter feuds, memes—those guys are here to stay. Others just died on the vine. Some of these fads lasted longer than others, but relatively speaking, they all ended abruptly relative to the greater history of sports.

In fact, some died off in such a hurry, they barely even got started.

Celebrities and the 7th-Inning Stretch

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Chicago Cubs fans have been singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field since Harry Caray brought the tradition over from the Chicago White Sox in 1982. When Caray died in 1998, the Cubs decided to have celebrities take over the role of the legendary broadcaster.

It was all fine and good for awhile, but then the whole thing became a bit of a joke. Famous botch jobs include Jeff Gordon calling the park "Wrigley Stadium" and Ozzy Osbourne's dreadful, unintelligible performance. In 2013, the Cubs put an abrupt end to what had become a mockery and did away with the celebrity renditions.

The Ickey Shuffle and Elaborate TD Celebrations

Ickey Woods was a running back for the Cincinnati Bengals from 1988-91. He is probably (OK, definitely) most famous for his touchdown dance, the "Ickey Shuffle." Woods gave this spirited performance after every touchdown he scored, and it caught on. Darrell Waltrip even did his own rendition after winning the Daytona 500 in 1989.

The "Shuffle," and other elaborate TD dances, were not meant to last, however. The NFL cracked down on excessive celebration in 1991. Zero fun, sir.

Luckily for us, this fad made a resurgence in 2014. Woods performed his legendary dance in a GEICO commercial and then again at the 2015 NFL draft.

Lensless Glasses

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The NBA is the place to look for all the new fashion fads in sports, and lensless glasses were all the rage in 2012.

Maybe it's because the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat didn't make the playoffs this year—leaving Russell Westbrook and Dwyane Wade out of the spotlight—but luckily, the nonfunctional eyewear trend seems to have simmered.

Wade even told Tom Spousta of the New York Times back then, "Trends, they come and go, and people get on board with them or they don't. With the nerd glasses in the NBA, it's just something fun to do right now. I'm sure next season it'll be out the window."

Super Long Basketball Shorts

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NBA players can thank Michael Jordan for doing away with the itty-bitty short shorts players wore before 1989. It was then that Jordan debuted a pair of baggier shorts—a pair he specifically asked Champion to make for him, according to Shaun Powell of NBA.com.

Later, in the early 1990s, the Fab Five at the University of Michigan became known for their baggy shorts. Soon, long shorts became the norm, but some players might've taken it a little too far. The NBA started handing out fines for shorts that were too long—to Nate Robinson, Stephon Marbury and Allen Iverson, to name a few.

Glow Puck

Fox introduced FoxTrax, aka the "glow puck," to NHL broadcasts in 1996. What was purported to be a major technological advancement in television viewing mainly just served to annoy hockey loyalists. The experiment was short-lived, and the glow went out for good in 1998.

Headphones at Pressers

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

It's unclear exactly when massive headphones at press conferences became all the rage—looks like sometime in 2013—but Colin Kaepernick definitely comes to mind.

This fad has died down for a couple of reasons. One—and this is just a guess—it seems like it's just downright inconvenient. Second, the NFL started to crack down on the practice when it solidified a sponsorship deal with Bose.

Non-Bose headphones (like the popular Beats by Dre) were banned, and fines were imposed for those who did not comply.

TerRio

TerRio is a perfect example of how a simple video can turn into an Internet-sweeping fad in virtually no time at all.

In 2013, the first-grader celebrated a basket in a pickup game, and the rest was history. Videos of his signature dance moves went viral, and professional athletes took notice. Tavon Austin, John Wall and Justin Tucker each mimicked young TerRio's celebration techniques. He even got to meet LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

Alas, as they say, all good things must eventually come to an end.

[Insert Player Name]'ing

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Tim Tebow successfully inspired the creation of a new verb when people began to take notice of his signature kneel. That simple move, and its name, spread like wildfire. Tebow even had it trademarked in 2012.

It's not just Tebow, though. Think about other athletes who performed a certain motion once, or many times, and that motion became associated with the athlete's name. There was Dufnering, after golfer Jason Dufner. All that involved was slouching lazily on the floor.

LeBroning was simply folks mocking LeBron James for that one time he had to be carried off the court with cramps. And who could forget Kaepernicking? Named after Colin Kaepernick, this was just kissing one's bicep—it was apparently also worthy of a trademark.

Player names turning into verbs—all of them were fads, and all of them fizzled out from their original glory.

Latest Dance Craze

There have been too many dance-related sports fads to really count. One minute, NHL players can't stop dancing to "Gangnam Style," and the next, teams are collaborating on super-involved renditions of "The Harlem Shake."

The Nae Nae, the Dougie, the haka—the list goes on and on. But only one thing remains constant here. The latest dance craze never lasts too long.

Synthetic Basketball

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The NBA introduced a new basketball for the 2006-07 season. The new version used "microfiber composite," or synthetic materials, as opposed to the traditional leather.

It didn't even make it past the end of the calendar year. Despite what then-commissioner David Stern called "an improvement in shooting, scoring and ball-related turnovers," via Roscoe Nance of USA Today, player feedback was decidedly terrible. The NBA announced a move back to the leather balls in December 2006.

Planking

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Why anyone would voluntarily do planks because they think it's funny is beyond me. That said, the sports fad version of planking, circa 2011, was really just lying face down. Dwight Howard, Gilbert Arenas, Jonathan Stewart and others took part, lying flat on unusual surfaces—a plane wing, a Waffle House sign, whatever.

As is often the case with trends that spread via social media, planking fell by the wayside. Obviously, something had to make room for Tebowing.

Vuvuzelas

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A plastic version of a South African horn, the vuvuzela, was a fan favorite at the 2010 World Cup—well, maybe just a favorite of those using it. To others, the sound of hundreds of vuvuzelas was incredibly annoying, so much so that FIFA banned the instruments from the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

Tennis Jorts

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There are probably a lot of people who would like to delete some photographs of themselves from 1989. Perhaps Andre Agassi is one of those people. Long before Tobias Funke brought denim shorts back, Nike and Agassi put them on the world's stage.

Agassi is not the only athlete to commit a jorts offense, however. A lot of pros have been (following link contains NSFW language) spotted committing this fashion faux pas—Miguel Cabrera, John Cena and even Air Jordan himself.

In a shocking development, jorts didn't last in the tennis world.