The Ice Bucket Challenge: By now you've seen videos of friends, famous athletes, singers & bands, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, even Oprah, pouring freezing cold ice water over themselves on a dare.
What is this social media phenomenon? Here's a quick primer to explain what the heck is going on:
From what we've gathered, this craze began as the "Cold Water Challenge" in the Northern United States, encouraging people to jump in cold water or donating to cancer research. It morphed into the Ice Bucket Challenge in June, 2014, when golfer Chris Kennedy challenged his cousin, Jeannette Senerchia, who is married Anthony, a man with ALS. She took on the challenge and filmed it the next day in the front of their house. The challenged moved through social media and found steam when former Boston College baseball player Pete Frates, who has ALS, began posting about the challenge on his Twitter page.
President Obama has declined the dousing, and instead, did what the challenge was created for: he donated $100 to the campaign.
As the challenge is accepted on video, the brave soul is expected to announce their acceptance, then either by themselves or with help, pour ice cold water on their heads. Some challenge-takers reveal their delicate natures, using small quart size bowls, or mostly-missing their mark. Others, like the Zac Brown Band, leave nothing to chance. Their viral video shows the band sitting side by side in front of a large, red fire engine, full of ice cold water. The engine's hose hole pumps gallons of frosty-water and moves slowly from right to left, dousing the backs of the band members. Then, after the fire engine is off to the left, three huge tractors with front loaders filled with water dump hundreds of gallons of cold water upon the eight brave, barefoot band members.
The idea of the challenge is to either A) Take the challenge or B) Donate to ALS. While it seems more people are choosing to endure the indignity, the ALS Foundation says they've raised $23 million dollars as of August 19th.
Often called "Lou Gehrig's Disease", ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks the nerve cells of the spinal cord and brain. From the ALS website, "Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed."
Lou Gehrig was one of the most well-known American baseball players, playing 17 seasons for the New York Yankees. He was a six-time World Series champion and played in seven All-Star games, among many other accomplishments. He was diagnosed with ALS in 1939 and forced to retire from baseball at age 36. He died two years later.