If you’ve been spending any time on the Internet lately you noticed that the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has become a social media phenomenon. It’s been trending on Twitter for about a month and everyone from celebrities to politicians have been lining up to get cold water dumped on them for a great cause.
The rules are simple. A person may make a donation, nominate a few people they would like to see take the challenge and have a bucket of ice-cold water or ice mixed with water dumped over their head. A video is then posted online to acknowledge that they have completed the task.
Thanks to the popularity of the challenge, the ALS Association has received over $40 million in donations since late July.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spine, which controls voluntary muscle movement. The debilitating disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is named after one of the greatest baseball players of all time, who was diagnosed with ALS in 1939 and died in 1941.
Other athletes have been stricken with the disease and there has been no shortage of sports stars who have decided to take the challenge and support ALS awareness.
Here is a countdown of the Top 10 ALS Ice Bucket Challenges by professional athletes.
image courtesy of Elder Ordonez/INFphoto.com