Harlem Shake Craze at UGA

As a student at the University of Georgia, I've been caught up in the Harlem Shake craze that has been sweeping the nation the past couple of weeks. Everyone throughout campus from the football team to freshman dormitories to our now famous swimming and diving "Harlem Shakers" have been creating tons of buzz on both social media and traditional news media.

I'm sure many of you have seen the UGA swimming and diving teams on major news outlets such as the Today Show and Good Morning America. Here's a little more insight into how it all started...

Originally, the UGA men's swimming and diving teams simply wanted to make a better Harlem Shake video than the one the University of Tennessee men's swimming and diving teams made. The Tennessee swimmers and divers made their Harlem Shake video in their locker room, so the Dawgs decided to kick it up a notch by filming it underwater in their 18-foot deep diving well after practice on Monday night. Their coaches thought it was silly when they saw them doing this, but allowed them to do it anyway.

Neither the athletes nor the coaches thought that the video was going to make headlines within 24 hours of one of the team members posting it. Here's a little timeline to get a better gist of the attention it received:

-Sunday, Feb. 10: The UGA men's swimming and diving team decided they wanted to "beat" Tennessee's Harlem Shake video, so they started planning their own video on Sunday night through a Facebook message.
-Monday, Feb. 11: After their evening practice, the UGA men's swimming and diving team filmed their video.
-Tuesday, Feb. 12: The video was posted early in the morning.
-Wednesday, Feb. 13: The video had received over two million views and had been featured on Good Morning America and the Today Show.
-Friday, Feb. 15: The video had received over eight million views.
-Sunday, Feb. 17: The video had received over 16 million views.

After all of the media attention the video received as well as the craze it's started not only at UGA but at college campuses throughout the U.S., I'd say the UGA Men's Swimming and Diving Team's Harlem Shake video definitely beat the Vols'.

GO DAWGS!

Here is the video originally posted by one of the swimmers as well as some other noteworthy UGA Harlem Shake videos.