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Return of men to cheerleading bound to happen

The NFL preseason has begun and it’s time to cheer for your favorite team. But if you’re a Los Angeles Rams or New Orleans Saints fan your cheering may be led by a different gender.

That’s right, male cheerleaders have made the team in those two stadiums.

My wife called me up and seemed so excited about this news that I envisioned a whole squad of Chippendale-like dancers with tear-off britches prancing to the screams of thousands of women during halftime.

With the growing numbers of female fans interested in the NFL I figured initially it made a lot of sense. Give ‘em what they want and even more women will come out to the game.

Then with more careful consideration I remembered how poorly female cheerleaders are paid. This could be a terrible idea because they’ll have to pay men a lot more. Not a good move as fans of the Star Spangled banner are avoiding the NFL like the plague these days.

But apparently cheesecake will remain the dessert of the day at the football stadium and beefcake will not get its own special celebration. Those three guys who’ve joined in the scantily clad ladies on the sidelines will be doing the same dance routines as their fairer sex counterparts. No one dressed in a fake policeman or fireman uniform because we can’t simply treat these brave souls as sex objects.

It was bound to happen sooner or later that men would begin to reclaim their once exclusive territory in front of the fans. More than 125 years ago all of the cheerleaders were male and the football helmets were leather if they were worn at all and the footballs still weren’t yet made of pigskin.

It wasn’t until men went off to World War II that women finally got their break in the cheerleading world. Megaphones were popular with the men but it took a female touch to bring on the popularity of pom pons.

Modern cheerleading has its roots deep in the heart of Texas. A man, mind you, named Herkie Herkimer founded the National Cheerleader Association in 1948 at Southern Methodist University and the first cheerleading clinics were held in Texas.

The Dallas Cowboys got the first notion of turning cheerleaders into more than cheer leaders. They made them dancers and entertainers and their popularity caught fire.

It was Texas where, in 1991, a mother was accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill her daughter's rival. Yes siree, everything about Friday Night Lights was and still is serious in Texas.

Finally, three different U.S. presidents were cheerleaders. George W. Bush, Dwight Eisenhower and Franklin Roosevelt all yelled for their collegiate teams. Frightening to imagine any of the three in a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader uniform from the 1970s.

Later this fall three equally brave young men will attempt to take back this tradition for males. I’m so very proud to be a man.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: [email protected]

 
 
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