ESPN, You’ve done it again!

Busy doing my usual never-ending housework, I almost missed a great event on the Foxtel ESPN channel today. Not that I ever have time to sit and watch television, the show just happened to be on while I was cleaning the microwave shelf in the sink, which overlooks the lounge room, which happens to have a television in it,....on.

Being a man, I don’t wear gloves while washing the dishes, I jump in au natural just as the good Lord intended. I was picking up the bits of broken glass when the.. wait for it... UCA National All-Star Cheerleading Championship Worlds came on. It came on after that great old movie “Earth Girls Are Easy” with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, only caught the end of that while the sink was filling up, that’s how I broke the glass, flicking through channels with the left hand while the right was stacking stuff. Househusbands are ambidextrous, or so I thought.

Cheerleading has always been one of the world’s greatest motivating and inspirational sporting movements, surpassing even golf in its ability to reach every human emotion at all levels. Drama, romance, action, conflict and even sex have been part of this ever unfolding tapestry of human endeavour. Young girls, and guys, striving to reach the ultimate goal, the dizzying heights of schooldays youth,... popularity and fame. There, I’ve offended all those young athletes who spend hundreds of hours perfecting every move, miles of jogging and tons of weight training to maintain a level of fitness surpassed only by those who specialise in say, jogging or, weight lifting.

These dedicated high school and college students must realise that their predecessors didn’t always have their motives in mind. Helping your team to win by shouting encouragement bears little resemblance to the mass entertainment and visual delights we see today.

Way back then, I mean the late 1800s’ when colleges in the American north had few female students, cheers, or yells as they were known, were led by male students, I think Princeton was the first. Horrible thought isn’t it? Today of course, the male members of the cheer squads know to hide behind the young ladies we all love to watch. During the competition shown on the programme I was almost watching, they did have some trouble hiding, those girls uniforms are great, small but great.

While watching the show I begin to think, if you could call it that, about cheerleading even earlier than the 1800s’. Jousting came to mind, having recently watched some of “A Knight’s Tale” with the late Heath Ledger, didn’t have time to watch all of it course. Although this movie used a little “creative license” in its portrayal of those days, surely there were cheerleaders, and crowds giving their team, or man, encouragement. Even back in the Roman days there were gladiatorial “groupies” as it were. I’ve seen documentaries where the evidence is clear, graffiti on walls obviously proclaiming “Go Attilus” or along the lines of “ Flash rules” no.. that’s a modern gladiator name.

The point I’m trying to make is, back in those days, the cheerleaders were not trying to get themselves noticed, gain an audition for a commercial, or just get to flash those huge white teeth at the camera in hope of... getting a part in a cheerleader movie. They were there to help, help their team succeeded, help their town to win, they were there for the group effort.

Having said that, the cheerleaders on TV this day did help me, those dishes almost washed themselves. Now, hide the broken glass.


JAWhite                                              Return to main page
April 2011