Cheerleaders - what do you think when you hear that term? Good-looking girls waving 1)pompons? And what about male cheerleaders? 2)Geeky guys jumping around with 3)megaphones? Well, cheerleading is not what a lot of us think it is.
They may be the hottest college 4)athletes in the country, sought after by 5)recruiters nationwide. What these kids do can mean the difference between victory and defeat, and millions of dollars worth of university sports programs. But don’t look for them at the next Olympics. That’s because you’re watching cheerleaders.
This story is about male cheerleaders, who are now the strongest, most 6)agile 7)Jocks on campus, a sort of 8)Barishnikov meets the rock, showing a high powered display of muscle and 9)hydraulics. Make a mistake and somebody pays the price.
Ryan Spahr (The Cheerleader of Michigan State University): If I was to compare it with any sport, it’s probably the toughest sport I ever played in my life, including 10)wrestling and football, there’s not a second that you’re not using every muscle in your body.
And to state the obvious, these 11)dudes are 12)hunks, GREat looking guys for great looking 13)gals. And make no mistake; these guys are not your father’s cheerleaders, who are really kind of 14)wimpy all 15)decked out in their lettered sweaters. Of course, men were the first cheerleaders, in fact for the first half of the nineteen hundreds, yell leaders were on playing fields everywhere. But during World War II, men turned the 16)sidelines over to women and they didn’t return until four decades later. When they were reunited, male and female cheerleaders for the first time added strength to their enthusiasm.
Chris Obey (The cheerleader of Ohio State University): Girls can do so much in cheering. But when you bring a guy in, you can go, you have that much more strength, more excitement, louder, bigger 17)stunts.
Scott Carney (Advising Coach): Adding their 18)brawn to the team seems to be good for the male brain. You gain leadership skills with 19)multiple people not just your gender, not just different races but everybody. You learn how to work with, what motivates people, what doesn’t motivate people.
Which is why these guys are now hot property. Colleges actively recruit them. 200 schools now offer cheerleading scholarships, and corporations want them, too. Male cheerleaders are among the most sought after graduates, especially for sales jobs. The theory is if a guy can sell a crowd, he can sell, well, anything.
Yep, George W. Bush was a cheerleader. But he’s not the first cheerleading chief executive. Ronald Reagan was one, so was Dwight Eisenhower. Richard Nixon was not a cheerleader although he did have his own cheerleading 20)squad. But who knew so many politicians had on the squad training, like Mississippi Senator Brad Cochrane, a cheerleader for the University of Mississippi back in the fifties by popular vote.
Cochrane: It was a very strenuous campaign to get elected cheerleader, you had to go around to the residence halls. It was a popularity contest.
Journalist: Was that your first campaign?
Cochrane: Well, it turned out to be as a matter of fact, it was a political campaign.
Journalist: Do you find it surprising that so many of your colleagues were once cheerleaders?
Cochrane: Well, I think it is surprising to a lot of people, but I’m not surprised.
It certainly surprised us when we found out that Senate majority leader, Trent Lott, was also once a cheerleader at Ole Miss.
Lott: When I got there as a freshman, I was told by sort of my 21)mentor, a senior from my home town that I would go out for that position, and I said what are you talking about and I loved it. It was a lot of fun.
Now we tried to but couldn’t find a Democratic lawmaker who got his start as a male cheerleader.
Journalist: Oh sure, there are some prominent registered democrats who once cheered like Steve Martin, Kirk Douglas, even Michael Milkin, but for some reason we’ve yet to find a Democratic male cheerleader.
Cochrane: Well, surely there’s some out there.
Journalist: We haven’t found one.
Cochrane: Maybe they’re shy, I don’t know.
Lott: I’m sure that the democrats were not good athletes, so that wouldn’t have been where they weren’t on the field of play. I guess they were in the stands somewhere.
And who says most of us forget what we learned in school? Did George W Bush’s cheerleading routines 22)pay off later on the campaign 23)trail? Well, let’s take a look: There’s the arm wave - right and left, double arm wave; there’s baby holding, baby passing with full arm extension; thumb raised, double thumb raised; 24)interpretive dance, and “hey, give me a W”!
