Save the Cheerleader...

[mikepara]

No wait! It's not a thread on Heroes, however it is on over here and the Cheerleader character is never seen (as yet, 5 episodes in) in anything other than her cheerleading uniform.

Before anyone states, I ask here as I declined Googling Cheerleader as I dreaded what I might find. So please excuse my ignorance and I hope my questions get the correct response.

As we don't do cheerleaders over here, I really don't get cheerleading and I do not know this:

Q1. Is this constant wearing of the CL uniform usual? Or is this hollywood rubbish again?

Q2. How far back does cheerleading go, 50's or earlier?

Also whilst on a roll,

Q3. Who does it appeal to? Is it just titalisation or is there a point?

Not really a question more a thought. How happy are you that your female teenage child is (by all accounts) working very hard, competing to get into the squad /team? practicing gruelling routines in her spare time to really just show her panties to the whole school? I know my daughters would be mortified at the thought. Maybe that's why it hasn't taken off over here

 

[LizzieMaine]

Cheerleading is an outgrowth of 1910s-1920s college rah-rah stuff -- the original cheerleaders were boys, who gyrated around the sidelines while yelling thru megaphones and riling up the crowd in the college cheer, a phrase usually made up of nonsense syllables, boola-boolas, sis-boom-bahs, and so on. You'll often see them in college movies of the era, usually wearing beanies and letter sweaters, white flannel trousers, and saddle shoes.

The image of the bobby-soxed female cheerleader is primarily a creation of the co-ed era from the forties onward. *Competitive* cheerleading first became a true sport in the '80s.

 

[pretty faythe]

The wearing of the cheerleader uniform is on days that there is a game or pep rally or other sport function. Not just for the heck of it. Hollywood glamour likes to make it seem like cheerleaders are always in uniform, when they are not.

 

[MrBern]

1906 Cheerleader

 

[mikepara]

Many thanks for a successful informed conclussion. I'm glad the picture shown was a decent vintage one. I think we all know what panties look like. Regards Mike

 

[dhermann1]

Ike

Back around 1913, when Dwight Eisenhower was at West Point, he was a star running back for the football team. He wrecked his knee in a riding class, and when he was finally back on his feet, he became cheerleader for the team.

 

[AlanC]

Wasn't G.W. Bush also a cheerleader?

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

I've been watching Heroes from the beginning and she's been out of her uniform in every episode so far! You do realise the girl who can heal herself is the cheerleader right? A lot of her scenes have been at home, at school (just generally, not at a game), and she's been at a party and in hospital, and not in her uniform in any of those scenes!

 

[gluegungeisha]

1906 Cheerleader

I would KILL for one of those uniforms.

 

[panamag8or]

Wasn't G.W. Bush also a cheerleader?

Yep.

 

[panamag8or]

The wearing of the cheerleader uniform is on days that there is a game or pep rally or other sport function. Not just for the heck of it. Hollywood glamour likes to make it seem like cheerleaders are always in uniform, when they are not.

They do that because the cheerleader is a male fantasy figure, since most American males could only admire the popular cheerleaders from afar while growing up.

Me? I like 'em.


Mike,
Another thing about cheerleaders is that they are typically the most popular girls in school, and only date the star athletes. They also have a reputation for being slightly ditzy. However, that did not apply at the small school I went to. The cheerleaders at my school never thought they were above anyone else.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

And now we (certainly the midwest colleges) have university scholarships for cheerleaders.

A free ride through college just because a) you're pretty - generally with large breasts, b) you are not afraid (as pointed out by Mike) to have your knickers looked at by the college/National TV audience, c) you are somewhat athletic.

It's an absurd situation, and much as i like looking at pretty girl's panties & breasts, i can't reconcile myself to the system that does not admit one to college on academic merit. Same goes for sports scholarships. People who are dumber than the goalposts through which they are attempting to direct a ball should not be at University, and certainly should not leave with a degree for which they have not passed courses of similar calibre to the standard student.

(this tirade, of course, does not include all college athletes, but certainly the majority in my experience. I have encountered and taught many college athletes. Some were clever, most were not.)

bk

 

[Smithy]

And now we (certainly the midwest colleges) have university scholarships for cheerleaders.

That's absolutely ridiculous. What a have!

 

[panamag8or]

That's absolutely ridiculous. What a have!

Well, they do compete at a national level, so they are considered intercollegiate athletes. Now, I'm not a cheerleader apologist, but at least they are getting an education... or does that make me a cheerleader apologist?[huh]

 

[Smithy]

Perhaps it's an American thing panamag8or.

I'm a Kiwi and we have no history of cheerleading, although they've brought it in with the NPC and Super 14 rugby games. It's rather bemusing as most NZers think it's a bit of a laugh at the rugby.

In terms of getting into uni through doing it, I just can't get it. Back home there's no sports scholarships to get into uni so the whole getting into uni through sports is alien to me to start with. Because I've never been brought up with cheerleading I can't really think of it too seriously. Obviously it's one of those things where you have to grow up with it to understand and appreciate it.

 

[pretty faythe]

Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, also anothe sterotype from Hollywood!!! You have to maintain a C average in school to be (at least its C in my daughtes school and it was C 15 years ago when I graduated) on the squad just as in any other school athletics team. Tsk Tsk Tsk. That dashed her dreams of being the skater cheer leader in 8th since she had gotten lazy in her 7th grade classes. But she hung out with the Jr Achievement CheerLeaders. See, Hollywood sterotypes not working there.

Me? I like 'em.


They also have a reputation for being slightly ditzy. However, that did not apply at the small school I went to. The cheerleaders at my school never thought they were above anyone else.

 

[gluegungeisha]

And now we (certainly the midwest colleges) have university scholarships for cheerleaders.

A free ride through college just because a) you're pretty - generally with large breasts, b) you are not afraid (as pointed out by Mike) to have your knickers looked at by the college/National TV audience, c) you are somewhat athletic.

It's an absurd situation, and much as i like looking at pretty girl's panties & breasts, i can't reconcile myself to the system that does not admit one to college on academic merit. Same goes for sports scholarships. People who are dumber than the goalposts through which they are attempting to direct a ball should not be at University, and certainly should not leave with a degree for which they have not passed courses of similar calibre to the standard student.

(this tirade, of course, does not include all college athletes, but certainly the majority in my experience. I have encountered and taught many college athletes. Some were clever, most were not.)

bk

What about the cheerleaders who stray from those stereotypes?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/14/national/main583821.shtml

I was a Radical Cheerleader at my alternative high school. We "cheered" at lunchtime, at protests, and in promotion of our zine.

 

[dundeedavie]

As we don't do cheerleaders over here, I really don't get cheerleading and I do not know this:

we do have cheerleaders over here ... the scottish claymores had their own team and Dundee Football Club have their own junior and senior cheerleading squads

 

[Benny Holiday]

And now we (certainly the midwest colleges) have university scholarships for cheerleaders.

A free ride through college just because a) you're pretty - generally with large breasts, b) you are not afraid (as pointed out by Mike) to have your knickers looked at by the college/National TV audience, c) you are somewhat athletic.

It's an absurd situation, and much as i like looking at pretty girl's panties & breasts, i can't reconcile myself to the system that does not admit one to college on academic merit. bk

I think it's only fair that they equal the balance a bit and design a course in which you can get a diploma for studying said assets! lol lol lol

(Yes, I know, into the naughty corner . . . )

 

[mikepara]

we do have cheerleaders over here ... the scottish claymores had their own team and Dundee Football Club have their own junior and senior cheerleading squads

Oops Sorry! OK then, as a rule outside Dundee and the Scottish American Football team... we don't do cheerleaders.