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Penn & Teller on Cheerleaders

Some revealing reports here about the hazards of cheerleading, which has a lot in common with gymnastics (other reports easy to find on YouTube). The first includes advice from a cheerleader who was permanently paralyzed in an accident:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwt-wQTBnw4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkzFTEZVEek

If tough regulations would keep teenage girls from being crippled for life, I'm all for them.
 
thaiboxerken said:
I think Yammy was just doing a bit of satire.
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I know. ;) I've just always found sports that involve judges to be kind of suspect. I was wondering what anyone else thought? That being said, I've been at almost every Univ. Of Alabama home gymnastics meet in the last 11 years, and they are very entertaining. OK, I also work at the meets but they're still fun.
 
The problem to me, as a Brit looking in, is that what these girls are doing isn't cheer leading anymore. They are involved in advanced gymnastics and should be covered by the same safety regulations that gymnasts have. For Varsity to be making money out of all this whilst actively campaigning for cheer leading to be kept at it's present position legislation wise, is morally wrong on all levels.

However, just because legislation doesn't enforce safety doesn't mean that safety can't be included in any programme and it is the individual schools responsibility to ensure that students aren't in any unnecessary danger. Ultimately, the responsibility lay at the feet of those directly in charge of the cheer leading teams.

Finally - I've seen the first series of 'Penn & Teller's BS' and some of the second series when I was living in Vegas. This does seem like an odd subject for them to be including in what was an excellent concept for TV. Maybe since Penn's marriage (I don't know if he has kids of his own, but remember seeing him at the Mac Store with some?), his priorities may have changed slightly.
 
As a general I think the notion was that what we think about cheerleading is BS.

That it's basically about a bunch of bimbos jumping around as well as the anti-feminist streotype.

To be quite frank, so far season 8 is extremely disapointing.

Perhaps next week's episode on martial arts would have more of a punch.
 
Puppycow said:
Ah, well, I'll agree that competition cheerleading is a sport.

Just regular cheerleading though is not.
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This P&T episode included an interview with a girl paralyzed during her tryout for cheerleading.
 
My guess that P&T did a show on cheerleaders as an excuse for lots of gratuitous nudity.*

*Not that it's a bad thing.
 
My reaction to modern cheerleading is the same as my reaction to pairs figure-skating: there's not a man in the world I would trust that much.

When I worked at Sea World in San Antonio we once hosted a national cheerleading championship. I was amazed and appalled to find that there were grown people making a good living by running around in cheerleading costumes,including the tiny little pleated skirts for the women.
 
My niece just got a very nice scholarship to a junior college for cheerleading. Until she got the offer, no one in the family had any idea that scholarships were even offered for it.
 
ravdin said:
My guess that P&T did a show on cheerleaders as an excuse for lots of gratuitous nudity.*

*Not that it's a bad thing.
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There wasn't anymore gratuitous nudity in the cheerleaders episode than there is an any P&T BS! episode.
 
Harpyja said:
Personally, as a band member, I was always just jealous that the cheerleaders would go to the away games and the band members didn't.
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Found out an interestin thing about that.
I know at one college, when the band went to the Conference tournament, the conference paid the Band's expenses.
The cheerleaders had to pay their own way.
 
rwguinn said:
Found out an interestin thing about that.
I know at one college, when the band went to the Conference tournament, the conference paid the Band's expenses.
The cheerleaders had to pay their own way.
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That's just the free market at work.
 
rwguinn said:
Found out an interestin thing about that.
I know at one college, when the band went to the Conference tournament, the conference paid the Band's expenses.
The cheerleaders had to pay their own way.
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Ours is a high school.

RANT! The thing is, what our cheerleaders did wasn't anything that could be considered a sport. They were eye-candy, and not even good eye-candy at that. We had a number of very attractive women in the band, but you'd never notice because of the uniforms. Compared to the amount of sweat and practice we put in the marching band, I'd argue for that being considered a sport over cheerleading. But guess who got paid more attention in the stands?

Oh, and our cheerleaders were never judged. We were at competitions. They didn't have to sweat their arses off in ninety degree heat in heavy black uniforms while repeating the same formation over and over - during the last two weeks of summer and most of the school year, I might add.
 
UncaYimmy said:
If there is no defense, it's not a sport.
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Really? So the Tour De France is not sport? Golf is not sport? A marathon, weightlifting, 100 meter dash, all are not sport? America Cup racing, NASCAR, Indy 500, Olympic skiing, speed skating, all not sport? Really?
 
RhodyDave said:
Really? So the Tour De France is not sport? Golf is not sport? A marathon, weightlifting, 100 meter dash, all are not sport? America Cup racing, NASCAR, Indy 500, Olympic skiing, speed skating, all not sport? Really?
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Did you think I was unaware of the above when wrote that if there's no defense, it's not a sport? BTW, if you think hard enough, you'll realize that a few of the ones you mentioned actually have defense, which is to say the actions of one competitor can adversely affect another.
 
Sorry so sad but not really sad at all and here's why: Clowns like to point in judgment while the herd thins itself out. What an achievement. *sigh*



I am always astounded by Penn's opinion having so much volume. Carry on. Ahem.
 
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