More Saturday Morning Ramble-Blogging
Fall quarter started on Wednesday, which means that the little ones are back, and even though I'm not taking any classes, everything has this shimmering buzz about it that was lacking during the summer. We've already had our first CCAPP seminar—the lack of colloquia and seminars are one reason summers have so much copious free time—and the coffee and sandwich shop on the first floor of our building has reopened. There have already been several home football games; I went to my first a couple of weeks ago thanks to a pair of tickets someone else couldn't use. We played Akron, and as games go, it was OK: the first half was abyssmal with a halftime score of 3-2, but the second half actually played like a real game rather than a lazy Saturday afternoon practice. College sports like this (i.e., football and basketball) still kind of disturb me: why bother with the messy premise that these atheletes are also students? Why not just have a "young professionals" league for players under, say, 23? What's the point of college "spirit"? Am I the only one who finds it mildly sickening just how clearly laid out the gender roles are in this arena?: man fight, woman cheer. My dad was a high school guidance counselor when I was growing up, and I remember it being a big treat to go to the Friday night home games with him; I was never interested in trying to follow the game, but I would always run down to the bottom of the stands to watch the cheerleaders. I know ther eare people reading this who don't think this dichotomy is a big deal, so tell me: how come there are no big popular women's games, and especially none with male cheerleaders on the sidelines enthusing the vast crowds?
6 comments:
I thought most NCAA cheer squads do have male cheerleaders, you see them on TV at least.
Also, where do you go to school? Stanford was the only place I'd ever heard of that calls their trimesters "quarters".
Ohio State.
Yes, there are male cheerleaders, but: people still think of girls in short skirts and with ponytails when they think of "cheerleaders," and any given cheerleading squad is going to be predominately female.
I wonder how many schools there actually are on the quarter system, maybe it's not as uncommon as I thought (and all the blank stares I get when I say "quarter" would indicate).
I don't actually go to or watch games, so I can't really comment on the cheerleading situation. But it's probably not anything to worry about.
Women's sports are not big because they do not raise money.
High school cheerleading is now a competitive sport and girls can letter in it.
Just enjoy the football. Great game. Even though the players cannot explain it, there is a lot of math in it.
susan p.
Just because it is a competitive sport does not mean it sends a "good" message.
Also, I think part of my point is that men's sports are the popular (and therefore money-raising) ones—for which the women cheer—while the sports in which the women are actually the main event aren't popular at all.
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