Cheerleaders and their Hypnotic Demon powers
Recently, I attended a pretty cool Pitt Basketball game. The only downside to going to a live game is that there are “Media Timeouts” which take place every four minutes of game time. It’s kind of frustrating that the media has their hand in so many pockets just sucking the life out of things but that’s not today’s topic. During these time outs the crowd is treated to the cheerleaders doing what they do best; holding up colorful signs giving a crash course in cheering to, what must be, a nearly autistic crowd. They try their best to hold their attention but after the second stirring rendition of “P-I-T-T Let’s Go Pitt!” no one seems to be paying attention. To gain back the audience’s attention they flip high into the air and scream at us like we were a puppy who was running away with a pair of their prized underwear.
I feel bad for them. It’s not their fault the audience is not into screaming as much as they are. Perhaps we lack the cheer leader’s belief in free will and the idea that we can shape the future with our actions. After a game I picture the cheer leaders in their locker room (maybe showering and snapping towels at each other?) discussing what went wrong. “I knew we should have flung Katy up higher in the first half” “Our pom-poms are shiny enough. And can we cut our skirts shorter? No one is drooling over me like they use to. I fear they have become desensitized…” At this realiztion that they must continue to top their perfomances week after week that an over worked over stressed Melissa falls to the ground in tears. “Why won’t they just follow along with the signs. It’s one word. They aren’t doing anything else except maybe eating popcorn. I just want them to cheer with us. Don’t they want us to win?” Melissa would sob uncontrollably and then handed a warm cup of tea and carried out of the room. She was bad for morale.
Was there a time when sporting events were complete chaos? Anarchy must have run through the stands as people stood up at inappropriate parts of the wave, contributed random lyrics to cheers, and clapped without rhythm or real motives. Finally, one day a young lady stood up and said “Hey guys! Let’s go team! Let’s go team!” in a hypnotic fashion and soon people were following her like zombies. That, or the Pied Piper transferred his crazy magic music powers to the dress of a girl and whatever she did everyone had to follow.
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thanks for the iList feedback. Our CL has been acting funny the past 2 days. (we just launched 1.5 months ago so still working out kinks). We’ll work on it. thanks for the support!