Reality Check

In High school we used to have pep rallies to get us all pumped up for the football games. Now I will freely admit, there wasn't much to cheer for with our resounding 0 win football season. Our fans flipped out when the quarterback actually got to throw the ball before he got sacked. But there was just no enthusiasm for our school. The cheerleaders would all run out and yell GO CHILES. The fans would respond with a resounding... ugh.... They didn't even have enough enthusiasm to boo at them. They actually had good reason to ban studying during pep rallies. My friends and I could have gotten into serious trouble because we smuggled in our textbooks so we could study for our exams. I almost hoped they would catch us because I would love to have been the kid to be expelled for studying at school. While we were busy studying away, the majority of the crowd kept busy throwing empty bottles and candy wrappers at the cheerleaders who were apparently more entertaining as targets than anything else.

I always wondered, what's the point of cheerleaders? I mean how many football players are interviewed at the end of the game and attribute their success to the cheering? "Ya know, I was out there on the field and the cheerleaders yelled "Go Team Go" and suddenly it just hit me, I'm on the team. I should go. So I ran, and that's why I caught the winning touchdown." How many fans are suddenly inspired to cheer for their favorite team just because the cheerleaders were so into it? Do all those flips and twirls help the team win?

There are some things we will never understand. For everything else, there's Google.