I forgot one: when, in the comments under an article insulting cheerleading (written by some bubblebrained fool, of course) cheerleaders try to defend cheer by resorting to base insults and curse words and using (what they don't realize to be) deplorable grammar.
Way to make us look bad.
#2 (I know I said that I only forgot one but now I'm angry again so the peeves are flowing): When a cheer team is awful and gets mad that nobody respects them.
#3: Ugly uniforms. This has been said countless times, but ugly uniforms are truly an insult to cheerleading and a slap to the soul.
#4: When articles about cheer, written by non-cheer people (let's call them NCPs from now on) open their pieces with some cheddary line from the 1950s (e.g. gimme an A!).
#5: I wish I could use some choice words to talk about this one, but I have a reputation to uphold: when people claim that cheer started in the NFL, or that it was invented to oppress women (I had no idea that such stupid people exist, I'm not sure whether I want to laugh or vomit when they open their mouths...)
#6: Parents that behave as if Armageddon has begun when their son or daughter asks to do cheerleading, and frantically try to get him or her (usually her) interested in something else.
#7: People who claim, "you can have pickup soccer/basketball/football/baseball/tennis matches when you're an adult, but you can't have pickup cheerleading matches!"
True, but you can still tumble and stunt. Well, not YOU (or 99% of the population, for that matter), but you get my point.
#8: When parents in other sports get mad when cheerleaders get celebrated for their hard work and claim that cheerleading is pointless (only because they don't like it), and claim that spotlight is being taken from other students. Funny how their tune changes when it's their kid being celebrated.
#8: When gymnasts rag on cheerleading. This part really needs no explanation. I get that you guys hate our janky tumbling, but those of you that insult us with stereotypes aren't doing yourself any favors.
#9: People-- I'm sorry, numbskulled fungus-eating toefaces who say,"cheerleading? Why can' you put your daughter in dance or gymnastics? It's the same thing. What's cheerleading (insert digusted face) going to teach her? How to date the football team?
:cow:
MOO YOU, CHEER HATER!
#10: The phrase, "if cheerleading is a sport, then (insert ridiculously easy everyday activity) is a sport.
Please, don't embarrassing yourself.
#10: Overbearing relatives and "friends" that that dedicate as much time as possible to convincing you to take your daughter out of cheerleading because according them, it will scar her for life and ruin her future, and they're "only trying to save her". After all, they know what your kid needs better than you do.
#11: People who give you a dirty look when you say that you or your child are/is a cheerleader.
#12: When people claim that "one day, all you cheerleaders (disgusted tone of voice) are going to wake up and realize that cheerleading is useless and won't get you anywhere in life. And your looks will fade eventually (because we all look like models...). And people won't worship you like they do now."
Just shut up. Trust me it's for your own good.
#13: Mediocre conditioning.
#14: Risque uniforms on young teams.
#15: Parents that will support their kid at games, etc for a conventional sport but won't support their kid at games and competitions because they don't like cheer. It's even worse when one kid cheers and the other doesn't, and they give all of their support to the one that doesn't, but none to the one that cheers.
#16: Parents that complain that cheer uniforms are inappropriate while allowing their child to play a sport that requires its athletes to wear much less than the average cheerleader (some of them don't even blink when their kids attend school scantily clad).
#17: People who claim that their school's cheerleaders are doing every bad thing imaginable (drinking, drug use, bullying, etc.) when in reality, those girls are at practice, games, comps and fundraisers. The complainers' kids, on the other hand, are getting buckwild at a weekend party.
I think I've spewed enough lava for tonight. Good night, cheer world.
No, I haven't.
#18:
New Mom #1: I really want my infant daughter to run track someday.
Response: oh how cute, maybe she ran track in high school.
New Mom #2: I really want my infant daughter to be a cheerleader someday.
Response: STOP TRYING TO RELIVE HIGH SCHOOL THROUGH YOUR KID! ALERT! ALERT! CRAZY CHEER MOM! BURN THE WIIIIITCH!
#19: People who fear that their son is gay because he likes cheerleading.
#20: People who get suspicious of heterosexual adult men that are passionate about cheerleading. No, not every man that loves cheer is a pedophile.
#21: People who think that they understand cheerleading competitions without ever having been to one.
#22: Shady, crooked judges.
#23: Ridiculous scoring systems (I'm looking at you, Comparative Scoring).
#24: Weak libs and bent-leg arabesques. Believe me when I say that nothing looks more beautiful than a straight-leg arabesque with open hips.
