Posted on 07/21/2010 2:56:38 PM PDT by Libloather
Federal Judge: Cheerleading Is Not a Sport
Judge Says Calling Cheerleading a Sport Violates Federal Gender-Equality Rules
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
June 21, 2010
A judge in Connecticut has ruled cheerleading is not a sport -- and universities therefore cannot direct money to the activity to meet federal gender-equality regulations.
U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill ruled Wednesday that Quinnipiac University violated the law when it pulled funding from its women's volleyball team to support a competitive cheerleading squad.
"I conclude as a matter of law that Quinnipiac University discriminated on the basis of sex during the 2009-10 academic years by failing to provide equal athletic participation opportunities for women," Underhill wrote in his ruling.
The volleyball team sued the school, claiming that redirecting money intended for women's sports teams to a cheerleading squad violated Title IX, the groundbreaking civil rights legislation that mandates men and women's athletic program receive equal funding.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
You train, you compete. Sounds like a sport to me.
What gets it next? Hot dog eating contests?
Bowling is a sport, but competitive cheerleading is not?
Def not a sport and I don’t care what some say
I've been told I'm a good sport; Can I get university money now?
I would say the same thing about golf.
How about Curling?
Agreed. Fat middle-aged men in khakis and polos driving a cart around is not sport.
after fighting so hard to be a respected sport, this judge crushes it all in the name of title IX.
At the college level, cheer-leading is a sport to the same extent that gymnastics is.
so the women of vollyball attacked the women of cheerleading.
perhaps they did not like the men on the cheer squads...
Golf is an ‘Activity’...
The judge probably based his decision on the movie “Bring It On” and assumed that cheerleading was just street dancing in colorful uniforms.
There is a peer reviewed paper out there that shows the higher injury rate for high school and collegiate cheerleaders due specifically to the lack of funding, lack quality and quantity of support staff, lack of a regulatory body, lack of a NCAA regulatory body, etc as one of the causes of the increased injuries.
This lawsuit was put forth in an attempt to balance some of these problems.
THis ruling has made a total mockery of Title IX, because no matter how you try to justify it, cheerleading is a tougher sport than bowling and archery.
But you don’t have to be a ‘scholar’ to receive a ‘scholarship’.
"I don't see how that is ANY different from organized cheer leading"
And it's basically team gymnastics, to boot -- and last I checked, gymnastics was definitely a sport.
Cheerleaders vs. Volleyball team.
Cat fight in 5, 4, 3 ....
Fat middle-aged men in khakis and polos driving a cart around is not sport.
Try and tell that to the Shriners.
Well, to be fair, that is all it is when Judge Underhill is doing it. He really just likes wearing those little skirts....
unless they all preformed the exact same routine(i don't think there are even any compulsories), the competition is subjective at best and has judges awarding points to who they like so the scoring for the most part is out of their hands and thus in my view, it is not a sport...
I’m inclined to the opinion that any competitive activity that needs to be judged and/or has no truly objective standard of performance, is not a sport. I guess I would have to lump activities such as figure skating and gymnastics into that assessment.
Your description seems to cover both Cheerleading and Gymnastics. Neither are sports according to your definition.
I would argue that golf is indeed a sport because it's a physical activity and there are objective standards of performance upon which competition can be based.
organized cheerleading for Obama is called “journalism” by those in the MSM.
The judge doesn't know beans ~ bet he thinks the hip-hop gals are just dancing suggestively, but they're not. They don't care what he's got on his mind when he sees a bottom wiggle, but you get points for a perfectly executed "eagle", and for sanctioned performances.
I doubt he'd be able to keep up in competitive Central Asian Dance ~ and you talk about something that'll keep you in shape that's one group Fur Shur ~ and lord forbid anyone watching while he falls down in Minyo.
The university forgot to bring in "dance" ~ and every single sanctioning body will tell you that "dance" is competitive in the same sense as any of the variations in ball kicking or gymnastics.
Time for an appeal ~
His wife should take care to have him followed after hours ~ he's going to get in trouble watching for those panties to slip or something.
you can have competitions and still not be a sport... and no i don't think they are sports either any more than i do ice dancing/skating, or synchronized anything or anything else that uses judges to determine the outcome.
simply a beauty pageant with exercise
What precisely, dear Judge, is a comparable "non-sport" activity for males at the university level that involves potential for injury (cheerleading is one of the more injury-prone sp... umm, activities... at any age level), involves hours of training to get a team of individuals coordinated, involves coaching and uniforms, gets tons of pictures on ESPN and in Sports Illustrated, and leads to a career in professional a sports league after college?
Definitely a sport to be watched.
heck, college/olympic wrestling involves judges' opinions on whether enough of the shoulderblade is in contact with the mat... does that not qualify now?
Basketball refs awards points for goal-tending fouls, and that's a judgement call that has been wrongly called many times...
And then there's CRICKET!
It gets worse ~ much worse.
Clearly a reasoned stance, to ignore all input from others.
What you seem to miss is the fact that the judge is now taking an activity away from the female side, so that it again looks like colleges have more activities for males than females, so that school must drop MORE mens sports in favore of womens. College wrestling was DECIMATED when this was done right after Title IX passed.
Which men's sport are you hoping gets the ax next? Or do you still not care what other people say about cheerleading?
add darts to that too.
The only thing that comes close is ROTC, but that won’t get your picture on ESPN or in Sports Ill.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I think your logic is right. Objective standards are the key.
However, I don’t think I’d lump figure skating or gymnastics in it because, except for the interpretive stuff, which is subjective, the other things they do, certain jumps, equipment, etc are standard moves and you can judge whether they do the move accurately and precisely. The fact human judges have to determine that is no different than any other ref judging another sport.
With cheerleading I don’t know if there are any standard moves that have any objective level of judging associated with them. Also the more a routine has to be judged on creativity, etc, that is all subjective and that isn’t sport, it’s art. And art is in the eye of the beholder, and it’s not objective.
Let's add bodybuilding to the listplease do... weight lifting is a sport, body building is not
wrestling is judged as to if you accomplished the given objective by universal standards so it is a sport, it's not judged if you look hot doing it...
it's not the ref's job to decide who wins and who loses
as to basket ball, the main scoring is done without question in full view of all, no doubts, the refereeing only happens when rules come into play and yes they do make mistakes but there are ref's NOT judges in almost all sports to keep track of the rules, NOT DECIDE WHO WINS AND LOSES!!!
it's didn't really think it was that hard to understand
I sure as hell would not be lugging a tuba around. I’d take a trumpet, thanks.
ooops... Line Judge, my bad
Let me see, it requires:
physical agility skills,
physical coordination skills,
training, planning and choreography
team work,
and may require,
gymnastic skills,
and
strength training,
and
it may include team competition.
So how is it not a sport?
Did the judge ask the cheerleaders what they thought?
Did the judge ask males who are involved in cheer leading?
It's amazing what one does when he's 15-18 years old and indestructible. It's hard to believe I made it through all those summers, when these days an afternoon of gardening and yardwork leaves me with a sore back.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
i hear ya, spent six years in a Drum & Bugle Corps...
This thread is worthless without pictures.
That’s a good point. You could have chefs and waiters and coffee makers all competing for ‘the best’ but none of it would be a sport.
That is a key difference between gymnastics and cheerleading. Gymnastics exist to solely compete against other gymnasts, not sometimes competing and sometimes doing a routine at halftime for a real sports team.
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