Sports Field Guide

Sure, cheer can be glitzy but so is 'Dancing with the Stars.'

You can bet the pending federal case involving Quinnipiac University is going to shake up college athletics. A federal judge heard final arguments Friday in a case that may determine whether cheerleading is a sport.

The Quinnipiac volleyball team has been pressing this case since the university eliminated its team in order to add a competitive cheer squad.

Many people are hoping the judge rules against cheer for many reasons. Some argue that cheer participants do not compete directly against one another, moving and flowing more like ballroom dancers. Or they claim cheer has few sports skills besides tumbling and that the scoring system is vague.

Sports must have clear rules and standards for competition, ones that most fans can easily understand as they watch. For example, a serve that does not go over a net yields the next serve and a point to the other team in volleyball. A player who proceeds around all four bases earns a run for a baseball or softball team, and a football squad that advances the ball 10 yards earns a first down. The rules for competitive cheer are far less precise. For example, crowd participation is used in scoring. So is showmanship, a scoring category defined by facials, voice and energy.

The CEO for Varsity Sport, a cheerleading organization, even said cheer is not a sport, comparing it to chess. Making cheer a sport, he said, would threaten “classical sideline cheerleading.”

There’s nothing wrong with having competitions for cheerleading, band, baton throwing or speech. But these activities are not sports.

A victory for cheer squads could be a defeat for Title IX in some ways. This precedent could allow administrators to eliminate sports with smaller squads, like volleyball and cross country, in order to add a cheer squad that can field about 25 competitors. Plus, cheer is far less expensive than hockey or lacrosse, another factor considered by admins.

Yet, these same school athletic directors also understand that most parents and young women scoff at the notion that cheer is the same as softball or swimming. Most realize Title IX was implemented to give young women a chance to compete just like young men. Still this case may impede Title IX by allowing schools to add cheer at the expense of more highly athletic, skilled and competitive sports.

If this federal judge concludes that cheer is a competitive sport, parents will furrow their brows and young women athletes will roll their eyes at such a claim. And Title IX will once again be under scrutiny.

Great sports story models

Here’s a few solid stories to check out this week.

• The Dallas Morning News does a terrific job investigating the dangers of watching baseball.
• Fans love features like this – top 5 things to watch in a sporting even. Boston Globe offers its insights into today’s PGA event at TPC River Highlands.
• Think baseball or football is America’s game? Soccer has a much longer connection to Americans, according to the Boxscore.
• The London Guardian explores the cattyness behind the women’s world tennis tour, which is not far different than the days when Christ Evert and Martina Navratilova chummed it up off the court.