It's College Football Season!!

That means lots of great football, mascots and packed stadiums. I will confess, I never understood the attraction of college football, and certainly never thought I would write about it. I'm starting to get it, sort of. The football is more exciting because the game is faster and there are more big plays. The fans are fanatical just like pro football fans. But college football fans are louder and prouder somehow. Let me describe: No empty seats, a live college band, everyone wearing team colors, and all kinds of things flying in the air including cheerleaders.

I'm still wondering about one thing, what happens to these people after college? Okay, a small percentage of football players go to the pros. Others graduate with useful business degrees and do something with their lives. And the rest end up in jail-just kidding. The fans move on or purchase space to tailgate every week. But what do the male cheerleaders do? Do you ever think about that? They have spent four years throwing girls around, looking up their skirts and screaming into super-sized megaphones.

I couldn't stand it, I had to do some research on male cheerleaders. I had to start with the query of what makes them want to become a cheerleader in the first place? Are they gymnasts or perverts? "The Google machine" and of course my all time favorite "Wiki" gave me the answers I sought.

First, you have to first want to become a college cheerleader before we can find out what happens to them after college. Did they get kicked off the soccer team or something? Second, they have to be athletic and strong because they have to be able to throw girls around and make pyramids. Last, they have to face the stigma and labeling. Other than that, I'm not sure there are a lot of other qualifications.

I found scholarships and coed cheer leading camps for guys. Wow, never knew such a thing existed. More interesting I found a science school blog called "Serendip" that claims cheerleading is a sport. (George, what do you think, sport or not?) We have previously debated as to whether NASCAR is really a sport. And I am reminded that clearly there is a winner and losers in NASCAR. What about cheer leading? If your team wins does that mean you are a better cheerleader? Is the physical demand in cheerleading more intense than NASCAR? I digress.

Since "serendip" is not a word but the name of a college newsletter, and serendipity means "by accident" or "good luck", then I have decided it is by accident that males become cheerleaders in the 21st century. In fact as I sit here, I'm watching the LSU v. Ole Miss game, and their are some guys on the cheer leading squad that look like they should be sitting in a dorm room in a lazy boy with cigarette burns drinking a six pack of Miller High Life and eating Doritos. You might even throw in some Taco Bell at midnight. So I'm finding it hard to believe this is a true athletic sport. I'm throwing it into the NASCAR category of sports that may not really be a sport.

Last, cheerleading was actually created by men. Specifically, it was a pep club started at Princeton in the 1920's by men. But starting a pep club hardly requires athletic prowess.

So what happens to male cheerleaders after college? Maybe they become male singing telegrams or motivational speakers. I have yet to find any information on what happens to a male cheerleader after college. Mystery unsolved and another alleged sport "un-designated" as a real sport.

Carpe Diem!

Is NASCAR a sport?

Is NASCAR really a sport?  This is a question that has baffled me since I was a young child.  To this day, I am amazed at the sheer attraction of NASCAR, and probably speak for millions like me when I ask "why is NASCAR called a "sport?"

NASCAR is actually an acronym for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.  Men and women drive "stock" cars with 800 horsepower at speeds of approximately 180 mph around a circle 500 times! Archery is also a sport, as is hunting, or so I'm told.  I tried to understand with a pro and con approach.

Pros: It takes guts and concentration to stay awake while driving at extremely high rates of speed in a circle 500 times!  Sounds easy except that the driver is mashed into the car through a window, has no airbag, and no cup holder for the coffee.   Additionally there is an exhausting amount of clutch pushing, (I'm not talking about a cute purse ladies), to change gears on a curve with some guy right on your ass!  

Cons: It's just driving! Of course, there is some strategery involved, like passing other cars. (Strategery is a made up word used by Will Ferrell when he does his imitation of President Bush!  I thought it appropriate here since I find the movie Talladaga Nights excruciatingly funny.)

After my short analysis, I delved deeper.   Alas, as soon as I saw the word "prohibition" I had a vision of a crazed man transporting moonshine somewhere in the deep south, which immediately reminded me of the Dukes of Hazzard.  It took years for me to realize the attraction was the car and not the girl.  All of my brothers and dad looked like deer caught in headlights when that show came on.   Back to the moonshine, which came from Appalachia, and was transported by "bootleggers".  To do this they created vehicles with handling and speed to outrun the law in mountainous regions.  Thus, one particular strip in Knoxville, Tennessee became a popular racing venue for bootleggers.  After prohibition, Wilkes County, North Carolina grew into a racing mecca.  Well that explains NASCAR's dominance in the deep south.  (God, I love Wikipedia!)  

But does being a bootlegger make an athlete or NASCAR a sport?  Dictionary.com has at least 10 definitions of the word "Sport".  Here are the top two:

1.  An athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

2.  . . . especially in the out of doors

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, this could be anything, even chess!  To further confuse anyone who has been living in a cave to avoid auto racing (like me), NASCAR's "about us" page states that NASCAR is the number 1 "Spectator Sport."  Most of us think of athletes when we think of "sports", not bench warmers.  But picture Bubba sitting in a fishing boat with a bowl haircut and bad sunglasses.  He is actually hunting for fish on national television.  Does that make fishing a sport? 

From all this, I can hardly believe NASCAR is a sport and drivers are athletes.  EXCEPT, and you are really not going to believe this . . . . drum roll please . . . . 

Jimmie Johnson, a popular race car driver, was among many candidates listed for the 2007 US Sports Academy athlete of the year!  What???  You heard me.  A race car driver listed among athletes such as quarterbacks, pitchers, runners, swimmers and golfers, vying for Athlete of the year.  No he didn't win, but come on, really, Bret Favre won.  

This debate could go on endlessly.  In any event we will all be happy to know NASCAR's CEO, Brian France, concedes that NASCAR is all about the entertainment.  So is it a sport among other sports or is it just "sport" to entertain?