Cheerleaders/Dance Team

[Peruna97]

Ok Spaz.

Ever since my freshman year there has been a battle between band and cheer. The bus rides at tournament time together fueled it. Or did you forget the "Your here with us" comment a few years back.

I agree that there are band members that aren't gung ho and if you also pay attention to band personnel dynamics...those people usually don't make it to their senior year. I can certainly name people in your class that washed out over the years that weren't gung ho. But for the most part the members come because they want to, the money is just a bonus. And currently participating with the band are 3 alums and 2 people who had to leave SMU due to personal reasons. They show up and play because they want to. To boil it down...the band that shows up at Moody and definatly the one going to tournaments is the gung ho crowd.

Now to the cheer and poms. "When I was a freshman" the cheer squad was at every mens game and most of the womens. The poms sat next to the band and had what appeared to be a full squad at all mens games. At that time both squads had full-time SMU employed coaches. The turn to their current state started in Spring of 2000 when their coaches left. There have been new coaches appear almost every year since. Last Saturday if you watched the UTEP squad...majority of thier stuff was being lead by a guy (Black Shirt with Lace Sleeves) in the first row of stands. Yes they have an active coach. But I do got to give credit to a few of the cheer and poms (yes a band member giving a compliment)...over the years that I have been involved with the band there have been the regulars that are gung ho. Those guys are at every game, whether in uniform or not.

Again my $.02

[Peruna97]

Dang it Spaz,

Now I got to find that Michael Keaton movie about the auto factory...I have used the term "Gung Ho" too much today.

[Barbara Ann]

Ever since my freshman year there has been a battle between band and cheer. The bus rides at tournament time together fueled it. Or did you forget the "Your here with us" comment a few years back.

I've been here for four years and have NEVER heard of this "battle" between the cheer and band. Never heard the "YOU'RE here with us" comment either. but I'm generally out of the Mustang Band rumormill loop.

You're right. There ARE people in band that are not completely gung-ho about this school nor the band, but percentage-wise that's a small amount. But when there are less than 20 cheerleaders and 8 of them decide not to go to a game, that's an enormous percentage.

I have no hate for the cheerleaders whatsoever. Just, ugh. I don't care. It won't get better by blabbing on a messagebard so we should all shut up.

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

Ever since my freshman year there has been a battle between band and cheer. The bus rides at tournament time together fueled it. Or did you forget the "Your here with us" comment a few years back.

I've been here for four years and have NEVER heard of this "battle" between the cheer and band. Never heard the "YOU'RE here with us" comment either. but I'm generally out of the Mustang Band rumormill loop.

It's been there for some time, you just haven't been paying attention. That's all. Anyway, you're right. time to let this thread die. Have a nice day.

[Spaz]

Dang it Spaz,

Now I got to find that Michael Keaton movie about the auto factory...I have used the term "Gung Ho" too much today.

Maybe I'm way off, but doesn't that have to do with a baseball team and the Japenese?

Oh, and B-Ann? Yeah, there was a HUGE yeling match on the bus to Tulsa our freshman year, involving mostly the cheerleaders versus our fav female senior, from what I heard. That's a big part of the reason the next year, the cheerleaders rode their own bus up.

I just remember that when I was a freshman (rar rar rar) the cheerleaders and the band would yell 2 different cheers at the same time and fight about it ALL THE TIME. The cheerleaders were more organized back then. Now, the few that show up constantly I think are a little more into it (Saturday's game aside). What I really think is the problem here is management. Let's get someone like that UTEP black shirt fella to just CONTROL the cheer squad.

And now I'm off to watch Bring It On. All this cheerleader talk is making me antsy.

[ponydawg]

God bless the band/cheerleaders and everyone else who comes to the games.....BUT you know it is a bad sign when the season is not over and the biggest thread going on is about the band and cheer teams.

p.s. i hate tcu

[MustangStealth]

God bless the band/cheerleaders and everyone else who comes to the games.....BUT you know it is a bad sign when the season is not over and the biggest thread going on is about the band and cheer teams.

p.s. i hate tcu

That's because the band is an unstoppable juggernaut!

PS I hate TCU too

[couch 'em]

[voice of Butthead] huh, huh huh huh huh....he said "jugg".... huh huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh

[Roach]

Maybe I'm way off, but doesn't that have to do with a baseball team and the Japenese? ....

If I'm not mistaken, you're thinking about "Mr. Baseball" (in which the talent-less Tom Sellect plays a washed-up has-been trying to stretch out his career in Japan. "Gung Ho" was, in fact, about auto workers.
I'm rather embarrassed to have seen either one.

[Ryan Trimble]

Hey Mustang Fans,

I was sorry to see both the men's and women's teams ousted from the WAC tourney in the first round, but I enjoyed watching B-Hop's 30-point effort against Tulsa.

As for the cheer and dance teams. To set the record straight, the night of the UTEP game, many of the members of our squad were at a charity event called Mustang Marathon, which benefits children with pediatric AIDS. One of the girls was in charge of personel and another was participating. Many of my teammates were their in support of the other members and our other friends. The event raised over $40,000 for charity. My fellow ponyfan poster "Spaz" was also a dancer, hence why he missed the UTEP game, and didn't play in the band that night.

While I applaud the UTEP cheer squad on their showing that night, I would like to let everyone know that their squad didn't recieve a bid to the NCA National Championships this spring, while we did. SMU will be competing for the first time in over a decade. I attribute much of this to our coach Sara O'Connell. For those of you who have been complaining from behind your keyboard about the way the squad is run, let me say in Coach O'Connell's defense that she has done more for our squad than anyone before her. She is my third coach in three years, but she has plans to stay here on the Hilltop and continue to improve the cheer squad.

As for the Dance Team, there was a mix up when basketball was planned out, and they were not included in the floor plan. Their scholarship money was cut and they were told they weren't going to cheer during hoops season. But many of the members wanted to perform during the season anyway, and did as many halftimes and timeouts as they were able to do. As for their black pants, well, I know the team would love a donation to purchase new uniforms instead of meaningless complaining on Ponyfans.com message boards.

Next, I know that there have been disagreements in the past between band and cheer members. This happened my freshman year. But our groups, the band, cheer and dance teams are all on the same page. These guys are all our friends. Please leave your "band nerd/jock/cheerleader" references in high school; we're past all that, and we like the Mustang Band!

So as captain of the cheer squad, we're sorry for not having a full squad at all the games, we lead busy lives. But we also have friends on the teams, and we all support them more than most. Point in case, how many of you got off your PC and went to a women's game?

Hope to see all of you at Ford Stadium Sept. 4, I know I'll be there!

GO MUSTANGS!

Ryan Trimble

P.S.-- Spaz, what's up man?
P.P.S-- Peruna88, please stop using the smiley faces, they're kind of annoying...!

[Roach]

Hats off to RT for standing up for his squad. I freely admit I was among those bashing the cheerleaders/dance squad for poor attendance, and after his reference to the Mustang Marathon event for the kids with pediatric AIDS, I feel pretty awful about that. I apologize to the members of both squads for anything I might have said after that game (I'm not sure which games brought about possibly unfair comments.)

As to the comment about how "we all have busy lives" .... I can understand that - we all did at SMU. If there's a legitimate excuse like the Mustang Marathon event, then it's cool. If games were missed for Greek parties, dates, etc., then I still have a hard time accepting it.

I'm not asking for an itinerary here of what the cheerleaders and dance squad does in its free time. I would impress upon all of them, however, that they are very important, visible representatives of SMU. If it's possible to make it to games, every possible effort should be made to do so. Having a squad that's missing a bunch of its members makes those who show up work that much harder.

Hope to see all spirit squad members at every game next year!

[EastStang]

Let me be the one to throw the tootsie roll in the pool. Who scheduled the Mustang Marathon without looking at the basketball schedule? The basketball schedule was out by September. Wouldn't it have been more profitable to that charity if it did not have to compete with a basketball game? Were cheerleaders in on the planning? If they were I'm sure they must have told the Committee, "you can't schedule an event during a basketball game because then we couldn't come! Perhaps we could have it at Dedman immediately after the game and people could come over after the game for part of the festivities and make even more money for children with AIDS." The probable fact is that no one on the planning committee thought or cared if SMU was playing basketball that night and that the cheerleaders might have other committments that they would have to break.

[Eddie P]

I absolutely despise people scheduling events at the same time as athletic events at SMU.

However, the Mustang Marathon is an enormous effort put on by many, many people and takes months and months of planning. I witnessed the very first Mustang Marathon and am proud to see it maintained by future generations of students. As far as scheduling is concerned, the Marathon is in fact a Marathon, where people pledge to spend 28 (I believe) consecutive hours awake, active and dancing in support of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation. So, I guess that this event might infringe upon a few other events (athletic included) because of the sheer amount of time the volunteers spend in Dedman. That being said, I'm willing to turn the cheek on scheduling the event while a basketball game is being played in deference to the sheer magnitude of this great undertaking. And you will not hear that said very often from this boy, as I have a legendary dislike for conflicting events on campus and the excuses made on their behalf.

[Eddie P]

Oh, if I'm not mistaken. I believe for last year's Mustang Marathon, the final ceremony for the end of the Marathon was held to coincide with the end of the men's bball game so that President Turner and many others who attended the game could get from Moody to Dedman to witness it.

Lastly, I have had the pleasure of meeting Ryan Trimble and he is a very fine young man who I applaud for his involvement at SMU, above and beyond his cheerleading. Everybody says they were busy in college...some where a lot more busy than others. And some don't know what busy is and never will. Of course, those people seem to have more fun than I do.

[Barbara Ann]

Hey Ryan.

Congrats on the NCA bid; I hope all goes well there. It was nice to have you guys on the WAC trip, not only for the Mustang support, but primarily to finally interact with all you guys. It was fun, and I wish I could hang around another year, but you got to "grow up" eventually.

It was nice working alongisde of you this man. Take care.

-Travis