Just when I thought I’d heard or seen everything that could possibly happen in the world of sports, something new transpires.
I guess that’s why I continue to “crank out,” using a Jim Larsen expression, articles for my loyal readers to peruse and after I expire, my coworkers can store my cremated remains in an urn beneath the sports desk so I can linger on and haunt whoever takes my place.
A situation came about at an Oak Harbor soccer game last week, something that completely boggled my mind when I heard the story.
It seems the officiating crew ordered the Oak Harbor cheerleaders off the track in front of the home stands because, are you ready for this, they were too loud!
This was at Wildcat Memorial Stadium, on our home turf, and the officials said our cheer squad was making too much noise.
It seems the opposing coach couldn’t get signals in to the team from the opposite side of the field because of our loud cheerleaders.
Coach Pam Headridge talked to me about what went on and she said the team wasn’t on the field of play, they were doing their cheer routines on the track in front of our fans, just like always, and were ordered by the officials to get back inside the fence.
Folks, that is ridiculous!
Telling the cheerleaders they are being too loud is like telling the fans to quit making so much noise.
Try that with the Seahawks’ faithful at Qwest Field (where there has been, what, 60 false starts by opposing teams so far this season due to crowd noise?) and you’d have a major disturbance on your hands.
People, that’s known as home-field advantage and it’s why the fans turn out for games in support of their favorite teams.
Maybe the refs would rather have a Marcel Marceau-type mime cheerleading team instead.
You know, ones with white pancake makeup that don’t say anything and just use facial expressions and hand gestures to get the point across.
Wouldn’t that be cute, a cheerleading squad that doesn’t cheer? What would you call an outfit like that? Shushleaders?
Maybe if you had silent cheerleaders, you could also have silent fans.
In some cases, silent fans would be a blessing. They sure would make the officiating crew’s jobs a lot easier — especially when they made a bad call!
I’ve seen a few of those silent-fan types at games and perhaps you have too.
They are the ones that show up, most of the time when a team isn’t winning regularly, with paper bags over their heads.
They actually support the team, but don’t want to be recognized as die hard fans and face ridicule from their friends. Either that or they want their identities to remain hidden because Dog the Bounty Hunter is after them.
Mime cheerleaders, that’s an interesting thought.
Perhaps someone should mention the idea to coach Headridge. I’ll bet if she put together such a group, they would end up winning the state championship as well.
