Cheerleading a Contact Sport

It's true. The Wisconsin Supreme Court said so today. The winning side formed a pyramid, which was toppled by a cheerleader in the newly formed position of "pep linebacker."

The last part isn't true at all, but the Court really did rule cheerleading was a contact sport and therefore schools and team members cannot be held liable for injuries occurring when accidents happen while cheering. So Bobby is off the hook for dropping Christie last weekend. That's why Bobby plays pep cornerback and not pep receiver.

From a legal standpoint it makes sense to classify cheerleading as a contact sport because accidents happen and Christie shouldn't be able to sue Bobby. The reason the decision is being posted here is simple. Make fun of cheerleading. Here are some quotes from the story via ESPN:

"The National Cheer Safety Foundation said the decision is the first of its kind in the nation."

Ah, the NCSF. It isn't known whether this helps their campaign for helmets on cheerleaders and for basketball games to be played on gymnastics mats.

"Researchers at the University of North Carolina have found that two-thirds of the roughly 100 cases of "catastrophic" sports injuries among high school girls since 1982 have involved cheerleading."

Umm, wow? This hasn't led anyone to think "maybe we shouldn't throw these girls three stories into the air"? Maybe they should look at that helmet thing after all.

"The District 4 Court of Appeals ruled last year cheerleading doesn't qualify because there's no contact between opposing teams."

It'd be a lot cooler if it did. Just saying.