Cheerleaders

I love sports. Arguably, all the major ones like football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. Did you even know hockey had cheerleaders? But I do not think the cheerleaders get enough respect! They get paid what I consider a very low amount of money and they pour their heart and souls out for the teams! 


According to a little research I did, "Salaries are minimal, ranging between $200 and $1,000 per month for each cheerleader". That would not pay half my bills and I'm very frugal.


These women have to be in tip top shape which takes more effort than half the freaking nation is willing to put out. They have to have near perfect hard bodies. How many women do that for almost free? If they are lucky, someone will see them and offer something more equitable. 


They do USO tours for the military. I'm  not sure if they get paid for that but the value of that is priceless for a soldier in the service. I know because the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders did a USO tour on my ship (USS JFK) when I was in the Navy in the 80's and I met a wonderful cheerleader that kept in touch with me, and to save my life I can't remember her name. I do remember she was married to Randy White of the Cowboys at the time, who in his own right was awesome.


From http://ask.yahoo.com/20030124.html For obvious reasons, most of the NFL cheerleader sites make it perfectly clear that the women are required to hold down a full-time job in addition to their Sunday duties. The paltry pay of $500 doesn't even cover a month's worth of hair-care products for some of these professionals, much less living expenses for an entire year.
NFL cheerleaders can also participate in a wide variety of modeling jobs, public appearances, and television gigs.


This doesn't mean ALL of them. Just a select few. So when you are at these games and your attention is totally on the game. Which I understand.....Do not forget the Cheerleaders! They are not there just there to look pretty, They work pretty damn hard to be able to cheer for YOUR favorite Team!  And they do it for almost nothing!