a spot on the white or coveted blue squad.

NCA College Championships, Daytona Beach: Where Kentucky dominates UCA, the University of Louisville does the same in NCA, where it won its 14th national title. One always wonders what would happen if you pitted Kentucky against Louisville in a head-to-head competition, but that will never happen since the competition mat is not level between the two. The technical merits and scoring for UCA and NCA are different. I've never understood why they are different and why there are two separate, major college championships, three, if you want to include the USA contest held for primarily west coast schools. The NFL has two conferences, but one Super Bowl. MLB has two leagues, but one World Series. Heck, the NHL has Americans and Canadians, but one Stanley Cup. Is someone taking notes?

The credo of college spirit squads is that they are an important support mechanism for their school's athletics teams, usually football, basketball, volleyball, and a handful of other sports. They keep crowds rooting for the home team.

In reality, they are part of the entertainment package for fans who attend those aforementioned sports. Athletic departments know that, just as much as marketing, promotions, and other school departments. Removing the spirit programs devalues the overall entertainment package.

Economic stagnancy nearly cost the cheerleaders at FIU their existence. Suddenly, you don't have to worry about safety if you don't have a cheerleading squad.

A new dynamic has washed upon the shore, and it has little money associated with it. The society in our country has changed dramatically since 9/11. Everyone looks over their shoulders. Street cameras watch our every move. But we still like the stage presence of our cheerleaders and dancers on the sidelines.

If you think Kristi Yamaoko's fall from a pyramid in March, 2006, set cheerleading back by 10 years, removing cheerleaders and dancers from the sidelines will put us firmly in the Barney Rubble era.

by Orlan H. Ree, Jr.

oree@cheertimes.com

There are three significant moments in sports each year that has wide range appeal. They are the start of: the NFL season, the men's NCAA basketball tournament, and the college football season.

All of them have something in common, too. It's showtime for cheerleaders and dancers.

After a relatively short timeframe spanning the summer months, college cheerleading and dance squads take what they've learned in summer camps and practices and put them to task on the sidelines at football stadiums across the country.

Here are some significant events that happened last year and what to expect this year:

Safety: There is no denying that based on data released in the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research annual study, it finds that cheerleading contributes the highest percentage of female catastrophic injuries of all sports in high school and college. Despite efforts from cheerleading organizations such as Varsity (owner of Universal Cheerleading Association and National Cheerleading Association) who place the highest priority on safety awareness in their summer camps, cheerleading continues to gain negative notoriety in the general media when it comes to safety and injuries. In the foreseeable future, it is unavoidable that college (as well as high school) cheerleading coaches will continue to be scrutinized for every type of injury that occurs. Athletic departments will continue demanding that coaches are properly trained and certified to address safety, but at some point, responsibility also has to be shared by the student athletes. The NCCSIR study describes the type of injuries sustained by cheerleaders, but it doesn't tell why or how they occured. This is a conversation that could go on for days and weeks, but not here.

Budget Cuts: Earlier this summer, a significant story came out of Florida International when it announced it was cutting the cheerleading program because of budgetary reasons.

Blame the economy? Absolutely. But do you cut one of the most visible entertainment entities on the sidelines at your home football and basketball games? While the Athletic Department decided to keep the dance squad, along came FIU's Campus Recreation Department to take over funding of the cheerleading squad, thus giving them life again. Campus Rec is responsible for campus intramural sports at FIU. Is the U.S. economy getting better anytime soon? Let's all laugh or swear in unison. Did FIU just set the precedent for other college spirit programs? (Answer left intentionally blank).

Everything Is Not Big In Texas: In staying the course with budget items, in 2007, USA Today released a study about major conference college cheerleading programs and how much of an annual operating budget each had. For the 2005-06 academic year, at the top of the heap was Tennessee and Texas, each with an amazing $1.1 million budget. Today, for the 2009-10 school year, the Texas Longhorns annual operating budget for all mens and womens sports is $127 million. The cheerleaders and pom squad? $211,000. JR Ewing, cover your eyes and ears.

International Cheer Union: Led by the Varsity company, cheerleading organizations from around the world formed a not-for-profit entity called the International Cheer Union, whose mission is to dedicate to the positive advancement of cheerleading throughout the world. They held their first world championship this past April at an appropriate venue, Disney World in Florida, home to dreams, myths, and now poms. In the big show, Team USA won a close contest in the Premier Coed cheer division, but major kudos go to the University of Cincinnati Bearcats dance team, aka Team USA in the three dance divisions. They swept all three events, winning the gold. Congrats to coach Lisa Spears and the UC Dance Team.

UCA College Championships, Disney World: No shock here as the Kentucky Wildcats blue squad, easily the best cheerleading coed squad on planet Earth, won its 17th national championship. They are poised to win again this year since they never rebuild, they just "reload", according to coach Jomo Thompson. The beauty behind Kentucky's dynasty is they never have to recruit talent. The talent automatically shows up when they hold tryouts every year as kids from across the country appear, hoping to land

Alex

Western Michigan

Bethany

Louisiana Tech