I’ve been obsessed with cheerleaders ever since I was a little kid. I love cheerleaders. They’re beautiful, they’re peppy and they wear those irresistible outfits.

They are temptresses, placed on football fields only to occupy our attention, (among other things) while the football game is at a lull. It’s not fair to them or to us.

It is their job to arouse us, in a number of ways, and I just think that other than eye candy, they don’t really provide the fans with anything that a good organ player and jumbo “tron” that reads “CHARGE” couldn’t do.

Don’t get me wrong; I have nothing but respect for what they do. I think football and basketball teams should generate their own cheers, and let the cheerleaders do their own thing in competitions and showcases and such.

They work hard, sometimes just as hard as the athletes that they are watching on the field, and I feel that their thankless job deserves more kudos than it receives.

We all remember those cheerleaders in high school, so beautiful, so popular and so not interested in talking to us. Perhaps that is why these elusive succubae have been haunting my dreams for all these years.

We’ve been brought up thinking that they are the epitome of sexiness and because of it both the activity and its participants and I are suffering in the long run. It’s all part of the Britney Spears Catholic schoolgirl get-up deal. Once cheerleaders were labeled as sexual icons, it was only a matter of time until the profession or sport (depending on your stance on the matter) was exploited for all its worth.

Considering the invaluable role that cheerleaders play in our society, I think it’s about time they get the respect they deserve. So girls, the next time you put on that cheerleader get-up and put your hair in pigtails for Halloween, think about the blood, sweat and cheers behind those pom-poms.