Male Cheerleaders for the NFL

This coming football season, we will see two NFL football teams (Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints) add male cheerleaders to their squads.

Bravo!

For perspective, the first organized form of cheerleading started at Princeton University with an all male squad (thank you Wikipedia) in 1877. That's likely because there were only men at the university back then, as the school didn't go co-ed until 1969. When I went to Cornell in the early 1980's, I seriously thought about trying out for the then co-ed squad myself! Not sure I would have made it though!

All sorts of sports teams and cheerleading sports competitions have both men and women.

So the notion that NFL cheerleaders (or any cheerleaders) have to only be women (or have to only be men for that matter) is as outdated as it is inaccurate as it is obsolete. Cheerleading is an amazing sport, and the stage should be open to all.

I simply can't believe that it took this long!

Go team! What's your experience? JIM.