Choose your favourite cheerleader

You know what the NHL needs more of? Cheerleaders.

You could decide who will be the next Atlanta Thrasher cheerleaders. Tens of girls are hoping for your vote.

And not just cheerleaders, but cheerleaders that fans can vote for.

That’s what happening with the Atlanta Thrashers. Never mind the fact they’re one of the worst teams on the ice, but they hope they can draw more fans by having followers of the team vote on their top five cheerleaders to make the team next season.

(For the record, you can vote for the Blue Crew here).

I know cheerleading is big in football and basketball, but do we really need cheerleaders in hockey?

I say yes.

Who knows when the next Paula Abdul, Stacy Kiebler, Jessica Simpson, Shannon Elizabeth or George W. Bush will come out of no where to become one of the most famous people in the world?

This could only help hockey.

This is the Blackhawks ice crew.

Imagine people learning that a certain famous music star — such as Christina Aguilera or Madonna — used to be a cheerleader for the Atlanta Thrashers. They might be inspired enough to watch games for a glimpse of games to try and see the next big thing (although by that point, the Thrashers might be making its home in a small town in Wyoming instead of an actual hockey city such as Hamilton or Winnipeg, but that’s besides the point).

Or maybe the Blue Crew will become as famous as the Dallas Cowgirls or Laker Girls.

Again, this could only help grow hockey. Never mind the thrilling playoffs, or the exciting young players. It’s cheerleaders that are needed to grow the game. 

I don’t know how many teams use cheerleaders, but I say it’s not enough. (I know the Carolina Hurricanes and Chicago Blackhawks use cheerleaders, and the Florida Panthers have a calendar out of their cheerleaders). According to this list, there’s 16, but some of them include the girls who clean up the ice during TV timeouts. And some of them have two groups of cheerleaders.

So don’t forget to cast your vote for the next members of the team (in case you forgot already, you can vote here).

Year in review 2008

Way back on April 3, this blog was born.

My first post was indicitive of what was to come for the rest of the year. It was aptly titled “Habs rule and Sens suck.” Nine months later, and you could still say the same thing.

In that time, I’ve had 12,028 people read my blog, 308 posts (not including this one) and 385 comments. I’ve also had 796 spam comments, so at least I’m popular amongst spammers.

Anyways, with today being a good day to look back on 2008, I thought it would be interesting to share what you all thought were my top posts, judging by how many hits it got.

#10: Tie- Photos of Cleary, June 5 (91 hits) and Hockey theme song gone?, June 5 (91 hits)

AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn

Coincidentally, the two posts tied for 10th were also written on the same day. The first were a few photos of Daniel Cleary hoisting the Stanley Cup (the first Newfie to ever win the Cup), and the second was about Hockey Night in Canada not renewing the contract for the traditional HNIC theme song.

Favourite line: “In three years time, most people will know the new theme by heart, and forget there was an old one.”

#9: Child porn is not art, May 28 (114 hits)

Cate Blanchett came out in support of Bill Henson, a guy who took nude photos of 12- and 13-year-olds and passed them off as art.

Favourite line: “The problem with this is that when someone else takes real child pornography photos, they might then be able to hide behind the “art” defence.”

#8: Rotten Neighbours, August 12 (149 hits)

All about a website where you can post comments about your neighbours, either good or bad.

Favourite line: “I think it’s a good website, but does have to be taken with a grain of salt.”

#7: The NHL’s best fans are…?, August 29 (166 hits)

A guy in Minnesota used statistics to prove what we already know: that the Montreal Canadiens have the best fans in the league.

Favourite line: “The passion for the Habs is something most other NHL fans can only dream of.”

#6: The best of both worlds, April 3 (194 hits)

One of my first blog posts, it had to do with a census Canada story that there are more mixed marriages than ever before. It hit close to home, as I am in a mixed marriage, as are most of my friends.

Favourite line: “I learn about her culture, and she learns about mine.”

#5: Sundin to Montreal?, June 4 (197 hits)

I wrote this way back when the Montreal Canadiens were thinking of getting Mats Sundin. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one curious. Lots of debate, but the summer turned into the hockey season, it became obvious he wasn’t going to Montreal.

Favourite line: “Would I be heartbroken if Montreal didn’t get him? Of course not. Montreal has done the past few years by drafting smart and building around youth.”

#4: Nude pictures, December 5 (219 hits)

This blog post was about a couple of cheerleaders who took nude photos of themselves and sent them to their boyfriends, who in turn sent them to the rest of the school. The girls were suspended, so the parents decided to sue the school for some weird reason.

Favourite line: “By suing, the parents are actually bringing more attention onto their kids.”

#3: NHL rule changes, June 19 (223 hits)

Just some general thoughts on NHL rule changes the NHL was making. It didn’t start getting me hits until the season began, but then it took off.

Favourite line: “This is a good new rule that could increase scoring, and might have to change coaching strategy.”

#2: Don’t have overdue books, Aug. 22 (370 hits)

This one surprised me. I had no idea what to blog about, and finally settled on a story about a woman who was arrested for not returning library books. But apparently, a lot of people were interested in this. It gave me my busiest day on the blog, as 183 people came to visit. I had no clue that so many people cared about this story, but there it was.

Favourite line: “She had to spend $30 for the overdue books, but her mom had to spend $172 to get her out of jail.”

#1: Kidney stones, Aug. 15 (406 hits)

My kidney stone

Apparently, my post of what it felt like to have a kidney stone has touched a lot of people. It never dominated any day for statistics, but every day it seems like I get one or two hits for people looking for kidney stone information.

Favourite line: “I’m not too sure how many of you noticed, but since about a month ago, I’m two millimetres lighter.”

Nude pictures

So these two teenaged girls in Seattle decided to take nude cellphone pictures of themselves and send it to their boyfriends on the football team.

The boys, being boys, decided to send the photos on to their friends, who sent it on to their friends, and so on, until the whole school had seen the photos.

The girls were suspended from the cheerleading squad, one for 30 days and one for the whole season. The boys never got any suspension at all.

So that made the parents angry, and they decided to sue the school. Not because the punishment was too severe, but because it wasn’t evenly applied throughout the school. The parents think all students who received and forwarded the photos should be suspended.

One thing I haven’t been able to figure out though, is why the school would suspend the kids in the first place. If the photos were taken at school, that’s one thing. But if the photos were taken at home, then the school should have no jurisdiction. But none of the news stories say where this all took place.

I think that’s ludicrous. The kids screwed up, got punished, and that should be the end of that. By suing, the parents are actually bringing more attention onto their kids.

Cheering in style

In a news item that is sure to disappoint many…

Apparently, a university in Idaho is getting new cheerleader uniforms because the ones they have now are too skimpy.

Whatever happened to “Save the cheerleaders’ uniforms, save the world?”

They girls wore halter tops and short black skirts with white trim, and was similar to what a NFL cheerleader might wear.

“A number of fans were concerned that the uniforms were inappropriate,” said Bruce Pitman, dean of students. “To be fair, there were a number of fans who liked them.” (You can read the full story here)

Of course, I watch the games for the football, so this doesn’t upset me too much.

Elevator world record?

Most people probably don’t know this, but decades back, teenagers would try to set records by seeing how many people they could fit inside a phone booth.

Present day, a bunch of cheerleaders decide to do the same thing. Except on an elevator. And they don’t start on the ground floor. And they weren’t trying to set a record, they thought it would be fun to do.

So the elevator at the University of Texas gets stuck. With 26 teenaged cheerleaders trapped like sardines.

Police and firemen were called to the scene (it sounds like the beginning of a plot of a really bad porno, does it not?).

I don’t really have a comment. I just thought it was really funny.

You can read the full story here.