I believe that you make your posts in order to elicit a response. You tend to make harsh accusations or comments which in turn tend to cause the response you seek. I've noticed that if a number of people argue against you strongly, you tend to back off in your posts. It's then that you tend to offer your support of whatever group you have diminished in your original post (you offered no positive acknowledgement of these young women's accomplishments in your original post).

All this said, the bottom line is that your definition of what constitutes a sport is no more right or wrong than my own. The actual definition is:

This definition includes activities which I would not even consider as sport.

FYI - If you are going to use a photo of John Daly to support your argument that golf is not a sport, then please include photo's of Tony Gwynn, David Wells (Baseball), William Perry, Jerry Ball (Football), Robert Traylor (Basketball). Just because someone is able to compete in a sport while being overweight does not preclude that activity from being a sport.

You are absolutely entitled to your opinions regarding what does or does not constitute a sport. But please don’t claim that you said nothing negative about the cheerleaders. You wrote in your original post:

“Cheer is such a weird deal to me. The girls are their to support some team-Football/Basketball. They are fill in time between time outs/halftime.”

Now how, in any way, can the above comment not be construed as negative? First of all, by writing that “they are fill in time” you’ve pretty much lowered their contribution to about as low a point as possible. What is more interesting to me is your supposed surprise that people might take offense to your position. As I’ve written previously, I don’t buy that for a second. You wrote what you wrote with the intention of eliciting the response you have received. Mission accomplished.

Moving on to your more recent posts, you wrote:

“…there are many golfers that are out of shape and do very well. Tiger Woods is the exception not the normal and even he would not look like an athlete in any sport.”

Honestly, I can’t imagine a more ignorant and uniformed comment. Are you aware that Tiger Woods reportedly benches over 300 pounds? Michael Jordan (a far more believable judge of talent than you) is on record as having said that if Tiger Woods had wanted to, he could have had a career in the NBA. Because his sporting attire are dress pants and polo shirts does not negate the fact that Tiger Woods IS an elite athlete. The fact that you feel that “he would not look like an athlete in any sport” is more indicative of your inability to judge what actually constitutes a true athlete.

Your next point; “You can NOT be fat and be a wide receiver, running back, linebacker, shortstop, center fielder, second baseman. See where this is different?

Watching last years’ Cal/Washington football game, I recall seeing UW wide receiver Marcel Reese at 6’ 235 pounds; not exactly thin. Someone had better tell running back Jerome Bettis – 5”11”, 265 to return his Super Bowl ring. Or let Levon Kirkland, former NFL All-Pro linebacker who played at 6’1” 300 that he should renounce his Pro-Bowl appearances. Jhonny Peralta, shortstop for the Cleveland Indians is well over the 200 pound mark and barely 6’ tall. Andruw Jones hardly qualified as svelte while playing centerfield for the Braves. I grew up a St. Louis Cardinal baseball fan and well remember our 2nd baseman in the 70’s; Mike Tyson at 5’9”, 215. His nickname? “Fat Boy.” By the way, I played D1 football and was a 5'11" 235 pound cornerback. I suppose I wouldn't have qualified as an athlete based on your criteria.

Here’s the deal. So-called “skill” positions do have the occasional “heavy” player. But more importantly your comment lacks logic in the greater scheme of your argument. You state; “In team sports there are a small amout of specialists that are not (pitchers and great hitters) but they are the exception not the rule.” Does that mean that the QB’s and WR's are playing a sport, but the linemen are involved in an activity? The pitcher and DH are not athletes playing a sport, but the shortstop and centerfielder – but NOT the right or left fielder – are athletes and involved in a sport? Is the hundred meter dash man an athlete, but the discus thrower not because he is heavy?

The idea that certain positions on a team require more inherent speed than others is indeed a fact. But for you to imply that an offensive lineman (or ANY large athlete) is not an athlete because he doesn’t meet your criteria of what that is on some height and weight chart then you simply have lost all credibility. I have coached kids that have gone on the play in the NFL from running backs to linemen to linebackers. Some of the linemen have been pretty big boys. Some of them were also among the best ATHLETES I've ever coached. I would never make a ridiculous claim that they weren’t athletes because they have a higher body fat count than someone else on their team. To do so not only insults them and their accomplishments but frankly doesn't even make sense. I'm not sure where your perception comes from, but I can't imagine that it's based on any participation in sports beyond little league.

Which is another proud moment for the girls.

Unfortunately, you will NEVER understand how it works, because you choose to criticize it.  Just like the rules of Baseball, Football, Basketball, Swimming, Tennis, Golf, etc. are different, so is Competition Cheer.

Since you are h*ll bent on proving that competition cheer isn't worth anything, I give up.

I would lik to see anyone in this forum do what they do.  Not many would be able to..... Competing against 22 teams and winning 1st place is an accomplishment.  I'm not going to re-hash everything that I have written in this forum to sway your position, but the girls are athletes and cheer is a sport.

Have a great day!