Don’t dare lock out Eagles cheerleaders
MIKE GREGER
Metro Philly
May 09, 2011
Hair? Check. Makeup? Check. NFL season? Get back to us.
While owners and players remain in a vicious labor dispute, NFL cheerleaders are dusting off their pom-poms and preening for the cameras. The show must go on. The squad is already booked through the fall, and no appearances will be postponed.
“We’re forging ahead as usual with the cheerleaders,” said Barbara Zaun, the Philadelphia Eagles’ director of cheerleading. “Many of these girls have never had celebrity status and, with this, they have a built-in celebrity aura.”
Thirty-eight Eagles cheerleaders, including 15 rookies, gathered yesterday to pose for their trading card and publicity shots. The first ladies of football started by getting their hair and makeup done, then strutted — in heels and game-day outfits — for photographers.
“I feel like a football player, it’s like I have a helmet on my head,” joked Jamielee Panghulan, 21, while sitting with curlers in her hair.
Since cheerleading is a part-time gig, many are either enrolled in school or have full-time jobs. Still, that doesn’t mean the women haven’t thought about the possibility of no football. They just aren’t worried about it.
“Nah, not worried,” said Danni-Lynn Bell, 24, a four-year veteran. “We think by that time everything’s going to be fine.”
