Every year, as the NFL season approaches, I periodically check the team websites to see if their cheerleader profiles have been updated. Every team is up to date, except for one: the Atlanta Falcons. Or so I thought. The Falcons Cheerleaders have a new site of their own this year. It looks nice, but not much has changed in the past weeks. I’ve been checking, checking, checking for those bios, without any luck.
Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across them this morning. They aren’t on the new Falcons Cheerleader site. They are on the regular site, AtlantaFalcons.com. Unfortunately, on half of the team has been posted. I don’t know how long they’re in the middle of updating it now. In any case, half a team is better than no team at all. Click here to go there now!
Alicia, Erin, and Devon
This week’s NFL.com cheerleader gallery features dance teams from the Chiefs, Chargers, Saints, Ravens, Titans, Falcons, Bucs, and Seahawks. Click here to go there now.
No uniform shots yet, but the individual profiles are now online. Click here to learn more about the Chiefs Cheerleaders!
At last! Profiles and updated photos are online for this season’s Bucs Cheerleaders. Hopefully they will also post the unobstructed uniform photos on the somewhere on the site. Click here to go there now.
Breast Cancer Awareness month continues. Check out the Bucs’, Pats, Vikings, and 49ers cheerleaders on NFL.com. Click here!
By Jane Kwiatkowski
Buffalo News
October 16, 2010
Since first appearing on the sidelines at Buffalo Bills games 43 years ago, former Jills have seen styles come and go, formed an alumni association and became lifelong friends
In the beginning, there were 20 cheerleaders for the Buffalo Bills. They carried megaphones, wore turtlenecks, and between them there was not a sequin in sight. “We were cheerleaders, not dancers,” said Jo Ann Gaulin, 74, who helped found the Buffalo Jills in 1967. “We cheered with megaphones and placards, and when we said, ‘Go, Bills, Go,’ you could hear us at home on the radio. You could hear us on TV.”
On one recent night, scrapbooks were being passed like a football in the Lake View home of Chris Sullivan Polito, 63, who cheered for the Buffalo Bills from 1971 to 1979. Polito – like her fellow cheerleading alumni – met to swap stories, share time and reflect on the changing phases of their sport.
“Cheerleading was my performance sport and I did it right through high school, every minute of the day,” said Polito, a grandmother of 10 who also directed in 1978-85. “It’s all I ever did. It’s not like you’re on Broadway, but there’s a certain element of fun. I was very shy one-on-one, but cheering in front of 80,000 people was totally different, especially when they cheered back.”
Friends for life
Times have changed for cheerleaders at collegiate and professional stadiums across the country, where kick lines have supplanted chants of “Block That Kick,” choreographers work alongside cheerleading coaches and corporate sponsors back many squads. Today’s Buffalo Jills, for example, are primarily sponsored by Citadel Broadcasting.
In 2009, more than 100 former Buffalo Bills cheerleaders formed the Buffalo Professional Cheerleaders Association, an alumni group dedicated to preserving friendships and memories while performing charitable work throughout the community.
They joined scores of other cheerleading alumni groups around the country. The Washington Redskin Alumni Association was the first to form in 1984. The Jacksonville Jaguars Professional Cheerleaders Alumni, meanwhile, offer audition prep classes for cheerleader hopefuls. Other alumni groups — from the Miami Dolphins and Atlanta Falcons — are using Facebook and Yahoo to network.
“When I look at cheerleading, I look at it like a sport,” said Lori Marino Mammoliti, 47, president of the Buffalo Professional Cheerleaders Association, who cheered from 1981-1992 and 1997-2000. “Everyone considers football the sport, but it’s also cheerleading. It’s a serious, competitive sport. The women who are doing this are in amazing shape. They are spending five or six days in the gym to be able to do some of the stunts. You have to be dedicated. It’s not a joke.”
Professionally, the former cheerleaders do everything from investment advisers, psychologists and chemical engineers, to travel agents and figure skaters.
To prevent any confusion with the current Jills, alumni cheerleaders refrain from using the Buffalo Jills name.
Streamers, go-go boots
Lee Fitzgerald Hilliker, 70, who cheered from 1968-71, is a retired sergeant from the Erie County Sheriff’s Department. Ellen Paulette Peoples, 50, who cheered from 1978-82, is a Buffalo firefighter and award-winning body builder.
“They become your sisters,” said Francine Phillips Cangialosi, 33, who cheered from 1999 to 2005. “They become an extension of your family. They become your friends for life, the ones you cheered with. It never stops — six months could go by and you pick up the phone, and it’s like yesterday.”
The first of two male cheerleaders for the Buffalo Bills — Jerry Spiller, 55, who cheered from 1982-86 — performs acupuncture and teaches tai chi in southern Florida.
Gaulin, who now lives in Palm Coast, Fla., remembers 1967 as the year Daryl Lamonica was traded to the Oakland Raiders, but it was also the year the Bills launched two cheering squads. The 16 regular cheerleaders and four substitutes were required to be at least 22 years of age and married, partly to ensure they would have escorts to the games.
“[The Bills] did not have a very successful year,” Gaulin recalled, “and I had traveled to see a Detroit game, and there were a few girls cheering on the field. One was dressed up like a lion.”
At the time, the Buffalo State College cheerleaders cheered for the Bills in the old War Memorial Stadium, located at Jefferson Avenue and Best Street on the city’s East Side.
“I thought we needed something like that in Buffalo,” Gaulin said. “Our team wasn’t doing real well. We had an antiquated stadium. Don’t forget, in the days of the Rockpile, there was no dedicated parking. People going to the game had to park in driveways. The fans did need a boost. We needed something to get the crowd into it.”
So she contacted the front office of the Buffalo Bills, and proposed a cheerleading squad. “I had no idea if I would ever hear from them again, and about a week later I got a phone call that Mr. Ralph Wilson would like to meet in his office.”
Soon, Gaulin — a wife and mother of four — would begin to hunt for pompoms.
“Mr. Wilson didn’t want them shedding on the field,” she said. “I had to think of something, and I did, bicycle streamers. The company sent me blue and the white bicycle streamers. They were heavy, but we made pompoms out of them. They never shedded and they were washable. Ralph Wilson gave us the money for whatever we needed.”
The shiny white go-go boots were purchased at Sears. Their style — zip up the side with a two-inch stocky heel — gave little support to the ankle. In fact, some of the women developed cartilage problems in their knees after years of cheering in go-go boots.
“They were showy and wonderful,” recalled Polito, “but it was dangerous to flip in boots.”
A new era
In 1972, the white go-go boots were replaced for one year with blue suede boots. “And in ’77 they went to saddle shoes so they could do lifts,” recalled Polito. “One whole year with saddle shoes, and nobody liked them.”
“We weren’t sexy, like today,” said Hilliker, about the white turtlenecks, vests and sweaters that were uniform staples in the late ’60s.
Many pointed to the “Battle of the NFL Cheerleaders,” as the spark that led to the extreme makeover of the Bills cheerleaders in 1978. The five-installment TV show portrayed cheerleaders swimming, running, jet skiing, roller skating. The motivation was to show them as regular people involved in healthy activities. A common theme was skin.
The new uniforms for Buffalo’s cheerleaders — red hot pants with a matching vest — featured lots of skin, a contrast to the red, white and blue horizontal- striped sweaters that marked 1977 uniforms.
“The Dallas Cowgirls came out, and they were going to have a two-piece uniform and all the squads in the NFL tried to conform — or compete,” recalled Mammoliti. “The Buffalo Bills and Ralph Wilson had a very conservative approach, and he didn’t want to have this real sexy image.”
Breaking the mold
Jerry Ziffer was 27 when he decided to try out for the Bills cheerleading squad. A gymnastics instructor in Williamsville, Ziffer had been working with the Jills as acrobatic coordinator. He figured that if he made the squad, it would help promote sport acrobatics.
“ ‘In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not one of the girls,’ ” Ziffer recalled saying at his tryout. “I made up a routine with tumbling moves and jumps, and I got picked.”
During a phone interview from Lakeland, Fla., where he has lived for 20 years, Ziffer remembered fan reaction to a male cheerleader as positive — with a few exceptions.
“Endzone animals would make a lot of comments,” he said. “One group of guys I had a hard time with every week, but I would start doing the stunts tossing a girl and catching her. I was not out there with a skirt and megaphone. I did gymnastic stunts.”
Divorced and remarried, Ziffer believes today’s cheerleading has lost its flair.
“It’s entertainment,” he said. “It’s not about getting the crowd going. “Now it’s a performance, which is nice to watch, but I don’t know how much it stimulates the crowd.”
[Photos “borrowed” from BuffalJillsAlumni.com. Check out their site. Awesome stuff! ~sasha]
Friday, 15 Oct 2010
TAMPA, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) – Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders Shaniqua Brown, Nikki Fraser, Courtney Russ, Ashley Kowal, Marlana Aref, Stephanie Ritz and Lauren Cross took a break before the big game on Sunday to visit Howl-O-Scream 2010 at Busch Gardens.
During their heart pounding evening at the nationally ranked event, the cheerleaders toured the brand-new My X: Revenge Rocks and returning fan favorite Delta Epsilon Delta: Extreme Rush (DEDer) haunted houses and experienced fanatical terror first-hand in the new Xtreme Fanatics scare zone.
Howl-O-Scream 2010 is a separate ticketed event, and tickets can be purchased as low as $19.95. Savings are available on advance ticket purchases for Passport Members and Florida Residents. Discounts are also available through promotional codes provided on select Pepsi, Domino’s Pizza, Applebee’s, Smoothie King and Muvico theaters purchases statewide.
The event runs every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night during October and remaining event nights include Oct. 15-16, 21-23, 28-30 and Oct. 31. Operating hours are 7:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Thursday nights and Halloween night. Friday and Saturday hours are 7:30 p.m. to 2 a.m.
I know your head was in the game, Landry, but this is BS. Let’s pretend for one moment that it’s possible – in the heat of the moment – to crash into another human being without realizing it. Let’s say you never even saw her. When a giant sweaty dude, twice your size, with feet the size of minivans drops on you like a ton of bricks, it hurts. A lot. You were very very lucky Ashley wasn’t injured. Have a little class dude. Apologize.
Megan Renne
Livingston County News
October 14, 2010
NEW YORK CITY — Growing up in a small town like Avon, Brittany Cushing had dreams of one day moving beyond the Avon walls and pursuing a career in a profession she loved.
Mission accomplished!
Cushing, who recently turned 25, is a 2003 graduate of Avon Central and is currently a member of the New York Jets Flight Crew Dance Team, that performs during NFL home games.
“Looking back, (Avon) was a great place to grow up as a kid — it’s a small, close knit community,” said and referred to her time there as a “wonderful experience.”
Growing up surrounded by many friends and family, Avon provided Brittany with not only a great education, but all of the support she needed to continue her career. While attending Avon, she participated in such clubs as cheerleading and dance.
After graduating from Avon, Brittany attended Penn State University where she studied marketing and finished with a Bachelor of Science degree in May of 2007. She also continued to pursue her love of dancing when she auditioned for a hip hop dance company called ‘Whiplash.’
She was one of three freshman to make the team that year and the experience helped her to get where she is today.
While attending Penn State during her junior year, Brittany took a semester off from school to accept an internship at NBC Sports. She admits to being a huge sports fan and after graduating from college, was able transfer networks and work at ESPN.
“I’m a huge sports fan, so I’ve been lucky to be able to stay in a field I enjoy,” said Brittany.
Although Brittany seemed to be enjoying a successful career in the studio, she continued to pursue her passion for cheerleading and dance and thus began looking into the Flight Crew and researching them on the web.
“I noticed they were holding audition prep classes in New York City,” said Brittany.
The auditioning process took a little over a week and consisted of open call, — which produced both a semifinal, and final round of applicants.
Brittany was both shocked and thrilled when it came down to the final decisions, and her number and name was called — “Number 28, Brittany.”
Now a member of the New York Jets’ Flight Crew Team, Brittany admits this is by far the biggest stage she has ever performed on, considering their stadium holds 80,000 fans for every home game.
“This is definitely the biggest stage I’ve been on,” said Brittany. “To perform in front of that many people is an incredible experience. It’s a dream come true.”
She admits that her experience as an Avon cheerleader helped her prepare for her current squad.
“Without that background, I would have never been able to get into professional cheerleading,” said Brittany.
Brittany’s family, back home in Avon, has been a huge support system she says.
“They’re my support system and have always encouraged me to believe in myself and go for what I want,” Brittany said. “I’m so lucky to have them behind me, and wouldn’t be the person I am today without them.”
As for her future endeavors — for now, Brittany will just enjoy the ride she’s on.
“Right now I’m just enjoying where I’m at,” said Brittany. “I’ve worked hard to get here and I am taking advantage of every opportunity.”
