By Caitlin VanOverberghe
Monroe News
October 28, 2013

Ashlee Bennett has always dreamed of being a cheerleader for a National Football League team.

Ever since her first pom-pommed appearance on the sidelines in Temperance when she was about 7, Ms. Bennett, 22, has been working her way up the pyramid.

Now, she can count herself among those she has so admired. Ms. Bennett recently was named to the Cincinnati Bengals’ cheerleading team.

“It’s funny to see how far I’ve come,” she said. “I love being on the field and supporting my team and feeling the energy of the team.”

Ms. Bennett cheered for her high school squads at Bedford High School and St. Ursula Academy in Toledo. She competed in baton twirling for Twirl Michigan before moving on to be a part of the dance team at St. Xavier University in Cincinnati.

She admired the pride Cincinnatians had in their team so much that she decided to audition for the cheer team, which was not an easy process.

“The tryout took a month,” she said, describing how, with each round, the group became smaller and smaller.

“They started out with 15 rookies and narrowed it down to only seven. They would send out e­mails telling you if you made it or not — you didn’t sleep the entire night (until you got the e-mail).”

Cheering in front of 64,000 fans is like no experi­ence she’s ever had.

“It’s so loud; I can barely hear my captain next to me,” Ms. Bennett said.

Being an NFL cheerleader goes a lot farther than just cheering at the games. As a Bengals’ cheer­leader, Ms. Bennett does a lot of charity events as well.

She is the daughter of Lee and Susan Bennett of Lambertville.

‘Bachelor’ winner Rycroft expecting baby
Newsday
October 22, 2013

Season 13 “The Bachelor” winner Melissa Rycroft and her husband of nearly four years, Tye Strickland, are expecting their second child, Newsday contributor Frank Lovece reports. The reality star and former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, 30, said yesterday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she is due next spring. The couple have a daughter, Ava, 2.

Individual bios have been posted for the ladies on the Dallas Stars website. Click here to learn more about the team!

Photos, photos, and more photos! You’ll see some duplicates, but whattaya gonna do? Photographers gotta make a buck.

Week 4
Yahoo Sports
St. Louis Today

Week 5
Arizona Star
Press Democrat
NFL.com
Sports Illustrated

Week 6
NFL.com
New York Daily News
Yahoo Sports
Trib.com
News Observer

The page is still under construction, but they’ve posted this first set of photos of this year’s dance team. Click here to view the pics.

At last – photos of this year’s gang of Bucs Cheerleaders. So far, it’s just the poster. Hopefully they’ll follow up with individual bios. I’d like to say a personal thank you to the Bucs for getting rid of that flash interface. It looked great, but was a nightmare for saving off the photos.

Beaucoup thanks to Sea Gals Director Sherri Thompson for these BIG photos of the lovely Sea Gals on the field Sunday. Pink boots, pink poms, and pink earrings for Breast Cancer Awareness month. You gotta love it. Makes me wish I had a place to wear bubblegum pink go-go boots, because I would get them in a minute. Click here for more pics from the game!

Click photos to view full size

Click here for more hair and makeup tips from Benny the Bull.

Bios and individual uniform shots have been posted on the Houston Rockets website. Click here and check ’em out!