Marybeth Hagan
Newsworks.org
Sept 30, 2013

A new season for the Philadelphia Eagles always brings back bitter-fun memories of my friend Cheryl Frey.

We danced together as cheerleaders on the sidelines of Eagles games in their 1979-80 season. NFL cheerleaders were still a novelty at the time. Eagles fans dubbed their pom-pommers the “Liberty Belles.”

One could always count on Cheryl for a laugh in between twirls, kicks and flashes of white and kelly green. Mischief should have been her middle name. When not joking or waving to the guys seated in the end-zones, Cheryl teased her teammates. I remember her holding her pom-poms under her nose and calling out “Get a load of Mary Poppins!” referring to one of our seemingly wholesome teammates, who, rumor had it, was fooling around with one of the Phillies.

Eagles’ fans undoubtedly fancied blue-eyed, blond-haired Cheryl and her Farrah Fawcett tresses. Two out of the four newspapers circulating in Philly back in those days — the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and the Philadelphia Journal — ran promotional contests in which readers voted for their favorite Liberty Belle. Cheryl won each contest by a landslide.

Hard work, hard play

Being a dancing glamor girl was not always that glamorous. I can still hear our coach, Sharon Sweeney, screeching “SHAAAKE IT!” as she drilled dance routines into our well-coifed heads during long practices on the concrete floors of a Veterans Stadium hallway.

We shook our way to Tampa Bay for the NFC Divisional Playoff courtesy of Coach Dick Vermeil and his coaching staff, the talented team led by quarterback Ron Jaworski, and Eagles’ owner the late Leonard Tose. We cheerleaders were a pet project of Tose’s then girlfriend and later wife, Caroline Cullum (currently Mrs. Sidney Kimmel — as in Kimmel Center). Ever the generous gent, Mr. Tose picked up the tab for airfare and hotel accommodations in Tampa for 40 cheerleaders so that we could decorate the sidelines and perform dance routines at the game.

The Bucs beat the Eagles 24-17. That did not stop a “Hey, Hey Tampa Bay” fanatic from throwing a few oranges at our squad from the stands. And they talk about Eagles fans!

All good things …

Being a Liberty Belle lost its appeal for me after Cheryl died on Jan. 10, 1980. Cheryl’s husband Scott had a nickname for the Buffalo, N.Y., native that proved to be prophetic. “Life in the fast lane Frey” died in the wee hours of the morning when her car slammed into a tractor trailer as she drove on the wrong side of a major highway in Chester County. It was a tragic end to a night on the town at Philadelphia hotspot Elan, in the Warwick Hotel.

If Cheryl and I had cavorted together that evening, she might have stayed overnight in my Center City apartment, as she did on other occasions. Plus, the fans’ favorite might have danced with us at Super Bowl XV the following January when the Birds played the Oakland Raiders at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. The Big Easy is Cheryl’s kind of town.

Sideline entertainers hardly hold a place in NFL or Philadelphia Eagles history. Still, this chapter starring my deceased cheerleading chum and her joie de vivre is one that I’ll not forget.

Jessica Guzman and her daughters to perform in Rams halftime show
By Stephanie Guzman
The Camarillo Acorn
October 4, 2013

Sports jerseys, baseball caps and photos adorn the walls of the Guzman family’s game room, but their most prized piece of sports memorabilia may well be the photo of Jessica Guzman, a Camarillo mother of three.

In the framed photo, Guzman (no relation to the reporter) is a bubbly 20-year-old football cheerleader dressed in a formfitting blue and gold uniform. The year is 1994—the Rams’ last year in Los Angeles before their move to St. Louis—and the first year the Camarillo native was part of the cheerleading team.

The Rio Mesa grad had auditioned for the Rams on a whim after she was turned down by the San Francisco 49ers. She was a dancer and thought being a professional cheerleader would be fun and give her the opportunity to earn some extra money.

Between practices, she worked as a bank teller and dance coach at Thousand Oaks High School.

“I didn’t make much money; it was more of an honor,” said Guzman, 39.

“When we would cheer, we had some paid appearances at charity events, and I also worked for the Rams organization by scheduling all the cheer appearances.”

The following year, Guzman moved to Missouri. She was the only Los Angeles cheerleader to follow the team to the Midwest. It seemed like an exciting opportunity at the time, but it was tough being away from her family and her hometown.

In fact, she missed her family in California so much, she left the team after a year in St. Louis.

She moved home, met the man who would soon become her husband and went back into banking. She now works as the vice president of operations at CFC Mortgage, where she manages a staff of 20 people in Ventura County.

But the photos hanging in her home remind her of the days of Sunday night football, televised games and roaring crowds.

Guzman has had a few opportunities to dust off her pompoms as part of the Rams’ annual “Cheer for the Cure” event, a four-year-old program that has alumni cheerleaders performing a routine during the game’s halftime show.

And she brings her family with her to St. Louis. Her two daughters join her for the halftime performance.

Kaylee Guzman, 15, is a sophomore at Adolfo Camarillo High School, and her 11-year-old sister, Kira, is a sixth-grader at Los Primeros.

Both girls are dancers, and Kaylee is a junior varsity cheer captain at Camarillo High.

The family has been practicing a seven-minute routine all week that Guzman and her daughters will perform with about 60 other alumni and youth cheerleaders in front of 60,000 people during the Rams’ Oct. 6 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Edward Jones Dome.

The annual performance helps the National Football League raise money for breast cancer research in recognition of breast cancer awareness month in October, during which players wear pink on the field.

Guzman said the alumni event, in which the family will participate for the third year, allows her to perform with her daughters.

“Dancing was my thing, but when you become a mom you don’t get those same opportunities to go out and perform,” she said.

Kaylee said it’s fun being able to perform alongside her mom and see a side of her that she’s only imagined from old photos.

“I look up to my mom,” she said.

The teen will cheer during Camarillo High’s junior varsity football game tonight and take the red-eye flight to Missouri with her father to join her mother, sister and 12-year-old brother, Kai.

The girls will practice their routine on Saturday before Sunday’s game, when the two generations will help Cheer for the Cure.

Click here to check out the gallery for CBS Denver.

Arena Football League returning to Portland
By FOX 12 Staff
PORTLAND, OR (KPTV)
October 2, 2013

Portland-area businessman Terry Emmert joined others in announcing a new Arena Football League team Wednesday.

The team will begin play at The Moda Center in Portland, in the spring of 2014. It will mark Arena Football League’s second attempt in Portland after the Forest Dragons skipped town in 1999.

This time, the team is owned by Emmert, who owns Clackamas-based Emmert International, a company that specializes in ultra-heavy duty transit. Alluding to the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers, Emmert said sports fans in Oregon are used to seeing a “high-energy, fast-paced brand of football.”

“The Arena Football League delivers that kind of excitement in a unique and affordable family setting,” he said.

Portland will play nine home games at The Moda Center, starting in March. Season tickets start at $99.

Arena Football pits two eight-man teams against each other on a 50-yard indoor field. When a ball is thrown into the crowd, the fan gets to keep it.

Though Portland’s AFL team does not have a name yet, it already has a Twitter account, a Facebook page and a website.

Individual bios and photo galleries now online. Click here to learn more about the ladies on the team!

Get fired up, Portland dancers. WOOT! The BlazerDancers are no longer the only game in town. (At least, I assume not. Every other team in the league has a dance team. No reason why this one shouldn’t.) More tomorrow, after the press conference.

Arena football returning to Portland

By Tim Becker
KOIN
October 1, 2013

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Arena football is coming back to Portland. KOIN 6 News has learned a press conference is scheduled for Wednesday to announce the sale of an existing AFL team to investors led by a well-known local businessman.

The Arena Football League season began in late March this year, and ended with the Arena Bowl on Aug. 17.

It was around mid-August when rumors of the team possibly moving to Portland first surfaced. At that time, the Trail Blazers were reportedly in negotiations to purchase an AFL team, but nothing materialized then.

The Portland ownership group met with other AFL owners last week. The owners of the new Portland team want to have as many players as possible with Oregon ties, and want to bring affordable professional sports to Portland. A head coach has already been identified.

Because the still-unnamed team will be playing in the Moda Center, the Trail Blazers will be involved in the news conference.

This won’t be the first Arena football franchise in Portland. The Forest Dragons played here for three seasons — 1997, 1998, and 1999 – before relocating to Oklahoma City.

The commissioner of the AFL did not return calls for comment from KOIN 6 News.

By Brittney McNamara
The Walpole Times
Sept 30, 2013

WALPOLE —

Just before halftime, Christina Attaway, a soft-spoken 23 year old, tightened the carbon dioxide tank on the t-shirt gun she held at her side under glaring stadium lights, ready to launch navy blue shirts into the screaming crowd of about 13,000 seated just above her perch in the south tunnel of Gillette Stadium.

Walpole native Attaway won a spot on the Rev Girls team – the brand ambassadors and sometimes-cheerleaders for New England Revolution soccer – from a pool of 20 women for one of 10 open spots, using what she called her outgoing personality and people skills to nab the job. Working the crowd both before and during the game, Attaway’s energy reverberated through the stadium, adding to the atmosphere that she said she’s grown to love.

Though Attaway spends her days working for a Newbury Street graphic design firm, she translates her years of cheer experience into a professional gimmick at night. After cheering with Pop Warner teams in Walpole, Attaway moved on to competitive cheerleading. Though the Rev Girls don’t dance or flip, Attaway uses her well-trained smile and people skills in her new position.

“I like to talk to people, I like socializing,” she said. “I love being able to share my knowledge, getting the word out there.”

The self described people-person got the job after auditioning in Providence for the part, becoming interested in the position through one of her friends who cheerleads for the New England Patriots. Though she said the Rev Girls are similar to other professional cheerleading teams, Attaway said the difference lies in the fan interaction.

As a Rev Girl, Attaway said her job is to educate people about the team, attract new fans, and connect with existing ones.

“I love the fans. They’re so different from other sports teams,” she said, adding that kids made up a large part of the fan base.

During halftime, Attaway purposely shot a t-shirt to two kids in the front row of a middle section, saying they were too cute to resist. Many of the voices screaming for her attention were small, those of children. Most of the rest came from Attaway’s other favorite fan base, the die-hards in what is called The Fort.

The Fort is a section at the north end of the stadium filled with face-painted, flag-bearing, horn-blowing men and women who show up at every game. These fans help make up the atmosphere that Attaway said she has grown to love.

“They’re awesome,” Attaway said about the Fort fans. “They’re so crazy-passionate about the Revs. It’s just the atmosphere in general, you kind of fall into loving them. It’s so much fun.”

Before the game, Attaway stood in the plaza outside the stadium entrance, greeting fans and taking pictures. She adjusted her light brown hair, smiled and posed for picture after picture with fans of all ages. Despite the hoards of fans vying for her attention, Attaway came up with different comments and conversations for each one.

“It’s unbelievable,” she said of the number of people who want to talk to her. “I definitely like to stop and give everyone attention.”

Chosen as one of eight new Rev Girls, the team supervisor Danielle Rines said she picked Attaway because of her enthusiasm and overall joie de vivre.

“I wanted girls who are positive, genuine, outgoing,” Rines said. “She encompasses all of it.”

Attaway proved Rines right when she stopped on her way into the stadium to talk to a little girl.

“I remember you,” she said to the girl. ” I remember your pretty dress.”

The girl grinned and blushed, her eyes lighting up.

This is the essence of Attaway’s job with the Rev Girls. She takes her excitement for the team, and sends it rippling through the crowd through one-on-one interactions, and through the t-shirt gun.

“I really like it here,” Attaway said, adding she plans to stick around with the team for the foreseeable future. “I’m very happy being a Rev Girl.”