I found it interesting that my letter to the editor regarding your omission of competition cheerleading from the best of high school sports was printed the week following your weak explanation as to why you left it off the list.

When I wrote my original letter to you I was mildly irritated, but after reading your column in the Dec. 27 edition, I was really aggravated.

At the risk of reading more into your comment that you “don’t spend a lot of time looking at the cheerleaders at sporting events and that isn’t where they compete anyway” than you intended, this strikes me as more than a little condescending.

Looking at the cheerleaders at sporting events is irrelevant to the sport of competition cheerleading. To watch competition cheerleading, you must attend a competition event.

The regional meet in 2006 was held at Starr’s Mill, and if you couldn’t make it, maybe you could have asked someone else to attend.

If you were unable to name an MVP in the absence of individual statistics, you could have at least named the best team even if you just selected the team that won region or advanced the furthest in the state finals.

This approach would not even have required you to attend the competition, and quite frankly, would have been a much better option than leaving the sport out entirely. The cheerleading team(s) would have gotten some deserved recognition, and you would not have needed to concoct such a lame excuse for your error.

My daughter graduates this year, so you won’t have to endure any more letters from me, but I hope the parents of competition cheerleaders in 2007 are paying attention and flood your paper with letters if you make the same mistake again.

Mark C. Adams
Peachtree City, Ga.

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