We Got Spirit Yes We Do - We Got Spirit How About You?
Having come to age in the 70’s I can’t help but giggle and react at the increasing reappearance of the styles made famous by Bobby Sherman and Farrah Fawcet and others of their ilk, and after having the had the pleasure of dining at the Big Red Machines table day after day, baseball in Cincinnati always gives me a “pang” that others can only screw their face at and think, where’s that coming from.
I see it in their faces; they feel the same way about the Reds that I feel about their shag haircuts and Bobby Brady T-Shirts.
One of the aspects about the beginning of the season is the cloak of hope that it envelopes all of the fan base with (in the Reds case all of the Fan Base that doesn’t read Baseball Prospectus.) In the spring all is new, the slate is wiped clean and the season holds hope for all. At least that’s how I felt until I saw the Reds new marketing distraction the other day. That was enough to elicit memories of Pet Rocks, King Kwick and PF Flyers, however it didn’t do squat for how I felt about the Reds.
Yep, that’s right, Cheerleaders.
Just like they have in the back and forth’s and just like the previously most ridiculous use of Cheerleaders (used by the Hockey heathens in North Carolina) these Cheerleaders are out of place at a game that doesn’t blend well with anything beyond Dancing Homer when it comes to cheering.
What’s even better is that this is not the first time the mistake was made in the Greater Cincinnati area. You’d think that a monumental mistake that involved the alchemy of Baseball AND Cheerleaders would be marked and noted in the team’s history, mostly as an example of what you need to avoid, namely because there is only one reason that a team needs Cheerleaders…they stink or on the fast track to stinking.
What nut job brought Cheerleaders into the Reds world prior to the recent regimes stroll into the world of the baseball absurd?
Can only be one if you’re a Reds fan.
Marge Schott.
Only it wasn’t, instead it was the one man I would never have guessed, Dick Wagner (Boooooooooooo). A man who instills a sense of rage in most Reds fans souls and now in retrospect probably creates more eye rolls when we revisit some of his player deals. (Alex Trevino, Freddie Toliver) than most former General Managers.
Lost to me are the dates and the time that the Cheerleaders were used by the Reds, however they appeared sometime from 1978-1982 and tried their best to let Reds fans know that happy days were still to be had at the old ball field.
But rest assured, the Reds have done this before, only with less leg and looser uniforms, and chances are the current group will end up as a photo and a blurry memory of the past to most Reds fans.
April 6th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
That picture seems to have way too many cat-eye and horn-rimmed glasses to be from the late 70s-early 80s. That looks more like a crowd from late 60s-early 70s?
April 6th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
I thought so too, but the caption noted that it was a Wagner move.
I can’t see it happening with Howsam, but would love to get an exact date on it.
Remember the old saying about Cincinnati getting things 5 years too late, the styles of the 70’s could still be reflecting the 60’s in the above photo.
April 6th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Don’t know if you noticed that the players kept turning around to watch the cheerleaders. From the dugouts. Beneath them.
It was rather humorous, but I hope none of the wives noticed.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
reason #3 for having cheerleaders:
maximizing revenue. cheerleaders are sponsored by mountain dew, and that probably brought in a pretty penny. more money eventually translates into better baseball in the current game. that seems pretty legitimate to me, no matter how ridiculous cheerleaders at a ballgame may be.
April 8th, 2006 at 5:02 am
The Reds are the greatest team in MLB history right now.
April 8th, 2006 at 4:51 pm
Saw the cheerleaders last night. They aren’t even good cheerleaders. It looked like half didn’t know the cheers and none of them could keep to the beat.
April 11th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
Wow, should we get rid of the mascot too? And maybe hot dogs. And beer. And don’t play “Take me out to the ballgame” during the 7th inning stretch anymore…. in fact, let’s eliminate everything fun from the sport of baseball. I promise the cheerleaders won’t be the demise of the sport; they’re simply trying to make the ballpark experience more fun. Ask your 8-year old daughter if she likes the cheerleaders… mine did.
April 11th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
in fact, let’s eliminate everything fun from the sport of baseball.
So cheerleaders make “baseball” fun?
Ask your 8-year old daughter if she likes the cheerleaders… mine did.
Can’t do, I don’t have kids… but if I did I’d want my daughter to get a connection with the game and the players, not a coporate shill in pancake makeup.
That’s what football is for
April 11th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Forgive my error in speech from my earlier post. I didn’t mean to imply that baseball itself is not fun. I certainly can go sit and enjoy a 3 hour game and never complain. But it’s clear that the new ownership has an intention to fill more than half the seats of any game not called “opening day”, and their goal is to make the overall trip to the ballpark a more family-friendly experience. I’d like my daughter to enjoy “the game” the way I do, she at least seemed to enjoy the cheerleaders - which means she’ll want to go to another game, which means I’ll gladly pay to fill more of Castellini’s seats this season. And maybe I’ll enjoy the view from time to time myself….
April 11th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
But it’s clear that the new ownership has an intention to fill more than half the seats of any game not called “opening day”, and their goal is to make the overall trip to the ballpark a more family-friendly experience.
True, it’s a noble goal in the cut of Larry MacPhail and his “Usherettes” I’m all for attempting to fill the seats.