Girl Week, Part I

Girl Week, Part I

Babe Quiz: Who is the only woman to win an Olympic Gold medal

and an LPGA Tour event? Answer below.


Elizabeth Taylor Quiz: How many times has Liz been married?

Bonus Quiz: Name the lucky guys. Answers below.


The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders


In 1972, Cowboys general manager and president, Tex Schramm,

recognized that professional football had become more than

sports – it was sports entertainment. The decision was made to

expand the established football tradition of sideline cheerleaders

into a glamorous, choreographed squad of dancers that would

serve as a counterpoint to the game itself. While the crowds at

Texas Stadium responded enthusiastically, it wasn”t until Super

Bowl X (1976) that the girls hit the big time.


As Suzanne Mitchell, the squad”s director, tells it, “During a lull in

the action, one of the cameras caught one of the girls. So she

winked. She had her hands on her hips, with her pompoms.

After that Super Bowl, I got more calls than you can shake a stick

at. They wanted the girls popping out of cakes. They wanted

them to entertain at parties – any kind. For the next six months,

all I did was say no. I wouldn”t let them do anything. I wouldn”t

let them appear anywhere where there was any alcohol because

we were dealing with an image. We were dealing with Texas.

We were dealing with look-don”t-touch Southern women. Tex

wanted sexy ladies out there, but he wanted them, above all, to be

classy.” [Newsweek]. Here, here. That”s what I like, classy

women…ahem.


Soon the girls were appearing on all sorts of TV shows and on

January 14, 1979, “The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders” movie

aired. It was the second highest made-for-television movie in

history. I missed it. I was at a college party that night but

anyway, you name the show, they were on it.


The girls assume a corporate identity, yet they cannot lose sight

of themselves as individuals. It is a basic concept of the

organization that each person in the stadium or in the audience

has a mental picture of their ideal girl – and the squad offers

someone for each of them to identify with, as an individual in her

own right. Isn”t that beautiful? Actually, I just ripped it off of

their site.


Hey Brian, you ask. What about the uniform? Good question.

There have been only five changes to the uniform. Many of you

are probably wondering when was the large buckled belt left

behind “in favor of shorts with a more flattering cut?”

Well, that was 1991, sports fans.


And searching for information on this scintillating topic ( I

couldn”t refer to my Anatoly Dobrynin book), I found a piece on

Linda Badami, who back in 1996 was 37 and by far the oldest on

the squad. Linda is a mother of four. Her 13-year old son

Christopher said, “When I told my friends that my mom”s a Dallas

Cowboys Cheerleader, they didn”t believe me. They said things

like, ”Yeah, and my dad”s the president.”” [Clinton?]


Chris Badami, proud husband and account executive at Roadway

Package System, says “I always carry a picture with me. Most

people are pretty astounded to meet someone who”s married to a

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.” Egads! Continues Chris,

“People just assume cheerleaders are all blond and dumb and

flaunt themselves around.” No Chris, people just think you”re

blond and dumb!


They are often imitated…They are never equalled.

They are…THE DALLAS COWBOYS CHEERLEADERS!


Most Overrated Feminist…Gloria Steinem


According to Camille Paglia, writing in the May/June issue of

American Heritage magazine, “The media dropped the real

feminist foremother, the ferociously haggard Betty Friedan, like a

hot potato when the flirty blonde-tressed Steinem waltzed in after

a glitzy career as a socialite journalist sporting see-through plastic

dresses.” She turned out to be a party animal and first-class

schmoozer. “She”s chief deb of her own little sorority, which

awards honorary memberships to pampered men of power, such

as glad-handing presidential adulterers.”


Top 3 songs for the week of 11/3/62: #1 “He”s A Rebel” (The

Crystals) #2 “Only Love Can Break A Heart” (Gene Pitney)

#3 “Do You Love Me” (The Contours).


Babe Quiz: Babe Didrikson Zaharias. As a matter of fact, there

are some who consider the “Babe” the greatest athlete, male or

female, of the 20th century. And guess what? I can”t argue with

that. All Babe did was win the 80-meter hurdles AND the javelin

at the 1932 Olympics, plus she also won a silver in the high jump.

Then she goes out on the LPGA Tour (really its predecessor) and

wins 31 golf tournaments, including 3 U.S. Womens Opens.


Arnold Palmer tells a story of how he was just 13 years old when

Babe came to Latrobe, PA for an exhibition. Arnold and his

father were playing with Babe and another local pro. As Palmer

describes it, “Babe stepped to the first tee, pegged up her ball,

and turned to the gallery and joked, ”Okay, ladies and gentlemen.

Hold on for a second while I loosen my girdle.” The crowd ate

up her showmanship, and I think I became aware of my own

budding desire to show off and please people in that manner.

Watching Babe do her thing, it occurred to me how great it

would be to make lots of people – complete strangers at that –

ooh and aah over a golf shot…something in me was clearly drawn

to the kind of public admiration I witnessed that day Babe

Didrikson Zaharias came to Latrobe.” [“A Golfers Life,” by

Arnold Palmer].


Taylor Quiz: Ol” Lizzie has been married 8 times, officially. But

to seven men. Conrad Hilton, Michael Wilding, Mike Todd (died

in plane crash), Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton (divorced in ”74,

remarried in ”75, divorced permanently ”76), John Warner, Larry

Fortensky.


Girl Week continues, Wednesday.