Questions? More than a few are popping up from news of the day.
A major golf champion who wears TWO gloves and uses iron covers? It wasn’t that long ago that wide receivers, running backs and quarterbacks didn’t wear gloves. Golfers were way ahead – although Aaron Rai’s two-handed style is unique. Those iron covers are more a nod to his modest upbringing and preserving the condition of his clubfaces back when he wasn’t getting gifted sets of irons.
Stalemate in Stonewall? Speaking of the mayor’s election last Saturday, a 374-374 tie, and also, Monday evening’s spring football scrimmage there between North DeSoto and Airline, which continuing a trend, was a 14-all draw in a quarter-long confrontation between two of the neighborhood’s best high school programs.
Lots of new faces – in the Griffins-Vikings football contest. Same two faces, barring a recount revision, will apparently square off at the polls next month to get a decision.
In Ruston, Louisiana Tech leaders are mulling additional women’s sports. One, flag football, needs no explaining. We get it. All the colleges should be taking note. The LHSAA is probably going to have flag football as a sport very soon. Seventeen states already have it at the high school level and 70,000 girls are playing.
The NFL is advocating it nationally – of course, to broaden pro football’s fan base. Don’t think Roger Goodell is drawing up plans for the Flag Football Super Bowl in 2040 – but don’t rule it out.
Another sport on the Bulldogs’ drawing board is low profile, which happens when those in charge of the sport haven’t settled on its name.
STUNT, or stunt? The sport’s website USES ALL CAPS as it proudly states the NCAA is officially embracing STUNT in spring 2027. But the NCAA website isn’t ALL THAT. It’s lower case “stunt” in their eyes, explaining all three divisions voted for adopting the sport.
What is STUNT/stunt? Folks at Centenary, where they’ve been in the STUNT (the Ladies use ALL CAPS) biz for two seasons now, could explain. For the moment, here’s what the NCAA offers: “stunt transforms traditional cheerleading skills into a head-to-head, four-quarter format emphasizing athleticism and precision. Teams compete in partner stunts, pyramids, and jumps and tumbling, with points awarded based on execution.”
Sounds a LOT like modern cheerleading (tumbling, really) with a scoreboard. Considering STUNT/stunt is “governed at the collegiate level by USA Cheer,” per the NCAA again, that’s exactly what it is.
Speaking of tumbling, the NCAA membership also approved adding an acrobatics and tumbling championship. Puzzled, again, to understand the difference, there’s this definition from NCAA.org: “… a fast-paced, team-based discipline in which athletes perform a series of synchronized skills in events such as acrobatics, pyramid, toss, tumbling and team routines. Meets feature six events and typically span 90 to 120 minutes, with skills scored on difficulty and execution.”
It’s “currently governed by the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association and draws participants from gymnastics, cheerleading, diving, dance and other strength-based sports,” the NCAA explains. Somehow without mentioning STUNT/stunt, even though its definition DOES mention tumbling.
What’s this do to those different “national championship” cheerleading competitions staged each winter for college teams? Suppose it’s a smaller sample size of the hundreds of “World Series” in travel baseball and softball, a label as legit as you care to make it.
Not to demean the efforts, or skill, of those competing. The preparation is real. The financial investment for parents and supporters certainly is. So is the profit margin for the event organizers, and for the companies that make those oversized rings that the champion travel teams flash weekend after weekend after weekend. My generation preferred T-shirts or caps.
Not to dismiss the economic impact for the host cities, the hotels, the restaurants, and all the other businesses that benefit when a boost is needed the most.
Or to diss “emerging” sports for girls and women.
Years ago, a wonderful scribe who once worked here, Bill Campbell, put forth a line in a Times-Picayune column about women’s sports that years later, is still solid gold.
“Why should my daughter have any less opportunities than your son?”
So STUNT/stunt to infinity. Stock up on flag football belts. It’s been 54 years since Title IX’s passage began to raise participation rates by girls from seven percent to about 40 percent of all high school athletes.
No question about it. More is better.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com