Let me begin by saying that I like cheerleaders. Cheerleaders represent teamwork, sportsmanship, and pep. They rally crowds to their feet to fire up the home team. They dance around in next-to-nothing in freezing weather just to entertain. They risk injury by participating in pyramids, basket-tosses, and other acrobatic feats. Most of all, I like cheerleaders because, like me, they're full of cheer.
However, at homecoming, I was much dismayed by the behavior of a particular Tufts' cheerleader. Here's the story, you decide: My friends and I were enjoying the crisp air, the free-spiritedness, and the nostalgia that comes with attending our last homecoming football game as Tufts undergraduates. We were in the stands, having a jovial time, as we always do. One of my friends handed me a pompom that he had brought from home.
The pompom was baby blue - Tufts spirit no doubt. So I was waving the pompom and being cheery. I left the bleachers and went down to the field to celebrate my friend Dan's coronation as Homecoming King. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a glowering Tufts' cheerleader marching towards me with a dutiful TUPD officer at her side. As a law-abiding citizen, I have a good rapport with police officers, so I smiled at the duo, cheerfully. I did not expect them to march up to me. The cheerleader pointed to my pompom and declared, "That's stolen property."
An expression of bewilderment came over my face as I looked at the pompom in my hand. I explained that the pompom was not stolen, but rather, the property of my friend. But the cheerleader was relentless. My two friends standing near me looked on with concern. The Tufts police officer stood silently with his hand in his pocket and a sheepish look on his face. Yes, he was supposed to be backing the cheerleader, ensuring the well being of the pompom, but I have to say that he looked reluctant to demand the pompom.
Attempting to be diplomatic, I asked if I could clarify the origin of the alleged contraband with my friend. The cheerleader refused my request. Instead she growled, "Just give me the pompom." And who can argue with a bright red, hands-on-her-hips, growling cheerleader? So, I, afraid that she might spontaneously combust if I refused, handed it over. She took it with a sarcastic smile and stomped away.
Let's reflect. In front of the entire homecoming crowd, accompanied by a police officer, the cheertator accused me of stealing, took my pompom, and didn't even say thank you. I returned to my seat in the stands and explained the story to my friends who held the lone pompom.
Before long, the same cheerleader accompanied by the same police officer, jumped the chain link fence, stomped into our section, and snatched the other pompom from my friend. We were rendered pompomless. And the cheerleaders didn't even use the pompoms during the game.
There are several points to be made here. Firstly, the pompom was not "stolen," as she insisted. Rather, it was left by former cheerleader Robyn Herzog in the off-campus apartment where my friends now reside. According to legal advisors, any article knowingly left at a location and not retrieved or claimed is considered "abandoned." According to this statute, the pompoms were the LEGAL property of my friends.
Secondly, by falsely accusing my friends or me of stealing the pompom, the cheerleader committed an act of unnecessary slander. But, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and just chock it up to bad manners.
Thirdly, could she not have waited until the end of the game and politely explained the situation? I sympathize with organizations that have limited funding and I might have agreed to donate the pompom to the cause. After all, I have a friend on the squad and didn't I say that I like cheerleaders? Yes, I do.
So the point? I want the pompoms back. That cheerleader stole the pompom from me. It was no longer Tufts Cheerleaders' property, but that of my friends. We were robbed of our pompoms. We were just trying to have a good time at our last homecoming and we were just trying to show some Jumbo pride. Sheesh.
Jennifer Marsidi is a senior majoring in English.
