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This is not a rant against cheerleading.

That’s a legitimate sport Melvin Gordon Jersey , played by elite athletes – men and women – who are worthy of admiration for their daring and skill.

There might even come a day when cheerleaders are competing for gold, silver and bronze at the Olympics.

None of which has anything to do with what happens on the sidelines of an NFL or NBA game.

Those are scantily clad performers often leered at by fans – or, as we’re learning, perhaps even worse.

The (hash)MeToo era is the perfect time to retire these objectified, chauvinistic relics (and, while we’re at it, ditto for the barely clothed women who climb into the ring to tell us what round it is at boxing and MMA events).

”There is a misconception that cheerleading is just sideline dancing. This could not be further from the truth,” said Savannah Parrot, an 11th-grade cheerleader at Niwot High School in Colorado. ”Cheerleaders are athletes. We compete in local, state, national and international competition and are evaluated on the difficulty of our routines including advanced tumbling passes and intricate stunt sequences.

”If the NFL and NBA wanted to have cheerleaders,” she went on to say, wise beyond her years, ”I have no doubt that qualified athletes would be honored to represent our sport.”

That’s not what the NFL and NBA want, of course.

They’re looking for attractive dancers showing lots of skin, apparently in the belief that sex is one of the best ways to keep fans entertained beyond the product on the field or court.

And, according to a report by The New York Times , cheerleaders from Washington’s NFL team were forced to play an even seedier role behind the scenes.

During a 2013 trip to Costa Rica Nick Vannett Jersey , they allege their passports were collected, they were asked to go topless for a calendar photo shoot that included male spectators, and they served as escorts for sponsors at a nightclub. The cheerleaders quoted in the report spoke on condition of anonymity because they signed confidentiality agreements.

The team said it’s concerned by the allegations and conducting an investigation, but we all know where this is going. Already, team president Bruce Allen said many current and former cheerleaders are contradicting allegations in the report.

At least the NBA had the good sense to break from any pretense that these are cheerleaders, adorning their groups with names such as the Knicks City Dancers and Memphis Grizz Girls. These are dance groups, pure and simple, often performing sex-tinged routines that are a focal point of the between-game entertainment.

In the NFL, the dancers play a less-prominent role (the stadiums, after all, are much larger) but they’re still passed off as cheerleaders, for no apparent reason. They are certainly not there to lead cheers. Their main purpose seems to be wiggling around as provocatively as possible for the men in the crowd, all while ignoring how many women are now in the stands.

This not-so-proud tradition can largely be traced to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders becoming cultural icons in the 1970s, though it’s worth noting that venerable franchises such as the Green Bay Packers, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers don’t have cheerleading squads.

It doesn’t seem to have hurt their popularity or success on the field.

”It is way past time for the NFL and NBA to get rid of cheerleaders,” said Jeffrey McCall, a professor of media studies at DePauw University in Indiana. ”Other pro sports such as hockey and baseball seem to manage without thinly clad women as part of the game-day experience.”

These faux cheerleaders look increasingly archaic when so many women are stepping forward to say enough’s enough.

”Given today’s concerns about sexual harassment and domestic violence, the NFL and NBA clearly have tin ears in this matter Jalyn Holmes Jersey ,” McCall said. ”Cheerleaders at pro games don’t really cheer and inspire fans or players anyway. They are simply ornaments.”

That should be offensive to all of us, but especially those who are actual cheerleaders.

Tens of thousands of athletes participate in this rapidly growing sport at competitions around the United States, which prompted Disney to build a new 8,000-seat arena at its Wide World of Sports complex in Florida for those types of events.

In 2016, the International Olympic Committee even recognized cheerleading as a provisional sport , the first step toward possibly claiming a spot at the Summer Games.

Of course, cheerleading also serves as a complement to sports such as football and basketball.

That’s just fine, too.

”It is called cheerleading because their role is to lead the crowd in cheering for the team,” said Shauna MacDonald, assistant director of the Gender & Women Studies Program at Villanova University. ”This, I think, can still be a positive and interesting purpose. Cheering is part of the ritual of sport, especially in North America, and having people to pep up the crowd and lead the cheers is a good thing.

”We know that this doesn’t require cheerleading to look exactly as it does, because bands and pep squads also serve in these roles. In order for the culture of cheerleading to change, however, there would have to be some sweeping cultural shifts.”

There’s no sign of it happening in the NFL or NBA.

Time’s up for cheerleaders or dancers of whatever you want to call them.

—

Paul Newberry is a sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or at

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Jimmy Garoppolo and most of the other high-profile members of the San Francisco 49ers made brief cameos at most in the exhibition opener.

That gave a pair of seventh-round picks an opportunity to shine Fred Biletnikoff Jersey , and they made the most of that chance.

Receiver Richie James Jr. and defensive lineman Jullian Taylor both played from start to finish and delivered big plays throughout in San Francisco’s 24-21 victory over Dallas on Thursday.

James caught four passes for 46 yards, and scored the go-ahead touchdown with 18 seconds remaining, as he tries to make the team as a slot receiver. Taylor had three tackles, one sack, two quarterback hits and a tackle for loss, showing more signs that the Niners might have found a late-round gem.

But both players know there’s plenty of more work needed to make the roster.

“You can’t get too high off one play when you have a whole season ahead of you,” James said Sunday. “If that was the Super Bowl then wow, I’m celebrating. But that was just preseason.”

James has taken advantage of an injury to Trent Taylor, who has been limited following offseason back surgery that kept him out of the first exhibition game.

James got on the field early, catching the first pass from Garoppolo to convert an early third-down out of the slot and then catching the game-winning TD from Nick Mullens.

“His athletic ability for such a young guy, it’s impressive,” Garoppolo said. “You know, once you put the mental part of it with the physical part it’ll be something good.”

James was prolific in college, catching 212 passes for 2,959 yards and 20 touchdowns his first two seasons at Middle Tennessee State. But a broken collarbone limited him to five games last year and he wasn’t picked until 240th overall.

With Marquise Goodwin and Pierre Garcon solidified as starters, James is competing with Taylor, Kendrick Bourne, Aldrick Robinson and Aaron Burbridge for a backup spot on the 53-man roster.

James showed his versatility with a 33-yard kick return in the game against Dallas Jordan Phillips Jersey , but he was best as a receiver, with Niners quarterbacks having a 150.4 rating when targeting him, according to Pro Football Focus.

“What we love about Richie is that I think you guys can all see is he’s fearless with the ball in his hands,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “He’s making good cuts and getting himself after the catch.”

Taylor had barely played organized football before getting drafted 223rd overall by the Niners in April. He played only one year in high school and had just limited experience at Temple because of injuries.

That’s why it was so important for Taylor to get as much time as he did against the Cowboys. He played 32 defensive snaps in all, starting at defensive end in place of the injured Arik Armstead and playing through the fourth quarter.

He had a few misplays early but delivered the sack that helped set up the game-winning drive.

“It was probably just me getting the jitters out honestly,” he said. “This was my first game and I started so it was kind of like, ‘Whoa!’ Once I settled down and really got my feet under me, it got easier. It was just playing football at the end of the day.”

Taylor just hasn’t done much of it. He went down with season-ending knee injuries in 2015 and ’16 and played just 15 games in all on defense in college. He showed promise as a senior last year with 40 tackles, including 10 for losses, in 12 games for the Owls.

He matched up well against No. 6 overall draft pick Quenton Nelson of Notre Dame and had 4 1/2 tackles for loss against undefeated Central Florida to get on the draft radar.

He has been impressive in camp, which carried over into his first game action as a pro when Shanahan wanted to get him snaps with the starters to see how he’d fare against tougher competition.

“His arrow is going up,” defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said. “He does everything right. He plays violent, relentless. He fought his tail off against the big O-line with the 1s. As the game wore on, the expectation was that he’d become more dominant and he did. … He took a really good step.”

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