Jess14

I don’t think Keyra is there for diversity. First, she started out very strong in training camp before having issues towards the end. Second, I think if getting another black or biracial girl on the team was a priority, they would’ve taken more than one girl into training camp. Kaitlin, also an LSU girl, was there, and they could’ve easily taken Titans Briana. She looked the part IMO, even if she wasn’t the greatest dancer. I think Cersten and Erica, etc, helped big time. Not saying that bringing some diversity didn’t help Keyra at all, but i don’t think it was all that decisive. Selina on the other hand....i can see them keeping her for diversity. The bigger question is why do they have an issue finding Latina dancers in the first place. Do the college dance teams or other pro teams in the area have the same issues?

Without actually attending games, I think it’s difficult to say what the issue is. For the quarter change dances which are pre-set, I think most of the Group 4 issues comes from the make-up of the group honestly. There are just a bunch of boring dancers in the group, and I have no idea what Kelli and Judy were thinking when they assigned girls to each group. I started off thinking that Group 2 was weakest, but they’ve pulled it together nicely. Not so much for Group 4. Now, I believe someone else who regularly attends games mentioned that there are also issues of group 4 taking forever to get going on the sidelines when a song starts to play. I think that is definitely a group leader issue. I think should Kashara return next year, she will probably be improved in that regard. So ultimately, I agree that the problem is a mix of things, but I’m not convinced that you would see a massive difference in the level of performance if you swapped Kashara with Jenna or Lacey out as group leaders. Perhaps so, but I’m not prepared to say that. With that said, I’m all for consistency. If Jenna’s group were the weakest, I have no doubt that the weakness would get blamed on her being too “self-absorbed” or too much of a showboat to be a good leader.

Yeah, I gather that it's a pretty light-hearted conversation where they talk about a good number of non-work related topics, but outside of any of the cheerleaders being involved in a high profile relationship (ex: dating a famous actor or a situation like with Kelsey R. where her football player boyfriend gave her the ball during the game), it just seems that a topic that shouldn't be brought up. Who knows though, maybe the cheerleaders don't mind it at all.

Thanks for the info. Which one is Madeline again? For some reason, I can't picture her. Is she the one who didn't know what a cowlick was?

Is this referring to the DCC/Cowboys pdocast or a personal podcast that Jenna has? I have not listened to or watched any of the podcasts, but is this a recurring line of questioning - to ask about the cheerleaders' romantic relationships that are unrelated to work? That's interesting.

Agreed. I think it would be better for Jenna’s own sake to move on all together from the DCC world, but if she wants to be an All Star, I don’t see a good reason why they wouldn’t take her. She’s young, still clearly a great dancer, in shape and will tow the “DCC is the best thing that ever happened to me” line forever. Same for Jinelle. I think it would be good for Kashara and Lacey to return. I’ve made no secret that I’ve thought that Kashara was shoved down the viewers throats this year, but I still like her and think she adds value to the team. I also feel like Lavey is due for a big year. If both leave, along with Jenna and Jinelle (who I guess will retire), that’s a big leadership void. After that, you basically have Robyn and who else to really step up and be the face of the team?

So, if Holly and Jenna were simply dating football players and only going to private parties with them, that would be ok? Smarter? Sure, but it’s still against the rules. Everyone had cell phones in 2009, and while social media wasn’t as big then as it is now, Facebook and MySpace were already huge. It should not have been a surprise to anyone that a picture from a big party could end up online. I get the argument that Whitney wasn’t enlightened enough to know that her costume was offensive, but why does it make a difference whether she was at a party at a club or a party at someone’s house? If she were chilling on her couch, that’s one thing, but she was at a party. Ill leave it alone now. Whitney is long gone, and I certainly wish her no ill will. I wasn’t intending to re-start a conversation on blackface or racially insensitive costumes. I was just pointing out that they’re not always had a zero tolerance policy when it came to honors and accolades for cheerleaders with prior issues.

How did she pay the price for it? Other than being embarrassed, she was still the point girl, got pro bowl, group leader, etc. Also, we have no idea how Whitney would've reacted if she had been told she's not going to be point because she's an embarrassment to the organization or because she screwed up. That never happened to her, which is how this conversation started. The notion that K&J would not send someone to pro bowl who has caused problems has simply not been the case before. Now, they may have changed their standards since then. It's possible that they didn't really have a real problem with Whitney's behavior, but that they have a big issue with cheerleaders having sex/hanging in a bar with football players. It's also possible that they have simply had enough with bad behavior and chose to make an example out of Jenna and Holly, which I don't have an issue with. They can enforce their rules however they want as long as they're not engaging in discrimination. I don't know what their reasons are, but I know what they have done (or not done) in the past.

Publicly embarrassing your employer is pretty much always grounds for dismissal. I would assume that her conduct violated at least a general conduct rule of sorts, but whether there was a specific rule that she violated is a bit besides the point IMO. I also don't see why she should get the benefit of the doubt as to how she reacted to getting in trouble. I don't dislike Whitney to be clear, but she seemed quite immature on the show. Fabulous dancer but immature.

And they also muddled the issue with Jenna so much on the show. My sister and a few of her friends who watch the show (but don't follow online or anything) still don't quite understand what she got in trouble for. If anything, Jenna came off looking more pathetic than looking like a serial rule breaker on the show. If one doesn't follow online or know people with inside info, they would have no idea about Dak or anything like that. For better or worse, she is still a fan favorite for the people who I know who only follow the show and nothing more.

I sound like a broken record but again...Whitney. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be stunned if Jenna got it and even more surprised if Kashara is not the pro bowl girl, but the team has sent people who haven’t been great ambassadors before.

Agreed. Veteran or not, the point IMO should be if she’s in the top 46 or however many they take to training camp. The logic that you will take a weaker rookie (like Brianna who couldn’t kick) over a vet that is better but “didn’t improve enough” is why they ended up with such a weak team this year IMO. Now if Raylee had been told that she would be cut if she didn’t improve substantially, then that’s different. However the comments shown were so vague that it’s hard for me to see that. The info about proximity to Holly potentially being involved in the decision is interesting and makes as much sense as what was shown.

Yeah, it seemed to be driven by Charlotte, but I wonder if Charlotte would’ve been so vocal if Raylee was a known favorite of Kelli’s. I doubt she would have as those 2 often tend to be on the same or similar pages. Judy is often the lone voice of reason IMO The only thing that could keep her off show group is that Judy and Kitty don’t be seem to be on the Yuko train and they’re judges. I could definitely see Kelli doing it though lol. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Tasha retire. I could also see a lot of the year 3 girls retire. Wouldn’t shock me if we see a big exodus of veterans this year.

This is true, and I think this again comes down to us all having our biases and liking who we like and making our judgments from that, whether sound or not. At the end of the day though, most of us don’t really know any of these people. Even outside of the show and social media, I know from my own experiences that some ppl come off really well in public, but are terrors behind the scenes. Ex: my husband couldn’t believe the awful stories that I and others would tell about this one co-worker because at social events, this man was the most charming and sociable person in the room. Nice as can be to everyone, but that was a well-crafted facade. Of course, others give off bad vibes, but are actually really great people once you get to know them. So its always good to remember that when watching heavily edited shows, and in this case, I think we may see more heavy editing in this show than in others.

I agree with that comparison as well. It was always rather laughable to me that Kelli disdained Ashley Paige for being scripted while she loved Jenn K. For me though, that goes back to one of Kelli’s apparent habits that generally drives me crazy in people: the inability to admit that you just don’t like someone or that there’s just a personality clash. It’s not always due to a character flaw in the other person. It’s ok that everyone doesn’t get along, and sometimes we like people who are in reality, very similar to people who we dislike for a variety of reasons. It happens, and we all have our biases. Ppl who can’t grasp that annoy me, and Kelli strikes me as that type of person.

Tasha kinda reminds me of a better dancing (much better) version of Ashley Paige from a few years ago. A bit scripted and can seem fake, but I get it. Both girls have been in the game for a while, no how to play it and how to stay out of trouble. I’ve always liked Tasha, and I liked Ashley Paige although I didn’t have an issue with her cut due to her dance style. With that said, I get why others don’t like them.

Yes, it's kind of embarrassing. Holly P looks SO much better IMO than she did with the shorter cut and the bright red that they had her wearing as a DCC. FWIW, I still don't understand the Raylee cut. She wasn't the greatest dancer, but she got the job done, is pretty, and very photogenic. Maybe they just miscalculated on how good the training camp class was when they decided to cut Allie, Raylee, and Heather and not take Kaitlin from LSU. I understood the Allie cut, but not the others. Of course, they certainly didn't expect to have to cut and/or sideline 3 of their best returning vets (arguably, their 3 best) and then lose 2 more girls during the season, but still. The decisions this year seemed more arbitrary than others. ETA: Anyone know if Kaitlin plans on trying out again? I would assume not given that there appears to be little more that she could do, but I'm curious. Also, I wonder about Lacey. I really liked her.

Yeah, I didn’t get Charlotte’s animosity towards her. She seemed to have the same attitude towards Raylee this year, which also bugged me. I feel like anytime Charlotte feels super strongly for or against someone, I’m usually on the opposite side.

Yes there’s a second where she’s the only one dancing. The part of the finale episode this year where they had the leader pick the dance and then the other girls had to pick it up quickly is basically how I remember it during the game.

I went to a game a few years ago, when Holly P, Megan, Amy T, Simone were rookies. They mostly dance during breaks in the plays, and many times, it was only for a small snippet of the song. Jennifer, Jacie, Holly, and Angela (I believe) were the four group leaders IIRC. Jennifer's group danced the most. She would start a dance almost immediately when a song started playing. Jacie's group danced the least, which surprised me. There were a few times that the song went off before she started a dance. Not sure if that was an accurate representation because it was only one game, but that is what I noticed when I was there.

Agreed, and I’m a bit surprised because the Hand Clap routine is one that the team usually performs well. Although Group 3 group also looked sloppy in it during the plaza performance, but i chalked that up to the floor being slick (maybe I shouldn’t have). Random, but I think I’ve figured out why my opinion of Kashara’s dancing goes back and forth so much. Now I’m not someone who thinks she gets outdanced by everyone or is weak. I think she’s usually great, just not the best. However my opinion really depends on whether it’s a closeup or a wide shot as to how I feel about her (just referring to dancing, not her as a person). When it’s closeup and you can see her cute facials, I find her to be an incredibly fun and engaging dancer. I imagine that she translates very well on the big screen at the games. However, on the video posted above and others like it where it’s just a wide shot of the group, she blends, and I don’t see anything special. Anyway, just an observation, but I can’t think of anyone else who I have such a varying opinion based all on the camera shot.

Group 4! Feels like we don’t get as many videos of this group so nice to see one. Sassy! That may be really be what it is about Group 1. They definitely are not hurting for sass or swag! Even the ones who I’m not a huge fan of in the group (like Maddie - i like her personally but i think her dance is overrated) are not boring.

I like Savanna personally but she’s just not very good. Yuko is outdancing her here.

Is the floor more slippery than usual? This is a bit sloppy but mainly because it seems several people are trying to keep from slipping.

I don’t think group 1 has a weak link. If you put group 1 next to any of the other three groups, position for position in the formation, I think Group 1 either wins or can at least hold their own. The same cannot be said for any of the other 3 groups IMO.