Answer Tuesday! (SG Forum, Part 2)

Q: The Promenade said:
The 2009 LA Laker Girls are clearly a far cry from their amazing and groundbreaking predecessors who set the standard for what professional cheerleaders could be. The USC Song Girls 2000-2009 have also been far below what we long expected from the one-time gold standard of collegiate cheerleading. So here's a tough question -- the 2009 LA Laker Girls versus any of the USC Song Girls post-1999?

A: I think this is a great point. The Laker girls should be thankful there is not an alert group of readers on this blog, otherwise the scrutiny would be unmerciful. Over the past few years, the Lakers girls have descended to an almost unrecognizable version of what they were when they drew national attention. I think it's much worse than any perceived song girl problems.

Q: anony4321 said:
Any new and recent actions by the athletic department taken against you to censor readers' anger and frustration over the exposed cronyism and nepotism that plagues the Song Girl program?
Have they given up on their denial over the exposed corruption that has taken over the squad this decade?
It seems that many readers feel the new squad is a slight improvement (although I believe we are still light years away from the Glory Days era) which can be seen as an appeasement to the many disillusioned followers of the Song Girls.
I'm just wondering if they would actually admit that there was an effort to select more worthy girls, as it seems apparent that they did try this year to improve the squad.
Although to be perfectly honest, anything is an improvement once you hit rock bottom. This decade has been a complete disaster for the Song Girls.

A: As I've mentioned previously, I've some dirty looks at recent events (the Rose Bowl, the USC-UCLA basketball game) from the powers that be, but the organized campaign against this blog is taking a temporary breather. However, it's possible it could return at any time. In fact, as I write this, I'm reminded that one member of the dept. complained to me the day of the Mark Sanchez press conference about the song girls issue. At the time I barely thought twice about it because there was so much going on that day, but who knows, maybe there's still some raw feelings there (and more complaints ahead).