Half-naked, half-dressed? You be the judge, sports fans

Amy: Why is it that most everything in athletics must be accompanied by a half-dressed woman?

Chuck: Don't look now, but your prudes are showing again. You see these women as "half-dressed." Perhaps I see them as "half-naked"?

Amy: I'm always a "glass half-full" person. You know that. Yes, this does sound puritanical, but I just get tired of going to sporting events with my daughters and seeing women dancing around like they should be in the 21-and-older section of a very private club.

I'm torn on this issue because I love cheerleaders in high school. Maybe that's because I understand their role, which is to pump up the crowd — most of the time teenagers from the same school. Even in college, I see them as ambassadors for the school and the programs, most of whom are as much athletes as those they support on the field.

But something sinister happens to these mostly female pep-clubbers after graduation, including the fact that they lose most of their clothing.

Chuck: I can't speak collectively for my gender, but I've never understood why we have, or need, sports cheerleaders at any level. You're always lecturing me that it's the game in front of us that counts.

Go ahead and tell me I'm still harboring deep resentment from high school, where dating a cheerleader was never a part of my reality. But I can tell you that after many years of counseling, I'm soooooo over that.

As for college cheerleaders, can you say, "inconsequential"? I'm befuddled why some exponent of the ESPN Network thinks competition between college cheerleader squads somehow qualifies as programming.

And those "half-naked" vamps that you see prowling the sidelines in the pros are nothing more than booty-shaking eye candy for someone. I'm just not sure who that someone is.

Amy: Usually I just ignore this aspect of sports. It seems directed at men who might want to seek counseling, but sometimes the outfits are so slight and the dances so provocative, I am embarrassed for women everywhere. It makes me think we really haven't come all that far, baby.

It's most offensive in the NFL and NBA, where these women do some great things in the community as representatives of the teams. Then they go out on the field or court dancing erotica in costumes that makes most people uncomfortable.

Chuck: Yep, the first thing that crosses my mind when I'm thinking about the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders is saints in sequins?