Simmons echoes my thoughts.....Wyc & Steve this is for you.

[SShoreFan]

Bill Simmons in his 4/25 Awards column had a paragraph near the bottom that read

So, the Celts are beating up the Hawks, the crowd is totally into it, it's a Wednesday night, everyone's had a few and suddenly there's a timeout and the Celtics cheerleaders come out for a routine. I don't know if you've seen the Celtics cheerleaders, but the running joke about them is they make the cheerleaders from "The Replacements" look like timid schoolgirls by comparison. So, they're doing their thing and everyone's standing and watching them, only nobody's really saying anything, and there's just a weird vibe in the arena, and my buddy Bug and I couldn't figure out exactly how to describe it ... and then we figured it out: It was like being at a bachelor party for the part when two or more strippers are doing a "show" (for lack of a better word), only instead of being there with 20 people, we were there with 16,000.

This statement is 100% accurate and is the reason why the Celtics should not have dancers.  I am perhaps the least likely person on this blog to receive an award from the highly conservative Christian right, but I think moralistically speaking the owners of the Celts are doing the public a disservice with these beautiful women.

Wyc & Steve -- you both have kids, in fact I believe you both have daughters.  Let me tell you, the mothers sitting in my section for game 1 were appalled with the dancers (some of them sitting with their daughters) as the guys in my section made sexual comments.  Why would you put a product on display that makes the female portion of your audience uncomfortable? 

Surly it's not needed - so why do it?  Fill in the timeouts with a few more t-shirts and neighborhood dancers.  No one will complain --- except those with a bunch of singles in their pockets.

[Pawtucket Pat]

I don't necessarily disagree with the gist of the message, but, to be honest, I feel like our dancer outfits are quite a bit tamer than some of the other teams' dancers around the league.

[celticmaestro]

yeah i'd prefer we ditched the cheerleaders. not a fan to tell you the truth. red didn't want them and we shouldn't have them.

[GroverTheClover]

While I was originally opposed to the dancers, I am just indifferent now. Lil Funk on the other hand is plain offensive. Applying that much makeup to a 7 year old kid is just wrong. I was at North Station one night getting something from the Emack's, and turned around and nearly dropped my frappe when I saw one of those kids behind me. Up close, that amount of makeup is just ghastly. The kid reminded me of a oompa lumpa.

[Steve Weinman]

yeah i'd prefer we ditched the cheerleaders. not a fan to tell you the truth. red didn't want them and we shouldn't have them.

I'm not all that concerned with the issue one way or the other on a personal level, but suffice it to say that maestro's "Red didn't want them" phrase remains a valid explanation with regard to decisions made around this team.  Following his lead seemed like a generally sound course of action 

-sw

[Redz]

yeah i'd prefer we ditched the cheerleaders. not a fan to tell you the truth. red didn't want them and we shouldn't have them.

I'm not all that concerned with the issue one way or the other on a personal level, but suffice it to say that maestro's "Red didn't want them" phrase remains a valid explanation with regard to decisions made around this team.  Following his lead seemed like a generally sound course of action 

-sw

Red wouldn't even be able to legally enjoy a cigar any more.  How'd you like to be the security guy to tell Red smoking's not allowed?

[waiting for #17]

I feel they don't really belong with the Celtics presentation...however, it is very difficult to get work as a professional dancer. And it's the only part of the "game" that my niece (a pro dancer) is interested in.

[MattD]

The big problem I have with the dancers is that they often seem to work against the team.  So often I've seen the team make a great play, go on a run, the other coach calls time out, the fans stand to cheer the team...and then out come the dancers, and everyone stops cheering so the dancers can do their thing.  Setting aside the whole implicit problem with gender roles the concept can instill, if we're going to have these people at all, I'd much rather they be actual cheerleaders, strategically choreographed to get the fans making noise at key parts of the game, then dancers who take attention away from the team.  I'm there to see the team, and I want to cheer for them, not be distracted from them.

[wiley]

The big problem I have with the dancers is that they often seem to work against the team.  So often I've seen the team make a great play, go on a run, the other coach calls time out, the fans stand to cheer the team...and then out come the dancers, and everyone stops cheering so the dancers can do their thing.  Setting aside the whole implicit problem with gender roles the concept can instill, if we're going to have these people at all, I'd much rather they be actual cheerleaders, strategically choreographed to get the fans making noise at key parts of the game, then dancers who take attention away from the team.  I'm there to see the team, and I want to cheer for them, not be distracted from them.

Great point.  Get rid of them.  But if you keep them, make them real cheerleaders!...

[BCelts]

Great point.  Get rid of them.  But if you keep them, make them real cheerleaders!...

Another opinion perhaps, but I was not in favor of a dance team at all.  Having said that, they did a great job with this dance team and should keep them status quo.

[Mr October]

Or in the very least follow the lead of the Laker girls. They actually aren't embarassing to watch... They look good, and have a professional way about them. It sounds like the Celtics dancers are more like the Clipper Strippers.... where the movements aren't exactly dancerly.

Ugg, I can't believe I'm asking the Celtics to follow the Lakers. Yeah, just get rid of the dancers.

Just get some guys/gals that do crazy flips n' shoot more t-shirts into the stands. And they should never, never disrupt the flow of the game... like in the scenario mentioned by MikeD.

[guava_wrench]

The idea that putting makeup on a 7 year old is bad is not based in any facts or studies. It is just a reactionary, ultra-conservative comments. The same with the complaints about the dancer outfits -- plenty of young girls at the game consider the dancers the best part of the evening. To be afraid of the dancers is baseless panic by uptight individuals. (I am not talking about those who are just opposed to dancers as a distraction from basketball -- just the moral majority wannabes) We should remove fans who take off their shirts long before we worry about the dancers, or even KG pulling on his jersey to show off his nipple.

I would rather have the non-yelling timeout and then start a chant when the timeout is over than waste the energy when no game is happening.

I had a bigger problem with the crap music and video they played at halftime that overpowered the Let's Go Celtics chant. That is ridiculous. If the fans are chanting, turn off the noise.

It is also pointless to interrupt a chant to boo a player while a play is going on, especially on intros. No one cares if they get booed in intros, but a 'Let's Go Celtics' chant overpowering the announcement of the opposing lineup will inspire our player far more. Especially with Bibby and Zaza the only people worth booing on Atlanta. Everyone else seem like nice guys.

[Moneyshot]

yeah i'd prefer we ditched the cheerleaders. not a fan to tell you the truth. red didn't want them and we shouldn't have them.

I'm not all that concerned with the issue one way or the other on a personal level, but suffice it to say that maestro's "Red didn't want them" phrase remains a valid explanation with regard to decisions made around this team.  Following his lead seemed like a generally sound course of action 

-sw

Red wouldn't even be able to legally enjoy a cigar any more.  How'd you like to be the security guy to tell Red smoking's not allowed?

I think saying "Red didn't want them," is not a valid reason to get rid of the dancers. So what? Red was from a different time, the culture and everything has changed, this isn't 1957 anymore. As mentioned above, Red smoked in the arena, should we allow smoking in the Garden now because Red didn't mind it? I also read in Cousy's autobiography that Red didn't allow his players to eat pancakes and he found out one time that Cousy and Sam Jones (I believe it was Jones) had pancakes for breakfast and fined each of them for it saying it wasn't healthy. But he had no problem with allowing Heinsohn to smoke cigarettes and drink coffee during halftime. If you don't like the dancers and want them gone then that's fine. But Red not wanting them is completely irrelevant.

[The Big 3]

I watched a couple on the youtube...is it that bad? maybe I missed something but i thought they were ok and oh, it's 2008.

[SShoreFan]

when I saw one of those kids behind me. Up close, that amount of makeup is just ghastly. The kid reminded me of a oompa lumpa.

Very funny!