Debate Over ASU Cheer Team's Demise Rages On

Last week, I mentioned that Arizona State's cheer team has merged with the school's dance team, but there seems to be little agreement on why, according to the State Press . The school says the squad's untimely end had to do with safety issues, while students on the team insist it must be about money. I say we split the difference and chalk it up to being about the money it would take to keep people safe.

One explanation school officials want to decisively discredit is the claim that the cheer squad was shuttered because of a photo of scantily clad ASU cheerleaders that found its way to an online gossip site around the time the university announced the team's fate. According to the ASU spokesman, the decision to terminate the cheer team was a long time coming. "There was nothing that led to a snap decision," he said. "It had nothing to do with Internet pictures. That was a total coincidence."