Question: No Rings for our National Champion Cheer Squad?

Competitive cheerleading is not a recognized NCAA sport, thus making it a club level one. It's not the first time a club level team has won a championship and not gotten rings. It surely won't be the last. The cheerleaders also knew, well in advance of this competition, that Alabama's policy is not to award rings to non-sanctioned NCAA teams.

The problem I have is that from my understanding the cheer squad decided to buy their own rings, but the university won't allow them to use the script A

BigAl5833 said:

The problem I have is that from my understanding the cheer squad decided to buy their own rings, but the university won't allow them to use the script A

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Because it's copyrighted. It's the same as anyone of us trying to put it or any other copyrighted image on a custom ring.

DiamondDust said:

Because it's copyrighted. It's the same as anyone of us trying to put it or any other copyrighted image on a custom ring.

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You're 100% correct..Being part of the University & willing to pay for the rings themselves..You would think they would allow this one exception..I dunno..This will bring unneeded negative press towards the school..Kinda silly to deny them the rings..JMO

TideMan09 said:

You're 100% correct..Being part of the University & willing to pay for the rings themselves..You would think they would allow this one exception..I dunno..This will bring unneeded negative press towards the school..Kinda silly to deny them the rings..JMO

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If one club team were to be given rings, every club team would have to get them. I don't care if they're cheerleaders or not... they are still a club level team participating in a non-NCAA championship event when it comes to competition.

there comes a point when common sense should overrule ink on paper. unfortunately middle management is virtually devoid of common sense.
are the cheerleaders trying to make money off of the script A? no.
are they paying for it themselves? yes
does it represent the university in a positive manner? yup
does it show a level of pride in the university and encourage good will amongst the students and alumni? yup

then you conveniently overlook it and claim you were never asked and you dont plan on doing anything about it except wishing the cheerleaders a big congrats on their achievement.

this isnt that hard to figure out. unfortunately we live in a wimpy cya world governed by sleazeball lawyers and those who are fearful of them.

Lost in TN said:

:BigA:Well if the only issue is the use of the A then I suggest they immediately remove it from ALL their uniforms. If some horses axx lawyer in the University office thinks he is protecting the University then he needs to be fired immediately. This whole thing just seems to get more stupid by the minute. By the way, please do not tell them but the jacket I am currently wearing has the script A. :BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA::BigA:

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Which means it was officially licensed by the University.

Here's my thoughts and suggestions on what should happen: Eliminate competition cheerleading. It would put an end to this discussion real quickly.

So they can't use the script A, big deal. I'm sure they could come up with a nice looking ring without using any TM logos. Oh but they don't want to do that, they want to cause a stink and tried to get sympathy rings out of the University. If you want a ring, play a NCAA sport, you know, the real sports.

To Lost in TN, I think a little common sense is needed in regards to your statement. Obviously the uniforms are provided by the University and your jacket is licensed, which cost the company that made it a pretty penny to purchased said license.

Ok, I need a little clarification. Can someone tell me if this is in fact the cheer squad that cheers for the football team or is it just a squad of competition cheerleaders? I see the argument for both sides, but another thing I'd like to point out (and this seems to come up more often lately than in the past), what happens if the script A is allowed for no charge on this ring, making it a VERY rare item and years down the road it ends up on eBay? This is yet another example of what the University is trying to avoid. Don't say it can't happen....maybe not likely, but it could.

How many more (club level) sports are there that are not recognized by the NCAA? If not many then I say get the girls rings. BESIDES....eventually the NCAA may decide to make this a recognized sport and these girls would actually be the first BAMA squad to have won a Chmapionship. Instead of complaining about rings, why doesn't someone get this as an official sport?? It really should be considering how many parents out there these days are spending thousands of dollars for their kids to do it.

DiamondDust said:

Competitive cheerleading is not a recognized NCAA sport, thus making it a club level one.

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This is not accurate. Any financial assistance (partial scholarship $$) that cheerleaders receive comes from the Athletic Department. There is no support of any club level sports from the Athletic Department; they all fall under University Recreation. The cheerleading squad is a function of the Athletic Dept and, regardless of it being recognized as an NCAA sport, has absolutely no connection with club sports.

DiamondDust said:

If one club team were to be given rings, every club team would have to get them. I don't care if they're cheerleaders or not... they are still a club level team participating in a non-NCAA championship event when it comes to competition.

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Exactly!

Next thing you know a bunch of girls are going to get together and start a pageant club and begin insisting that all the training they do in order to wear their evening gowns and bikinis correctly for competition qualifies them to be considered "champions" when they win. And where are THEIR rings?!

Does the Million Dollar Band compete nationally? If they did, and they won, should they get championship rings? What about the academic clubs? If the engineering team wins a national competition are they going to want rings too? Don't they all devote a lot of time and cultivate their talents in order to compete? Yes, they do, but that doesn't mean they're entitled to anything other than the title of "winner."

Ugh! There's such a sense of entitlement nowadays. "Look at me! I won something!" Uh, OK...congratulations and job well done! Here's your trophy, plaque, ribbon or whatever to commemorate the occasion. Now move along.

Everyone wants their accomplishment to be given the same acknowledgment as other folks' accomplishments. Guess what. Not all victories are equal. Some are valued more than others. Therefore, some victors are granted certain permissions other victors are not; in this case, the script A "validation/authorization."

actually i would make it even more simple- were the cheerleaders allowed to wear alabama uniforms? were they introduced as the University of alabama cheerleading squad? is the trophy they won displayed at the university? if so then it appears they were officially recognized by the university as representatives, and thus, if they want to pay for it themselves, should also be allowed to have an officially sanctioned emblem on their rings.

SavannahDare said:

Exactly!

Next thing you know a bunch of girls are going to get together and start a pageant club and begin insisting that all the training they do in order to wear their evening gowns and bikinis correctly for competition qualifies them to be considered "champions" when they win. And where are THEIR rings?!

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Again, this is using the flawed logic of "Not an NCAA sanctioned sport = club level organization", which simply is not true.

For those that haven't read the article here it is. It gives much more information. It seems like they "expected" rings because Kentucky got them the last 18 times they won. I can see both sides of the argument, but a little give and take might be best here. Cheerleaders do receive financial assistance from the athletic dept., so it is a little different than a club sport.

BTW, there is no difference between the competition squad and the squad cheering at Bryant-Denny except for part of the football squad is JV (the ones in front of sections A/B/C). I think only the varsity participates in competition.

http://www.tidesports.com/article/20110129/NEWS/110129605

I don't care what anyone says...there is absolutely no reason the University should keep them from using University trademarks on rings they pay for themselves. I don't think the University should purchase the rings for them, but UA could easily license rings available for the cheerleaders to purchase on their own or with the cheerleading fund money, completely avoiding the trademark issue altogether.

i would think that in any national competition, the university would want to excel in everything they do... or was that just a cute advertising line that they didnt really mean?