Abigail Fricke

Mrs Stanford

ENG231

15 February 2019

Come on Crowd, Yell It Out: ​R-H-E-T-O-R-I-C!

When trying to construct an argument, the key to an author's success comes from their

use of the three rhetorical appeals; ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos is an appeal related to ethics,

logos is an appeal related to logic, and pathos is an appeal related to emotion. When used

correctly, these appeals can greatly persuade an audience to feel a certain way about an issue or

debatable topic. These issues or debatable topics range all the way from abortion to legal

marijuana, but the one being talked about within this essay, in regards to the use of rhetoric, is

whether or not cheerleading should be considered a sport. Whether it’s a basketball player in

their A.P history class or a parent who doesn’t understand the athleticism behind shaking a pair

of pom poms and saying “​Go, Fight, Win!”,​ cheerleaders are commonly told that they’re not a

participant in a legit and actual sport. People such as Andrew B. Johnson and Erik Brady have

taken on the opposing viewpoints of this debate through the use of their written articles “​Don’t

bring it on: The case against cheerleading as a collegiate sport” and “Cheerleading in the USA:

A sport and an Industry”.​ Published in 2013 by a professor and in 2002 by a journalist, these two

articles speak great amounts on the issue of whether or not cheerleading should be given the title

of a respectable sport. When speaking on the issue of cheerleading being considered a sport, the

use of logos on both sides of the argument is essential. Although other forms could be deemed

appropriate, using this specific form of rhetoric would ensure that the position being taken is
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unbiased and backed by facts rather than opinions. Regardless of the opposing viewpoints being

represented within “​Don’t bring it on: The case against cheerleading as a collegiate sport” and

​ ndrew B. Johnson builds his logos in a

“Cheerleading in the USA: A sport and an Industry”, A

more successful argument with the use of credible in-text citations and clearly organized

information, while Erik Brady provides a less effective argument through the use of greatly

biased information and an unrelated true-story that ultimately lack any form of logos and lessen

the effect of his article overall.

Within the introduction of “​Don’t bring it on: The case against cheerleading as a

collegiate sport”, ​Andrew B. Johnson begins building his argument as well as his public

resonance by providing readers with an explanation of the 2013 court case between the American

Civil Liberties and Quinnipiac University. The court case came about when Quinnipiac

University announced it would be dropping it’s men’s track, men’s golf, and women’s volleyball

teams, but adding a competitive cheerleading team. In April, the American Civil Liberties sued

on the behalf of the volleyball team, claiming that the addition of a competitive cheerleading

team in place of other sports teams was a violation of Title IX. After explaining that Title IX is a

federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in educational institutions and that

Quinnipiac University had actually violated some of its terms, Johnson segued into his main

argument by saying that throughout the duration of the case, most media commentary

superficially touched on the topic of whether or not cheerleading is a sport. Wishing to dig

deeper into the argument, Johnson first categorizes cheerleading into three types; sideline,

hybrid, and competitive. After summarizing the differences and similarities between them,

Johnson blatantly states that he thinks no type of cheerleading should be considered a sport. He
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goes on in his article to define and describe the different reasons as to why he thinks this under

seven different subheading, such as “The Argument from the NCAA Definition of Sport”,

“Competitive Cheerleading and Negative Stereotypes” and “An Examination of Cheerleading’s

Offspring”. Johnson provides no rebuttal but concludes his article with a summarization of

everything he previously said.

Throughout his writing, Johnson’s use of clearly organized information along with many

credible in-text citations helps to strengthen his argument as well as his appeal to logos. As a

whole, Johnson breaks his article up into paragraphs with subheadings. Subheadings, otherwise

known as “​a heading given to a subsection of a piece of writing”, ​not only strengthen the article’s

argument by adding structure to it, but they also greatly appeal to logos by providing readers

who are in search of specific information a logical way of knowing exactly where it could be

located. For instance, when glancing at a subheading like “​Competitive Cheerleading and Health

Risks”, r​ eaders are given an insight that wouldn’t have been available if that paragraph had just

simply followed the one before it. In addition, Johnson also uses in-text citations within his

writing to help him build his logos as well as his argument. From the definition of a sport to the

percentage of high school cheerleaders that get injured during a season, Johnson uses a multitude

of reliable, sports-related sources such as NCAA, NCSTA, and USA Cheer. Readers can find

these all throughout his writing and when looking at the effectiveness of the article overall, they

increase it by reassuring the reader that his argument is backed by facts and reliable statements

rather than his own biased opinions. For example, Johnson builds part of the argument on the

basis that cheerleading shouldn’t be considered a sport because of the numerous health risks that
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come along with it. Instead of simply saying this, he implies the idea of it to readers through the

use of statistics from data representing both high school and college level cheerleading injuries:

“In a meta-study published in 2010, E.D. Zemper finds a direct catastrophic injury
rate 14 of 0.85 per 100,000 female cheerleaders at the high school level
over the period 1982–1983 to 2007–2008. Allowing for the long duration of the
cheerleading ‘season’ (spanning as it does across boys’ football and basket-
ball seasons), let us take half of this rate, or 0.43. This compares to a direct
catastrophic injury rate at the high-school level over the same period of 0.45
per 100,000 for (boys’) baseball, but to 0.04 per 100,000 for girls’ soccer and to
0.07 per 100,000 for girls’ track and field (2010, 17).15”
This logical strategy is present throughout Johnson’s entire article and when combined with the

organizational aspect of his writing as a whole, readers can clearly notice how “​Don’t bring it

on: The case against cheerleading as a collegiate sport”​ directly appeals to logos as well as how

the argument presented within it is very convincing.

On the other side of the debate over cheerleading being considered a sport,

“Cheerleading in the USA: A sport and an Industry” i​ ntroduces its problematic argument with a

general statement of what cheerleaders do. In what seems to be the first paragraph, author, Erik

Brady, mentions the idea that cheerleaders are no longer a sideline support group for sports such

as football and basketball and that they are now a part of “industry”. Using this term to segway

into statistics about how much money cheer-related businesses make, Brady begins building an

argument with several short informational paragraphs that talk about the costly side of

cheerleading, how cheerleaders win a multitude of national and regional championships and how

after their cheerleading career is over, they can begin in several other careers because companies

commonly look for “ex-cheerleaders”. After only briefly touching on these subjects, Brady

quickly moves on to talking about Carla Sanchez, a dancer whose mention in this article only

adds the story of when her top fell off while she was performing. Although Sanchez was never a
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cheerleader, Brady brings in her story to talk about the competitiveness and bravery cheerleaders

and dancers share. Providing no transition from this topic to the next, Brady continues on his

argument by speaking about the dangers of cheerleading. With no clear rebuttal or refutation,

Brady shifts from this topic to his conclusion on cheerleading scholarships and how cheerleaders

are more than just athletes.

Throughout his writing, Erik Brady’s use of too much biased information and an

unrelated true-story make his article as a whole ineffective and ultimately lacking in any form of

logos. Despite the fact that true-story Brady provides isn’t mentioned until the bottom of the

second page, his use of biased information can be seen all throughout his article, beginning with

his general statement of what cheerleaders do: “Participants win scholarships, rack up injuries,

crowd cheer camps and practice till they drop”. Although meant to disprove the stereotype

cheerleaders are commonly given, the use of this statement only decreases his credibility and

appeal to logos because it’s unsupported by any actual evidence that proves this to be what

cheerleaders actually do. There’s the obvious possibility that what he’s saying could be 100%

true but until proven so, his comment remains just merely a biased opinion or assumption of

what Brady thinks they do. He goes on in his writing to make many more statements similar to

this, such as:

● “There are about 3 million cheerleaders in the USA, and perhaps half as
many more on dance teams.”
● “An estimated half-million cheerleaders attend cheer camps each summer.
The past 10 years has seen a rise of All-Star Programs, in which kids as
young as 6 begin intensive cheer programs with an emphasis on
gymnastics.”
● “At Memphis, they practice three hours a day, five days a week. Add in
games and appearances and cheerleaders spend 20-25 hours a week at
their craft-- and for more before big competitions.”
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These statements, despite giving the impression that they appeal to logos because of the numbers

and statistics within them, just add to the list of Brady’s opinions and assumptions because

they’re unsupported by any evidence or reliable sources that prove them to be true. If he had

cited them within a quote from a reliable source such as NCAA or Cheer USA, readers would be

able to recognize his credibility and began to believe in his argument. However, this is not the

way these statements were written into Brady’s argument so they just remain unfactual, lacking

in any form of logos, and one of the main factors that diminish the success of Brady’s argument

overall because of that. The other factor that greatly contributes to the unsuccessfulness of

Brady’s argument is his inclusion of a true story about Carla Sanchez, a dancer at NYU.

Describing her as a “soldier”, Brady talks about the time her top fell off while she was competing

in a regional dance competition. Although only addressing the story superficially, Brady ties this

into the main part of his argument by saying that when Sanchez continued to dance, topless, until

her routine was over and eventually helped her team to win first place in their division, she

demonstrated the hardworking and professional characteristics many cheerleaders have.

Although this can be proved true, the addition of this “true grit, high drama,-- and bare-breasted”

story, as Brady describes it, in a serious, professionally toned article, is completely inappropriate.

Not only does it connect more to pathos than logos due to the emotions it's supposed to provoke

in readers but it ultimately makes Brady’s argument insignificant due to the fact that Sanchez

isn’t and never was a cheerleader. This story makes up a large part of Brady’s argument and

when combined with his use of too much biased information, readers can clearly notice how

“Cheerleading in the USA: A sport and an Industry”​ doesn’t appeal to logos as well as how the

argument presented within it is overall inadequate.

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As mentioned earlier, when wishing to create a successful argument on the issue of

cheerleading being considered a sport, the use of logos on both sides of the argument is essential.

Although this may be true, some might not see it that way. In fact, it is a common assumption

that pathos, the rhetorical appeal to emotion, would be more appropriate because one of the main

things cheerleaders are supposed to do is spark emotion within a crowd or section of fans. This

could be deemed appropriate in a few situations, but in most, the use of pathos rather than logos

would only induce an author to use biased opinions rather than factual information or evidence.

Provided that this would happen, the use of pathos would additionally, decrease an author's

credibility as well as the lasting effect of their article overall. This idea can be proven true when

looking at the previous analysis of “​Don’t bring it on: The case against cheerleading as a

collegiate sport” and “Cheerleading in the USA: A sport and an Industry”. “​ ​Don’t bring it on:

The case against cheerleading as a collegiate sport” p​ erfectly demonstrates how a more

successful argument over cheerleading being considered a sport comes from the use of logos in

combination with credible in-text citations and clearly organized information. The addition of

these things makes Johnson's argument highly convincing as they have logical connections and

therefore, reassure the audience of his reliability. On the other side of the argument,

“Cheerleading in the USA: A sport and an Industry” r​ eveals the issues of having a pathos-based

argument with biased information and an unrelated true-story. Not only is Brady’s overall

position on the debate seemingly insignificant but the use of these things cause his credibility to

be brought into question as is readers don’t know what’s fact or fiction when it comes to his

information. So, although a cheerleaders main focus is to prompt emotions within a specific

audience, it’s now clear as to why a writer speaking over the topic shouldn’t do the same.
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When writing in terms of an argument or a situation where persuasion would be

necessary, the key to an author's success comes from their use of the three rhetorical appeals;

ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos is an appeal related to ethics, logos is an appeal related to logic,

and pathos is an appeal related to emotion. When used correctly, these appeals can greatly

persuade an audience to feel a certain way about an issue or debatable topic. Within this essay,

the issue or debatable topic being talked about is whether or not cheerleading should be

considered a sport. The opposing viewpoints of this article are brought to life through the

analysis of “​Don’t bring it on: The case against cheerleading as a collegiate sport” and

“Cheerleading in the USA: A sport and an Industry”.​ Published in 2013 by a professor and in

2002 by a journalist, these two articles speak great volumes on the issue of whether or not

cheerleading should be given the title of a respectable sport. When speaking on this issue, it was

mentioned that although some might see pathos as more appropriate, the use of logos on both

sides of the argument is essential and would allow for more success within an audience. This can

be proven true when looking at the articles ​Don’t bring it on: The case against cheerleading as a

collegiate sport”. ​Within the article, author, Andrew B. Johnson, builds his logos in a more

successful argument with the use of credible in-text citations and clearly organized information.

By doing this, Johnson’s credibility is quite noticeable as well as the fact that his argument is

based on facts rather than opinion. On the other side of the argument, Erik Brady provides a

pathos-based and ultimately ineffective argument in “​Cheerleading in the USA: A sport and an

Industry” t​ hrough the use of greatly biased information and an unrelated true-story. The

inclusion of these things decreases his appeal to logos as well as credibility, which ultimately

proves Johnson’s article’s more effective than his. Through this analysis of these texts, readers
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are able to understand how the use of rhetoric, or in this case the appeal of logos, is the necessary

foundation to an argument or piece of persuasive writing. Not only can it greatly impact a

writer’s success within an audience but it can also lead students to think logically, discover the

difference between strong and weak arguments, and most importantly, build their own position

on a controversial or debatable topic.

Works Cited

Erik Brady. “Cheerleading in the USA: A Sport and an Industry.” ​USA Today.​ ​EBSCOhost,​

starkstate.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.asp

Johnson, Andrew B., and Pam R. Sailors. “Don’t Bring It on: The Case against Cheerleading as a
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Collegiate Sport.” ​Journal of the Philosophy of Sport,​ vol. 40, no. 2, Oct. 2013,

pp. 255–277. ​EBSCOhost​, doi:10.1080/00948705.2013.785421.