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UCLA and Oregon played in a fantastic basketball game on Thursday night, capped off by Lonzo Ball drilling an insane step-back three to seal the Bruins win, but we can only think about this poor UCLA cheerleader that took a nasty fall on the court and then got dropped while being carried off.
The first fall is one of the inherent dangers that comes with cheerleading. When you stand on other people’s hands, there’s a chance that something bad can happen. Luckily for her, the fall only resulted in her landing hard on her backside, which, while extremely painful, is much better than her hitting headfirst on the hardwood. However, her luck did not continue when it came to clearing her off of the court.
This game was an ESPN telecast, which means cheerleaders must hustle off the court once a TV timeout is over so that the action can begin promptly. When one of the cheerleaders goes down, that complicates the hurrying off, so a hero rushed onto the floor and gave his best effort by scooping her up and rushing off the floor.
Here’s the problem with that strategy. Jogging off the court while carrying another human being means you can’t see where your stepping. That means, when a rogue tote bag wanders into the path of the cheerleaders exiting the court, disaster can strike.
Our headset-wearing hero hit that tote bag and, like a banana peel in Mario Kart, it sent him spinning to the ground with our poor cheerleader taking her second fall. We hope that she is only dealing with soreness and nothing more severe following her rough night in Pauley Pavilion, and let this serve as a reminder that cheerleading can be dangerous and painful.
