It seems unlikely that Sunday’s Super Bowl LIII will go down in history as most people’s favorite one.
According to the [ Washington Post ], it was the lowest-scoring Super Bowl since they started calling the NFL championship, with the New England Patriots beating the Los Angeles Rams 13-3.
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Not only that, but widespread response to the halftime show featuring Maroon 5, Travis Scott and Big Boi suggested that it failed to excite as well. The latter two appeared only briefly and the most interesting thing frontman Adam Levine did was take his shirt off. Yawn.
However, if anything could save the night from mediocrity, it was the fact that Sunday’s game didn’t only set a record for low scoring.
Super Bowl LIII was the first Super Bowl to feature male cheerleaders, both of whom made the Los Angeles Rams’ cheer squad back in March.
According to USA Today , the Baltimore Ravens brought a male stunt team to Super Bowl XLVII, but they didn’t dance like cheerleaders and weren’t referred to as such at the time.
And so, that honor now goes to professional dancers Quinton Peron (left) and Napoleon Jennies.
Although gender has never been specified in audition listings for the Ram’s cheer squad, no man until Peron and Jinnies had ever tried out in the over 80 years the team has been around.
As Keely Fimbres, the team’s cheer director, told USA Today, a few men had registered, but nobody ever showed up until last year.
For Jinnies, the fact that another man was auditioning at the same time as him made the pressure on him feel all the more real.
He said the lead-up to his audition already gave him an intense, claws-out feeling before he saw Peron, but he felt even more determined when he saw him.
As he told USA Today, “I was fired up to kick whoever’s butt that was.”
While Jinnies didn’t expect to end up as Peron’s teammate, Peron knew there was a chance he wouldn’t make the squad at all.
He said that he figured he could at least work as a mascot if he showed the right technique and reported feeling a little intimidated when his acrobatics earned him a place in the second round of tryouts.
But as we now know, both men would join their 38 female squad-mates on the field.
Since men have been cheerleaders at the high school and college level for decades, those in charge didn’t see any reason not to welcome Peron and Jinnies.
As Molly Higgins, the Rams’ vice president of community affairs and engagement said, “If you have the talent and skill set, you shouldn’t be discriminated on the basis of sex. I’m proud it didn’t scare us.”
Plus, the cheer squad didn’t need to make many changes when Jinnies and Peron made the team.
Their uniform designer just made the blue and gold shirts with white pants you see above and since neither Peron nor Jinnies wanted pom-poms, that part was taken care of as well.
The only other change involved switching the music from “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” and Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” to Meghan Trainor and T-Pain.
And when it comes to the fans, the response has been mixed, but mostly positive.
The men have caught some venomous remarks from the stands and on social media and Higgins said that “one or two” season ticket holders requested refunds.
However, fans often scream both men’s names from the stands and Peron apparently gets a lot of excited texts in support of “Mr. Q.”
After all, featuring male cheerleaders is just another stage in how that aspect of the sport has evolved over the years.
As Fimbres told USA Today, cheerleading today is more about dance technique and community ambassadorship than the big, teased hairdos we used to see back in the ’80s.
h/t: USA Today
