A Connecticut university made a decision to cut women’s volleyball in favor of a competitive cheerleading team last year. That volleyball coach and five of her players sued the school on the basis of a Title IX violation. That case has reached the U.S. District Court in the form of a class-action lawsuit, one that could set a jarring precedent for the future of women’s sports! Or not…

Linda Carpenter, a professor emerita at Brooklyn College and co-author of the book “Title IX,” said the women’s sports community is watching the case closely.

“These are significant issues and a significant case,” Carpenter said. “It provides a case, whichever way it goes, that can work its way up the judicial food chain, and ultimately provide a precedent.” –KENS 5.

Although cheerleaders at the college level do participate in rigorous national competitions, cheerleaders are not subject to NCAA regulations like, um, real athletes. And fielding a cheer team is obviously cheaper than, um, running an actual sports team. Look, I’ll give credit: those flips and herkies are serious business. If we can refer to figure skaters, gymnasts, curlers and baseball players as athletes, I can certainly give cheerleaders the same due.

HOWEVAH, as a pig-headed chauvinist, I have to admit that it’s nice to finally see a women’s team get the shaft in the face of Title IX, which is…let’s say…not one of my favorite things. The idea of equal funding for athletics along gender lines–when so many more men care about sports more than women–seems faulty to me. Where are all of these women athletes supposed to be coming from? Even after modern-day superstar lady jocks like Flo-Jo, Mia Hamm, that one tall chick with the teeth, and Marion Jones, there still aren’t as many female athletes as male. If we really want more money for women’s sports, we ought to just ban men’s lacrosse.

ASYLUM POLL: Should cheerleading be considered a sport?