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The USC Song Girls
There's a Reason They
Are the Country's Best Cheerleaders
The USC Song
Girls not only cheer but dance complex routines.
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The USC-UCLA Rivalry
On any given Saturday, a
special element is added to the University of Southern California football
sidelines.
It is not a white horse traveling through the end zone
or a man in Trojan battle gear raising a sword. It is not a traditional
cardinal and golf uniform worn by the football players or a charismatic
head coach who has the team on one of the greatest runs in college football
history.
It is the Song Girls.
The 2008 USC Song
Girls celebrate the wipeout over Ohio State.
USC's version of the cheerleader, the Song Girls are a
college sports phenomena, a group of gals who take the activity to a
whole new level. Dressed in second-to-none sweaters and pleated skirts,
they do far more than just wave pom-pomps and jump up and down when
their team scores a touchdown. They don't due stunts.
With the band providing the music, the Song Girls make dancing (a) routine.
What they do is cheer and dance, performing well choreographed
routines to the spirited tunes blasted out by the Spirit of Troy marching
band. For three hours, they are in perpetual motion. Just try and take
their photo – they are constantly in motion, moving front to back,
side to side and spinning around, those pleated skirts twirling like
an umbrella in the wind.
Then, in one of college football's great emerging traditions,
they are joined by the band on the field where they dance to traditional
Troy tunes in front of the student section for at least a half hour
after the end of games.
As school celebrities, the Song Girls are accommodating to pose for
pictures.
When the Song Girls are not on the move, they are either
standing at attention or holding up the "V for Victory" sign
with two fingers, one arm extended and knees bending in rhythm.
Everything they do is precise and performed the exact
same way game after game, year after year. The Song Girls are more disciplined
than half the football teams in the NCAA. And as anyone who who has
been fortunate enough to meet them will verify, they are cordial, polite
and friendly.
Even their name is unique. They are called Song Girls
because a big SC donor in the 50s included a stipulation that the school
would never have cheerleaders (he must have had a very jealous wife).
It took about a decade but in a bit of PR genius, USC sidestepped the
issue by calling them Song Girls. The people who do the actual cheering
are males, known as Yell Leaders.
After games, the Song Girls perform with the Spirit of Troy marching
band.
While the Song Girls are certainly at the head of their
class, they are hardly the only cheerleaders worthy of acclaim. One
need not even leave the Pac-10 to see the sideline sensations at Arizona
and Arizona State. In the Deep South, Alabama's sweet-talking cheerleaders
bow in respect in the end zone when the Crimson Tide scores a touchdown.
UT girls are renowned for having the best legs due to the fact they
must climb up a huge hill to Ayres Hall. Florida girls are, well, Florida
girls.
Yet for putting a song in the fans' hearts, the Song Girls
are PubClub.com's national champions.
The Song Girls put the pep in USC pep rallies.
 College
Football Rivalries – USC-UCLA
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