Help Your Cheerleading Uniform Make it Through the Season

Cheerleading uniforms can present a challenge when trying to keep them clean during football, basketball and soccer seasons. While they can usually be worn for one or two games, they need cleaning after lots of rigorous activity, especially when the uniforms are primarily white or have white trim. If not laundered properly, they can melt, snag, run or discolor.

Here are a few do's and don'ts to make sure your uniform makes it through the cheerleading season uninjured:

-Don't use dry-cleaners. This causes material to stiffen, fade and bubble. It also takes on a yellowish hue, which is very noticeable next to an unblemished uniform.

-The first time you launder it, wash each garment separately in a cold tub of water. Rinse thoroughly in cool water.

-Cheer and Tide laundry detergents are the most popular for colorfast clothing. Use these for regular washing to make sure colors don't bleed or fade. These detergents also gets the dirt and odors out, including rings around the wrists and collar.

-Avoid fabric softener, which sets stains and dirt, making it difficult to get the uniform clean.

-If quality detergent is unavailable, soak your uniform in cold water for at least an hour to make it wearable in between washings.

-Be sure to remove items promptly from the washing machine to avoid excess wrinkles.

-Hang up uniform pieces to dry thoroughly using a plastic or molded hanger. Clothespins and wire hangers can make creases and misshape the fabric.

-Don't put your uniform in the clothes dryer. This will round out pleats and may leave bubbles from the heat.

-Don't use a warm iron. This melts the material or leave discolored marks. If you do have excess wrinkles, you can use a stand up power steamer. Because the heat is not as high as an at home iron, it will not scorch the material.

Uniform care for stains can be tricky. Follow these guidelines for best results:

-Don't use bleach. This strips the color, leaves ugly spots and damages the fabric. White uniforms do not get whiter, they turn yellow.

-Use color-safe bleach alternative or an oxygen-based all-fabric bleach to get out tough stains.

-Soak the garments in cold water before laundering.

-Rub a little detergent into the stained area. Let it stand for a few minutes before laundering as usual.

Cheating Your Way Through Life

One of baseball's biggest stars, Alex Rodriguez, recently admitted to cheating by using performance enhancing drugs while a member of the Texas Rangers. Although many baseball fans are appalled and shocked, I'm not.

Over the past few years, many star athletes have been caught taking drugs to enhance their game. Rodriguez wasn't the first to get caught cheating and he won't be the last.

As children, we are taught that cheaters never win and winners never cheat. If a child believes this going into high school, he or she may end up on the chess club instead of the football team or cheerleading squad.

We are now learning that cheaters are only getting younger.

Not only are high school students cheating in sports by taking performance enhancing drugs, they are also cheating on exams and plagiarizing their term papers.

The pressure to make good grades may decide whether your child attends Harvard or Nameless U. The stakes are high when it comes to competing for academic and athletic scholarships.

So why do people cheat? We cheat to get the edge on competition or to just get ahead in life. We live in a competitive society where winning at all costs is the only thing that matters.

If you don't believe me, just refer to the NFL.

The NFL is the biggest game in America. It's a game that makes millions, if not billions of dollars. Team owners shell out millions to coaches and players they perceive to be potential winners. But when an NFL season ends, losing coaches get discarded and winning coaches get contract extensions. This is a ritual in a sport that only wants winners.

To sum it up...society smiles upon winners and frowns on losers...only performance matters.

Someone once said that winning isn't everything...and if you believe that statement, you are either naive or played football for the 2008 Detroit Lions.

The Dallas Cowboys Quarterbacks Through the Years

The Dallas Cowboys are obviously one of the most popular franchises in the National Football League for a reason. The team established a tradition of winning under legendary head coach Tom Landry and that tradition survived the transition to Jimmy Johnson during the early 1990s. Through the years not only have the Cowboys teams been popular and fan favorites, the Cowboys quarterbacks have also received more than their fair share of attention as well. Let's take a look at the Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks through the years.

The 1960s

The franchise was born in 1960 as an NFL expansion team and at the starting quarterback position was veteran quarterback Eddie LeBaron. After a few years, backup quarterback "Dandy" Don Meredith emerged to become the regular starter. He was popular with the fans and would stay at the helm of the team until a strong armed youngster was able to get his chance at the end of the decade.

The 1970s

All through the 1970s, Roger Staubach was the face of the Dallas Cowboys and was a key reason the team became successful on the field. Staubach had a reputation as a good person of high quality to go along with his tremendous athletic ability. It was a sad day following the 1979 season when "Roger The Dodger" announced his retirement and the team turned its quarterbacking duties over to of all people... a punter.

The 1980s

Danny White had been the backup quarterback to Staubach for a number of years and during that time also served as the team's punter. This made the Cowboys a dangerous team when he emerged as the starter in 1981 because when it was fourth down, no one was ever sure if they were going to go for it or actually punt the ball. In the mid 1980s a quarterback controversy developed in Dallas when young Gary Hogeboom joined the team. This controversy didn't last long as Hogeboom eventually moved on to the Colts and the Cowboys drafted a new young quarterback who would get a shot at starting, Steve Pelleur. The end of the decade saw what some believe to be the unceremonious dumping of the legendary Tom Landry and the hiring of the brash Jimmy Johnson. Many other changes came to the team and a new starting quarterback was just one of them as rookie Troy Aikman would helm the squad to a 1-15 record in 1989.

The 1990s

Aikman would eventually lead a team featuring other star players including running back Emmitt Smith and wide receiver Michael Irvin to win three Super Bowl victories in four years. Many football experts have called this mid 1990s Dallas Cowboys teams one of the best teams in history. Aikman would remain at the helm through the rest of the decade and though they didn't return to the big game, they were always considered a team that others had to worry about.

The 2000s

Following one season in the new decade, Troy Aikman would call it a career too and fade into the memories of the past. For the first time in team history, there wasn't a clean transition when it came to the Cowboys starting quarterback after Troy Aikman's retirement. The Cowboys tried Quincy Carter, Anthony Wright, Ryan Leaf, Clint Stoerner, Chad Hutchinson, Vinny Testaverde, Drew Henson, and Drew Bledsoe at starting quarterbacks from 2001 through 2006 before finding Tony Romo who would be their next quarterback to start consistently.

Because the Dallas Cowboys are one of the most popular teams in the history of the NFL, the starting quarterback for the team has also consistently been one of the more popular players. Playing quarterback for the Cowboys is similar to playing shortstop for the New York Yankees or center for the Los Angeles Lakers, most people know exactly who the person playing that position is even if they aren't a big sports fan themselves. Watching the evolution of the quarterbacks of the Dallas Cowboys will continue to fascinating as the years go by, without a doubt there will be more great ones to come.