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Jets leading the cheers in NYC football

Neil Best

September 21, 2008

Here's a trivia question (and answer) to win a bar bet this autumn: Name the six NFL teams that do not have official cheerleaders.

As you'd expect, the list (via the league office) consists entirely of old-school franchises in the North: Giants, Lions, Bears, Packers, Browns, Steelers.

If Giants fans interested in that sort of thing thought the team might reconsider its policy after co-owner Wellington Mara's death in 2005 . . .

Sorry, the only circus act on the sideline today will be the Bengals' Chad Ocho Cinco.

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Here's the official word from VP of communications Pat Hanlon:

"Every organization is different. For us, it has always been about the game and putting a quality product on the field and not allowing anything to distract from that. We think that is what our fans want, and we know that is what we want.

"Certainly, like many other teams, we have made great efforts to provide fan-friendly activities in and around the stadium, but ultimately for us, it's about the game."

Until the past couple of seasons, the no-jiggle zone included Jets games. But after testing the waters in 2006 and expanding in '07, the "Flight Crew" has achieved full liftoff this fall, doubling in size to 22.

The Jets have taken several steps to improve the game-day experience, some focused on fan conduct and customer relations, others on young women with flat tummies wearing Marc Ecko-designed costumes that suggest the long-gone "coffee, tea or me" era of flight attendants.

"The uniform combines the look of the old-school Pan Am jet stewardess, but updated with a modern look," said Matt Higgins, the Jets' executive VP of business operations (and PSLs).

The team doesn't officially call them "cheerleaders," but you can "call them anything you want," Higgins said. "Hopefully they defy description. That would mean we've succeeded."

The Jets also added a game-day "host" in Jenn Sterger, a model and personality discovered when her, um, attributes were captured on national TV as she watched a 2005 Miami-Florida State game.

"Jenn Sterger obviously has a larger-than-life personality known throughout the country," Higgins said. Is he concerned about sending the wrong message in hiring her after a controversy over the harassment of women at Gate D last year?

"I don't think one has anything to do with the other," he said. "The behavior at Gate D was intolerable and inexcusable. It was a small minority of fans making it difficult for other fans to enjoy themselves. Having a roving host certainly isn't making it difficult for someone to enjoy the game."

Higgins believes it is a good thing the Giants and Jets, co-tenants for a quarter century and partners in a new stadium, have different approaches.

"The Giants have their own identity, and it's a strong identity built up over 80 years," he said. "They have their own culture and we have ours and I think that's great. If we were facsimiles of each other, I don't think it would be as interesting."

Sound bites

Former Ranger Matthew Barnaby will succeed Barry Melrose as ESPN's lead NHL hockey analyst, The Buffalo News reported. Barnaby does not have a mullet, but he does have 1,836 more career penalty minutes than Melrose . . . The NFL Network's pregame show today includes a tribute to Yankee Stadium's football history. Yogi Berra sounds genuinely proud to report that Rosie Brown used his locker in the fall . . . 1050 ESPN 's contribution to the hype for tonight's Stadium finale: 8 Â½ hours of pregame content - commercial free! . . . Ch. 9 will continue as the Yankees' local broadcast home for another three years, showing 21 games per season ... If you are younger than 40, you probably don't remember the murder of Lyman Bostock in 1978. But it's a heck of a story. ESPN revisits it on "Outside the Lines" today.