Larry Brown Sports

David A. Chatman, a 38-year-old cheerleading coach from Corvallis, Oregon, has been accused of raping a 17-year-old high school cheerleader while she was unconscious under the influence of prescription medication. According to KVAL.com, Chatman faces charges of first degree rape and second degree sex abuse by a coach.

The incident reportedly occurred in September of 2012 but was brought to the attention of authorities when the girl’s mother contacted the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office last month. The alleged victim claims she went to Corvallis to visit Chatman, who had coached her at cheerleading school, when she was raped.

Investigators say the girl claimed she took a prescription medication that knocks her out before going to bed and awoke to find Chatman on top of her.

“He was raping me,” she said according to court documents.

The girl has given the underwear she was wearing at the time to police and a crime lab analysis is underway. Chatman was arrested after being interviewed, but has pleaded not guilty to charges against him. He claims he thought the girl was 19 and that the sex was consensual.

But that’s not all. Chatman was apparently a registered sex offender to begin with, stemming from an incident in 2007 involving a 16-year-old cheerleader. He was convicted in federal court of touching the girl on an airplane while she was sleeping. It’s probably going to be difficult for him to build a case in this instance with a prior incident like that hanging over his head.

An Atlanta Hawks cheerleader was taken off the court in a stretcher Monday after slipping and falling during a dance routine.

The cheerleader was hurt between the third and fourth quarter of the Hawks-Dallas Mavericks game at Phillips Arena.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says the cheerleader was taken by paramedics to a hospital to undergo tests and that she never lost consciousness despite appearing to hit her head. Hawks reporter Chris Vivlamore later said the cheerleader was treated and released.

The cheerleader, identified as Kristen, has an identical sister Kirsten who is also a cheerleader for the team. Below you can see a picture of the two of them together:

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Courtney Lenz is a Baltimore Ravens cheerleader, but she is not welcome at the Super Bowl despite her team being one of the two that is playing for a championship. On Wednesday evening, Lenz sat down for an interview on “Access Hollywood” and explained why she has been barred from the big game. She says that it ultimately has to do with her weight.

“They said that I had quote, unquote, a rough year,” Lenz said, via the Chicago Tribune. “I’d been benched earlier in the season for a little bit of a weight gain. We do get weighed every week during the season, and you can’t fluctuate at all. I gained, I think it was 1.8 pounds. I had been consistent and they let me cheer previously and then I gained 1.8 or 1.6 pounds and they said because I had gained weight and they wanted me to be consistent or they wanted me to lose, they benched me for a game and because it was a disciplinary action, that was the reason.”

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Sunday night ended up being a tremendous night for Washington Redskins fans, as their team defeated the division rival Dallas Cowboys to clinch the NFC East title and a playoff berth. For one Redskins cheerleader, the victory may not have been the highlight of the evening.

As you can see from the photo above that ABC 2 in Annapolis’ Don Harrison passed along, a Washington cheerleader’s boyfriend proposed to her on the sidelines before kickoff. She said yes. It was obviously a bold move from her boyfriend. Depending on her viewpoint, he either gave her a welcome distraction from the ongoing buzz at FedEx Field or one more thing to think about before the most important home game of the season.

In any event, we’ll give the gentleman somewhere between a B+ and an A- for the effort. It may not beat a proposal on a medal stand, but it certainly tops being rejected in from of an arena full of people.

H/T D.C. Sports Bog

Patience Beard isn’t letting her lack of a leg prevent her from living her dreams, and neither is the University of Arkansas.

Beard, a freshman, is a member of the Arkansas cheerleading team despite being an amputee. If her prosthetic didn’t have a zebra pattern, you wouldn’t notice any difference between her and the other members of the squad.

Beard participates in stunts, tumbles, and cheers like every other member of the squad. Though her ability to do all this comes as a surprise to many people, it’s not for her; she has been wearing a prosthetic leg since she was 14 months old.

Beard was born with her left leg shorter than her right leg and had it amputated when she was less than a year old. She’s hoping her participation on the cheer squad will inspire others.

“I just hope that everyone that is going through something like me, or has been, that they just know that they can do whatever they want and anything that they set their mind to they can do it,” she told KNWA in Arkansas.

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Whether you consider cheerleading a sport or not, I think we can all agree that NFL cheerleaders are required to be in impressive physical condition in order to earn a spot on the squad. Their workouts must be strenuous, but I’m going to go out on a limb and assume Vikings cheerleader Kaylee Munson is slightly confused about just how strenuous.

In a feature about the Vikings cheerleading squad that was published in the Star Tribune earlier this week, Munson compared a cheerleader’s workout routine to that of someone in the military.

“A lot of people hear ‘cheerleader’ and think pageant girl or bimbo, but we are so different than that,” Munson explained. “This is the hardest workout I’ve ever done in my life. On game days we’re moving for three hours straight — dancing every break and trying to get the crowd involved. As part of our military performance tours, I’ve worked out with the Navy and Marines and those were all tough workouts but, no offense guys, I have to say that our cheerleading workouts are harder!”

Does she really think the Navy and Marines put the cheerleaders through the same exact workouts that would be taking place if they weren’t there? I’m not saying NFL cheerleaders are bimbos, but let’s find some middle ground here. I’ve never heard of any grandmothers trying to join the Navy or Marines, yet we saw this 55-year-old try out to be an NFL cheerleader.

H/T Hooks, Lines & Sinkers

One of the best moments from the Boise State-Michigan State season opener on Friday occurred during the first quarter when a Broncos cheerleader got demolished on the sidelines. Boise State quarterback Joe Southwick was rolling to his right on second and goal and threw a pass to the end zone intended for Mitch Burroughs. The ball was a perfect touchdown pass … if the end zones extended to the seats. But unfortunately for Boise State, the end zones have boundaries, so the pass led Burroughs to the cheerleaders’ area, and he barreled into one of the cheerleaders.

Luckily the cheerleader took the entire episode pretty well and was seen laughing hysterically afterward. It’s really lucky that the young lady avoided an injury; that’s the exact sort of way Sean Payton and Joe Paterno tore up their legs on the sidelines.