We've Got Spirit, Yes We Doooooooooo ...

Rick Chandler|published: Tue 7th March, 10:00 2006

This image was lost some time after publication.

College cheerleading, an object of ridicule since it was discovered that our President did it, has new respect in our eyes. Southern Illinois basketball cheerleader Kristi Yamaoka, who fell 15 feet off of the top of a human pyramid onto her head on Sunday, suffered a chipped neck vertebra and a concussion. But here's the good part, as you sure saw: After she was lashed onto a gurney by paramedics, unable to move her body and confined in a neck brace, Yamaoka continued doing her cheer routine with just her arms.

"As long as my arms were functioning, I could do the fight song," the feisty Yamaoka told The AP by telephone Monday morning from Saint Louis University Hospital. She's going to be OK, by the way. Oh, and the Salukis won. (This type of thing happens more often than one might think).

Now that's freaking dedication. And it's something that whiskey-soaked Stanford Tree should think about before it goes off on another drunken escapade.

Saluki Cheerleader In Fair Condition At Saint Louis University Hospital [Saluki Athletics]