Way before that first kick-off of the NFL season, the Rookie Story emerges. _Is he gonna start? Will he get cut? Is #Manzieling a thing?! _But what about the other set of rookies standing in the tunnel, waiting for their cue to run out onto the field? The other professional athletes who also happen to be physician assistants, speech pathologists, and pre-med majors? The NFL cheerleader is the real-life ultimate dream girl. The Kelly Kapowskis and Ali Larter-in-Varsity-Blue-s of the world. The Sunday afternoon eye candy that, lately, isnt taking any of the leagues alleged precedent of crazily low (sometimes illegal!) standard wagesanymore. After a visit to the City of Brotherly Love and questionable sports fans; after overhearing a kid eagerly albeit skeptically ask, "Are they real cheerleaders and after seeing grown, adult men revert to their dirt-toeing 12-year-old selves when they walk by, I met heror, fourteen of her. For two days, I embedded with the largest rookie class the NFL Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders have recruited in years. Pompoms ahead. 10-ish a.m. On a muggy mid-summer Monday in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles home stadium, it feels like the first day of school. Inside the staff entrance known as "Stadium Control," Barbara Zaun, director of the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders, walks through the ground level staff-only area waving, stopping for a hug, exchanging _good to see you!_s. Today will be a sort of dress rehearsal for that first September game dayits an open training camp day for the playersand inside, the cheerleaders locker room seems huge. A walk from front to back takes you past a bank of lockers painted signature midnight green and a brightly lit, mirror-lined bay for primping. Matching black mesh tote bagseach with a silver ruffled skirt, that says CHEERLEADER in block capital letters on one side, a bedazzled eagle head on the otherare scattered atop the rooms countertops. In about an hour or so, when the entire cheerleading team, give or take a set of poms or two, it will seem much smaller. And tanner. 11:07 a.m. Upstairs, in a mid-level stadium concourse, a few cheerleaders are mingling with fans. (Its Military Appreciation Day, and all sorts of uniformed servicemen and women are here to be appreciated.) On one side a three-woman USO singing troupe belt out almost-comically patriotic tunes (think: Lee Greenwoods "Proud to Be an American") in army-themed pin-up-y getups. Six-foot-tall Swoop, the team mascot, posts up for photo-ops. Nearby, 30-year-old Army sergeant Mark Flammer is here with his younger brother and stepdad. Hes still grinning moments after snapping a photo with a few cheerleaders. They plan to send the photo to a friend who couldnt make it today, you know, to make him jealous. But that cant be reason enough for the smile thats still plastered on his face. "Its kind of like awe," Flammer says, of meeting the ladies. "And they seem to have a nice personality too," says his brother
Its an exciting morning for the teams rookies, too. Jess, a physics and pre-med student at WestUniversity who looks like a taller, slightly less baby-faced Selena Gomez, explains nearly punctuationlessly the day so far: "Today? Its kind of been my favorite, really. All, our favorite. Our first like really big appearance, so its really exciting, I mean, everything thats been going on is just completely exciting and were all just like, everything that goes on, the rookies were like, Oh my God, like pumped up to do this thing. People ask us sometimes what were looking forward to the most in the season, and its just like, we look forward to the next big thing in the season and then after that were like, Okay the next big thing! And its like theres not really one thing were looking forward to, its just the entire season is just full of so many things that were so happy to be in and its still very surreal for us, so most of us still wake up and go, Oh my God, were an Eagles cheerleader, its very exciting and just unbelievable. Really unbelievable." 11:24 a.m. Back in the locker room, theres skin everywhere. The space is now filled with 38 girls in the teams Vera Wang-designed uniformthe summer uniform, to be exact: brightbra-like tops with midnight green and black accents, with matching itsy bitsy shorts, nude tights, black sequined sneakers, and sparkly earrings. The "a little revealing, but comfortable" uniform is about as close toas it can get on family-friendly Sunday television. Once empty countertops are now littered with cooling flat irons, overflowing makeup bags, and half-eaten plates of fruit. The rustling sounds of 38 pairs of pompoms blend in with locker room chatter like, "Your makeup looks really good, by the way." Its dizzying. Everywhere you turn the prettiest girl youve ever seen is saying hi. Most sentences you overhear end in happy exclamation marks. And the smiling, so much smiling. Your cheeks ache just looking at it. 12:01 p.m. The Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders make their way onto the field. Its a pre-season Monday afternoon so the stadium is only a quarter full. But its enough. Pompoms wave. In the stands, fans are screaming: "HI, LADIES!" The Eagles pep band steps out and the first familiar notes of the fight song, traditionally played after every touchdown, begin to play. _Fly, Eagles fly, on the road to victory, _(running in place with pompoms high in the air like theyre crossing the finish line in first place!) _And watch our Eagles fly. _(Chests puffed, arms soaring, pompoms extended at full wingspan!) Fly, Eagles fly, on the road to victory! It starts to drizzle as some stone-faced flag bearers take the field. Teetering with perfect pageant posture, the women bend their right leg and hold their left pompoms against their hips. They mannequin-freeze, mid-march, until the national anthem is over
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Someone in the stands screams: "AMERICA!" 12:18 p.m. The Eagles players are running around the field, presumably doing something worth watching, as the girls make their way back into the locker room. In what feels like the blink of a silvery pom, Snow has transformed into the coolest girl at your officestylish black andpatterned pants, a green top with an abstract black print, and a pair of low black heels. Her long auburn hair, styled in loose waves, has been swept up and tucked into a low bun. But the uniforms sparkly earringsor as she describes them "the final cherry on the sundaeare still there. Next, shell put on is thedoctors jacket currently hanging in the front passenger seat of her light blue Scion in the stadium parking lot. As the training badge on the arm of her jacket indicates, Snow is a student at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine where shes pursuing a masters in physician-assistant studies. Snow moved to Philadelphia a little over two years ago following a year off after graduating from the University of California, San Diego in part to work as an EMT. Its here that she fell for footballMoving to Philly, you get swept up in iteveryones talking about it at work and you start following it and youre like,_ Wow, this is a big deal hereand so, as a former pageant girl, figure skater, and Philadelphia Flyers ice dancer, she decided to attend the Eagles cheerleaders open call a few months ago. 1:36 p.m. After 50 minutes of driving, Snow arrives at the Nouveau Cosmetic center in Newark, Delaware. The switch from pompoms to white-jacket-mode can be a difficult one sometimes, especially when there isnt much time in between, but she manages. "Its sort of something that you get used to after jugging different things for a long time," she says. "And I kinda like that constant amped up feeling. Being always on your toes."
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She doesnt usually tell patients shes an Eagles cheerleaderbut her coworkers do. Like the patient she meets about ten minutes after stepping inside the office, an elderly woman who suffered a fall two weeks ago and broke some skin on her leg. The wound isnt healing so Snows boss, calls for a "wound debridement," a process in which the layer of the possibly inflected, now-blackened skin is scraped off the wound. Its aof a lot more harrowing to watch than, say, the locker-room eye shadow routine. The patient asks her which, the physician assistant one or the cheerleader one, is her primary job. Snow doesnt know how to answer. One of the biggest misconceptions that non-cheerleaders have about cheerleaders is that its a full-time job. A full-time commitment, yesone that requires six hours of rehearsals a week in addition to any appearances, takes over the next however many Sundays are in a season, and demands lots and lots of smiling. A career, not quite. Its more of a hobby, another rookie explains later. That, and it cant support you. Barbara, the team director, demurely describes the pay as that of a "nice part-time job." The women are paid per hour for every appearance, rehearsal, and game-day performance, with various incentivizing hourly rates for each. Cheerleader compensation has been an issue for the NFL, a professional league that pays an average salary of $1.9 million to its players. It took another NFL team, the Oakland Raiders, a class-action lawsuit(for below minimum wage compensation and illegal fines for such "violations" as gaining five pounds) filed earlier this year to earn the Raiderettes a whopping nine dollars per hour, in keeping with Californias minimum wage regulations, plus $1.25 million in back pay. But whether they mean it, or have been media-trained, or maybe a little of both, all of the rookies I speak with echo Snows take on it all: the pay the Eagles cheerleaders receive is commensurate with the effort and hours they put forth, not that it really matters, because its just like that final cherry on the sundae. "The work that we do, our pay goes along very well," she says. "I mean, theres so many amazing opportunities with this joband its a job, but its fun. Its kind of priceless. So thinking about paythats an added bonus, really." Fifteen or so minutes later, Snow readies a long, terrifying-looking needle filled with some numbing Im-not-sure-what. The patient bravely grits her teeth every time the needle goes in beneath the surface skin. Snow helps wipe away any blood that drips down the patients shin. The sight of the bright red ooze doesnt move her. In fact, it sort of fills her with the same kind of feeling she felt on the field today: "Adrenaline is adrenalineits the same thing thats running through my veins."
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6:15 p.m. Normally, Diane might just be getting home from a long workdayshe gets to her desk around 7:30 a.mat Lockheed Martin where the WestUniversity graduate works in supply-chain management. But she took the day off today for the open training camp, for that first moment on the field, so right now shes sipping an iced coffee at Elixr in Philadelphias Center City neighborhood. She looks casual, a kind of effortless prettythe cheerleader makeup has been washed off. Her long, straight dark brown hair falls past her shoulders. Shes traded in her two-piece uniform for a summery full-length one-piece patterned jumpsuit. "I like your dress," the guy behind the counter erroneously flirt-blurts out to her. She offers back just a polite thanksshe has a boyfriend, even though hes a Giants fan. Making the team "still hasnt hit me yet." As a Pennsylvania-native and, more importantly, a "born and raised" Eagles fanhercried when she made the teamDiane always wanted to try out for the squad. (She cheered in college, too.) "So tryouts came around this year and I was like, Why not? And I make it and its just crazy," she says. Especially the part where everyone wants your photo. "Its like were hometown celebrities," she says. But once the uniform is off, its back to normal, a much less show-y kind of normal: "Ill have someone sitting next to me and theyre the biggest Eagles fan and theyre talking about it and Im sitting here like, Im a cheerleader. But Im not going to be like, Hey! Im a cheerleader It makes sense then that Diane hasnt told many people at work. She was promoted to a new group right before auditions, she explains, and feels like she may need to prove herself to her new coworkers first. "I think that someone would have their opinions because I am a younger employee," she says, "So, yeah, maybe they wouldnt take me as serious." 10:04 a.m., the next day Its a few minutes past call time. Compared to yesterdays skin-clad costume, this mornings look is rather conservative: midriff-baringshort-sleeve polo shirts with an eagle head on the back that zip up (and down) for customizable cleavage coverage; tiny skorts that cover everything they need to though not much more; nude-colored tights; and those sparkly black sneakers. Kayla, an elementary education major at La Salle University, and Pilar, a rookie studying speech pathology at La Salle University, are sitting quietly in the reception area, staring at their phones. The two, along with a member of the Eagles marketing team, are waiting for Jess to arrive before driving over to todays appearance
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10:41 a.m. The cheerleader-packed car pulls up to what looks like a bounce house warehouse salean inflatable obstacle course, an inflatable water slide, and an inflatable pirate ship cover an otherwise idyllic-looking green space in front of The Dell Music Center. There are 1,200 elementary school-aged kidshere today for the aptly titled KID FEST from summer camps around the areahappily screaming at the top of their lungs. Jess, Kayla, and Pilar take their post behind a table in front of the Eagles Book Mobile where, for the next 90 minutes or so, theyll help kids pick out books to take home. The massive RV theyre posted in has been made over in the teams midnight green shade with smiling images of quarterback Nick Foles and linebacker DeMeco Ryans holding books (Oh, The Places Youll Go! and Monster Mash, respectively). If the cheerleaders are flustered by the never-ending swarm of kids, you wouldnt know it by their bouncy _hi!_s and the way they enthusiastically search for "the joke book" that every other kid requests. Kayla, especially, would be forgiven for at least letting a yawn slip even though she doesntshe woke up at her home in New York at 5 a.m. to catch the 7:05 a.m. train into Philadelphia for this. 11:21 a.m. A boy sidles up to the table. His pupils appear to have been replaced with tiny cartoon hearts. This isnt the first time weve seen the, say, 11- or 12-year-old, wearing ripped denim shorts and a bright green FUBU t-shirt, at the table. In fact, its his third visit so far this morning, which says something considering that he is surrounded by a kids bouncy paradise. He finally decides on a copy of _Diary of a Wimpy Kid _and runs off. 11:24 a.m. Hes back again. He leaves again. 11:25 a.m. This time he arrives with his friend in tow. The two boys chase and play-fight each other as the friend nudges him towards the table and nods in Pilars direction. Turns out, the frequent visitor has something to say. What does he want to tell her? "That shes cute." He runs away again. 11:27 a.m. "Theres a lot of peoplenevermind." Off he goes
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7:48 p.m. Its finally time to dance, almost. First, the team repeats a series of dance steps from one of the teams quarter breaks (quick dance routines to pump-up songs like Jason Derulos "Talkand something called "We Came to. The only sounds in the room come from the rustling pompoms and Lance who repeats, "1-2-and-3-and-4-5-6-7-8!" "Use Disney Channel faces!" he tells them. The face should be warm and friendly, Lance explains, but the body should be seductive, sexy, "like oh my God." Think Miley Cyrus, he says, "But Party in the U.S.A not Wrecking Ball 8:12 p.m. An edited cut of that Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea song "Problem" comes blaring from the sound system. They run through the accompanying quarter break dance routine over and over and over again. In unison: thirty-plus sets of pompoms wave in the air, bodies twirl, hips pop, legs bend, and other parts do other maneuvers that imply flirty, high-energy dancing. The faces read Disney, the bodies say sexy, and Ariana Grandes voice loudly stresses that shed be better off without some guy. Somehow it never stops being fun to watch. Thirty-five minutes later, the team does the very first run-through of its pregame dance. The set of moves that will get the Philadelphia crowd on their feet before the players even touch the ball. The dance thats a series of twirls, popping hips, and fluttering pompoms set to the tune of OneRepublics "Love Runs Out," Ill be your light, your match, your burning sun Outside the suns gone down. For most, the workday is over. But for the team, it wont end until 10 p.m. tonight. Out of the hundreds of women who auditioned, and then, out of the 60 finalists, the 14 women who make up the Eagles rookie class have made it through two workshops, several auditions and job interviews, and a two-hour long beauty pageant-esque final audition show at the Perelman Theater at Philadelphias Kimmel Center. Theyll rehearse six hours a week for the next five months. And on average, the team of 39 women will complete 350 appearances in a yearthats three appearances per month per cheerleader. And, of course, theres the eight weeks of home games throughout the season, each requiring hours and hours of dancing on loop. Through it, theyll bend, theyll hair-flip, and theyll Miley-smile it up. Theyre not in it for the money, and the hours are pretty rough. They do it to leave you in, kind of like, awe. More: Inside the hot, peppy world of the insanely underpaid Ben-Gal cheerleaders
