Mollie’s Follies

If you got your jollies from Pauley’s Dollies, hold your lollies:  The Final Roster won’t be announced until April 30th (at 5pm!)

Good Golly, Miss Mollie — The suspense is going to kill us.  And if WE, as outside observers, are on pins and needles, imagine what the Girls are going through right now.

Like waiting for results from The Bar Exam, or maybe from Planned Parenthood, it must be nearly impossible to focus on anything else.  Which brings us to the big Question of the Week:  Will there be Cheerleaders at the Football Scrimmage on Saturday Night?  Are we really going to drive to Pasadena to see a Spring Scrimmage — at night, when FOOTBALL ACTION photos come out blurry — without the benefit of a pre-game, twilight, Spirit Squad Performance?

We have no idea if the “current” Squad is still intact, or if they now have to wait until after the 30th before performing.  Apparently, the reason for the delay is admission confirmations.  They don’t want to [HYPOTHETICALLY] cut someone, and then have to ask them back, when the person who beat them out doesn’t get accepted into school.

So the Spirit Squad Web Site says that they will post the list on April 30th, at five o’clock in the evening.  If we had the technology, we’d install a Countdown Timer.  You probably have no idea how relieved — or heartbroken — we will be upon finally reading that list.  Depending on who makes it and who doesn’t, we may or may not report it that night.  And it has to be said:  We REALIZE how ridiculous it is for US to FEEL IT so deeply, when the actual participants will have their lives changed so much by the results. 

But that doesn’t change how much it means to us — it just puts it in perspective.  But we still might have to experience the Seven Stages of Grief.   The only healthy mental approach to someone not being invited back, is this:  We just have to be thankful for the (photo) opportunities that we had during the past year, and we’ll cherish the collection, like the Girls will undoubtedly cherish their time, however too short, representing UCLA. 

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One of the letters yesterday asked for more details about the Audition Process.  It WAS open to the public, so we believe that it is okay to share what was said audibly enough for the (sparse) crowd to hear, and to discuss some of the procedures they employed.

Mollie was, of course, running everything, and constantly making sure that the Judges understood everything that UCLA was about, and is looking for.  She explained thoroughly about the IMAGE that UCLA wanted to project.  Remember the XFL?  Remember those XFL Cheerleaders that suspiciously looked a lot like Pole Dancers?  Well, that’s NOT the image that UCLA wants.  And it’s not just about revealing outfits and suggestive poses — It goes all the way to specific facial expressions. 

However — It’s not all about Virginal Innocence.  They also strive to avoid looking too “High School,” which explains the ban on Pig Tails.  We didn’t mention it yesterday, but they don’t like hair blocking their faces.  It’s a good rule, and also a good way to see how students are at following directions.  Mollie’s attention to detail is remarkable, but she never loses her grasp on the big picture.  Very wisely, she stressed that if they fail to follow even the smallest instructions during the CRUCIAL audition process, what’s going to happen once they make the Squad and get comfortable?  It’s the same way we’ve always felt about job interviews — If an applicant is late for the Interview, for ANY reason, his resume should just go directly into the circular file… because if they are late for THAT, it won’t be the last time that they keep you waiting.

Speaking of keeping you waiting, here are another 17 hidden-captioned, enlarge-able shots from Sunday.  If you just came here today to this page, make sure to check out yesterday’s, even better shots, as well.