Sports fans are pigs

Sports fans are pigs. Or so it seems.

Cheerleaders prance along the sidelines with skimpier and skimpier outfits, especially in the NFL.

Sports Illustrated�s Winter 2007 issue features models with painted on swimsuits that can be viewed through 3-D glasses.

ESPN.com promotes its championship week coverage by plastering some cheerleaders on its promo (shown above).

And Hometown Hotties are posted at the bottom of CBSsportsline.com. Today, fans can leer at Tatyana, a blonde-haired St. Louis model splashing through some waves and wearing only a pink bikini and a smoldering look. We�re supposed to vote for our favorite �hottie� each day. (�If this gorgeous gal next door makes you Hottie under the collar, return the favor by voting for her.�) Now that�s what we call sports, huh?

The 15-year-old in me says, �Not bad. How ya doin?� The 43-year-old father wonders why we need sex to sell sports. Sports fans watch the Brewers in August and the Lions in December. Plus, fans watch ping pong, skiing and bowling without much prodding. It�s the sports we love most.

Sure, sex sells. But I worry about the image this all conveys to young women -- that they are a commodity, an object, someone who sits on the sidelines and cheers. That�s sure as hell not the message I want my daughters to take in.

So we�ll stick to watching softball, women�s basketball and baseball (no cheerleaders there) whenever possible. And I�ll make sure we talk about these problems during breaks in the action, especially when the camera focuses on some young cheerleader�s thighs.

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