The Baltimore Ravens are playing in Super Bowl XLVII but will do so without the support of cheerleader Courtney Lenz. Lenz, a five-year veteran, informed the team that she was ‘retiring’ at the end of the season.
Now that the Ravens have made the Super Bowl Lenz suddenly is up in arms. Why? Because she was not invited.
Before everyone goes crazy the NFL allowed teams to bring 32 cheerleaders. The Ravens have 60 on their staff and Lenz officially retired (I never knew that was possible) at the end of the regular season.
Lenz of course took to the internet to complain.
[slideshow_deploy id=’2701′]
“I wouldn’t even have reached out and let fans know if I didn’t think it was clearly wrong,” Lenz told ABC News: “I’m just devastated by the whole situation. This was very unexpected… I didn’t even think there would be a chance of me not going with being a five-year veteran.”
Lenz began cheering for the Ravens when she was a freshman in college at 18. After she finished school and found a full time marketing job, she found it difficult to continue to fit cheering into her schedule and announced her retirement earlier this month.
“They’ve been really hard on me this year since I told them I was leaving,” Lenz said. She received an email last week with the names of the 32 cheerleaders who would join the team in New Orleans. “I was the only three-plus year veteran that [is] not going. I immediately thought it was a mistake.”
The mistake here seems to be a cheerleader announcing her retirement to a team and then expecting to be selected to accompany that team to the Super Bowl.
Simple food for thought here. With all the women trying to be cheerleaders at the NFL level, would it have been noticed if she did not attempt to make the squad next season. I for one can think of only one cheerleader’s name from a full season of football and that is because she shaved her head. (Megan M)
UPDATE: Lenz is now claiming she gained two pounds and that is the reason she is not going to be at the Super Bowl.
