It is the middle of the first half of a men's basketball game, and the large Bryce Jordan Center crowd draws silent and gazes at the basketball court. Is an injured player down, writhing in pain? No. A troupe of dancing girls has made their way onto the court dressed in blue velvet about to lay down their moves to "You Give Me Fever." Now my question is: What is the point of this shameful display? The only thing I can come up with is they are supposed to excite the crowd, similar to the purpose of the band and cheerleaders.

From a fan's point of view, sitting in the student section, I can tell you all they accomplish with their silly routines is to silence the crowd, leaving most of the males gawking and making suggestive comments and the females laughing at their likeness to Britney Spears' dancers. The band, Nittany Lion and cheerleaders not only uphold traditional collegiate athletic values that make college sports so much more pure and exciting than professional sports, but they also get the crowd involved in cheering for their team and displaying their team spirit, a great asset of home court advantage. College dance teams, however, are still awkwardly out of place in college sports, leaving fans unsure of what they paid to see, a music video or college basketball.

Maybe I am mistaken, but I still think tradition lives at Penn State, and the Penn State dance teams make a mockery of it.