EDITORIAL
San Jose Mercury News
The San Jose Sharks have a new idea this year for attracting fans.
That old strategy of trying to build a team that can get past the first round of Stanley Cup playoffs is so yesterday.
The new plan: “Ice girls.”
Really. In 21st century Silicon Valley. (We suspect they’ll be 18 or over, but somehow “ice women” doesn’t have the same ring.)
The Sharks have called down the wrath of social media and Internet petitioners by proposing to follow other teams in fielding an Ice Team — some “boys” as well as “girls” — to clean up the ice during timeouts and interact with the crowd.
In fairness, they’re not recycling Dallas Cowboy cheerleader uniforms.
The costume on the Sharks Web site is tight pants and a sort of abridged team jersey top that show some bare midriff.
You see raunchier outfits at the mall. Still, why tick off a big part of the fan base?
Thousands of women follow the Sharks, and women around here don’t much cotton to being seen as sex objects. It’s apparently fine in some parts of the country, but it’s not a valley thing.
There’s a compromise here. Add a few inches to those teal tops so they cover up the midriff. And since the Web site solicits applicants who look “physically fit/athletic,” apply the term broadly, not just as “sexy.”
The alternative would be to chop off the lower half of the actual Sharks’ jerseys and send them out on the ice with bare midriffs.
Come to think of it, we like that one better.
