If you happened to miss our post earlier about the Great Blog Debate between book author Buzz Bissinger and Deadspin blog editor Will Leitch, we could have no better  example of the blogosphere's impact than the Arizona State cheerleading situation that evolved through most of today.

A photo of six women reportedly who were or are ASU cheer squad members appeared on a gossipy Web site called TheDirty.com (which was involved in the Terrell Owens South Beach photo flap recently).  The women were posing in their underwear. The Web site went on to include an excerpt of an email it said was from ASU Vice President of University Athletics Lisa Love that said the cheer squad was being disbanded. At least one major news organization in Phoenix also reported earlier today that the cheer squad was being disbanded - none of which turns out to be true.  Two university spokesmen said the words attributed to Love were not authored by her.

Bissinger criticized some blogs for their emphasis on the prurient and scandalous with no purpose other than to titillate.  Well, we won't judge what the purpose of the cheer squad post was but we know what the ramifications were.

After more than a couple of hours of efforts, we finally did get to talk to someone in a very busy ASU sports media office who explained that the cheer squad now comes under different oversight, the marching band director rather than the marketing department.  No cheer positions are being cut but some of the more athletic activities such as stunts and tumbling were being eliminated for safety reasons.  That might mean that some cheerleaders whose strength was in the athletic areas may not make the new squad -- I have no idea.

The photo in question appeared just recently on the Internet. A univeristy official confirmed that the women were either former or current squad members.  The decision on the cheerleading squad coming under different oversight was announced mid-week. A university spokesman said the timing of the two events was "totally coincidental."  The spokemen I talked to at ASU said they did not know if the university would address the fake email that supposedly came from the athletics department official with the TheDirty.com.