Watching Tulsa get creamed at home by Houston, 45-10 with about four minutes to go. But you can hear the Tulsa cheerleaders still doing their job on national TV, even though there only about 15 people left in the stands and maybe none in the section in front of the cheerleaders. This also struck me a few years ago when my son was playing HS football. His JV team was getting throttled one Saturday morning, but there were the cheerleaders continuing to do their job in front of a family (don't think any friends were there) crowd. Toughest job in football.
Your post calls to mind pleasant memories from my years as pres of the Akron-Canton Alumni Chapter. Whenever OHIO was to play at Kent or Akron, we alerted the then cheerleader coach that we would have a pre-game lunch awaiting them and the mascot. After such a game we would give them a bag of apples, my wife's dark chocolate walnut brownies and soft drinks. We really enjoyed the company of those energetic, dedicated young men and women.
Later I hired one of those cheerleaders.