Packed house on hand for cheerleader calendar release party

**

[ ](/news/newsmain_detail.php?PRKey=5105) Titans cheerleader Tandra walks down the runway during the swimsuit calendar release party at Lot 7.

NASHVILLE, TN, Oct. 10, 2007 —** For reporters, most weekdays with the Tennessee Titans are spent watching practice and talking to players and coaches. Things were a little different on Tuesday, however. There were no big and burly professional football players to be seen — only 31 beautiful women.

The Tennessee Titans Cheerleaders held their first ever Swimsuit Calendar Release Party at Lot 7 in downtown Nashville. Instead of jerseys, cleats and football pads, all you could see were swimsuits and high heels.

Talk about a change in scenery!

It was standing room only as fans, friends and family filled the venue to snag copies of the calendar and see the cheerleaders strut their stuff on stage in the very outfits each of them wore in the calendar.

"We have a fashion show where the ladies get to show the outfits that they are wearing in the calendar," said Director of Cheerleading Stacie Kinder, taking a break from running around and getting the women ready. "We've never had a release party before; this is the first one ever, and I think it is going great. I'm thrilled with the ticket sales. We're almost sold out."

One would guess it was a complete sell-out by the looks of things. Among those in attendance was Donn Jones, the Titans photographer who took most of the pictures for the calendar.

Tough job huh?

A packed house filled Lot 7 to check out the Titans cheerleaders swimsuit calendar release party.

"It was horrible," laughed Jones. "It was two full 12-hour days of hard work, pretty much non-stop shooting. Sure, it's enjoyable because you have these beautiful women you're taking photographs of, however I'm busy trying to get the shots to be right, but
it's fun."

Surely everyone at Lot 7 felt really bad for how many hours Jones had to spend working on the project.

As for the ladies themselves, ask any one of them what they thought of the first ever release party, and they are all smiles.

"It was so much fun. We had so much hard work that went into this, and we really only had 30 seconds that we were out there. I wish that there were more of it," said Lindsey, a five-year veteran on the squad. "It's an adrenaline rush, and I loved it. Hopefully I'll be back next year to experience the same thing."

Melissa, a rookie on the squad, has been enjoying every second of her first year with the Titans.

"It's such a unique and wonderful experience," Melissa said. "We were all nervous, but we just embraced it and we loved it. We had a great time."

Melissa, like many of her fellow cheerleaders, leads a double-life of sorts.

"I'm a scientist by day. I do research full time at Vanderbilt, and I want to go to medical school," said the molecular neuroscience research assistant/analyst. "It's really serious and intense, but I can escape from that and come to practice to have fun. Sometimes I feel like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but that's OK. I love it."

Titans cheerleader Julia poses for cameras during the swimsuit calendar release party.

Sundays at LP Field may have the ladies dancing, entertaining the crowd and cheering on the team, but during the week they work hard to be successful doing many other things. Most of the cheerleaders are in unique situations like Melissa, and that is just one of the reasons why they decided to have this party. "Sometimes it is difficult for them to wear the hat of a business person, a teacher or a student during the day, then all of a sudden, become a glamorous celebrity at night. I think that this is really helping them take on that role," Kinder said.
 
• CLICK HERE TO VIEW A SLIDESHOW FROM THE EVENING!