Everywhere from here to Vancouver, hockey fans are jumping up and down and screaming over the Caps' new Spirit Squad. The Caps posted a want ad on Saturday and by Sunday team owner Ted Leonsis had publicly responded to fan outcry.

Leonsis reassured fans that the Spirit Squad will be tastefully clad and perform in a manner that won't offend anyone. Meanwhile, in addition to this public assurance, A View From The Cheap Seats documents some behind the scenes changes the popular owner made to ensure family-friendliness. Almost all mention of gender was removed from the ad, presumably due to fan pressure.

While we're delighted that the cheer leading squad will be co-ed, we're wondering when the hockey team will catch up. It's great that the stereotypically female roles of choreography, high pitched screaming and support from the sidelines will be enacted by both men and women cheerleaders, like they are in Pittsburgh and Carolina. Now we'd like to see more of the stereotypically male roles of competitiveness, strength, toughness and senseless violence enacted by ice hockey players of both genders.

Women have higher tolerances for pain, tend to have more muscular lower bodies and are statistically more likely to know how to ice skate, yet only one woman has ever tried out for the NHL. Why is it that only men are expected to inject massive amounts of testosterone into their muscles and beat each other bloody for our entertainment?

And what are the arguments against? Are women raised to be averse to physical contact? Does anyone remember Wayne Gretzky or Adam Oates? Do women prefer to play sports gently and with strategy rather than aggressively and violently? Ever heard of Nicklas Lidstrom, Karl Alzner or Sylvain Cote? Are female athletes simply incapable of keeping up with the fast pace of the NHL? Heard of Dave Andreychuk or Sean Avery? Are women not strong enough in their upper bodies? Will the best female hockey players be able only to skate fast and unable to shoot hard and fight with the NHL's toughest? Remember Todd Krygier? The point is that, while stereotypes are seldom reliable or useful in discussing gender differences, none of these stereotypical differences keeps similarly deficient men from contributing to successful teams in the NHL.

Therefore, while we applaud the Capitals on taking steps to remove gender bias from their cheerleader auditions, we hope that they will take similar measures regarding their upcoming training camp. After all, what good is gender equality if it only applies to low-wage job opportunities and then runs into a glass ceiling?