The Toros should've won

I totally agree. I mean one of the judges was impressed with the swing dancing. So how did the Toro's not win?

The Clovers winning was basically karma for all the fvck yous life and the cheerleading world had thrown them over the past few years.

The Toros probably should've won, but them getting second place was less cliche, and it was more believable. It was their first time ever creating their own routine.

I don't feel enough for you to cry.

Oh well.

As an ex judge and choreographer I agree. Both teams were outstanding though. And most of the big stunts are illegal at the high school level. But since it's Hollywood, I'll let it slide. ;-) I like the Cinderella story.

I personally theorize that after what happened to them at the regionals, the Toros went to the Nationals with no chance of taking first place. It was made plain in the movie that everybody at that Nationals knew what had happened at the Toros' regional routine, and quite possibly the judges would have been reluctant to award first place to a squad that had such a public blunder against them in using a routine that had been sold to other squads. The Toros had been told outright the only reason why they were going was because they were the National champions and had a right to defend their title, plus the judges had never had such a situation before, so there was no clear precedent as to how to handle it.

But if the Toros had been awarded first place, there might have been a lot of challenges from other squads--a lot of them might have brought up the whole debacle at regionals and demanded an investigation to make sure the Toros hadn't 'bought' another routine. Or somebody on the Clovers might've let slip that the only reason why the Toros were five-time national champions was because they'd stolen routines from them for five years (and given that the Toros had gotten busted with a 'bought' routine, officials might have been inclined to look into the Clovers' claims.)

But regardless of the stealing from the Clovers, I think the judges were slightly biased against the Toros. They might have really liked their routine better, they might have performed it better, but what happened at regionals may have left a question mark in everybody's head if they had even deserved to be there that year.

The Toros not winning is what made things less cliche. They had won for so many years from stolen routines that it was the Clovers time to shine, they worked hard for the first time in years and got a well desired second place.

Lonely Chicago pie