If you’re a regular reader at With Leather, you know how much I love mascots. Keeping that in mind, know that while I find the above video to be hilarious, I also imagine that it might be what Hell feels like. I’m going to guess the D.C. Air All-Star team wasn’t voted on by the fans.

The DC Air All-Stars – Big George, Hippo, G-Wiz, Air Screech and Air Slapshot, joined forces to entertain the crowd at Colonials Invasion 2011 to help the GW men’s and women’s basketball teams start the 2011-12 right.

This routine, like so much trampoline slam dunking, would be embarrassing but forgettable if the George Washington University Midnight Madness crowd were clapping and enjoying themselves, but their dead silence takes it to another level. It’s one part Zooperstars, one part high school pep rally and ten parts those weird amusement park live shows where kids sit on bleachers in a crayon-themed amphitheater or whatever and listen to five young actors who wish they were dead smile through a Now That’s What I Call Music dance medley.

All kidding aside, there’s something concerning about watching an inflatable hippo do a headstand while FloRida sings about how great his blowjob feels.

[sorrowful h/t to Off The Bench]

If The Pope has done nothing else to help the world, he’s gotten Dick Vitale to shut up. Temporarily.

The legendary sportscaster and professional caps-lock yeller had a chance to briefly meet and greet Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday while on vacation in Italy, and as a man of faith he seemed so legitimately excited about it I can only make so much fun. Although he does type exactly like he talks.

Another tweet added “Can’t wait 4 the photos taken by the Pope’s staff- in awe as we made small talk .Asked his Holiness to pray 4 peace in our world & 4 my fam.” I would’ve loved to listen in on that conversation. Vitale goes UNBELIEVABLE BABY and kisses the Pope’s ring, then tells him he wants world peace. The Pope sorta scratches his head and goes “sh**, okay, don’t know why I didn’t think of that”. He should’ve asked the Pope what he thinks Rex Ryan’s tattoo means.

Of course, the religious experience wasn’t enough to change Dick’s human nature, and within a few hours he was back to his old self, sharing Italian vacation stories only Dick Vitale could find interesting.

That wouldn’t have anything to do with you just hanging out with the Pope, would it?

[via Twitter]

BYU basketball star Jimmer Fredette is the closest thing that Utah has to a rock star, so much so that he’s now cutting classes–at the best of the school’s own administration.

“It was getting too disruptive,” Al Fredette, Jimmer’s father, told The Post-Star that his son’s fame on BYU’s campus means he “can’t go anywhere in Provo without being recognized” and deluged with requests for autographs.

–SLC Tribune.

I’m pretty sure that “Don’t come to class” is in the BYU Honor Code, which would help them immensely with recruiting. Of course, some guys would just go to class anyway. It’s a youngster’s rebellious nature that makes him such a fine athlete. Nappy hair helps, too. Doesn’t it, Jimmer?

Duke freshman point guard Kyrie Irving will enter the NBA Draft, according to his Twitter feed. That seems insane, especially since (a) Duke players almost always stay for four years under coach Mike Krzyzewski, and (b) there almost certainly will be labor uncertainty this offseason, comparable to what the NFL is experiencing right now. Surely

“Our whole program is overjoyed with having Kyrie here for one year and that he has the chance now to pursue a dream of being a high draft pick and a great player in the NBA,” said Krzyzewski.

–(school website)

Let’s not overdo it, Coach K. Some have Irving going No. 1 overall, and not even three more years at Duke would improve on that. Hey, it’s either get paid for not playing or not get paid for playing. It’s a no-brainer, really.

Oh wait, that’s a reference to The Wizard Of Oz and not Cinderella. But since 8-seed Butler is still in the tournament, I feel like we need a new theme. The “brick” analogy might be appropos, as VCU went cold from their field before falling to the Bulldogs, 70-62.

Virginia Commonwealth, one of the last teams awarded an at-large berth in this year’s NCAA tournament, came up just short of an unprecedented national title game appearance. The 12-seed Rams lost to Butler in the national semifinal Saturday, ending one of the more surprising runs in recent tournament history.

“Some of our shots didn’t fall. Open shots, shots we’d been making,” [point guard Joey] Rodriguez said. “I think if you go back and look at the tape, you’ll see some of them were in and outs. Almost felt like it wasn’t supposed to happen or something.”

–Y! Sports.

VCU would have been the first school to emerge from a play-in game to the national title; while Butler, the Indianapolis school with an enrollment of less than 4,000, finds itself back in the national title game after losing its best player from last year.

Butler will face UConn in the championship; the Huskies ran the table in the Big East tournament to secure an automatic bid in the field of 68. UConn held to Kentucky to 33 percent shooting but only edged out a 56-55 win.

Oh, and I guess Maya Moore is out of the women’s tournament, whoever that is.

This is not an April Fool’s Day prank. Jacob Tucker just finished playing his last game at Division III Illinois College over a month ago, but the senior put together a YouTube video featuring his 50-inch vertical and some sick dunks in hopes of being voted into the college slam dunk contest. It worked.

“It’s unbelievable, just because a lot of these other guys here are D-I players,” Tucker said after the contest. “They’re used to being on the national stage, and this dunk contest, to their schools, didn’t necessarily mean as much. To be able to represent my school on a national stage is a real honor.”

–The Dagger.

There’s not much hope for a Division III athlete to ply his trade after college, but Tucker found a way. See Tuck’s campaign video and his competition dunks after the jump. Hooray white people! Read the rest of this entry »