There have been a lot of videos that exemplified the Cleveland experience — the “Factory Of Sadness” and hastily-made tourism videos among them — but none quite so beautifully as this one. In it, quote, “Dude sticks his head in a 5 gallon bucket of piss for $450″.

Barry over at Deadspin provides further analysis:

We were tempted to call this scene a microcosm for the Browns’ year, but then the Browns went and won the Battle of Ohio. But you know what? Phil won too. He won $450, and now some internet fame. So we’re confident in saying this: a man sticking his head in a bucket of piss, then getting paid for it, is absolutely the Browns’ 2012 season.

Also providing analysis is YouTube user “DJA216,” who gets to the heart of the matter:

I keep going back and forth on whether I think Piss Bucket Phil is smart or stupid for dunking his head in a group of peoples’ bodily waste for money, because on one hand he’s earning almost $500 for less than a second of work, but on the other, holy shit dude, how did your life end up here? All of the moments, triumphs and mistakes of your life have led you here, to a video of you bobbing for turds on the Internet.

Sorry, Cleveland. One day you’ll have something better to show American than this.

UPDATE: Here’s a clearer video. You know, uh, if you wanted to watch it.

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Soccer racism is something we rarely talk about at With Leather, because 1) it’s one of those ridiculous, inexcusable traditions hanging on as “part of the sport” because people in Europe never officially got a Civil Rights movement, and 2) we never write about soccer. But soccer racism is real, and when it’s not seeping out in the form of “monkey” chants or black players having bananas thrown at them, it shows up in Italian newspaper cartoons. I shouldn’t have to explain why the above comic picturing Italian footballer Mario Balotelli as a giant ape is awful, unless you’re one of those people who thought that LeBron James Vogue cover was just beautiful people showing passion.

Anyway, Mario Balotelli (pretty accurately described by Rumors & Rants as “Italy’s Ron Artest”) is King Kong and that picture went through at least five stages of publication before showing up in a newspaper without anyone thinking it was a bad idea. Gazzetta dello Sport eventually issued an apology, kind of, but … well, read it yourself.

Gazzetta acknowledged its mistake, saying: “It wasn’t our cartoonist’s best product. In these times we need a bit more moderation, caution and good taste. But we have always fought against racism and condemned booing against Balotelli as unacceptable.”

At least now we know who’d win a fight between Mario Balotelli and Hideki Matsui, right?

Racist and prejudiced cartoons and nicknames are the “black face Halloween costume” of journalism — they’re a bad idea and you’re pretty stupid for not just knowing it. Plus, the only reason you’re doing it is for shocked publicity, which those of us who DON’T want to draw black people as apes end up having to report on. Is “Mario Balotelli is an ape” really the most creative thing you can come up with? Put five more minutes of effort into the process and you’ll come up with something better. Hell, here’s a freebie: draw him drinking a bunch of urine.

As a bonus, here’s a clip of Balotelli accidentally drinking somebody’s urine.

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…we go pee-pee in your coke.

At least two cheerleaders from Saginaw High School in Texas have received in-school suspensions after administrators learned of some urine-tastic shenanigans members of the squad pulled last winter at a basketball game. A cheerleader allegedly urinated into a cup and mixed it with a drink purchased at a nearby restaurant and then gave the Pee-Pee Cocktail to another teammate. When said teammate mentioned the drink tasted funny, she was informed that a tart candy had been mixed in with the beverage.

According to something called the Cheerleader’s Constitution (I imagine every “i” is dotted with a heart in the revered document), “team members could be removed if they are expelled, placed at the Alternative Discipline Center, assigned to in-school suspension more than once or suspended more than once.”

NO! Not the Alternative Discipline Center! How are perky cheerleaders ever going to fit in with all the burnouts wearing Black Sabbath t-shirts and smoking right off school property? In any event, you could say that the cheerleaders, in committing this heinous act, “broke the seal” of the Cheerleader’s Constitution, amirite?

A parent of the alleged victim is all up-in-arms regarding the incident and is asking that the perpetrators be kicked-off the team.

“They shouldn’t be allowed to represent Saginaw,” said the father, who did not want to be identified to protect his daughter’s identity.

“The girls said they were just joking around,” the father said. “It’s not a good joke to me.” -Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Guyism).

I have to agree with angry father guy – it wasn’t a good joke at all – it was a phenomenal joke. This is the type of prank that will live in infamy. How will any Saginaw High School cheerleader ever top this stroke of mischievous brilliance? A bake sale poop prank, you say? That’s pretty good, but to me, in light of the Pee-Pee Cocktail prank, a bake sale-related fecal folly would still have to be number two on my list.