ESPN The Magazine has released a batch of photos from the 2011 installment of their annual “The Body Issue”, and while full-on nudity isn’t something we can really share with you at With Leather, we can’t see a picture of Blake Griffin dunking with his pants down and not share it with you. It gives the whole “dunking over a car” thing an extra degree of difficulty.

This year’s issue isn’t as conservative as 2009, when most of the athletes were wearing shorts, but it remains tasteful and doesn’t tread near the whole “seeing Patrick Willis’ pubic hair” thing from last year. There are a lot (a lot) of gorgeous women from nearly every corner of the sports world featured, including-but-not-limited-to Hope Solo, LPGA rookie Belen Mozo, foxy roller derby star Suzy Hotrod, the WNBA’s statuesque Sylvia Fowles and the lady pulling a LeBron James in the image up top, Olympic silver medal gymnast Alicia Sacramone. I’m really glad that isn’t LeBron James.

Of course, the following gallery is only a sampling, and you should head on over to ESPN The Magazine The Website to see more, including the pictures I’m not authorized to show you (or, “Wow, time to Wikipedia the sh*t out of Stephanie Gilmore”). Also, consider buying the magazine itself, if that’s your bag. Now please click through and laugh at that weird picture of Jon “Bones” Jones peeing in his swimming pool.

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L.A. Sparks rookie Jantel Lavender was the #5 overall pick in the 2011 WNBA Draft, and now she gets to be famous for something — according to TMZ, the 6-foot-4 athlete sent her ex-boyfriend Adam Ashley into hiding by pulling a knife and threatening to kill him. At first you might be all, “Wow, this lady must be crazy”, but the more you read about it, the more you realize her ex is either trying to get money out of somebody I’m pretty sure doesn’t have a lot of money, or he’s Ralph Wiggum from “The Simpsons”.

He’s gone “into hiding” since the altercation happened on July 5, and has been filing hilarious court papers with the L.A. County Superior Court, assumedly from his bunker just outside of Los Angeles.

In the docs, Ashley also says Lavender “grabbed my head and slammed it into the wall. She grabbed my neck and was choking me.”

Ashley claims it wasn’t the first time Lavender got violent with him — alleging she also tried to choke him during a fight in June. During that altercation, Ashley claims, “While I was grabbing for her hands she kneed me in the growing [SIC] area. My private area was throbbing from the pain.”

“Kneed me in the growing area” is amazing, but “private area” is what’s making me laugh. He should tell his lawyer that she no-no’d him in his Danger Zone.

The way our terrible world works, “WNBA player” has got to be right behind “quiet Arabic neighbor in white neighborhood” on the list of people America is just going to presume is guilty. Not only a woman, not only an African-American woman, but an African-American woman playing a sport routinely played by men. Notice the difference between the header image I picked and the one TMZ is using. I’d be shocked if the first twenty minutes of her trial isn’t just the judge going “lol i can’t believe you had a boyfriend, i thought you played in the wnba!!11″

Unless you’re still locked away in your fallout shelter, you already know that yesterday’s 5.9 earthquake in Virginia wasn’t very much to worry about. Sure, us hurricane-loving, proper-time-zone-having East Coast simple folk only know tremors as a delightful Kevin Bacon film about giant worms. So you left coasters will have to forgive us when an earthquake actually strikes our neck of the States and we act a little shocked. And laugh all you want, but just wait until I send some Floridians out your way to register as California voters. Who will be laughing then?

As usual, some professional athletes took to their Twitter accounts to express their hysteria and/or indifference at yesterday’s earthquake, which reportedly reached New York and Pennsylvania. Sadly, our favorite usual suspects like Chad Ochocinco, Jose Canseco, and the Iron Sheik were mum on the quake. But some new faces – mostly athletes from the Washington D.C. area – stepped up and added their own interesting commentary on the matters. Thankfully, none of them blamed it on gay marriage.

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Daniel Tosh of Tosh-point-oh fame made a spoof of a credit card commercial, and I showed it to my dad and he thought it was a very funny goof and a spoof. I don’t understand how the WNBA gets all of this free publicity, but who would they be to look a gift muff in the mouth.

“We’ve missed commitment ceremonies, Lilith Fairs, LPGA finals, parades. Even that one day we’re allowed at Disney World.”

I guess it’s funny because they’re lesbians that like sports. Whatever. This is why I can’t stand Tosh, he’s just a smug little ass that makes easy, uncreative jokes at everything. “Here’s another kid puking and a viral video that circulated through the blogs two months ago.” Great job, Daniel.

…side to play a basketball game in the elements! I button-hooked ya there, didn’t I? Here you thought this post was going to be about unsexy rampant lesbianism among the ranks of the WNBA. Now who looks like a dummy? Yeah, me. Me does look like dummy.

Anyhoo, get your tickets now (this guy already did), because on June 5th, the Los Angeles Sparks will host the Seattle Storm in an outdoor basketball game at the Home Depot Center. This will be the first outdoor game for the Sparks and Storm, but the second time a WNBA game was played outside – the New York Liberty and Indiana Fever participated in the Liberty Outdoor Classic last summer (pictured above). Before you begin to snicker about last summer’s first WNBA outdoor game, you should know that Menudo played a free concert after the game, too. Sweet.

Both organizations are pumped up (but not in an over-masculine way) about the opportunity to showcase their dribbling and layup skills in the fresh air in front of hundreds of spectators.

“Playing outside, beneath the stars will ensure an unforgettable evening for our players and fans,” said Sparks President Kristin Bernert. “But the game also provides a terrific opportunity for our athletes to inspire kids of all ages to lead healthier and more active lifestyles.” -The Fabulous Forum.

Dubbed “The Sunset Showdown,” the event is sure to be a treat to WNBA fans and confused onlookers alike. But to be honest, I find the moniker for the game a bit of a letdown. The Sunset Showdown? Please. How about bringing some Don King-sian panache to it? I don’t know, how about “The Thrilla With The Ladyzillas”? Hey, give me a break – that one was off the cuff.

Marion Jones has a job playing basketball for the Tulsa Shock now. How good a basketball player she’ll be isn’t exactly “clear,” especially since she pretty much disappeared after being stripped of her gold medals from the Sydney Olympics and doing time in a federal penitentiary, and therefore my dirty dirty fantasies.

“We’re thrilled to have her,” Shock head coach Nolan Richardson said of Jones, who was stripped of five medals from the 2000 Olympics after admitting steroid use. “In the workouts last week I saw how hard she works. She has things you can’t teach, like speed and great hand and eye coordination. She looks chiseled. Her age (34) might be saying one thing but everything about her is saying she’s young.” –Sporting News.

So your number of reasons to watch the WNBA is holding steady at zero. Call me when Caster Semenya signs with the Sparks. Whoever they are…