J.J. Jumper: Give Him Something To Break!

Leitch|published: Mon 27th February, 15:15 2006

This image was lost some time after publication.

The most terrifying mascot in organized sports has to be J.J. Jumper, the official mascot of the NCAA. (Because nothing gets the crowd more fired up than a mascot for a faceless, totalitarian organization. "Prop 48! Prop 48!")

Anyway, J.J. Jumper was competing in a handspring contest — this happens all the time when you're a mascot — when he went spiraling out of control ... and into about $6,500 of camera equipment. This wasn't ESPN either; this was CTV, the college sports network which typically pays its pills by heading to Commerce Bank and emptying out its change bucket.

Robert Wray, director of programming for CTV, estimated that the mascot, a large, green frog with tufts of orange hair, caused a total of $6,500 in damage to its equipment.

"The damage is pretty extensive," Wray said. "We have a camera which was totally destroyed. Our sound board was damaged. Our switch that connects everything was damaged."

If you're interested in having J.J. Jumper destroy expensive equipment on your campus, you can just fill out this form right here. Careful of the gymnastics.

Frogkicked [Columbia Spectator]

(By the way, the NCAA claims J.J. is a frog. We are less than convinced.)