"The Jock Itch" with Jasmine Sadry: Happy MLB Opening Weekend! Dodgers Stadium Brawl and Filthy Ballparks!

DALLAS (105.3 THE FAN) Leading off Today's "Jock Itch:" Happy Opening Day Weekend for MLB! (brought to you by a brawl at Dodgers Stadium and a new report out that shows that most MLB ballparks reported roaches, vermin, fruit flies, and red slime!)

First things first: the brawl.

A savage beating by two men outside of Dodgers Stadium left a Giants fan in a medically-induced coma! It happened after the season opener between the Giants and the LA Dodgers when two Dodger fans began taunting three Giants fans, even though the Dodgers ended up winning the game, 2-1.

The group of Giants fans tried to distance themselves from the other guys and before everything was said and done, the victim, a 42-year-old Giants fan was pummeled to the ground and then kicked in the head, before the Dodger fans took off in a getaway car driven by a woman.

The Dodgers organization is helping investigators and said they are deeply saddened and obviously embarrassed at what happened. The County Supervisor is offering up a $10,000 dollar reward for any information leading to finding the perpetrators and he's also asking for enhanced security and strict limits on alcohol sales at Dodger Stadium.

Apparently, opening day violence is quite the norm at that ballpark.

In April, 2009, a man stabbed his friend in the stadium parking lot after the home opener, saying he was acting out of self-defense.

The noted West Coast rivalry began on April 18, 1958, when the first game played in California occurred after both teams moved from New York. The Dodgers beat the Giants, 6-5 in a game played before nearly 79,000 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/02/bryan-stow-of-santa-cruz-_n_843974.html?ir=Sports

And in OTHER "itch" worthy news...

If you love eating at baseball games (and just happen to value your health) you should just make the move to Canada and become a Toronto Blue Jays fan because their ballpark, the Rogers Center, was the ONLY stadium in Major League Baseball that received NO food safety violations last season!

Who's the worst violator? The Tampa Bay Rays! Things are SO bad that Tropicana Field actually makes a dump look clean! The Rays have the dirtiest ballpark in the Major Leagues with 217 major food health issues in 2010 including build-up of red slime and soil on the interior of several ice machines. An employee handling food had fingernails that were long enough to prevent the proper wearing of protective gloves; Steak thawing at room temperature. Employees were seen handling money and also handling food without changing gloves. A prepared shrimp sandwich was being held at 82 degrees.

Fenway Park in Boston had encrustments found inside the ice machine. Employees failed to clean and sanitize at least one can opener blade.

Yankee Stadium in the Bronx was found to have 32 food safety problems. "Filth flies" were found in food prep areas; Multiple signs of "vermin." Food was stored in dented cans.

You'll be happy to know that Rangers Ballpark had 12 concession stand violations against them, but none major!

So keep on eating those garlic cheesy fries, Ranger fans! (And trust me, it's worth spitting out a maggot or two for http://benmaller.com/2011/04/roaches-vermin-fruit-flies-red-slime-found-at-mlb-ballparks/

Apparently, baseball fans aren't being deterred by news of filthy ballparks because The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (yes, there is actually one of those) says that MLB ballparks will serve up nearly 22.5 million hot dogs during the 2011 season! They also predict that ballparks will sell about 5,200,000 sausages this season, with Dodger Stadium being predicted to sell the MOST dogs, and stealing the top spot from Fenway.

Just for perspective: the 22 million hot dogs are enough to round the bases 31,160 times and, if laid end-to-end, would stretch from AT&T Park in San Francisco to Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

I'm proud to be an American...http://benmaller.com/2011/04/baseball-fans-to-eat-close-to-22-million-hot-dogs-in-2011/

Did the Yankees Cheat and pull a Bill Belicheck?!??! According to Keith Olbermann, they sure did! He was at the Yankees home opener against the Tigers and tweeted, "The Yankees have a man in the seats who indicates to their on-deck batter what kind of pitch was just thrown." He tweeted a photo of Bret Weber (a Yankees baseball operations coaching assistant,) holding up four fingers toward the field.

But, Yankees GM Brian Cashman is saying everyone needs to calm down and said there was a simple explanation: The Yankee Stadium scoreboard was on the fritz, so Weber was just providing the sort of post-pitch details that normally appear for all to see, such as "93 mph fastball."

"The scoreboard went down. He was relaying after the fact with his fingers to some hitters who wanted it what the velocity was, pitches to the opposing teams' hitter, to the guy on deck," Cashman said. "There's nothing to hide. We've got nothing to hide."

The Yankees also added that they'll be finished flashing hand signals from the stands after this mess, at least for now... http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-yankees-handsignals

Dominique Wilkins used to be known as the "Human Highlight Film" when he played in the NBA for the Hawks in the 80's but now he's known as quite the payment dodger! The NY Post is reporting that is legendary for neglecting to pay his debts and this is all coming to light after he got in a brawl with a former NBA ref who claims Dominique owed him cash!

One former player stated in an e-mail: "The Human Highlight Film has a history of not paying people."

Another message: "I don't know the details of this episode. All I can say is that when Nique left Greece ('96), he owed everybody money. He stiffed mad people. Meanwhile, he was the highest-paid player on the team and in Europe, for that matter." 

Another claim: "One time the team went out to celebrate a 'Big W' and Nique ordered all sorts of crap and then refused to go to his pocket. He left the huge bill to his teammates who were making nothing compared to him. "Maybe he's changed, but just sayin'. … That's low class."

Dominique! You made just over $20 million bucks while playing for the Hawks, Celtics, Clippers, Spurs and Magic during your 11 year NBA career! Pay some folks already! http://benmaller.com/2011/04/nba-legend-known-for-cheapness/

The Steve Nash/black baby rumors continue to swirl! First, it started out that the baby Steve's wife JUST gave birth to at the time was fathered by his own teammate, Leandro Barbosa. That turned out to be false, considering Steve recently posted a picture of the two of them with Leandro's kid on Facebook.

NOW, another source has come forward and says that the teammate in question is Jason Richardson and THIS was the main reason that he was shipped to Orlando via trade back in December. Steve Nash publicly announced his plans to divorce just a day after his wife Alejandra gave birth to the couple's third child. Sources are saying that little Matteo is definitely black and that Steve had his suspicions several months before, that the child may not be his.

They ended up separating several months before the baby was born, but didn't officially divorce until the day after she gave birth. Mind you, Steve's wife has denied this, saying the divorce was in NO WAY related to their children, or Matteo's paternity.

Sure... 

Steve has yet to comment on anything publicly.  http://www.terezowens.com/nashs-black-baby-daddy-reportedly-jason-richardson/

ESPN has pulled NBA analyst and former "Fab Fiver" Jalen Rose off of the air after it was revealed that Jalen didn't tell anyone about his DUI arrest for almost three weeks!

Last week, it was reported that Jalen was arrested for driving under the influence in early March and now an ESPN spokesman is saying that both they AND Jalen are "taking this very seriously and agreed that he will not be on the air while he addresses this situation."

It's been noted that ESPN encourages its talent to, "tell their bosses about potentially embarrassing personal issues that might become public."

Oops…http://benmaller.com/2011/04/lockout-causes-nfl-player-to-bounce-child-support-check/

Carolina Panthers linebacker Nic Harris bounced a child support payment check to his baby mamma because of the lockout. Media Take Out is reporting that he wrote a rubber check for $5,000 grand in child support and the funds didn't clear because of the lockout situation.

As if that's not bad enough, he had 37 tackles and two sacks (but it was for the NFL's worst team in 2010) and even worse: he started his career with the BILLS in 2009… http://benmaller.com/2011/04/lockout-causes-nfl-player-to-bounce-child-support-check/

The guy who developed the Madden NFL game back in 1986 is filing a lawsuit against EA Sports claiming that they owe him "tens of millions of dollars!" Robin Antonick claims that his 1986 contract requires EA to pay up royalties to him on not only the version of the Madden game that he developed, but also ANY derivative works and any works "derived" from derivative works.

As of 2010, EA has sold more than 85 million copies of Madden Football, acquiring for over $4 BILLION dollars in sales.

Robin should be getting derivatives of derivatives of any derived derivatives for sure! http://benmaller.com/2011/04/madden-nfl-creator-files-lawsuit-for-millions/

UNC basketball players Kendall Marshall, Harrison Barnes, and John Henson went with some girls to a sorority formal, but before they went, a ridiculous email was sent out to the sorority, warning them about the players showing up and gave them a laundry list of rules on how to behave. Here's a little snippet of what was said:

-Please DON'T take a picture of them with ALCOHOL nearby or in the photo-- place your drinks down when being photographed next to them. We ALL have brilliant FUTURES so try to nip the Life-Ruining photos in the bud. We are a family, not a tabloid magazine. Just keep in mind that Coach Williams/all Carolina fans worldwide will not be happy if we screw up their reputations and sink as a sorority.

- Please DON'T Ask them if they are going to the NBA – PLEASE TELL YOUR DATES NOT TO ASK THEM THIS EITHER – Boys are just as much jock sniffers as we are jersey chasers.

- Please don't leave your dates to ask them annoying questions, they are human and actually quite young in age – no need to scare them. They will probably take pictures but be kind

- PLEASE DO NOT Force drinks on them (they should not be drinking as they are UNDER 21!!!! and FULL OF POTENTIAL!!)

- Don't stare too hard at them – have fun it's a party let's not make them feel too god-like I mean after all they were lucky enough to get asked to this function!

Wow, I guess being a basketball player at UNC is like being a rock star! Did they give the sorority their riders beforehand too? http://www.terezowens.com/unc-sorority-emails-warning-over-basketball-players/

And finally…

VCU's Cinderella run may have not ended the way they'd like, as they lost to Butler, 70-62. But, it's helped Coach Shaka Smart cash in on the success! He's now listed among celebrities on the popular Athlete Promotions site looking for PAID corporate appearances, speaking engagements, endorsements, autograph signings, and more!

Since he WAS the lowest paid coach out of any of the Final Four coaches this year (at $325,000 compared to Kentucky's John Calipari at $4,000,000), this side gig just may come in handy… http://benmaller.com/2011/04/shaka-smart-signs-with-promotions-company/

And THAT'S my "Jock Itch!"

J