"The Jock Itch" with Jasmine Sadry: Woman Drama Blamed for Lakers' Loss?!
DALLAS (105.3 THE FAN) Leading off my "Jock Itch" Today: Could we NOW have some insight on an answer to the vague "trust issues" that Laker Andrew Bynum was talking about his team having during the Mavs/Lakers series last week, adding to their subsequent implosion?
Gossip reports are saying that Pau Gasol's playing "swagger" was effected because he'd been dealing with some SERIOUS drama in his personal life after he broke up with his fiance and he believes that teammate KOBE BRYANT is responsible for the end of his relationship!
YOWZA!
Supposedly, there's an insider that's affiliated with the Lakers, who has been going around saying that Pau's girlfriend, Sylvia, and Kobe's wife, Vanessa, became really good friends and about two weeks ago, Pau was shell-shocked by news of Sylvia dumping him!
This "insider's" quote? "Pau thinks that Kobe's wife was behind it. Sylvia didn't have many friends and he's convinced that Vanessa's either is behind it, or could have talked Sylvia out of it."
AND further word from this rumor is that when Kobe tried to talk to Pau about it all, the two got into a pretty heated argument with each other and ended up saying some pretty nasty things about each other's ladies! THAT resulted in Pau and Kobe supposedly not even speaking to each other during the series and screwing up their on-court chemistry in the meanwhile.
FYI- Pau was a hot mess in the playoffs this season, shooting a play-off career WORST in percentage from the floor and averaging a career low points per game.
He's got 99 problems and apparently, a B is one... www.ahnsports.com
And in OTHER "itch" worthy news...
ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy wants to change up the rules in the NBA and follow in the footsteps of football with a "holding penalty" sort of idea.
Hold on, just hear me out...
As you may know, he is pretty good working basketball games alongside Mark Jackson and Mike Breen, and oh yeah, he was the former Knicks and Rockets head coach, so the guy has some cred in the business. BUT there was that little remark he made that had all of us scratching our heads, claiming that the Heat's James Jones "is a better open jump shooter than Ray Allen."
I'm sure Ray Allen and most of America would beg to differ, prompting Jeff to quickly retract what he said, calling it the "height of my idiocy."
See, I told you Jeff was spot on with his remarks.
Anyway, he says, "I don't understand why we have to suspend guys for a full game. Why can't a guy be suspended for a quarter or half a game? You take a step off the bench and on the court, that's a game suspension. You hit someone, that's a game. The two crimes don't fit. There should be options. And I don't understand on technical fouls, why do we make them shoot free throws? If someone says something wrong, why don't you just give them the point? In football, if you have a holding penalty, you don't have to kick a field goal to get the 15 yards."
He IS pretty hardcore about those opinions, too.
No word on if he's personally sent apology flowers to Ray Allen or his family either. www.foxsports.com
One of the players on the Washington Redskins roster hasn't even played one stinkin' snap in the NFL yet, but he's already running his little mouth about the Cowboys!
D-back DeJon Gomes was on an ESPN radio show and took part in a Q&A with the host, Doc Walker and it went a little something like this:
Doc: "All right, let me do word association. I'm gonna give you an IQ test. I'll say a word, you tell me what the first reaction to it is. Dallas Cowboys."
DeJon: "Losers."
Doc: "Losers. My man. See, I already like him....You already passed the test. You nailed it, my friend."
END SCENE.
DeJon, tap the brakes a little pal. You were selected in the fifth round with the 146th overall pick. www.dallasnews.com
Tiki Barber is crediting HIS young, hot blonde NBC intern girlfriend, who he left his pregnant wife for, for getting him all hot and bothered about his football comeback!
When Traci Johnson started dating Tiki, he was working as a football analyst for NBC; she was an intern who didn't know or care much about football. In fact, she said "It's not that I don't like it, I know nothing about it to even be able to like it."
Is it bad that I'm totally picturing her saying that while she's popping on some bubble gum and twirling her hair with her finger, accompanied by a slight head tilt?
Anyway, sweet little tight-bodied Traci says, "It was really hard for him to just be motivated, between all the drama with the divorce and everything going on. It was tough for him to just be motivated to get dressed and do something productive with his life, instead of just sitting home with the puppies."
Yes, Traci. Keep talking.
She claims that Tiki getting back into football has lit a spark that he was missing.
"I know who he is and I know that was just a phase he had to go through. He's a better father. He's just a better person in general. He's more thoughtful of everything. He cares more about his family now than he did before. He's visited his mom the past year and a half we've been together probably 10 or 11 times — he said that's more than the past nine years of his life. We see his brother (Ronde) more. He cares more about relationships than he did in the past."
As far as attending NFL games to support her man, "It will be great, as long as I don't have to wear his jersey. I think that's tacky. But I'll go."
Insert one more good bubble gum mouth pop with that statement. www.nypost.com
Brett Favre could have a new career lined up and it doesn't involve junk photos while he's wearing a pair of Croc shoes!
He gave a recent interview where he says that he might become a coach or work on TV as an analyst in the near future, also adding that he's spent the last several months traveling and following Southern Miss baseball.
I think "Southern Miss baseball" is code for something else.
Aww, it only seems like yesterday that we were enduring the 41-year-old playing the back and forth retirement shenanigans before actually ending a 20-year playing career FOR REAL this time, after an injury-plagued 2010 season with the Vikes. www.huffingtonpost.com
Tim Tebow is supposedly pissed at.... eBay??
Uh oh...you know what happens anytime a deity gets upset. At least in the Bible, people were wiped out when a higher power's wrath struck, so this COULD get ugly, folks.
Anyway, it's being reported that things got crazy among fans who were swarming him for autographs at a recent golf tournament to benefit the Tim Tebow Foundation and the First Tee.
Timmy had to have security to drive his cart onto the tee box to avoid the crush of fans. It got SO bad, apparently, that the Tebow entourage began driving their carts only inside the ropes and had to park them far away from the crowds.
As Tim attempted to sign all the autographs, he took issue with guys trying to feed their families by getting his signature to hawk on eBay, a concept that the Broncos backup quarterback doesn't like ONE bit.
He says, "You don't want to turn down the kids. That's what this is for. But the eBay guys really were a problem. It's crazy. It's a shame really. You turn them down and they slip the item to a kid." www.gainsvillesun.com
So there's a kid who COULD give the Washington Nationals' version of their "Tim Tebow" (Stephen Strasburg) a run for his money!
UCLA's Gerrit Cole may end up being the Pirates No. 1 pick in MLB's amateur draft in June and this is just HOW good of a prospect Gerrit is.
He's got a fastball in the 93-96 mph range and scouts have even compared him to Stephen Strasburg themselves! In addition to that, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that others say his change up is really good--we're talking like Johan Santana of the Mets "good."
The Pirates are expected to either draft Gerrit or Rice third baseman, Anthony Rendon and they'll BOTH come at a pretty hefty price, considering they're both represented by mega-agent Scott Boras, who typically commands TOP dollar for his clients.
With that said, it's definitely going to be at least at the $10 million dollar mark or higher, which means that it would be the greatest one-time expenditure in Pirates franchise history. www.post-gazette.com
Ohio State University is being investigated for... car sales?
The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that the director of compliance at Ohio State is reviewing at least FIFTY car sales to Buckeyes athletes and relatives to see if they met NCAA rules!
Supposedly, a salesman who received game passes from Ohio State athletes handled many of the deals at two different dealerships. Ohio State has since taken the salesman, Aaron Kniffin, off of the pass list.
Athletes aren't allowed to get special deals not available to other students and they aren't given permission to trade autographs for discounts.
Both dealerships display signed Ohio State memorabilia in their showrooms.
Hmmm...interesting.
In fact, one car (some 2-year-old Chrysler 300 with fewer than 20,000 miles) was titled to then-sophomore defensive player Thaddeus Gibson back in 2009. Documents actually show the purchase price as $0!!!
Of course, Thaddeus was quick to the whole, "I don't know why the title showed a zero for purchase price," adding that he's still paying for the car.
Uh huh.
By the way, State law requires dealers to report accurate information about ALL car sales for tax purposes.
But, a guy by the name of Douglas Archie is the associate athletic director for compliance and he says that there's nothing sketchy going on and that they are "adhering" to policies!
Is this also the point where I add in that Quarterback Terrelle Pryor's mama and brother also bought cars from the dealerships and that Kniffin actually loaned his own car to Terrelle for a three-day test drive to his home in Jeannette, Pa?
Or is this where I add in that Kniffin and the owner of one of the dealerships he worked for, have attended SEVEN football games as guests of players, including the 2007 national title game and the 2009 Fiesta Bowl?
Way to keep up the whole new "Jim Tressel and five players serving five suspensions for accepting shady benefits from a tattoo parlor" tradition by following it up with THIS mess, Buckeyes! www.foxsports.com
And finally...
An Oregon woman called 911 to report that she heard a strange guy pounding on her front door, demanding to be let inside, only to find that it was Oregon's linebacker Kiko Alonso!
Kiko! What are you doing!?
Oregon football coach Chip Kelly announced that Kiko has been suspended following his arrest on burglary, trespassing, and criminal mischief.
On a side note, 20-year-old Kiko was already suspended for the entire 2010 season after he got popped with a driving while intoxicated citation last winter.
Yep, NCAA. We CERTAINLY don't need background checks on these players at ALL...www.nytimes.com
And THAT'S my "Jock Itch!"
J
