Football

Dave Portnoy is not a fan of Beyoncé and he clearly wants the world to know it ... publicly ripping her during her big Christmas Day halftime show.

The Barstool Sports honcho went in on Queen Bey on Wednesday as she was serenading NRG Stadium in Houston with "Cowboy Carter" tunes ... declaring her "LOST" without Destiny's Child.

Portnoy didn't elaborate much further as he watched the "TEXAS HOLD 'EM" songstress croon during the Ravens vs. Texans intermission ... although he did encourage his fans to roast her on his outlet's new Jon Gruden show, "The Shred Line."

LeBron James wants the NFL to stay in its own lane ... saying even though he loves his football as much as the next person, the league needs to leave the Christmas entertainment to the NBA.

King James made the declaration in his on-court interview following the Los Angeles Lakers' thrilling 115-113 road win over Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday ... hours after the NFL's two games were completed.

Despite the Shield's matchups involving some of the biggest athletes in the league like Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry -- as well as performances from Mariah Carey and Beyoncé -- the football action wasn't nearly as exciting  ... as neither contest was competitive.

Travis Kelce is officially Kansas City's all-time leader in receiving touchdowns ... and a bunch of Chiefs fans are loving it -- including Taylor Swift!!!

The future Hall of Famer broke Tony Gonzalez's mark of 76 career receiving TDs in the third quarter of K.C.'s Christmas Day win over the Pittsburgh Steelers ... and his girlfriend was one of the first people to show him support after the feat.

The pop star took to Instagram to throw a "like" on the Chiefs' post commemorating the accomplishment ... and, of course, Swifties everywhere gushed over their romance yet again.

Beyoncé brought the house -- make that the entire stadium -- down ... delivering the greatest festive gift of all time with her NFL Halftime show at the Texans' Christmas clash with the Baltimore Ravens.

The iconic singer gifted us the perfect Christmas-Cowboy mash-up in her hometown of Houston, performing tracks from her latest album, "Cowboy Carter" -- which all streamed live on Netflix.

As you can see, Bey was in full-energy high gear, delivering tunes like "16 Carriages," "Spaghetti," "Jolene," and "Texas Hold 'Em" ... with special cameos from the likes of Shaboozey and Post Malone.

NFL fans don't need a Hail Mary for Christmas this year ... 'cause Mariah Carey just delivered a festive touchdown of her own with a show-stopping performance ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers clash.

Now streaming on Netflix, Mariah brought the holiday magic with her iconic pre-taped "All I Want For Christmas Is You" performance atop a festive float, with clips of people at home and in bars vibing to her festive banger while celebrating those NFL victories.

The clip of Mariah in her dazzling red is peak Christmas vibes -- with loads of intertwined NFL highlights and a surprise Kevin Hart cameo!

Jayden Daniels sure seems confident Travis Hunter can continue dominating on both offense and defense even in the pros ... telling TMZ Sports the Colorado star is "a special player."

Hunter, of course, just won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday for the way he played both wide receiver and cornerback for the Buffs in 2024 ... but many in the NFL world have wondered if he can keep that two-way stardom going after he gets drafted in April.

Daniels -- who's currently tearing up the league in his rookie season with the Commanders -- certainly believes he can ... and, in fact, he's cheering for him to do so.

Martin Gramatica is opening up about his difficult childhood ... saying he didn't truly realize how hard life as a young boy was until he had children of his own -- something he writes about in his new memoir.

TMZ Sports recently chatted with the longtime NFL kicker and Super Bowl champion about "Beyond The Uprights: The Intimate Memoir Of Martin Gramatica."

"I had a very abusive father that I speak about," Gramatica told Babcock, adding he wasn't broaching the topic for sympathy. The opposite, as a matter of fact.

Pacman Jones is clearly sick and tired of hearing people give their thoughts on Travis Hunter's relationship ... because he just told Dez Bryant to "shut the f*** up" about the couple.

The former NFL cornerback went in on the ex-Cowboys superstar during a rant on his "Pacman Jones Show" this week ... saying straight up Dez needs to keep his thoughts on Hunter and his fiancée, Leanna Lenee, to himself.

The 41-year-old added that anyone else with hot takes on the issue should pipe down as well.

Struggling to come up with food ideas for Beyoncé's Christmas Day halftime show? Fear not ... celeb chef Andrew Zimmern is offering up some snack hacks to help you crush it at the Dec. 25 party!!

The host of "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" tells TMZ Sports ... the real key is variety.

According Zimmern, there will be two types of people at Yoncé's concert -- ones who will be glued to the TV ... and the others who will enjoy the audio while making their way to the food table.

The Baltimore Ravens better hope they don't need to make many offensive halftime adjustments on Wednesday -- 'cause Lamar Jackson says he's skipping the intermission locker room talk for Beyoncé.

The quarterback -- who many feel is currently the frontrunner for the NFL's MVP award -- let his team and fans know on Monday he'll be on the sidelines for Yoncé's Christmas Day concert at NRG Stadium in Houston.

It's, of course, extremely rare for players to opt out of halftime meetings in favor of shows -- the last guy who did it, Bengals kicker Evan McPherson at Super Bowl LVI, received a ton of backlash.

Le'Veon Bell is so confident in his newfound skills in the boxing ring ... he's ready for a fight with Oleksandr Usyk -- and he tells TMZ Sports he's sure he can beat the heavyweight champ!

Bell called out the 37-year-old just after his impressive win over Tyson Fury on Saturday night -- explaining to us that he truly thinks he can take the belt away from the Ukrainian pugilist.

"If I ever get the opportunity to share the ring with him," the former All-Pro running back said, "that'd be that time where preparation meets opportunity and I'd get to show everybody what the hell I've been working on, bro."

Aaron Rodgers just revealed he has a new girlfriend!!!

The New York Jets star dropped the bombshell minutes ago on "The Pat McAfee Show" ... telling Pat McAfee, A.J. Hawk and the rest of the guys he's now dating a woman named Brittani.

No word on who she is or how they met -- but Rodgers certainly appears to be really into her ... as he said on the show he got her a Christmas gift -- and he didn't push back when McAfee ribbed him about being "in love."

Houston Texans wide receiver Tank Dell won't play again this season -- and he might miss 2025 too -- as his coach just revealed he sustained a dislocated knee and a torn ACL during Saturday's game against the Chiefs.

DeMeco Ryans just announced the news to media members ... explaining Dell also damaged "some other things" in his knee after he collided with his teammate following a touchdown catch in the loss at Arrowhead Stadium.

Ryans said Dell will have surgery soon -- and while there's been no timeline for a return just yet, the injury usually takes a full year to come back from.

Joe Burrow is finally revealing why he bought his offensive linemen swords for Christmas ... explaining it was a bit of a compromise -- as his teammates initially said they wanted firearms.

The Cincinnati quarterback went into detail about the unique presents following the Bengals' 24-6 win over the Browns ... telling media members he didn't want to get his pals guns, so he opted for a little safer weapon.

"I was like, 'I don't know about guns, guys,'" he said with a smile. "And, so, I was in the weapon mindset, and I was like, 'What's a cool weapon?' And Samurai swords, I think, are pretty dang cool."

Travis Hunter -- the Heisman Trophy winner and arguably the most known player in college football -- has deactivated his Instagram ... as online criticism of his fiancée continues.

Leanna Lenee -- Hunter's often-ridiculed partner -- found herself in the crosshairs of trolls once more over the weekend ... as a video appearing to show her dancing on a man resurfaced on the internet.

While it's believed to be a clip taken from several years ago -- before she and Hunter got together -- haters nonetheless raced to their keyboards to take aim yet again at Hunter's boo.

If Darren Rizzi ditches his interim head coach tag for a full-time one in New Orleans ... you won't hear Demario Davis complaining -- the Saints star tells TMZ Sports he LOVES the guy.

Rizzi, of course, took over for Dennis Allen last month after the Saints' sideline manager got canned following an abysmal 2-7 start ... and the former special teams coordinator has since led the squad to an admirable 3-2 record.

Davis told us while out at Raising Cane's bike giveaway event this week that Rizzi deserves a ton of credit for the turnaround ... explaining he's done "a phenomenal job."