TMZ Sports - Page 50

Here you go, Robert Kraft and Patriots fans -- Tom Brady is giving New England a proper goodbye ... sharing highlights with his team of 20 years in an emotional farewell video.

Brady posted the clip on Thursday ... featuring classic moments from his 20 years in Foxboro and 2-year stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"As I look back on my career in football, the memories we have made, and the relationships we have built are by far the most meaningful," Brady captioned the clip.

"Yes, the scoreboard was important, but the toughest times always taught me the most important lessons."

Brady added ... "I played for the name on the front of my jersey and the name on the back of my jersey."

Of course, many in New England were in their feels when the 44-year-old future Hall of Famer didn't mention the Pats in his initial retirement letter on Tuesday ... including Robert Kraft who, according to ex-player Ted Johnson, threw a fit when he was left out.

Kraft and Bill Belichick did pen a congratulatory letter, despite the omission ... and Brady later responded to both via Instagram story ... calling Bill "the greatest coach in NFL history" on Wednesday.

In Thursday's vid, Brady says he "played for my friends, my family, and our community -- every single one of you -- that have given me what I have today."

"I love you all. Thank you ALL for making this incredible journey possible."

Pete Golding -- the defensive coordinator for the Univ. of Alabama football team -- was arrested early Thursday morning for DUI ... TMZ Sports has confirmed.

A spokesperson for the Northport Police Department in Alabama tells us Golding -- real name Stephen Thomas Golding -- was arrested at around 1 AM.

According to the rep, Golding was pulled over on suspicion of DUI ... and "probable cause was found" to arrest him. Jail records show he's still in custody.

Further details surrounding the arrest were not made available.

Golding has been on Nick Saban's staff at Bama since the 2018 season. He was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2019 -- and helped lead the Tide to the National Championship games in the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Golding is considered an ace recruiter who helped Bama land the #2 recruiting class in the country on Wednesday's National Signing Day.

The NBA just unveiled the newly-designed Kobe Bryant Trophy, which will be awarded to the All-Star Game MVP later this month, and Vanessa Bryant said she's in love with it.

The league revealed the piece Thursday morning ... announcing the new award has four levels, all designed to pay tribute to the Black Mamba.

The first level has 24 stars -- symbolic of the #24 Kobe donned in the second half of his career. The level measures in at 7 inches tall, which pays homage to Bryant's 2007 All-Star Game MVP honor.

The second level features 10 stars, which represent the number KB wore when he played for Team USA in the Olympics. Its 9-inch height is a hat tip to Bryant's 2009 ASG MVP award.

Of course, Kobe won 5 NBA championships in his career with the Los Angeles Lakers ... so the trophy has five stars on the third level.

On the fourth level, the league said "a single star represents Kobe’s NBA MVP Award in the 2007-08 season." The NBA also noted its 2-inch height is emblematic of his two Finals MVP awards.

The mastermind behind the design, Victor Solomon, said in a statement Thursday he worked "tirelessly" to make the piece ... and in an IG post, Vanessa said she resoundingly approved of it.

"I love everything this trophy represents," Vanessa wrote, "all of my husband’s hard work and dedication ~ Mamba Mentality 👑🐍💪🏽 Thank you @NBA & @victorsolomon."

NFL player Damon Arnette allegedly pointed a semi-automatic pistol at a valet in Las Vegas and demanded his Mercedes SUV keys, yelling "give me my mother f***ing keys," according to a police report obtained by TMZ Sports.

25-year-old Arnette -- a 1st round draft pick -- was arrested on Friday, January 28 on Las Vegas Blvd. after cops received a call about a man who allegedly pulled a gun after becoming irate with a valet at the Park MGM resort.

Las Vegas Metro PD say they located Arnette driving a black G-Wagon around 6 PM on Las Vegas Blvd. When they pulled him over, they say they located two guns in the car. One of the weapons was found on a passenger (a Glock 36), and the other was found next to where Damon was seated.

As for the incident that led to the arrest ... a Park MGM employee said he retrieved a prompt to retrieve the Benz. However, when the valet delivered the car, he asked to see Arnette's ticket -- which he said he'd lost. That's when Damon allegedly lost it, yelling "give me my mother f***ing keys!"

Shortly after the valet says things took a turn for the worst. The male employee claims he heard a gun cock, and when he looked up, Arnette was pointing the firearm at him, and again demanded his car.

Arnette eventually got his keys and left ... and police were called. Damon was pulled over and arrested shortly after.

Police say they viewed surveillance video from the casino ... and the video shows Arnette "took a handgun that was concealed from his pants and placed it in the drivers side interior door."

Police say "it appears that Arnette gets irritated and starts yelling at the attendant."

The argument continued, and LVMPD says "Arnette then appears to reach down and charge his pistol using both hands."

FYI, to charge a handgun is to cock the handle.

It gets worse for Damon. Police say they found 3 baggies of cocaine -- totaling 1.8 grams -- in his pocket. They asked Arnette about the powder, and he told them it was ketamine, but that it was not his.

Cops say they also located 13.5 ounces of what appeared to be marijuana (the alleged weed hasn't yet been tested). LVMPD says Damon admitted to having a large amount of pot in his car for personal consumption.

Arnette was eventually booked on 4 felony charges including carrying a concealed weapon, assault and drug possession.

It's not the first time he's been in trouble. Arnette was cut by the Raiders after a video surfaced where he appeared to threaten someone with a weapon.

Arnette is also being sued for an alleged hit and run where someone was seriously injured.

Figure skater Timothy LeDuc is set to become the first openly nonbinary American athlete to ever compete at the Winter Games ... but they don't want to make it a big deal about themself -- their goal is to make all queer people feel accepted in sports.

31-year-old LeDuc -- who came out as gay at 18 before opening up about being nonbinary (not exclusively identifying as male or female) in 2021 -- said when they take the ice alongside partner Ashley Cain-Gribble in Beijing this month, they hope the storyline isn't, "Timothy is the first nonbinary person to achieve this level of success in sports."

Instead, the 2-time national champ wants to use this opportunity to show all members of the LGBTQ+ community there is a place for them in competitive sport.

"We’ve always been here, we have always been a part of sports. We just haven’t always been able to be open," LeDuc said, according to the AP.

In fact, Adam Rippon became the first openly gay American skater to earn podium while competing at the Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018 ... but former American stars like Brian Boitano and Johnny Weir did not come out until after their competing days.

The Games have seen a rise in LGBTQ+ athletes recently -- Canadian soccer player Quinn was the first openly transgender and nonbinary Olympian to medal in Tokyo ... New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the first transgender athlete to compete.

LeDuc says it hasn't been easy identifying their gender ... but luckily, they had a strong support group to help along the way.

"It’s been a really long journey for me, embracing my gender," they added.

A Colin Kaepernick hater heckled the former NFL star on his way out of Madison Square Garden on Wednesday -- calling the ex-QB a "bum" and saying, "You could never throw a football."

The jerk was heard loud and clear as Kaepernick left the Knicks game in New York and got into his ride ... with the man yelling twice, "You're a bum."

"Get in that car," the heckler added.

Kaepernick never acknowledged the man ... and quietly walked through a swarm of people on his way out of the NBA game and into the waiting car.

Inside of the arena, Colin clearly had a much better time -- he sat next to Spike Lee, and was also spotted chatting it up with former MLB star CC Sabathia before tip-off.

During the game, ESPN Films announced a new docuseries was in the works about Kaepernick, with the production company saying Lee had been tapped to direct it. Officials promised it would tell Kaepernick's story in a way that's never been heard before.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is breaking his silence on the Brian Flores allegations ... calling his ex-head coach's claims "false, malicious, and defamatory."

In Flores' bombshell lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday, the 40-year-old alleged that Ross had offered him cash to tank in his first season as coach of the team in 2019 -- saying Ross was willing to give $100,000 per loss.

The owner, though, strongly denied the claims in a statement Wednesday night ... calling them a bunch of BS.

"With regards to the allegations being made by Brian Flores, I am a man of honor and integrity and cannot let them stand without responding," Ross said.

"I take great personal exception to these malicious attacks, and the truth must be known. His allegations are false, malicious and defamatory."

Ross added that he will cooperate with investigators -- but noted he doesn't anticipate them finding any validity to Flores' accusations.

"I welcome that investigation," Ross said, "and I am eager to defend my personal integrity, and the integrity and values of the entire Miami Dolphins organization, from these baseless, unfair and disparaging claims."

Ross fired Flores following the 2021 season ... and said at the time the decision was made due to the coach's "collaboration" issues with others in the Dolphins' org.

A new Colin Kaepernick docuseries is promising to tell the former NFL star's story through his own words ... and Spike Lee has been tapped to direct it all.

ESPN Films announced the partnership and the plan on Wednesday night ... saying in a statement that production on the project has already begun.

No word yet on a title or how many hours/episodes it'll all end up being ... but ESPN officials promised the Lee-directed piece will tell a side of the Kaepernick story that has yet to be heard.

"Kaepernick, who has never given a full, first-person account of his journey, is collaborating closely with Lee who plans to use extensive new interviews and a vast never-before-seen archive to help Kaepernick tell his story from his perspective," ESPN said in a statement.

The two were spotted taking in a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden right around the time ESPN dropped the statement.

The director and the football player were seen chatting it up courtside -- and then they left the venue together as well.

The new docuseries, meanwhile, will be far from the first television project Kaepernick has been involved with ... you'll recall, his Netflix show, "Colin in Black and White," was released last year and received great reviews.

Wrestler Brian Kendrick was just yanked from making his AEW debut on Wednesday ... after the former WWE star's past comments about tragedies like 9/11, the Sandy Hook shooting and the Holocaust resurfaced.

42-year-old Kendrick was slated to face off against Jon Moxley at Dynamite just minutes from now ... but AEW president Tony Khan says that's no longer happening.

"We’ve been made aware of abhorrent & offensive comments made in the past by Brian Kendrick," Khan said in a statement.

"There’s no room in AEW for the views expressed by Brian. We think it’s best for all that Brian be pulled from tonight’s card as we gather more info."

It's unclear when exactly Kendrick made the comments, but some are at least 10 years old.

There are several videos currently published on the Internet of Kendrick spewing numerous offensive and hurtful conspiracy theories -- ranging from believing in the Illuminati-type group was behind the September 11 attack, the Sandy Hook shooting was "bulls***" meant to start a civil war, and the Holocaust was "overblown."

It doesn't stop there -- Kendrick also seems to believe Michael Jackson staged his own death.

Kendrick did several stints in WWE over the years ... and was just recently granted his release on Feb 1. That same day, it was announced Kendrick would make his first appearance with AEW.

Kendrick has yet to address being shelved from Wednesday's event ... but wrestler Wheeler Yuta has already been announced as his replacement.

"Women weaken legs" ... unless you're Chad Johnson, who says he literally had sex THREE TO FIVE TIMES the night of his boxing match at Hard Rock Stadium, and then stepped in the ring with a professional fighter!

Seriously. And he looked pretty damn good during the fight.

The 44-year-old 6x Pro Bowler sat down for Brandon Marshall's "I Am Athlete" show ... and admitted to the guys he did it multiple times right before his June 2021 bout against pro fighter, Brian Maxwell.

"We did three times, maybe four to five times in three-minute intervals," Chad said, as Brandon sat and listened in disbelief.

Chad says he had pent-up nervousness after arriving at the venue ... and that's when he turned to everybody's favorite relation technique.

Knockin' boots.

Of course, many athletes -- especially boxers -- abstain from sex for days, weeks, or even months leading up to their fights ... as many people believe it severely hampers athletic performance. Sex right before a fight is unheard of.

"Matter of fact, I had to be at the stadium at Hard Rock," Chad said. "I think I fought at 8 o'clock. I needed to get that out of my system to relax me."

#85 went on ... "And it put me in a sense of, a state of calmness going into war. That's fighting. I'm out of my element stepping in a ring with someone that fights for a living."

And from the sound of it ... Chad thinks it helped him in the ring.

"Getting that up out of me was the best thing to do for me," Johnson said, prompting an amused Brandon (who's been boxing for years) to make sure he heard Chad right, asking ...  "You had sex the day of the fight?"

Marshall joked Chad tasted canvass in the fourth round (Maxwell dropped him with a vicious right hook) due to exhaustion from the pre-fight activities.

"That's why your ass got tired in four rounds."

The full interview Monday on IAA's YouTube channel ... where Brandon, Chad, and the rest of the guys chop it up about life as a professional athlete -- from women, money, and entourages to eating habits and working out.

Tiki Barber is so adamant that the New York Giants org. isn't full of a bunch of racists ... he actually had to fight back tears while defending them on Wednesday.

The former G-Men star emotionally refuted Brian Flores' claims on his "Tiki & Tierney" show ... saying flat-out he knows his ex-bosses are not bigots.

"I know [Giants ownership] intimately," Barber said. "So when I say I don't believe they're racists, it's because I know they're not."

As we reported, Flores claimed in a lawsuit Tuesday that he had proof that the Giants only conducted an interview with him to satisfy a league rule that required them to look at minority candidates for their open head coaching position.

The former Miami Dolphins head coach claimed texts from Bill Belichick showed the Giants had already hired Brian Daboll, who's white, well before they even sat down with him.

Tiki, though, said he believes none of it had to do with race whatsoever.

"Yeah, maybe they don't have the right head coach -- the Black head coach," Barber said. "They don't have a Black general manager, or a Black coordinator, right? I know they're not a racist organization."

In trying to further his point, Tiki told a story about how the Maras embraced him so much ... they actually let him speak to Wellington Mara in the moments before he died in 2005.

"The Maras -- and I always say this with the Tisches as well -- like, they embraced me like I was family," an emotional Barber said. "You know what I mean?"

For their part, the Giants denied Flores' allegations in a statement following the filing of the lawsuit.

Stephen Ross isn't the only NFL owner being accused of offering head coaches money to tank -- Hue Jackson is now strongly suggesting that his former boss, Jimmy Haslam, incentivized him to lose games with "a good number."

Jackson's claim comes on the heels of Brian Flores alleging that Ross -- the owner of the Dolphins -- offered him $100,000 per loss during his 2019 coaching campaign ... and would even get upset when the team won games.

Jackson -- who won 3 total games while coaching the Browns from 2016-18 -- weighed in on the topic Wednesday ... saying, "Well, Jimmy Haslam, was happy while we kept losing."

A Twitter user responded ... "Jimmy Haslam wasn’t offering 100k per loss or Hue would be on the Forbes list," which prompted Hue to clap back with his serious allegation.

"Trust me it was a good number!"

Unclear exactly how much Jackson is claiming Haslam offered him ... but his allegations spell more troubling news for the NFL, which is already dealing with Flores' bombshell lawsuit.

Hue spent 4 years in the NFL as a head coach -- 3 of those years were spent working for Haslam in Cleveland -- but struggled to find success as a play-caller with the Raiders and the Browns.

This past December, Grambling State University announced Jackson would be the Tigers' new head coach -- his first coaching opportunity since being fired by the Browns.

Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson says Robert Kraft was so pissed about being left out of Tom Brady's retirement note ... he heard the New England owner threw a fit over it.

Johnson said shortly after Brady omitted Kraft, Bill Belichick and the Patriots from his goodbye letter to football on Tuesday, he was told the Pats honcho exploded.

"I was told earlier tonight, you guys, that Robert Kraft, it was an unpleasant day today at the executive offices in Foxboro," said Johnson, who played 10 seasons for the Patriots from 1995 to 2004.

"And that Robert Kraft, when he initially first heard the news, was very upset. And he was screaming and he was yelling. And then there was a significant temper tantrum that he threw after he read this IG post."

It's unclear why Brady left New England out from his note -- he thanked practically everyone else that he's crossed paths with in his career -- but his former teammate, Antowain Smith (who played with Johnson too), told TMZ Sports he believes the snub was unintentional.

Brady did ultimately end up acknowledging the Pats in an IG story later Tuesday, writing, "Thank you Patriots and Patriot Nation. Beyond grateful and love you all."

Kraft has not spoken publicly yet about the Brady retirement, though he did release a statement Tuesday saying, "I have the greatest respect for Tom personally and always will."

Lawyers representing L.A. County are trying their best to keep hardcore Kobe Bryant fans off the jury in their crash photos case against Vanessa Bryant ... new court documents, obtained by TMZ Sports, show.

The attorneys submitted a list of questions they want to ask potential jurors ... and it includes several Kobe-related questions presumably designed to weed out any super fans who have immense Kobe/Lakers bias.

Some of the proposed Bryant questions include: "How would you describe your feelings toward Kobe Bryant?" and "How would you describe your feelings toward the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team?"

If the answers showed a juror would be less than likely to objectively look at the evidence in the case ... the lawyers would use it as a basis for striking that person from the jury pool.

Other questions the lawyers are hoping to ask also include ones that help show if a person has a particular bias against law enforcement, such as "Have you ever had had a negative experience with a Los Angeles County Sheriff or the LA County Sheriff's Department?"

As we previously reported, Vanessa is suing the county of Los Angeles, alleging officials took pictures of Kobe's dead body and then showed them off at a bar and an awards banquet.

The county, meanwhile, has argued that officials on the crash site only took pictures as "part of doing their jobs," while contending that none of the photos were publicly disseminated in a way that would be harmful to Vanessa.

Ex-Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores is adamant he still wants a job in the NFL ... but understands his scathing lawsuit against the league could damage his chances at ever getting a gig again.

Flores -- who's suing the NFL and 3 teams over alleged racist hiring practices -- opened up in an interview with "CBS Mornings" on Wednesday ... saying his legal action is about much more than his career.

"I love coaching, I'm gifted to coach, I know that," Flores said. "The relationships I built with players, coaches, support staff, I'm gifted to coach, I love coaching and I want to coach ... This is bigger than coaching. This is much bigger than coaching."

Flores said he contacted the other 2 teams he's still interviewing with for an HC job -- the Texans and Saints -- and gave them a heads up about the lawsuit ... and added if given the opportunity, he would still happily lead an NFL team again.

"I understand the risks, and yes, it was a difficult decision," he said. "I went back and forth."

When asked about comparing the NFL to a "plantation" ... Flores explained he knew it was time to leave a lasting impact on the league.

"We didn't have to file a lawsuit for the world to know that there's a problem from a hiring standpoint in regards to minority coaches in the National Football League. The numbers speak for themselves. We filed a lawsuit so that we could create some change and that's important to me."

"I think we're at a fork in the road right now -- we're either going to keep it the way it is, or we're going to go in another direction and actually make some real change where we're actually changing the hearts and minds of those who make decisions to hire head coaches, executives, etc."

As we reported, Flores filed his lawsuit after he said he received texts from Patriots head coach Bill Belichick that revealed the New York Giants decided to hire Brian Daboll before ever giving him the chance to interview for the job.

Flores felt like he was only being interviewed to satisfy the league's Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview a minority candidate when a head coaching job opens up.

Flores also appeared on ESPN's "Get Up" just minutes ago ... saying he's willing to sacrifice his career to make a serious difference in the league.

"If I never coach again and there's change," he said, "it will be worth it."

Here's a new one -- Kevin Porter Jr. took advantage of some downtime during the Rockets vs. Warriors game on Monday ... by linking up with celeb jeweler Johnny Dang and giving him his digits!!

The hilarious moment went down at the Toyota Center during Houston's 108-122 loss to the Dubs ... when KBJ leaned back to chop it up with Dang, who was sitting right behind the bench.

In video shared to social media, you can see KPJ taking Dang's iPhone and putting his number into it -- making it pretty obvious he's hoping to get a piece done by the King of Bling.

Ya can't blame the guy -- Dang has collabed with every big name in sports and entertainment ... from Katy Perry to Quavo to Johnny Manziel.

Dang is a legend in Houston ... so it's actually pretty surprising KPJ -- who joined the Rockets last year -- hadn't already gotten him his number.