TMZ Sports - Page 50

Antonio Brown might want to reconsider the dark black mask he's been wearing around lately ... because it might have just cost him some paint on his pricey Ferrari.

The NFL star was leaving Craig's in Los Angeles on Thursday night ... when he decided to drive away in his fancy sports car in a mask that could not have been easy to see through.

Turns out, the choice of headwear was a pretty poor decision ... because you can see in video of his exit, after he flipped off photogs, he struggled to steer the Ferrari, and ended up driving it straight into a curb.

Footage shows the bottom of Brown's car nicked the cement -- and it was so apparent, one bystander actually yelled at the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer to stop going forward.

"Your car!" a woman can be heard screaming. "Sweetheart!"

Brown eventually got the Ferrari going the right way -- but check out the clip, it's clear he was having trouble moving the ride around while in his mask.

As for a potential bill for the ride's bumper -- it certainly won't be cheap if it is indeed damaged -- the Ferrari 488 he was cruising around in can cost over $330,000!!!

Saweetie tapped in for an epic dance-off with the mascot at the Clippers game on Thursday ... droppin' low and shaking it in front of the whole arena -- and TMZ Sports has the vid!!!

The stars flocked to Crypto.com Arena to watch the Lakers get wrecked by the Clips ... with Justin Bieber, Rami Malek, Normani, Israel Adesanya and more getting a front-row seat for the matchup.

But, it was the "Best Friend" rapper who ended up stealing the show during the 4th quarter ... getting up and dancing with Chuck the Condor as "Conga" by Gloria Estefan blared over the speakers.

Check out the vid -- the fans in attendance went nuts for the spontaneous dance competition ... with folks cheering and whistling as it unfolded.

Safe to say Saweetie came away with the W ... but you can't say that about the Lakers, who stunk up the place once again in the 132-111 defeat.

The Lakers are now 27-35 and have lost 4 games in a row.

Evan McPherson went from watching Snoop Dogg to going straight into the dog house ... 'cause one of his Bengals coaches said he's still sour the star kicker stayed on the field at the Super Bowl to watch the halftime show.

Nearly a month after McPherson was spotted on the sidelines grooving to Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Mary J. Blige and others instead of hearing locker room speeches -- Cincinnati special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons said he's still not happy about it all.

"That's a sore subject," Simmons told The Athletic this week. "That's a real sore subject."

Simmons didn't elaborate further (at least on the record) ... but it's clear he's pissed McPherson didn't head in with his teammates during the Super Bowl break.

Of course, Simmons probably should have seen it coming ... because, after all, McPherson told TMZ Sports just days earlier his plan was to stay out for the show.

Stanford women's soccer star Katie Meyer died by suicide, officials in California announced on Thursday.

In a statement released by the County of Santa Clara, officials said "Meyer's death was determined to be self-inflicted." They added no signs of foul play were found.

"The Medical Examiner-Coroner extends sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Katie Meyer," the officials said in a statement.

As we reported, Meyer was tragically found dead on Stanford's campus this week at just 22 years old.

She was the Cardinal's starting goalkeeper and a team captain ... and reps for the university called her "a bright shining light for so many."

Her death rocked her family and friends, Stanford's school and the sports world in general.

"There are no words," Katie's sister, Samantha Meyer, said in a social media post earlier this week. "Thank you for all the kindness extended to my family."

Katie joined the Cardinal in 2018 ... and helped the team win a national championship in 2019. A GoFundMe set up in her honor has already raised nearly $150,000.

How does the man with a $195 million contract treat himself for his birthday?! By copping a Richard Mille watch worth $500k!

TMZ Sports has learned the Boston Celtics star wanted to celebrate the big 2-4 with a big new watch -- so he hit up celeb jeweler Eric Da Jeweler.

It's not just any watch, BTW ... it's a Richard Mille, which are famously known for their unique designs, cases and quality material.

Tatum copped the all-white RM055 Bubba Watson watch that has skeletonized movement and a grade 5 titanium case band and back bezel.

When it comes to the price -- we're told it cost JT $500k!

That may seem like a lot but the 6-foot-8 hooper already made over $57 million since the Celtics drafted him in 2017.

Eric tells us he made the special delivery to JT out in Boston the night before his big day -- giving Tatum some time to enjoy his gift ahead of the Grizzlies-Celtics game.

Tatum's 4-year-old son, Deuce, also delivered a dope gift -- by making him a bday video of all his favorite childhood spots in his hometown of St. Louis.

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon said his life was in serious danger when rival wrestling promoters were actively talking about killing him ... after he broke a cardinal rule by invading their territories with his promotion.

Vince made the shocking revelation on Pat McAfee's show, retelling a story of how Jim Ross -- legendary WWE announcer -- once told him he overheard a disturbing convo in a public bathroom.

Back in the day, Vince purchased his father's wrestling business. There was an unspoken rule wrestling promoters wouldn't invade each other's territories (the sport was very regional at the time). But, McMahon being a pioneer ... he had other ideas, and began traveling with his new promotion as it started to grow.

That decision didn't sit well with his competitors, and Ross told Vince -- 5 years after it happened -- they were so ticked over it, they discussed killing him.

McMahon said Ross was in a stall when he heard 4 of the biggest wrestling owners at that time saying they had a guy that could "off" Vince.

"I don't know how many different rivers I was supposed to be at the bottom of," Vince told McAfee. "Death threats are what they are. I always felt like, if you can knock off a President of the United States, then I'm easy to get to."

"In those days it was like when you ... from their standpoint invaded their territory, it was like 'ok those not just fighting words,'" McMahon said.

Luckily, nothing happened to Vince, and he's credited with evolving WWE into one of the biggest brands in the sports entertainment world.

The convo with Pat turned to a lighter note, as Vince shared with the former football player-turned podcaster his unorthodox workout "regimen."

The WWE boss told McAfee he finishes training around 3 AM after starting his workouts at 1:30 AM... and he views working out as a way to cope with the physical and emotional stress of running such a huge business.

The two laughed and reflected on some of WWE's most memorable moments ... with Vince offering Pat a chance to create his own memories by wrestling in a match at Wrestlemania 38 in Dallas on April 2 and 3.

WARNING -- DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME ... unless you know Harvey Levin.

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya paid a visit to the TMZ office on Thursday ... and naturally, we had to put his world-class skills to the test.

The Last Stylebender was up for the challenge ... saying he'd love to knock a cup off someone's head with a round kick -- and none other than our fearless leader, Harv, volunteered to get a front-row seat for the demo.

Worth noting -- Adesanya is the best of the best ... so we figured HL was never in any real danger. Harvey was not as convinced, which is obvious in the video.

The time came for Adesanya to show off his kick ... and thankfully, he knocked the cup off cleanly!!

The whole office cheered, while Harvey breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Now, a source -- whose name rhymes with Shmarvey -- swears Izzy's foot made contact with Harvey's head, but video doesn't support that at all. IF anything at all, HL felt the cup zooming off his head ... which just shows the kinda impact these kicks can make.

NASCAR legend Tony Stewart is selling his massive Indiana ranch -- and once you see how ridiculously awesome this house is, you'll see why it's got a $30 million price tag!

This 20,000 square foot estate sits on 415 acres in Columbus, IN -- less than an hour from Indianapolis -- and is built out of luxurious lodgepole pine.

The place is awesome. It has a two-story waterfall, a trout stream and an 8,700-gallon aquarium right in the entry.

There's also 6 bedrooms, 11 baths (8 full, 3 half), a gigantic kitchen with fancy appliances, a 4-car garage (of course) and a guesthouse.

For entertainment, you've got lots to pick from ... including a 2-lane bowling alley, full golf simulator, an onyx bar and a game room that looks like a Vegas casino.

You can also dive in the 9-acre stocked lake in the backyard or if you're a fan of hunting, this land is a licensed hunting preserve that has a bunch of elk, deer and more.

The two-story mansion, that was built in 2011, was just listed with Carrie Holle of Compass Indiana and can be yours for $30 million.

Why would Stewart sell such a beautiful place? We're told it's because the 3x NASCAR Cup Series winner is never home and always on the road.

It's been over a week since the NBA All-Star Game ... but Macy Gray is STILL wondering if LeBron James was laughing at her anthem performance.

The singer took to TikTok on Wednesday to try to get clarity on the situation, asking her 100,000 followers if they think LBJ was really cracking up over her rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner."

"Ya'll really think LeBron was laughing at me?" she asked. "I heard he wasn't but maybe."

If you missed it ... in the buildup to the Association's All-Star contest, Gray took center court and belted out a unique version of the national anthem.

Some found it fun, some found quirky -- and many believed LeBron found it straight-up funny, as the King was snickering throughout the song.

People, though, speculated LeBron was giggling about something else -- perhaps Steph Curry related. LeBron never clarified, leaving everyone wondering, what was so funny??

Seems Gray is still trying to get to the bottom of it ... but at this point, it probably ain't happening. So, what do you think, yes or no?!

Sad news in the golf world ... PGA Tour star Jason Day's mom has passed away following a lengthy battle with cancer.

The 34-year-old golfer made the heartbreaking announcement on his Instagram page Thursday ... saying his mom, Adenil "Dening" Day, died on Wednesday night five years after she was diagnosed with lung cancer.

"We are heart broken but incredibly grateful for the gift we had in her living with us for the last almost two years full time," Day said. "She fought so hard until the very last breath."

According to the PGA Tour, Dening passed away peacefully with Jason and other family members by her side.

"I am forever indebted to her for the sacrifices she made for me to be successful, and for the person she helped me to become," said Day, who pulled out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this week to be with his mother in her final days.

"We will miss her so much."

Tragically, Dening is not the first parent Jason has lost to cancer ... his father passed away from stomach cancer when Jason was just 12 years old.

Suck at golf? Here's something that'll make you feel a whole lot better about your game ...

Jon Rahm -- the world's best golfer -- missed a 10-inch putt during the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Thursday ... and it was truly unbelievable.

Rahm went to nonchalantly tap in his par putt at the par 3 7th hole at the famous v ... when disaster totally struck.

Rahm didn't hit the ball hard enough ... and according to PGA Tour's shot tracker -- it actually went just 1 inch!!!

"He just went for the tap-in, and I don't know what happened exactly," one of the stunned announcers said on the broadcast. "It didn't move but a few inches."

To everyone's surprise, Rahm somehow kept his cool ... wiping off the face of his putter before hammering the ball into the cup for a bogey.

Rahm's still out on the course and he was able to rebound on the next hole to card a par ... but the extra stroke took him way down the leaderboard.

Ronda Rousey is throwing her support behind Cain Velasquez following his attempted murder arrest earlier this week ... saying if the allegations are true, she "would have done the same thing" as the UFC legend.

The WWE star explained her stance on her social media page Thursday ... saying she doesn't blame Velasquez one bit for allegedly going after the man who was accused of molesting one of his close relatives.

In fact, Rousey -- whose husband Travis Browne lost to Velasquez at UFC 200 in 2016 -- said if she had been in Cain's position ... she might have done "worse."

As we previously reported, Velasquez was arrested on Monday in San Jose, CA. after he allegedly tried to kill Harry Goularte, a 43-year-old man who law enforcement says inappropriately touched one of Velasquez's family members at a child care facility days earlier.

In court documents, officials say Velasquez chased Goularte and his family members in his black Ford F250 ... rammed them, and then shot at them repeatedly, ultimately striking Goularte's stepdad in the arm.

Velasquez was eventually hit with 10 criminal charges, including felony attempted murder, over the incident ... and if he's convicted on all counts, he's facing decades behind bars.

Jayson Tatum has played with a ton of great players so far in his career, but his best teammate might very well be his son, Deuce ... who wished his NBA Star dad a happy birthday by hitting up some of his favorite childhood spots!!

The Celtics forward is celebrating his 24th birthday on Thursday ... and posted a video on social media of his adorable son showing him some love on the special day.

The video starts out with 4-year-old Deuce in a Cardinals jersey ... which, of course, is only fitting since Tatum is a native of St. Louis, Missouri.

Deuce is seen jumping excitedly in front of a place where JT has childhood ties to ... before the video transitions to Tatum's favorite pizza spot.

Deuce then hit up Tatum's old high school, Chaminade College Preparatory School ... where Jayson averaged 26.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game his sophomore season.

After leaving his dad's old stomping grounds, Deuce made his way to the gym at the WOHL community center in St. Louis ... while wearing his pop's Celtics jersey.

The video's precious ... with Deuce signing off by saying, "This is St. Louis," as Nelly's hit song "St. Louie" plays in the background.

Tatum will have his hands full when he plays Ja Morant and the Grizzlies later on his birthday ... but don't be surprised if he balls out and has a career game in honor of the occasion.

It appears the NFL just declared the pandemic over ... 'cause the league and the players association have put an end to all of their COVID-19 protocols, including testing, mask-wearing, and contact tracing.

The NFL and NFLPA sent a joint memorandum to all 32 organizations announcing the decision ... citing "encouraging trends regarding the prevalence of COVID-19."

The league and PA say they will no longer conduct mandatory tests, regardless of whether a player is vaccinated or not.

They've also done away with the high-tech tracker -- called a Kinexon device -- that players were required to wear at all times, which was used to alert officials of any close contacts with infected individuals.

There's more. Teams can now take down all the signage instructing players to socially distance, wear masks, etc.

That's because masks ... they're no longer required, either.

Now, it's worth noting that state and local laws supersede the NFL's rules ... so, if you live in a city or state that still requires the masks, the new guidelines don't necessarily apply.

When it came to the virus, the NFL was very strict. There were several high-profile clashes between the league and a few top players including Aaron Rodgers, Cole Beasley, and Antonio Brown.

Rodgers was fined for allegedly misleading team and league officials on his vax status. Beasley was hit with $100K+ in fines for multiple COVID-19 protocol violations. Brown was suspended 3 games for providing a fake vaccination card.

Ukrainian tennis star Sergiy Stakhovsky is back in Ukraine, voluntarily returning to defend his homeland against Russia -- and his second mission is making his wife understand why he's chosen to do the first.

Sergiy was in Kyiv Thursday when he joined us on "TMZ Live" ... and explained the extremely difficult decision he's made to leave his wife and 3 young kids -- ages 3, 6 and 7 -- in Hungary while he takes up arms in Ukraine.

As you can imagine, telling his wife he was leaving safety to go to the middle of his war-torn country was not easy ... and you can hear the agony in Sergiy's voice.

Sergiy says his wife was mad when he told her he was going back to Ukraine ... but he understood there would be no way she could understand.

He says things were initially extremely icy between them, but they are communicating again, and now he's just hoping he'll be able to ask for her forgiveness one day ... in person.

You wanna talk about being torn in separate directions -- Sergiy tells us he's not sure he made the right choice in joining Ukraine's reserve army, but at the same time he says staying home with his family in Hungary wouldn't be the right choice either.

This is just a few powerful moments of our conversation with him -- but Sergiy also told us how he and other Ukrainians are feeling about the possibility of a ceasefire, and about Vladimir Putin.

Jack Harlow's acting career is poppin' -- the rap star just reportedly landed the lead role in the "White Men Can't Jump" reboot ... after his FIRST EVER audition.

The "Nail Tech" MC will play Billy Hoyle, which was Woody Harrelson's role in the original film back in 1992, according to Deadline.

23-year-old Harlow -- who has zero acting experience -- apparently wowed producers from the jump ... helping pave the way to his first on-screen gig.

Of course, the OG flick starred Harrelson and Wesley Snipes -- which followed the story of two on-court rivals who team up to start hustling people on the court.

Harlow is known to be a pretty solid hooper in real life -- he's been in numerous celebrity basketball games over the years ... most recently, the NBA Celeb Game during All-Star Weekend in Cleveland, where he showed off his range with multiple 4-point plays.

The reboot is produced by Kenya Barris and his Khalabo Ink Society banner ... and executive produced by NBA star Blake Griffin, NFLer Ryan Kalil and Noah Weinstein of Mortal Media.