TMZ Sports - Page 50

Scary moment during the Mets' season opener on Thursday ... star slugger Pete Alonso was drilled in the face by a 95 MPH fastball, but somehow, he's expected to be OK.

The horrifying scene went down in the ninth inning of New York's win over the Nationals ... when a heater got away from Washington reliever Mason Thompson and made a beeline for Alonso's mouth.

The 27-year-old tried to move out of the way of the pitch -- but it still caught him in the jaw ... sending him crashing to the dirt.

Fortunately, the pitch caught most of Alonso's ear flap before it hit him in the mouth -- but, still, the guy had to leave the game as blood poured from his face.

Pete, though, said afterward he's expecting to be just fine ... explaining to reporters he's still got all of his teeth and suffered no concussion.

In fact, the home run hitter joked about it all on IG following the game, writing on a selfie, "Why spend thousands on lip injections when you can get this look for FREE by getting hit in the mouth by a 97 mph fastball?"

Dallas Cowboys legend Rayfield Wright -- one of the greatest offensive linemen in NFL history -- died on Thursday, his family announced. He was 76 years old.

In a statement, Wright's wife said America's Team's former left tackle passed away after he had been hospitalized following a severe seizure just days ago.

Wright was picked by the Cowboys in the 7th round of the 1967 NFL Draft ... and played 13 seasons for the team before retiring following the 1979 season. He was eventually inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

"Rayfield Wright was the epitome of what it takes to be a Hall of Famer," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in a statement following Wright's passing Thursday. "His grit, his agility, his passion, his charisma and his love for football, the community and his family always shined through."

"He remained an important part of the Cowboys family long after his playing days ended, and he will be deeply missed. Our love and support go out to his wife, Di, and the entire Wright family."

Wright earned three All-Pro honors in his career and made six Pro Bowls. He won two Super Bowls with the Cowboys ... and was named a member of the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2004.

"His gentle nature away from the game belied his commanding presence on the field," Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said in a statement.

"All fans, especially those of the Cowboys, will remember fondly his dominance on the offensive line in the 1970s and how he took protecting Dallas quarterbacks as his personal mission."

Patrick Mahomes is apparently a wizard with both the football and a camera ... because he snapped some great pics of his wife's bikini bod on their honeymoon recently -- and they're steamy!!

Brittany Mahomes just posted a series of the sexy flicks that she says her hubby took of her in a pool in St. Barts last month ... praising the Chiefs star for hittin' all the right angles with the camera.

"On the Instagram Husband series, here's todays update…," Brittany wrote. "@patrickmahomes killed it🤣🔥"

Patrick was clearly pleased with his work -- he commented on the pics with a bunch of camera emojis.

Brittany and Patrick took the St. Barts trip to celebrate their wedding in mid-March ... and as we reported, it looked like quite the experience.

The two toured the island, went hiking, kayaking, swimming and more ... and Brittany praised the villa they were staying in as "just pure perfection."

The family of "The Walking Dead" star Moses J. Moseley has created the perfect way to honor the actor's legacy by starting a scholarship in his name.

Moses' sister, Teera Kimbro, tells TMZ … the MJM3 Fitness Scholarship came to be after she read the actor's journal after his passing. He had 5 goals written down for the year -- buy a condo, create a cartoon series, go to Germany for his birthday, start a fitness t-shirt brand, and create a scholarship.

She tells us Moses did a survey in college, trying to determine if student debt was a source of depression among college kids ... giving him the idea to create a scholarship and help with students' mental health.

After learning about his goal, Teera knew the idea had to live on, which is when the MJM3 fund was created -- the "3" comes from him being the 3rd child in the family.

The scholarship through Bold.org will provide 3 qualifying high school seniors or undergrads with $1,000 each to go towards their tuition. His family knows Moses would be proud that his legacy is making a difference in the world.

Terrell Owens is urging Colin Kaepernick to join forces with him in the Fan Controlled Football league ... telling TMZ Sports he thinks it could ultimately help the QB in his goal to get back to the NFL.

Owens -- who just announced his intentions to play in the FCF this week -- explained to us he believes the league's platform could benefit Kaepernick greatly if the former 49ers star would suit up for a few games.

"I feel like he could come in and really use this to really sharpen his skill set," Owens said. "Especially because there's some questions about him not playing for such a long time."

Kaepernick being in the league would obviously give owners and GMs another chance to see the QB in a competitive setting after the signal-caller hasn't played in the NFL since the 2016 season ... but Owens tells us he thinks it could actually improve the 33-year-old's game too.

Owens says because the FCF is played on a much smaller field, Kaepernick's decision-making and accuracy could improve in a short amount of time in the league.

The FCF is slated to begin its season later this month.

As we reported, Kaepernick is doing everything he can to get another chance at the NFL -- working out with NFL wideouts in front of cameras weekly, while imploring coaches and GMs to give him a tryout.

Opening Day is upon us ... and what better way to start the 2022 MLB season than to go through all the new grub fans will be able to devour as they watch their favorite teams at the stadium!!

Off the bat, the Chopped Cheese is hitting Yankee Stadium ... as a homage to the local bodegas in NYC.

The Rangers have a WILD new entry for 2022 -- an Alligator Corn Dog ... which sounds worse than it probably actually is.

The reigning champs -- the Atlanta Braves -- have a $151 wagyu beef burger available for purchase ... but there's also a $25,000 option that comes with a World Series ring!!

The Orioles have a ton of delicious options this season ... but the Crab Cake Egg Rolls made our stomachs growl the most.

The Royals have one of the most unique items -- the BBQ Reese's Sandwich ... which is part of Aramark's Dare To Pair series, a promo that makes unique combinations turn into delicious creations.

There's a ton more new additions ... but it's better if you just check out the pics for yourself.

The Chicago Cubs used Opening Day on Thursday to raise awareness for the war in Ukraine -- flying Ukrainian flags at Wrigley Field and donating raffle proceeds to victims.

Cubbies officials hung the Ukrainian flags all outside of the stadium ... with roughly a dozen of the flags being placed around the famous venue's facade.

Inside the stadium, Chicago donated proceeds from the 50/50 raffle to Ukrainian relief efforts.

The team also had Ukrainian American Youth Association Choir hit the field before the game against the Milwaukee Brewers to sing the Ukrainian national anthem.

As we reported, Ukraine has been in need of support since late February ... after Russian troops invaded the country.

Tiger Woods is officially back -- the golf legend just teed off at The Masters ... only 408 days after he nearly lost his leg in a car crash.

The 46-year-old hit his opening drive 264 yards in the fairway, just short of the bunker on the first hole at Augusta -- and his surgically repaired leg looks just fine.

Tiger is expected to finish all 18 holes of his first round in the next roughly three hours or so.

The sight is something most golf fans didn't expect to see again ... after Tiger mangled his left leg in a car wreck back in February 2021.

Woods required multiple procedures to fix the damage ... and things were so dire at the time, Tiger said doctors seriously considered amputating the limb.

Woods has worked tirelessly to get back to the course, though ... and said earlier this week that he believes he can legitimately win this weekend's event.

Tiger is playing with Louis Oosthuizen and Joaquin Niemann on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Masters favorite, Jon Rahm, is expected to tee off at around 11 a.m. PT.

NFL coaches Steve Wilks and Ray Horton have joined ex-Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, and are also suing the National Football League, alleging racial discrimination in its hiring practices.

Wilks, who was head coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 2018, is going after the Cards' organization ... claiming the team discriminated against him in a manner consistent with the experiences of many Black coaches.

In the suit, Wilks says he was hired as a "bridge coach," meaning he was never given a real chance to succeed, and his tenure was only meant to "keep the seat warm" until they found his replacement.

The 52-year-old was fired after finishing 3-13 with the Cards -- the worst record the franchise posted in almost two decades (and worst record in the league) -- and struggled to find success with rookie quarterback Josh Rosen under center.

According to the suit, "Wilks was not given nearly the time nor authority to develop the team or culture for the Cardinals -- certainly nothing at all commensurate with the time and opportunities afforded to white Head Coaches throughout the League."

The suit points out the organization hired Kliff Kingsbury to replace Wilks ... but despite Kingsbury having Kyler Murray -- the No.1 overall pick in the draft that year -- he only managed to win 2 more games (5 wins total) than Wilks did the previous season.

"But Mr. Kingsbury was not fired," the suit reads. "He kept his job and was given time to develop the team. In year two, 2020, Mr. Kingsbury improved the team to 8-8, and to 11-6 and a playoff berth in 2021."

"Mr. Wilks was never given close to the same opportunity. 262. Like many other Black Head Coaches, Mr. Wilks has never been given a second opportunity to become the Head Coach of any other NFL team."

As for Horton, the longtime NFL coach (who's now retired) accused the Titans of only interviewing him in 2016 to satisfy the league's Rooney rule -- which requires minority candidates to be interviewed for head coaching and senior football operation jobs.

Horton believes his interview process was a sham and meant to deliberately show the Titans were an equal opportunity employer willing to consider a minority candidate to fill their head coaching vacancy.

"As Mr. Horton now understands," the complaint reads, "the rush to interview him was an orchestrated attempt to make it appear that the Titans had complied with the Rooney Rule and otherwise appear to have given an equal opportunity to Black candidates so the team could announce the pre-made decision to hire Mr. Mularkey as Head Coach."

Wilks and Horton's claims are similar to the ones made in the original lawsuit filed by Flores -- where he alleged the NY Giants interviewed him, but never intended to hire him 'cause Bills assistant Brian Daboll was their guy all along. Flores says he only found this out after Bill Belichick accidentally texted Flores thinking it was Daboll.

Tiger Woods is playing -- and yelling -- like he hasn't missed a beat on the course ... with a hot mic catching him cussing out his golf ball in the middle of his impressive return to the Masters.

The funny and candid moment all went down moments ago while Woods was on the ninth hole at Augusta.

Tiger was hitting a golf ball out of some pine straw -- and when it hit the green, the shot appeared to be a very good one.

But, it caught a slope, and as it was rolling back to the fairway -- broadcast microphones caught Tiger yelling "F*** off!" at the ball.

Tiger was able to ultimately save par on the hole.

While vulgar, the scene was pretty awesome, because it showed Tiger -- who's had some famous verbal blowups on the course over the years -- is truly back.

F1 stars Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris will have an extra McLaren sitting around at the Australian Grand Prix this week -- a life-size LEGO replica ... and it's made with more than 288,000 bricks!!

The toy giant revealed the awesome project at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit ... showing a life-size plastic version of the orange McLaren F1 car, which reportedly took 1893 hours to complete, according to IGN.

LEGO Masters Australia judge Ryan ‘Brickman’ McNaught led the charge on assembling the car ... and get this -- it actually includes real mechanical features!!

The replica has moving pistons for its engine, a locking differential, and steering activated from the cockpit.

The car is totally detailed -- it even has all the sponsorship logos!!

While the LEGO car won't be able to speed around like the real thing, drivers are still able to actually SIT in the car ... which Ricciardo did in a video posted by F1 this week.

Seems Lando and Daniel loved the LEGO car ... smiling from ear-to-ear as they checked it out.

Tom Brady is showing, yet again, he's kicking Father Time's ass -- revealing on Thursday that he's got a GREAT bod!!!

TB12 just shared an ad for his clothing brand on his social media page ... and in the footage, you can see Tom is looking jacked these days.

The clip starts with the 44-year-old talking to someone off-camera while shirtless -- and you can see in the commercial, his pecs, biceps and shoulders are looking huge.

Later in the footage, as he put the camera toward the ground -- he revealed his quads look ripped as hell too!!

Brady, though, didn't stay without clothes for too long (sorry, everyone) -- because after he "stepped on" his phone, he donned one of his "Brady Brand" jackets in an effort to get fans to buy the swag.

Of course, Brady hasn't always had a body like this -- he famously was a bit doughy coming out of Michigan in 2000.

But, he's been all avocados and protein in the years since -- and the results are hard to ignore.

The junior tennis player who slapped his opponent in the face following a match earlier this week has issued an apology ... saying his actions were "wrong and completely out of line."

Just three days after 15-year-old Michael Kouame smacked 16-year-old Raphael Nii Ankrah following a loss at an ITF juniors tournament in Ghana ... he said he was very sorry.

Kouame -- who posted the mea culpa on his social media page -- said he acted out and slapped Ankrah after hearing heckling from the crowd during the match.

"I was repeatedly verbally abused by a large number of individuals in the crowd, including insults to my mother in particular," Kouame said. "However, that does not excuse my behavior."

Kouame directly apologized to Ankrah ... and said he'd take any punishment that officials inevitably hand down.

"[I] will use this time to reflect on how I can better manage challenging situations like these in the future in a manner that accurately reflects my character," Kouame said.

UFC middleweight Paulo Costa crossed the line when calling out Derek Brunson for a fight ... referring to the fighter as a gay slur -- and now, he's getting bashed over it.

30-year-old Borrachinha has been going scorched-earth on social media recently ... pulling out all the stops in hopes of getting Brunson to get in the Octagon with him.

Costa -- who is 0-2 in his past two fights -- seemingly mocked Brunson for being a former cheerleader ... posting a pic of La'Darius Marshall of the popular Netflix show, "Cheer" and captioning it," Derek F** Brunson. Fight me bitch."

Costa's Twitter followers rightfully called him out for the slur ... saying, "You’re gonna end up getting canceled" ... and "@ufc seriously? This is ok from an employee of yours?"

There's more -- "Aside from being a bigoted and just low IQ middle school level insult, it's pretty rich coming from a guy who got styled on then literally humped by a dude who did Naruto hand signs."

The latter tweet is referencing Paulo's loss to Israel Adesanya ... who then humped his back after the 2nd-round TKO.

FYI, Costa and Brunson are currently (both) the 4th ranked UFC Middleweight ... so a fight between the two would seem to make sense.

Things got testy between Kyrie Irving and a fan at MSG last night ... the Nets star was heading to the locker room during halftime when he stopped to confront a man (he thought was) heckling him.

The exchange went down as the Nets were coming off the floor, trailing the Knicks 67-50 at the half. Irving stopped and doubled back to get in the face of a fan he thought was trolling him.

In the short clip, you can see Irving tap the guy on his shoulder and exchange words with him ... before heading to the locker room with the rest of his teammates.

It's unclear what Irving said to the fan, who seemed visibly shocked Irving was there/touching him. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and the interaction didn't get any more serious.

After the game, Kyrie spoke to reporters and apologized to the fan for making contact with him ... and letting his emotions get the best of him.

"East coast basketball at its finest," Irving said. "People just yelling random s*** from the crowd. They wanted a reaction, they got one."

"I think I tapped the wrong person, so I apologize to the random guy that I tapped. He looked at me with a big surprise on his face. Somebody said something. I was just fed up with our performance."

Of course, this isn't the first time Irving got into with a fan. Earlier this year, Irving was fined $25,000 by the NBA for using the word "motherf***er" while responding to a fan giving him a hard time.

The NBA also hit Irving's teammate, Kevin Durant, for $25K after he told a fan, "you gotta shut the f*** up and sit down" during a game against the Dallas Mavericks.

Kris Jenner has clearly evolved in her feelings toward Caitlyn Jenner ... because she herself is saying she understands Caitlyn's transition in ways that escaped her when they broke up.

Kris and her fam are hyping their upcoming Hulu series on an ABC show that aired Wednesday night. Kris told Robin Roberts she and Caitlyn are in a good place now ... as she puts it things have "settled down a lot"

There was a lot of tension and anger in the wake of their divorce ... as Kris says she was shocked to find out Caitlyn was transitioning.

Kris says she didn't understand Caitlyn's feelings at first, especially following a 22-year marriage where they shared 2 kids -- Kendall and Kylie. The dynamic between her and Caitlyn today is "fine" though, and she considers them to be friends. The two see each other from time to time at family gatherings.

As you know, Caitlyn came out as transgender in April 2015 -- two years after their split ... while Kris claimed she was unaware of Caitlyn's feelings towards her gender, Caitlyn's 2017 book, "The Secrets of My Life," revealed Kris was more aware than she led on.