TMZ Sports - Page 50

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and his wife, Hillary, just welcomed their baby boy ... and the family couldn't look happier and healthier!!

The couple just announced Hudson David Trubisky was born on May 9 ... weighing 7 pounds, 10 ounces ... and 20 1/2 inches long.

The Trubiskys returned home on Thursday ... celebrating with a big sign and a ton of balloons.

A bunch of their friends congratulated the couple on their new addition ... including Khalil Mack; Josh Allen's girlfriend, Brittany Williams; Rachel Bush; Golden Tate's wife, Elise; and more.

As we previously reported, Mitch and Hillary announced they were expecting back in November ... a few months after getting married.

Mitch and Hillary have been together for a long time ... and now, they officially have their first child.

The NFL omitted Ray Rice's jersey from a viral video that former Houston Texans star Arian Foster posted on Thursday morning.

In Foster's clip, the ex-running back showed off a bevy of signed, game-worn jerseys that he had accumulated throughout his career.

There were some big names in the pile -- Jason Witten, Troy Polamalu, Andrew Luck, Tony Gonzalez and Ray Lewis -- and, at one point, Rice's uniform was revealed too.

However, when the official NFL Twitter account shared Arians' vid, Rice's jersey was edited out of the clip.

Foster noticed the change, and tweeted about it a short time later ... saying, "lmao y'all cut out ray rice."

It's unclear what the league's intentions were with the removal -- it should be pointed out, they also left out a few other jerseys, including former Texans punter Shane Lechler's.

But, it is certainly notable, considering the league's history with Rice. You'll recall, it suspended him indefinitely following his now-infamous elevator attack on his then-fiancee in Atlantic City in 2014, essentially ending the running back's pro football career.

Did you know Tom Brady has Medusa-like powers? He does! ... according to Charles Barkley, who says the NFL star is so handsome -- he can't look the man in the eyes!!

Chuck dropped the compliments during the "NBA on TNT" broadcast Wednesday night ... while bringing up a hilarious conversation he had recently with Shaquille O'Neal.

"Shaq came in the other night and said, 'I had dinner with Tom Brady the other night,'" Chuck said. "He says 'Man, I gotta tell you something?' I said 'What?' He says, 'I was out with Tom Brady the other night -- you right, that's a pretty man.'"

Shaq couldn't deny Barkley's story ... and even added to it, saying Brady is truly "gorgeous." That's when Barkley revealed that Brady has some kind of powers in his eyes.

"Every time I'm around him, when he start talking to me and I would make you contact, I don't remember nothin' he say after that," Chuck joked.

"We'll start talking and then I make eye contact and then you know ... that's a pretty man."

This ain't the first time Barkley has mentioned the spell Brady has on him -- back in 2019, the 59-year-old said similar things about TB12's eyes on "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

"I look him in the eyes and I said, 'Damn. You a pretty man,'" Barkley said to Kimmel.

"I see why he scores all the touchdowns because those defenses look into his eyes and get mesmerized."

An incredibly rare baseball signed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky just sold at auction ... and a portion of the proceeds are going to a relief fund for the country.

The winning bid for the autographed baseball came in at $50,103 ... according to Boston-based RR Auction, which will be donating their cut of more than $15k to relief efforts in Zelensky's war-torn country.

The sale price is higher than expected ... remember, the ball was projected to go for $15k, and now that's the figure that's being donated.

Zelensky signed his last name on the baseball in two different languages ... Ukrainian cursive and English print ... with his signature underneath an MLB logo.

The ball comes with a letter signed by Volodymyr Yelchenko, Ukraine's Ambassador to the United Nations in September 2019, when Zelensky left his John Hancock during a visit to New York.

Randy L. Kaplan, a government affairs specialist in the Big Apple, got the ball as a gift from Yelchenko ... and he's been collecting signed Major League baseballs from world leaders and heads of state dating all the way back to 1996 with Bill Clinton.

We're told there were 35 bids entered and the buyer wishes to remain anonymous.

There will NOT be a Triple Crown winner this year -- Rich Strike, who beat the odds and won the Kentucky Derby -- will forgo competing at Preakness Stakes ... in hopes of returning at Belmont.

The decision is a bummer, but it shouldn't come as a huge surprise -- trainer, Eric Reed, previously said he does not usually like to run his horses in races so close to each other ... and with Preakness just one week away, he decided to focus on Belmont in June.

Owner, Rick Dawson, released a statement on Thursday, saying, "Obviously, with our tremendous effort & win in the Derby it's very, very tempting to alter our course & run in the Preakness at Pimlico, which would be a great honor for all our group."

"However, after much discussion & consideration with my trainer, Eric Reed & a few others, we are going to stay with our plan of what's best for Ritchie is what's best for our group, and pass on running in the Preakness, and point toward the Belmont in approximately 5 weeks."

After 45 years, the NBA's Larry O'Brien Trophy is getting a makeover.

The league just debuted the new-look championship trophy on Thursday ... showing off Tiffany & Co.'s redesign of the iconic award.

The new trophy won't differ too much from its predecessor -- its size, shape and weight will remain the same -- but there are some awesome new features to spice up its look.

For instance, in honor of the league celebrating its 75th anniversary, the new LOB trophy will have the names of the first 75 NBA champions etched on it ..., and moving forward, the name of each champion's name will be added to the bottom disc.

The trophy -- formerly known as the Walter A. Brown trophy --  was named after then NBA commissioner Larry O'Brien in 1984.

Victor Solomon -- the mastermind who designed the NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant MVP Award -- teamed up with Tiffany to create the new-look award, which features sterling silver on the 24-karat gold basketball that sits atop.

In addition to the remodeled NBA Finals trophy, the league announced that there will be Conference Finals MVP trophies named after Larry Bird and Magic Johnson ... who played a pivotal role in elevating the sport with their rivalry in the '80s.

Jorge Masvidal will be allowed to inspect Colby Covington's watch to see if it's a phony Rolex ... the UFC star's attorney tells TMZ Sports a judge just granted their motion to see the timepiece up close.

Covington had alleged Masvidal banged up the watch -- which Colby says is worth around $95K -- during an attack in Miami last month ... but Jorge and his legal team say they have doubts it's a real Rolly.

In fact, Masvidal and his attorney, Bradford Cohen, were so skeptical ... they filed a motion earlier this month asking a judge to allow them to closely view it.

In the docs, Cohen said he believed the watch was a "Folex" composed of aftermarket and fraudulent parts -- and wasn't worth anywhere close to the $95K Colby said it was.

According to Cohen, a judge just granted the motion at a hearing on Thursday morning ... paving the way for Masvidal and the legal team to look at it soon.

As for the other motion, Cohen filed earlier this month -- the one in which they asked a judge to order Colby to submit to a physical exam following claims he suffered a "brain injury" in the alleged attack -- Cohen tells us a hearing regarding that motion has been set for a later date.

As we reported, Masvidal is facing felony charges of aggravated battery and criminal mischief after Covington told cops he injured him and scratched up his Rolex outside of Papi Steak on March 21.

Wowwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!

Pro wrestler Darby Allin tore down the house Wednesday night at AEW Dynamite when he pulled off a death-defying stunt ... jumping off the top of a ladder and crashing into 8 steel chairs -- and Jeff Hardy, too!!

It all went down at UBS Arena at Belmont Park in Long Island, NY, when Allin (with Sting) was in action against Jeff (with his brother Matt) in a first-round, anything goes match in the Owen Hart Men's Foundation tourney.

Hardy and Allin were exchanging blows all match, but things picked up when the "KING of the extreme" set up a ladder in the middle of the ring ... with obvious plans on using it.

Allin, who introduced multiple chairs into the match that he pulled from underneath the ring, flipped the script on Jeff ... hitting him with his signature Swanton Bomb finisher off the top of the ladder ... through the chairs.

In the insane clip, it appears Allin was paying homage to 44-year-old Hardy, 'cause he even mimicked the hand movements Jeff does before performing his Swanton Bomb move.

The spot in the match was sick ... and the AEW fans in attendance lost it, especially since they're not used to seeing Jeff on the receiving end of crazy stunts in the squared circle.

Sylvester Stallone created monuments to the movie that made him a star, so we thought he'd take them with him when he sold his estate to Adele, but turns out that's not the case.

Adele is now the proud owner of a Rocky statue perched at the base of her new swimming pool.

TMZ broke the story ... Sly sold Adele the estate for $58 million. He's moved to Palm Beach, so you'd think Rocky would follow.

Now, we don't know if the Rocky statue inside the main house is still there, or if Sly took it with him. Put in real estate terms, is the statue more like art or an appliance? The former usually goes with the seller, whereas the latter stays behind.

Adele and BF Rich Paul posed in the front of the house as they both held the keys to their new kingdom. Speaking of which ... interesting Rich has a set of keys. The relationship's clearly serious.

LaMelo Ball is adding to his ink collection -- the Charlotte Hornets star just debuted some brand new hand tattoos this week ... and they're out of this world!!

The 20-year-old former Rookie of the Year -- who already has a chest piece and forearm tat -- got more work done with his go-to guy, Herchell Carrasco.

The tats feature butterflies, a UFO, LaMelo's "LaFrance" brand logo, and "Not From Here" ... a phrase that was used during his PUMA signature sneaker release.

The pieces also feature a set of red flames on each wrist, which move up Melo's forearm.

We're told there's also another tattoo on each of Melo's thumbs, which reads "Golden Child" ... and is etched in gold ink.

Herchell tells us it was about a 7-hour appointment ... and the images will be used for Melo's next shoe.

As we previously reported, Melo added a unique angel and "Rare" to his forearm last June ... and a massive #1 chest piece with wings back in 2019.

Melo didn't leave Carrasco empty-handed -- the artist showed off a pretty sick gift he got from the hooper ... an autographed jersey with a special message etched on it.

"My brudda Rock! Love You Family," LaMelo signed the threads ... including his soon-to-be jersey number 1.

Just a matter of time before the dude catches up to Wiz Khalifa.

LeBron James' Lakers took plenty of Ls in the last 12 months ... but The King's bank account certainly didn't -- because the L.A. superstar raked in a reported $121 MILLION this past year!!

Forbes just released its annual "top-10 highest-paid athletes in the world" list ... and LBJ came in second place, just behind Lionel Messi, who the outlet reports garnered around $130 million.

Forbes says LBJ's cash flow was obviously inflated by his huge Lakers contract -- but his ventures with the new 'Space Jam' flick, his "The Shop: Uninterrupted" talk show, and other endorsement deals pushed him over the $100 million mark, which is quite the feat.

According to the outlet, James is only the 10th athlete ever to earn more than $100 mil in a 12-month span ... and his $121,000,000 figure marks the most ever earned by an NBA player in a year (he previously held the record with $96.5 mil).

Outside of Messi and Bron -- a whole bunch of soccer players and basketball players rounded out the top 10, with Cristiano Ronaldo (#3, $115 million), Neymar (#4, $95 million), Stephen Curry (#5, $92.8 million), Kevin Durant (#6, $92.1 million) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (#10, $80.9 million) making the cut.

The others in the top 10 ... Roger Federer (#7, $90.7 million), Canelo Alvarez (#8, $90 million), and Tom Brady (#9, $83.9 million).

What's interesting ... Conor McGregor for the first time in a long time didn't crack the top 10 -- but don't fret, Forbes says he was close, landing somewhere in the top 50.

As for the 10 dudes at the top of the heap ... Forbes says in total, they all earned a combined $992 million in the last year.

A new popular Snapchat filter depicts users as a crying, blubbering mess -- leading the Internet to believe it might be inspired by Amber Heard ... a theory that's total BS.

If you use the ghost app regularly, you've probably seen this feature by now -- it's an augmented reality lens you can throw onto your mug, changing your facial expression to one that's hilariously sad and emotive ... and it's got the kids hooked, as lots of these videos have now gone viral.

While it might be a hit ... it's also become the cause of a new rumor/joke -- namely, that the Snapchat heads must've used Amber's crying last week on the stand as the blueprint here.

Despite the rampant speculation, we're here to tell you otherwise ... a spokesperson for Snap tells TMZ there's simply no truth whatsoever, that the lens is inspired by Amber Heard and if you think about this logistically -- it just doesn't add up.

We're told that this specific filter -- which just dropped Friday -- has been in the works for 6 months ... so it was being developed well before Amber ever offered her tearful testimony. More importantly, Snapchat tells us they'd never play coy with a DV case.

Another tell that this has nothing to do with Amber ... the fact Snap dropped a filter that does the exact opposite not too long ago (big smiley face), so naturally -- sad face would follow.

Like we said, the crying face filter is all the rage since its debut last week -- it's already amassed upwards of 1.3 billion impressions on Snapchat, we're told -- and it was especially used in NFL circles, where some of the league's biggest stars were having fun shedding fake tears for their followers and friends ... and to be honest, it's pretty freakin' funny.

Ciara and Russell Wilson welcomed a new puppy to the family for Mother's Day, but PETA's taking them to task for buying the pup from a breeder, and not rescuing a pooch from a shelter instead.

PETA believes it's clear -- the couple's new dog, Bronco, is a purebred puppy -- and likely from a breeder where "mother dogs are often locked inside filthy cages and bred over and over until their bodies give out."

The animal rescue org also uses some Ciara song references in calling out Russ, telling us the QB made a "One, Two Step mistake by killing a shelter dog's chances of finding a home."

They continue, "PETA is calling on the couple to Level Up on kindness by adopting a companion for this pup instead of fueling the homeless-animal crisis."

As we've told you, Ci and Russ revealed they welcomed their new doggy to the fam over Mother's Day weekend, naming her Bronco after Russ' new team in Denver. Ciara called the puppy, "the sweetest surprise."

Ex-Lyon defender Marcelo is getting an offer that could salvage his career -- TMZ Sports has learned Dude Wipes wants to hook up the soccer star with a ton of products to make his situation stink a whole lot less!!

Of course, Marcelo made headlines earlier this week ... after reports explained he was demoted from the French club's first team for "constant farting" and laughing in the locker room.

The dudes at Dude Wipes tell us they heard about the 31-year-old's problem ... and immediately set aside a whole year's worth of wipes and spray that will hopefully save his teammates' nostrils -- and his own job.

In fact, we've obtained a pic of a letter from DW to the current Bordeaux center back ... which reads, "Dear Marcelo, we hope this helps."

Marcelo's contract with Lyon was eventually terminated in January ... but he can rest easy knowing DW has his ass covered in the future -- if he wants it.

Foot meet mouth.

Golf legend Greg Norman, when confronted about the heinous murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 ... said, "we've all made mistakes.".

Norman, a 2x majors winner who spent over 300 weeks as the world's number 1 ranked player in the '80s and '90s, is the CEO of LIV Golf, the new Saudi Arabian-backed golf organization.

GN met with reporters at media day this week and was asked about the killing of the Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul, Turkey.

“Everybody has owned up to it, right? It has been spoken about, from what I’ve read, going on what you guys reported," the 67-year-old said.

"Take ownership, no matter what it is. Look, we’ve all made mistakes and you just want to learn from those mistakes and how you can correct them going forward.”

Of course, there was immediate backlash to the comments ... because that "mistake" was the brutal killing of an innocent man.

Norman also attempted to highlight the good things happening in the middle eastern country.

“This whole thing about Saudi Arabia and Khashoggi and human rights, talk about it, but also talk about the good the country is doing to change its culture," Norman said.

"There’s not many countries that can stand up and be proud of that. They can’t be proud of their past — there’s a lot of countries in this world that have a cross to bear too — but they are looking after the younger generation.”

Nikola Jokic will truly never forget winning the 2021-22 NBA MVP award ... because the Denver Nuggets surprised him with the trophy while he was out riding a horse in Serbia!!

The surreal moment was documented by the team on Wednesday ... showing Jokic was (seriously) out on a horse carriage in his home country when the NBA officially named him the league's most valuable player.

And, when Jokic returned from his jaunt ... he teared up at the sight of the trophy -- with Nuggets video revealing the 6-foot-11 center was very emotional outside of his horse stable.

In the clip, you can see Jokic wiped away tears and hugged all of his family and friends in attendance ... and even earned an "M-V-P" chant from some of them while he admired the trophy.

Jokic went on to do an interview with media members from inside the stables ... where a coughing dog actually interrupted one of his answers!!

Of course, Jokic is used to all the animal chaos ... he's owned horses for years and has talked repeatedly about how amazing the pets have been for him.

The MVP award, meanwhile, is the second one in as many years for the 27-year-old ... and, it was expected. After all, Jokic killed it this year, averaging 27.1 points per game, 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists.