TMZ Sports - Page 42

Robert Griffin III is firing back at the racist haters attacking LeBron James' son, Bronny, for taking a white classmate to prom ... saying, "LEAVE THESE KIDS ALONE!!!"

That's right -- grown ass people are mad about who a 17-year-old kid took to a dance.

Here's the deal -- LeBron's wife, Savannah, shared shots of Bronny's big day to social media on Wednesday ... showing the junior hooper and his date, a senior student at Sierra Canyon, all dressed up for the event.

Bronny was decked out in a flashy blue and black suit ... and his transportation of choice was a custom-print Mercedes with a sporty spoiler, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Pretty awesome, right??

Well, some disgusting haters took issue with Bronny's date not being black ... commenting some awful responses under Savannah's post -- even accusing the girl of being a gold digger.

Enter RG3, who defended the teenagers in a passionate tweet this week.

"LEAVE THESE KIDS ALONE!" Griffin -- who is married to Estonian athlete Grete Sadeiko -- said on Wednesday.

"People clowning Bronny for his prom date are just miserable. Let them enjoy their day."

RG3 followed up with a passionate video ... saying the hate is giving off creepy energy.

Griffin has previously shut down his own criticism for not marrying a black woman ... saying, "It is not anti-black to love someone outside your race."

Tiger Woods clearly felt a little claustrophobic to start the first round of the PGA Championship on Thursday ... 'cause the golf legend asked a cameraman to give him some space THREE times on the tourney's opening hole.

Woods had just teed off at the Southern Hills Championship Course in Tulsa, Oklahoma ... when a man holding a giant camera approached him to record him as he walked down the fairway to his ball.

Hot microphones picked up Woods almost immediately asking the guy to scram.

"Would you mind giving me some breathing space?" Tiger asked. "Please?"

The camera guy clearly didn't move too much -- which caused Woods to ask again more sternly, "Would you mind giving me some breathing space, please?"

Finally, after a few more feet side-by-side, Woods asked, "Could you back off a little bit and give me some breathing space?"

Apparently, the camera guy finally got the memo -- and moved far enough away from the 46-year-old.

The interaction was awkward ... but it apparently didn't bother Woods too much, 'cause the second shot he hit was a dart -- and he later went on to birdie the hole.

Baby Future is not a baby anymore -- and Russell Wilson just sent his stepson a heartfelt message on his 8th birthday ... calling him the "greatest blessing in the world."

Russ was spreading love to the lil' man bright and early on Thursday -- posting a side-by-side pic of the two on social media ... expressing what Ciara's child with rapper Future means to him.

"Happy Bday Future!" Russ said on Twitter. "8yrs old! You are the greatest blessing in the world to me!"

"So full of the fruit of the Spirit of Jesus! Love, Joy, Peace, Forbearance, Kindness, Goodness, & Faithfulness! Galatians 5:22."

He added ... "Mommy, Daddy, Sienna, & Win love you to Heaven & back!"

Of course, Russ' relationship with the rapper's son has sparked drama in the past -- Future previously called the Super Bowl champ out for being seen out in public with his son ... saying, "At the end of the day, I'm not for the publicity stunts. Leave my son out of the publicity stunts. Just leave him out of your relationship."

No word on Russ and Future's status now ... but as we previously reported, the Wilsons booked it after the "I Never Liked You" spitter popped up at a Super Bowl party earlier this year.

Russ also shared a pic of Future Zahir rocking a baseball jersey and holding a trophy ... so the kid is definitely following in his stepdad's footsteps.

While Wilson was a two-sport athlete -- he was drafted by the Rockies in 2010 -- he seems fully supportive of Future's future on the diamond, once calling him "The next Griffey Jr."

Major League Baseball reporter Kelsey Wingert was drilled in the face by a line drive earlier this week ... and in a new photo she posted on Wednesday, you can see the ball did some serious damage to her forehead.

The incident happened during the ninth inning of the Colorado Rockies vs. San Francisco Giants game in Denver on Monday ... when Austin Slater belted a foul ball into the Rockies' dugout area.

The 95 MPH shot made a beeline right at Wingert, a Rockies reporter, and, unfortunately, she wasn't able to move out of the way.

The aftermath of the strike was caught on video -- and you can hear in the clip, one TV broadcaster was very concerned and asked, "Kelsey, you okay?"

Wingert was able to walk out of the dugout and did give a thumbs up ... but in an update on Wednesday, she revealed the strike caused a gnarly injury.

The 29-year-old said she had to spend five hours at a local hospital and needed several stitches to close the wound. She added that she required a CT scan as well.

Thankfully, Wingert said the testing went well and she's now doing OK -- and thanked the Rockies and her colleagues for all of the support in the wake of the incident.

"I've never experienced support like this," she said. "Thank you for the prayers."

Tristan Thompson is finally opening up about ejecting a fan from an NBA game earlier this season ... explaining he had the man booted from the arena after he claims the guy called Khloe Kardashian "a whore."

The incident went down back in November during a Sacramento Kings road game against the Memphis Grizzlies ... but Tristan and the Kings never explained exactly what happened.

Sacramento head coach Alvin Gentry simply said at the time the heckler was spewing "inappropriate things."

On Wednesday's episode of "The Kardashians," though, Tristan, in a conversation with Khloe at the gym, revealed what the heckler told him.

"'She talks to different basketball players, and you're just the next one,'" Tristan said the fan yelled.

"I said, 'Listen here, man,'" Tristan explained. "'Enjoy the game with your girl because she's coming here to see me.'"

He added in the convo with Khloe, who he was dating at the time of the episode's filming, "He called you a whore. Said you date basketball players."

Tristan said it was important to him to have the guy booted for the comments, saying to Khloe that people are "not going to keep talking about my family like that."

A horrifying and heartbreaking video has surfaced of a kid's game of tag interrupted by gunfire which killed a man near a California playground.

The clip starts with two young kids going back and forth and then gunshots ring out, sending the kids running for their lives. In the video, you can hear parents screaming and a little girl yelling for help as she fights back tears.

Cops say more than 33 shots were fired in the exchange between the two groups in a Palo Alto neighborhood on Tuesday. 3 people were injured and 1 killed. It does not appear any kids were hurt.

In a press conference Tuesday, Police Chief Jeff Liu, said, "Shooting and violence, especially at our parks with kids playing is completely unacceptable. We need to come together as a community and send a message that this type of activity will not be tolerated."

Deion Sanders is going after Nick Saban ... calling the Alabama coach a liar for claiming Jackson State University -- where Prime is the head coach -- paid one of its top players $1 million to sign with their program ... then bragged about it!

Sanders was pissed after a clip made rounds on social media, where Saban accused the up-and-coming program of signing good players by paying them off ... and then boasting about it to the media.

"You best believe I will address that LIE Coach SABAN told tomorrow," Sanders wrote on Twitter. "I was & awakened by my son @ShedeurSanders that sent me the article stating that WE PAYED @TravisHunterJr a Million to play at @GoJSUTigersFB!"

"We as a PEOPLE don’t have to pay our PEOPLE to play with our PEOPLE," he added.

Of course, coach Prime is referring to Saban's claim that JSU signed one of its marquee players, Travis Hunter, by giving him $1 million to commit to the HBCU.

"We have a rule right now that says you cannot use name, image, and likeness to entice a player to come to your school," Saban said. "Hell, read about it in the paper."

"I mean Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division 1 player to come to school -- it was in the paper, and then bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it."

Saban didn't stop at JSU, though ... the legendary coach also went after Texas A&M University, accusing the school of "buying every player on their team," thanks to NIL deals.

"I mean, we were second in recruiting last year," Saban told an audience at an Alabama booster event. "A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team -- made a deal for name, image, likeness. We didn't buy one player, all right?"

Charles Barkley had a ruthless comeback after a bunch of Warriors fans heckled him on Wednesday ... saying, "If you don't leave me alone, I'm going to come to your house and f*** your mama!!"

Chuck was in the Bay Area to cover the Western Conference Finals with TNT's "Inside the NBA" ... and as he sat on set outside Golden State's Chase Center, some spectators in the background went after him about having zero rings.

"Charles, spell championship," one fan yelled out ... as others shouted to get his attention.

But, the Hall of Famer wasn't about to let the jab slide -- turning around and firing off his response.

Surprisingly, the Dubs fans loved the burn, with several dudes in the crowd smiling and laughing it off.

Chances are Barkley was just having some fun with the trolls -- he wasn't smiling as he clapped back, but he doesn't seem too pissed.

Barkley has had a love-hate relationship with hecklers for years -- he previously told TMZ Sports in 2018 how athletes need to handle trolls ... saying pros can't put their hands on anybody -- 'cause they could literally kill an average Joe.

After all, this is the guy who unapologetically threw a man through a window back in 1997 ... so take his word for it.

Newly retired Tyson Fury might be done throwing his hands ... but he's clearly not opposed to still using his feet -- 'cause the star boxer attempted to kick a cabbie's car after an apparent altercation with the driver in France.

The incident went down sometime Wednesday ... when Fury seemed to be roaming the streets of Cannes after having just a little too much to drink.

In video shot by a bystander, Fury -- wearing a white shirt and dark-colored shorts -- can be seen needing some assistance as he stumbled to a cab in the middle of the road.

But, even though Tyson and his entourage were attempting to get a lift from the cabbie, it seemed the driver wanted no part of it -- because the guy was continuously waving them off.

Eventually, the driver pulled away from the pugilist and his buddies -- and that's when the 33-year-old fight attempted to stick his boot into the car's bumper.

You can see in the video, Fury appeared to just barely miss. Fury's friend, meanwhile, also seemed to throw a kick at the ride too.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem the altercation escalated any further -- and Fury appeared to joke about his level of intoxication in an IG post on Thursday morning.

"Strong beer!" Fury said while on a run with his father.

Fury -- who retired after beating Dillian Whyte last month -- has been in France for the last several days enjoying his newfound time off ... being spotted on a yacht as well as at different restaurants and watering holes in the country.

Khabib Nurmagomedov -- arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time -- tells TMZ Sports his friend and protégé, Islam Makhachev, could ultimately be a better fighter!

"Definitely, it's possible. You know, right now it's like this is a legacy fight for Islam. Why I really want him to fight vs. Charles Oliveira, because he had 11 win streak and UFC never make like this fight. 11 win streak vs. 10 win streak. It's supposed to be me versus Tony [Ferguson]. Ok, it never happened. Now we have Islam vs. Charles. Let these guys fight."

"If Islam beat Charles and then he beats new blood like from young generation, we have a lot of young fighters in lightweight division ranking. Beneil [Dariush], Islam beat Charles, Islam beat three more fighters, he can become the greatest lightweight ever. He has this potential. He's only 30 years old, but UFC has to give him chance."

That was the undefeated (29-0) UFC legends' answer when we asked if 30-year-old Makhachev could be the superior mixed martial artist.

Islam is the #4 ranked UFC lightweight ... and has been absolutely unstoppable since his one and only professional loss way back in 2015.

Makhachev has racked up 10 wins in a row ... beating guys like Dan Hooker and Drew Dober along the way.

We said Islam was Khabib's friend ... but that doesn't really do their relationship justice. The men have been close since childhood, and are more like brothers. They also train together at AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) in northern California.

Of course, Nurmagomedov's resume is well-known. 33-year-old Khabib, who is no longer fighting, beat everyone from Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier to Conor McGregor and just about every other badass 155-pound fighter on the UFC roster.

There's more.

While Khabib may be retired from fighting, he's anything but retired from working. In fact, his Eagle FC MMA promotion has a huge card Friday night featuring a few MMA legends.

Junior dos Santos is fighting Yorgan De Castro ... and Thiago Silva is fighting Hector Lombard.

"Definitely this is biggest card in Eagle FC history," Khabib told us.

"I'm very excited about this!"

Joe Burrow says he can't blame the Cleveland Browns for going all-in on Deshaun Watson ... admitting it was smart to "take a chance" on the superstar QB -- even with Baker Mayfield on the roster.

Cleveland added Watson after a blockbuster trade with the Houston Texans in March ... which, of course, pissed Mayfield off and left his future in northeast Ohio up in the air -- despite reaching the postseason in 2020.

Burrow says Baker's current situation is "tough," but gets why the Brownies went through with the deal ... saying when a talent like Watson is available, you gotta go for it.

"I think when you have a guy like Deshaun, you gotta take a chance at that," the 25-year-old QB said on Full Send Podcast this week, "'cause he's such a great player."

Burrow says this is not a shot at Baker -- in fact, he believes the former Heisman winner will succeed somewhere else ... wherever that is.

"Baker will land on his feet," Burrow said, "He's a really good player."

Of course, Joey B knows firsthand what Bake's capable of -- Mayfield has balled out every time the Browns played the Bengals -- and the AFC champ has yet to beat the Ohio rivals.

"Every time we play him, he balls," Burrow added. "First time we played him [in 2020], Thursday night ... we lost like 30-34 or something. He balled."

During Mayfield's four seasons with the Browns, he's logged in 14,125 passing yards, 92 touchdowns and 56 interceptions. He also led the Browns to their first playoff win in forever.

A tight MLB game on Wednesday got a whole lot more interesting in the later innings ... when a fan ran onto the field, and, for a while, evaded security guards like an NFL running back.

The moment just happened in the Braves vs. Brewers game in Milwaukee.

Video shot by spectators inside the stadium shows a fan made it down to the field, and then began dancing in center field.

The guy shook his booty for quite a while before security eventually realized he was there -- and then, he evaded the guards who were trying to take him down for several seconds.

The man then sprinted from the outfield to the mound, before eventually making it to home plate ... all while juking stadium officials in the process.

Toward the end of his jaunt, the guy tried to get a high-five from a Milwaukee batter, but after the Brewer left the man hanging, security finally corralled the fan and got him off the diamond.

The Buffalo Bills and NFL are teaming up to contribute $400,000 to local relief efforts in Buffalo ... after a mass shooting on Saturday left 10 people dead and several others injured.

"On behalf of the Buffalo Together Community Response Fund, we are most grateful for the generous contributions from the Buffalo Bills Foundation and the National Football League Foundation that will allow us to create real change and emerge from the darkness of this heinous act," said Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker, CEO of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.

The $400K donation will be divided up amongst several groups ... with $200,000 going to the Buffalo Community Response Fund, and the other $200,000 going to various nonprofit orgs working on relief efforts.

"This Fund is a partnership to build upon the collective desire to take action and to work together as a community to address immediate needs, long-term rebuilding and systemic issues that continue to marginalize communities of color," Dedecker added.

We've already seen members of the Bills org. -- like defensive back Micah Hyde -- literally, step up to the plate by donating proceeds from his charity softball game to the victims of the tragedy.

Hyde hosted the event at Sahlen Park, a minor league baseball facility, where he announced a huge $200K donation.

And, Josh Allen is also involved. The star quarterback said the team planned to meet to discuss further ways they could help the innocent victims and people in the community who are hurting.

The partnership between the Bills and the NFL is certainly a big step in the right direction.

No, Luka Doncic is not poundin' cold ones before Dallas' huge playoff game against the Warriors ... the Mavericks tell TMZ Sports the photo of the star with a beer making its rounds on social media on Wednesday is an old pic.

Luka, according to a Mavs spokesperson, has been in the training room all morning gearing up for the first game of the Western Conference Finals -- not getting a buzz on at a restaurant.

"I can tell you this wasn't taken today," the spokesperson said.

Unclear when the photo of Luka holding a beer was actually snapped ... but seems Dallas fans can now go back to presuming the point guard will be completely sober for Game 1 against the Warriors.

Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers jersey from the 1988 Stanley Cup-clinching game -- the Great One's last championship -- just hit the auction block ... and it could be the most expensive piece of hockey memorabilia ever sold.

TMZ Sports has learned ... the #99 jersey Gretzky rocked during the title-deciding game against the Boston Bruins is currently on the block at Grey Flannel Auctions ... and already has a bid over $400K!!

The craziest part ... there are still 18+ days left in the auction, and bidding doesn't typically heat up until the final day. In other words, this jersey is going to sell for an insane amount of money.

Wayne wore the iconic threads as he hoisted the best trophy in sports after leading his squad to a sweep over Boston in 5 games.

Yes, a sweep in 5 ... in a best of 7 series.

Gretzky and the Oilers had a chance to close out the Bruins in Game 4 ... that is, until the power went out with about 3 minutes remaining in the 2nd period of the potential series-clinching game.

NHL and team officials conferred, and ultimately decided to essentially throw out game 4 ... and just play game 5 two days later.

The Great One -- the NHL's all-time leading scorer -- lived up to his name during the 5th game ... finishing the game with 1 goal and 2 assists.

The jersey is a huge deal because it was the last time Gretzky ever donned an Oilers uniform ... as he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings a few months after winning the Cup -- in a shocking deal.

GFA tells us the jersey, a Nike size "XL," is covered in champagne stains from the boozy locker room celebration. The jersey also shows puck marks and loose threads.

The front features the Oilers team logo -- along with a "C" patch for captain -- located on the upper left chest area of the jersey.

The back of the uniform has Gretzky's name in blue tackle twill on a white nameplate, along with his iconic number 99 ... which has since been retired leaguewide.

GFA says the jersey was authenticated using photo-matching to ensure it's authentic.

Gretzky, who broke into the NHL in 1979, won the Stanley Cup 4 times and the Conn Smythe award twice, given to the most valuable player during the playoffs.

Cody Simpson can add elite swimmer to his already impressive accomplishments, 'cause the 25-year-old just earned a spot on the Australian swim team ... and will compete against some of the world's fastest in the pool at the Commonwealth Games.

Simpson -- musician, actor, and former teen heartthrob -- competed against his fellow countrymates down under on Wednesday ... finishing 3rd in the 100-meter butterfly at the Australian Championships.

And, no shame in finishing behind the first and second place athletes ... both guys are Olympians.

It's not a total shock that Cody performed as well as he did. In fact, as a teenager, Simpson was a top-level swimmer. However, after his music career took off and he became a bonafide celebrity, he took a big step back from the sport.

However, Simpson got the itch to swim again ... and rededicated himself to the craft about two years ago.

Fast forward until today ... and Simpson -- who recently dated Miley Cyrus -- will compete against over 70 other nations this summer.

The Commonwealth Games were first held in 1930, and in addition to swimming, also feature a bunch of other sports like archery, basketball, beach volleyball, hockey, rowing, and weight lifting, amongst others.

Simpson is clearly getting better in a hurry. During last year's Olympic trials, he swam the 100m butterfly in 52.94 seconds. He was nearly one second faster during Wednesday's finals.

Perhaps it shouldn't be too shocking that Cody's kicking ass -- he reportedly has Michael Phelps in his corner, coaching him up as he continues to make a splash in the swimming world.

Speaking of the man with 23 Olympic gold medals ... the 2024 Summer Games in Paris are quickly approaching.