TMZ Sports - Page 29

JaMarcus Russell is opening up about his codeine use in college and the NFL ... saying he would drink lean to cope with injuries instead of taking painkillers.

Of course, the troubled history of Russell is well-known ... from his short venture with the Oakland Raiders (2007-2009) to being arrested in 2010 for possession of codeine syrup.

The 36-year-old says he first drank lean when he was just 14 -- when he accidentally grabbed it (thinking it was soda) from a cooler while hanging out with friends at a park in Mobile, Alabama.

"That was my first time drinking syrup," Russell said in the Players' Tribune. "Wasn’t the last time."

He added ... "Some syrup, for us, that’s like you might drink some wine or something. I’m not glorifying it, but back then, that was the cheapest way for them boys to sip on something. You grow up in poverty, you’re going to figure out a way to cope with it, you feel me?"

Russell says he eventually used codeine to deal with his pain in college ... days after injuring his shoulder in the 2005 SEC Championship Game.

"I was in so much pain that one morning I just said f*** it and took some drank with me to class," Russell said.

"Looked just like a soda from the cafeteria. I don’t know how the hell the teacher even found out, but somebody in class snitched on me."

Russell says LSU coaches found out about it and suspended him for the 2005 Peach Bowl.

"I ain’t no saint, but come on, man," he added. "They shoot your ass up with the strongest painkillers on earth just to get you out on the field. But, you’re drinking some cough syrup and now you’re a criminal?"

Russell says his drinking continued in the NFL ... claiming the team would hand out painkillers "like Skittles" ... but he preferred to do things on his own terms.

"Was I perfect? As a player? As a person? Hell no," Russell said. "I shouldn’t have been sippin’ like that, in the NFL. I should’ve stayed in better shape. I should’ve been more of a student of the game. I got to live with my mistakes. I’d do it 10 times differently today, if I was coming up in a different era."

Earmuffs, kids!!!

Dodgers pitcher Tyler Anderson dropped a massive F-bomb during a game on Thursday that was so loud, it was actually captured on a hot mic at the stadium.

Anderson let the obscenity fly in the fourth inning of L.A.'s game against the White Sox in Chicago, after throwing his fourth ball to Jose Abreu.

The pitch, on a 3-2 count, just barely missed ... but Anderson still clearly hated it.

"F***!!!!" he screamed.

The game's broadcasters had fun with the moment ... with one saying, "There was something that he yelled when he delivered that ball and I'm thinking, you're a very young man, close your headset. You don't want to hear that."

Anderson ended up being pulled from the game a few batters later -- not because of cussin', but rather because he was just ineffective -- but it all still could end up OK for him.

The NAACP is urging the Washington Commanders to can Jack Del Rio ... after the assistant coach called the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol a "dust-up."

NAACP president Derrick Johnson pleaded with the NFL team to make the move immediately in a statement on Thursday afternoon -- saying Del Rio's remarks "could not have been more offensive and ignorant."

If the Commanders don't make the move, Johnson urged Del Rio to flat-out resign.

The strong statement from Johnson came just one day after Del Rio attempted to explain why he believed the national riots following George Floyd's death in 2020 should be investigated the same way as the 2021 insurrection in D.C.

"I see the images on TV, people's livelihoods are being destroyed. Businesses are being burned down -- no problem," Del Rio told reporters at Washington practice. "And then we have a dust-up at the Capitol, where nothing burned down. And we're going to make that a major deal."

Del Rio later apologized for the remarks -- though Johnson is clearly not ready to accept it.

"Downplaying the insurrection by comparing it to nationwide protests, which were in response to a public lynching, is twisted," Johnson said. "You can’t coach a majority Black team while turning your back on the Black community. It's time for you to pack up and step off the field."

Oscar De La Hoya isn't just campaigning for a Ryan Garcia-Gervonta Davis fight ... he said this week he also wants to launch a campaign for himself -- to be the next mayor of Las Vegas!

The former boxing champ was answering a series of questions from fans on Inside Boxing Live With Dan Canobbio this week ... when one of the listeners wanted to know if he was planning on running for President in 2024.

Remember, De La Hoya told us in 2018 that he was seriously considering running against Donald Trump in the 2020 election. That, obviously, didn't happen ... but De La Hoya told the questioner on the show one in '24 won't either.

"No," ODLH said with a laugh. "No more presidential run."

But, the 49-year-old did reveal he's planning on running for another government position -- mayor of Sin City.

"There might be some opportunities in Vegas to run for mayor," De La Hoya said. "Imagine that?"

De La Hoya revealed he's building a home in Vegas -- so the move, which he seemed pretty serious about, would make sense for him.

"It’ll be interesting to see if I can make a run for mayor in Las Vegas," he said.

Of course, Vegas is where some of the biggest boxing matches happen -- which is perfect for ODLH and his Golden Boy Promotions.

Canobbio pointed that out ... saying, "Make that fight -- Ryan Garcia vs. Tank Davis. You're the Mayor. You can pull strings. Gives you even more power."

Hollywood Harlow in full effect -- Jack Harlow is on set for his acting debut in the "White Men Can't Jump" reboot ... and TMZ Sports has the vid!!

As we previously reported, the "First Class" rapper landed the gig after crushing his first-ever audition ... playing Billy Hoyle, which was Woody Harrelson's role in the original film back in 1992.

The project appears to be well on its way ... as Harlow was spotted making his rounds on set at a basketball court in Venice.

Of course, Harlow is working alongside Sinqua Walls in the flick ... who was picked to play Wesley Snipes' Sidney Deane role, despite Quavo's hopes of getting his name called.

The project is backed by Kenya Barris, NBA star Blake Griffin, NFLer Ryan Kalil and Noah Weinstein of Mortal Media ... and is directed by Calmatic.

Other actors on board include Lance Reddick, Teyana Taylor, Andrew Schulz and Laura Harrier ... so some of those names were probably on set as well.

George Thompson, one of the greatest players in the history of Marquette basketball, has died at 74 years old, the school announced on Wednesday night.

The university shared the sad news in a tweet ... saying Thompson passed away due to complications from diabetes.

"George made a tremendous impact, not only on the program, but the entire Milwaukee community after his arrival on campus," school officials said. "RIP Brute Force."

The Brooklyn native was a standout at Marquette from 1966 to 1969, playing under legendary coach Al McGuire. In 87 career games at the school, spanning three seasons, he averaged 20.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists.

He went on to be selected by the Boston Celtics in the 5th round of the 1969 NBA Draft ... but chose to start his pro career with the Pittsburgh Pipers of the American Basketball Association.

George spent 5 total seasons in the ABA -- playing for the Condors/Memphis Tams for 2 years -- before taking his talents to the NBA to play for the Milwaukee Bucks.

The 3-time ABA All-Star only played one season with the Bucks, but his iconic #24 jersey hangs in the rafters at Fiserv Forum thanks to his storied career at Marquette.

Thompson -- a member of Marquette's Hall of Fame -- was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.

LeBron James wants to head to Sin City one day with his billion-dollar net worth -- the superstar just revealed he's gunning to buy an NBA team in Las Vegas.

The King -- who just recently earned his membership in the 3 Comma Club -- is already describing his plans to build his business portfolio even further ... saying on "The Shop" he wants to be the guy to bring pro men's hoops to Vegas.

Of course, Bron already has a stake in Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox among other franchises ... and previously said his goal is to own an NBA franchise "sooner than later"

Bringing an NBA team to Vegas has been talked about for years -- the Association already hosts Summer League games in the desert -- and it would certainly be a success.

The city has already welcomed the Aces, Golden Knights and Raiders in recent years ... so it's just a matter of time before the NBA joins the Vegas fam.

Indianapolis Colts star linebacker Darius Leonard is stepping up in the midst of tragedy ... by donating $15K to help pay for the caskets of the Uvalde shooting victims.

Leonard and his wife Kayla made the generous donation through his foundation -- The Maniac Foundation -- to the owner of Soulshine, the Texas company that provided custom caskets for all the victims.

"Once I heard the terrible news about the Uvalde school shooting, I knew that I wanted to do something to help those suffering," Leonard said.

"I am pleased to announce that The Maniac Foundation has donated 15k to Soulshine who provided each victim of the shooting with a custom casket."

Soulshine owner Trey Ganem said when his team was asked to help with the caskets, he agreed without hesitation ... explaining he knew God would send an army to help them fulfill their mission.

21 innocent people, including 19 kids, were savagely murdered inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX on May 24.

The devastation from the senseless violence has reverberated throughout the sports world ... with many high-profile names from LeBron James to Warriors coach Steve Kerr making impassioned pleas to politicians to fix the issue.

A Chicago memorabilia shop was burglarized on Memorial Day and rare sports cards -- including high-priced 1986 Michael Jordan rookie cards -- were stolen ... and the heist was all caught on camera.

According to the Chicago Police Dept., the store was robbed on May 31 at 3:44 AM when a male suspect removed metal bars from the business and broke in through a back window.

When the suspect made entry, cops say he stole several items and fled on foot.

The business's owner, Ronnie Holloway, released video from inside of the store at the time of the theft this week -- showing a man behind the counter rummaging through a ton of sports cards.

Holloway tells TMZ Sports the suspect got away with over $100k worth of merchandise ... including an unopened Fleer packet of MJ rookie cards -- which he says is worth $25k alone. Holloway added that other rare cards of Babe Ruth, Larry Bird, Jackie Robinson and Walter Payton were also taken.

"These are high-end cards," Holloway said. "Trying to replace it is gonna be hard -- vintage cards can't be replaced."

Holloway tells us he believes the suspect scoped out his place a few days before the heist ... saying, "He knew where they were. He must've planned this out."

"Over the holiday weekend, too, so perfect opportunity. Well-orchestrated."

Holloway -- who's owned the store for 30 years -- has put out a $10,000 reward for "an arrest or conviction of this person."

The PGA Tour has just dropped the hammer on Phil Mickelson and the other golf stars who have defected to the new LIV league ... announcing Thursday it's suspended the guys indefinitely.

Commissioner Jay Monahan explained the punishment in a lengthy memo to PGA Tour golfers ... saying players like Phil, Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia "are suspended or otherwise no longer eligible to participate in PGA Tour tournament play, including the Presidents Cup."

In the memo, Monahan said the ruling came down because the players' decisions to join the new Saudi-backed golf league violated the org.'s "Tournament Regulations."

Monahan vowed similar punishments for anyone who follows in their footsteps.

Monahan specifically named 17 golfers who were receiving the punishment -- though he noted 10 (including Johnson) have already resigned their memberships.

It should be noted, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed -- who have reportedly committed to eventually joining the LIV League -- were not named in the memo.

It's unclear if the suspended golfers will ever be allowed to play in the PGA Tour again ... Monahan said in the statement that's to be determined.

LIV officials, meanwhile, blasted Monahan for the decision ... saying in a statement Thursday, "Today's announcement by the PGA Tour is vindictive and it deepens the divide between the Tour and its members."

"It's troubling the Tour, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for golfers to play the game, is the entity blocking golfers from playing," they added. "This certainly is not the last word on this topic. The era of free agency is beginning as we are proud to have a full field of players joining us in London, and beyond."

The Eagles might go 17-0 this season ... and it's all thanks to Coldplay's beautiful performance of the team's "Fly Eagles Fly" fight song at their concert in Philadelphia.

The show went down at Lincoln Financial Field -- home of the Eagles -- on Wednesday ... as part of the band's "Music of the Spheres" tour.

The group made sure to give the hometown fans what they REALLY wanted ... pausing their regularly scheduled setlist to bring a tear to any Eagles fan's eye.

Of course, the tune is usually shouted out by any drunk fan wearing a Brian Dawkins jersey at the bar on NFL Sundays ... but frontman Chris Martin basically turned it into a Billboard Top 100 ballad.

The crowd clearly loved it ... chanting along as Martin even finished it off with the signature "E-A-G-L-E-S" chant.

Well done by the "Viva La Vida" crew ... but football fans can only hope they turn this into a tradition everywhere they go now.

Maybe the Eagles play this before every game from now on??

Not even Chad Kroeger's sweet vocals were enough to pull the Angels out of their losing skid ... 'cause despite playing Nickelback songs on repeat in L.A. on Wednesday to try to get a win -- the team still lost.

Every Angels batter walked out to a different Nickelback tune in their game against Boston in an effort to mix up the mojo amid a 13-game losing streak ... and the idea had initial promise.

With Shohei Ohtani coming out to "Photograph" and Jo Adell strutting to the dish to "Rockstar" -- the team held up strong against the Red Sox for most of the game.

Sadly for L.A., the Nickelback theme didn't work ... and Boston ultimately pulled out the win, 1-0 -- handing the Angels their 14th consecutive loss.

Afterward, interim manager Phil Nevin -- who replaced the newly fired Joe Maddon this week -- said he had no clue where the idea started, but he was in favor of it.

"I like it. I like Nickelback," the 51-year-old said. "The entire game I've got songs in my head I can't stop singing."

Tristan Thompson was the target of the full wrath of the Kardashian sisters when they found out he'd cheated on Khloe AGAIN ... this time getting another woman pregnant.

Kim Kardashian was in the middle of a workout during Thursday's episode of "The Kardashians" when she first got the news -- Tristan had filed legal docs admitting to having sex with a woman named Maralee Nichols -- who claimed she was about to father Tristan's son.

In the episode, Kim immediately calls Kylie, saying, "I'm like shaking for her. My soul dies for her." Kylie asks, stunned, "Is Tristan the worst person on the planet?" From there, Kim calls Kourtney, who says Tristan's actions have been a "never-ending betrayal."

What's more ... Kim points out the night Maralee claims she and Tristan had sex was almost immediately following a 30th birthday party that Khloe threw for him.

When Khloe calls Kim back, Kim fills her in on the situation, Khloe replies, "What the f*** is this?" and the episode ends with a tease for next week.

Klay Thompson is straight-up pissed over the "F*** You Draymond" chants that rained down on the Warriors on Wednesday night ... ripping Celtics fans for the vulgar words and calling Boston supporters "real classy."

While Boston was up big late in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden, their fans let Draymond Green have it -- chanting "F*** You" over and over again at the star after the Golden State forward had ruffled feathers in Games 1 and 2 of the series.

In fact, the shouts were so loud, the game's announcer, Mike Breen, had to mention it on the broadcast ... saying, "And Draymond Green hearing it from the crowd with an obscene chant,"

After the game, Klay was asked about it all -- and he made it clear, he wasn't a fan of Cs supporters.

"We've played in front of rude people before," Thompson said. "Dropping F-bombs with children in the crowd. Real classy. Good job, Boston."

Dubs head coach Steve Kerr also chided the Celtics fans for the chant ... adding in his postgame news conference, "Classy. Very classy."

Green himself actually didn't seem to have an issue with it -- he told media members he expected it -- and, in fact, he himself dropped a cuss word in his presser while his son sat next to him.

As for Green's wife, she clearly didn't love it ... calling the chants "disgusting" in a lengthy social media post following the Warriors' 116-100 loss in Boston.

"My kids were at the game tonight hearing that mess!" she said, before adding, "Just shameful!"

Tip-off for Game 4 of the series is slated for Friday ... will the Warriors' vocal issues with fans stop the chants then?

WWE superstar The Miz -- a HUGE Cleveland sports fan -- says he ain't droppin' his Browns support due to the Deshaun Watson trade ... but he did tell TMZ Sports he will never wear the QB's jersey.

We got the wrestler out in NYC this week ... and given the new sexual misconduct allegations against Watson this month -- we had to ask if his Browns fandom is still intact.

The Miz said yes -- reminding us that he's been rooting for the NFL team for decades -- but he made it clear, he won't tout Watson as his favorite player.

"Yeah, I'm still a Cleveland Browns fan," the 41-year-old said. "But you're not going to see me wearing a Watson jersey."

The Browns traded for Watson in March and gave him a massive, fully guaranteed $230 MILLION contract ... despite more than 20 women alleging he had been sexually inappropriate with them during massage therapy sessions in the past few years.

Since the trade, two more civil lawsuits have been filed against Watson claiming misconduct -- while other women have came forward to the New York Times to make further allegations against him.

Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski was asked about all of the new claims during Browns practice on Wednesday, but he told reporters, "I think for me, I'm going to be respectful of the investigation, of the legal proceedings and let that play out."

Shocking comments from NFL coach Jack Del Rio ... who just called the Jan. 6 attacks at the nation's Capitol "a dust-up."

The Washington Commanders defensive coordinator made the remarks during a meeting with media members on Wednesday -- in an attempt to explain his controversial post on his Twitter page earlier this week.

If you missed it, in a tweet on Monday, the 59-year-old questioned why the 2020 riots following George Floyd's murder were not being investigated with the same fervor as the January 2021 attack at the Capitol.

"Would love to understand 'the whole story' about why the summer of riots, looting, burning and the destruction of personal property is never discussed but this is ???," he wrote. "#CommonSense."

Del Rio elaborated further on his tweet to reporters at Commanders practice Wednesday ... making comments that raised eyebrows.

"Let's get right down to it," Del Rio said. "What did I ask? A simple question -- why are we not looking into those things if we're going to talk about it. Why are we not looking into those things?"

"Because it's kind of hard for me to say, I can realistically look at it -- I see the images on TV, people's livelihoods are being destroyed. Businesses are being burned down -- no problem. And then we have a dust-up at the capital, where nothing burned down. And we're going to make that a major deal."

FYI -- the insurrection, which occurred following the results of the 2020 election, resulted in the deaths of five individuals.

"I just think it's kind of two standards," Del Rio continued. "And if we apply the same standard, and we're going to be reasonable with each other, let's have a discussion. That's all it was. Let's have a discussion. We're Americans. Let's talk it through."

Del Rio, who posts polarizing opinions on his social media page daily, insisted his players are not concerned by his comments ... but added, "If they are, and they want to talk about it, I'll talk about it with anybody."

"I'm for us having a great opportunity to have a fulfilled life," he said.

Del Rio was hired by the Commanders following the 2019-20 NFL season. He previously worked as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Oakland Raiders.