TMZ Sports - Page 13

Don't ever, EVER make a bad call in the presence of Meek Mill ... the rapper tripped a referee during the 76ers game and it was all caught on live TV!!

Kidding ... it was clearly an accident -- a funny accident -- and the ref was totally fine.

The Philly rapper was sitting courtside with Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin and Will Makris at the Suns-Sixers game at the Wells Fargo Center Monday night.

The "Dreams & Nightmares" rapper got in on the action in the 2nd quarter when his stretched-out legs got in the way of the officials running alongside the court near the Sixers' bench.

The ref fell right near Sixers' coach Doc Rivers ... who helped him back to his feet. MM quickly apologized to the ref.

Meek also acknowledged the incident on social media, using lyrics from Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind."

"Hov once said 'I be spiked out I can trip a referee'", Meek said, "Lol I apologized to him that’s brazyyy tho 😂😂😂😂"

Rubin, however, says differently ... saying on his IG story, Meek tried to put the blame on him.

The Cavs might have lost, but Donovan Mitchell was winning after the game -- hitting up an L.A. hot spot with his beautiful girlfriend ... and TMZ Sports has the vid!!

Cleveland lost just its second game of the season against the Clippers on Monday ... falling 117-119 and snapping an 8-game winning streak, despite Spida's 30-point effort

26-year-old Mitchell and his lady, Tinara Westbrook, decided to get over the loss at The Nice Guy in West Hollywood ... enjoying a peaceful meal late into the night.

The 3-time All-Star and hair entrepreneur have been going strong this year ... making their romance "Instagram official" back in September.

Spida is off to an insane start in his first season in Wine & Gold ... averaging 31.2 points, 6 assists and 4.1 rebounds a game.

Westbrook was in attendance for the Cavs vs. Clippers game at Crypto.com Arena ... and she had some pretty good seats for the matchup.

A Vanderbilt University assistant football coach has been temporarily relieved from his duties ... after he wrote out a social media post that appeared to be defending Kanye West in wake of the artist's recent antisemitic remarks.

Dan Jackson, the school's defensive backs coach, initially posted the comment on his Facebook page -- saying in it, "Kanye is two steps ahead of everyone." He added in the post, "He's not crazy."

Jackson later apologized for it all, calling his wording "careless."

"I accept full responsibility for my words and will learn from this experience going forward," Jackson said.

But, the Commodores announced almost immediately after the post was discovered that they were investigating it all ... and on Monday night, athletic director Candice Lee said the coach will be sidelined as the probe pushes forward.

"Coach Jackson and I have agreed that he will step back from his responsibilities with the team," Lee said in a statement ... adding, "To be clear, Vanderbilt rejects antisemitism, racism and discrimination in all its forms."

Jackson is in his first year at Vanderbilt. He previously coached at Northern Illinois and South Dakota State.

A Jay-Z and Jeff Bezos partnership to buy the Washington Commanders seems to be full throttle ... because Monday night the two billionaires grabbed dinner in L.A. -- breaking bread for more than two hours.

The duo hit up Horses near the Sunset Strip at around 7:30 PM -- just a couple days after it was revealed they both had a mutual interest in putting in a bid for Daniel Snyder's Commanders. The restaurant is closed Monday, but the owner opened the doors just for them.

TMZ Sports has learned Bezos stayed tableside until about 9:30 ... while Jay didn't leave until after midnight.

Both men kept things low-key as they entered and exited the restaurant -- Jay was in a beanie and a hoodie, while Bezos was in a casual polo. Lauren Sanchez accompanied JB -- while Corey Gamble appeared to be there alongside HOV -- not sure why.

You'll recall, Snyder revealed last week he had hired Bank of America to explore a potential sale of his team ... and almost immediately afterward, Bezos and Jay-Z expressed interest.

The price tag won't be cheap -- Snyder is looking for more than $7 BILLION for the org. -- that's in the pocket change region for the 2 titans.

On Monday, just before dinner, Sanchez dropped a hint to her followers ... posting a photo with the caption, "Are you ready for some..."

Kyrie Irving will not lose his NBA career over his most recent controversy ... so says Julius Erving -- who tells TMZ Sports there's just no way teams won't give him another chance.

"The owners are greedy," Dr. J said out at LAX this weekend. "He's going to end up in the league playing for somebody, no matter how toxic he is."

There are many in Association circles that would disagree -- with some believing after he tweeted a link to an antisemitic film and then refused to apologize over it for several days, he's too radioactive to the roster at this point.

But, Erving -- an NBA legend -- tells us he believes that's just simply not the case.

"As long as he's young enough to score those buckets, and do what he does, be Kyrie, he's going have a job," he said.

Irving is currently serving a suspension from the Brooklyn Nets over it all that the team says will last at least five games -- although no one within the org. has guaranteed he'll be back with the team this year.

Erving clearly believes if the Nets somehow cut ties with the point guard, his career would resume elsewhere -- and it would do so fairly quickly.

Ultimately, the former 76ers star gave Irving some advice going forward.

Two Arkansas football players were arrested after they were allegedly involved in a physical altercation with police ... just hours after the Razorbacks lost their homecoming game.

According to the Fayetteville Police Dept., Anthony Brown and Myles Slusher were involved in an alleged incident at 2 AM on Sunday ... when officers were on foot patrol near a pub less than a mile from campus.

In court documents, an FPD officer said Brown -- a freshman defensive back from Tennessee -- was standing in the street and was instructed to get on the sidewalk ... and he initially complied.

However, according to the docs, when officers circled back around, Brown was "intentionally" standing in the street again.

"I walked to Brown and grabbed his sleeve of his right arm," the officer said in the docs. "I walked with Brown to the sideway."

That's when things allegedly got physical ... with the cop saying in the documents that Brown pushed him away -- which forced him to take the 19-year-old to the ground and into custody.

"Brown engaged in fighting behavior," the officer wrote, "congregated with two or more other people in a public place refusing to comply with a lawful order to disperse, and obstructed vehicular traffic in a public place."

According to cops, while Brown was getting cuffed, Slusher -- a junior defensive back -- grabbed the arresting officer in order to try to pull him off of Brown, according to the docs.

Slusher was eventually taken into custody as well.

Brown and Slusher were transported to the Washington County Detention Center and released later Sunday morning. Both are facing disorderly conduct charges. A court date for the duo has been set for December.

The incident happened shortly after the Razorbacks lost to the Liberty Flames. Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said in a statement Sunday the team was aware of the arrests.

"We are in the process of gathering information from the proper authorities," Pittman said. "Once we have that information, we will determine their status with our team."

Two Houston Astros fans got into a wild brawl during the team's World Series celebration on Monday -- where hair was pulled, and PLENTY of punches were thrown.

The fight took place at some point during the MLB team's through-the-streets festivities in Houston ... when two women grew so upset with each other, they decided to settle their beef with their hands.

Video shot by a fan near the fracas shows the two immediately went for each others' hair ... and, eventually, the woman in an Alex Bregman jersey was hurled down to the sidewalk.

You can see in the clip, the Bregman fan tried her best to fight back ... throwing a slew of punches from the ground -- but she got pummeled until others tried to step in.

Ted Cruz is back in Texas, but he's still hearing boos -- the senator just got an earful of jeers from fans in Houston while he was riding in the Astros' World Series parade.

Cruz was on a military jeep as part of the celebration for the best team in baseball ... and cameras caught fans laying into him as his ride made its way through the streets.

People booed loudly ... and, according to Astros reporter Ben DuBose, some even flipped the lawmaker the bird.

Of course, this is far from the first time Cruz has heard the heckling ... in fact, just two weeks ago, fans at Yankee Stadium tore into him during NY's ALCS game against the 'Stros.

Cruz, who was reppin' Houston with an orange shirt and a blue vest, got booed loudly, with one man even calling him a "racist piece of s***."

Cruz appears to have gotten the last laugh on everyone, though -- his beloved Astros closed out the Yankees that night, and then went on to beat the Phillies, 4-2, in the W.S. this weekend.

As for the rest of the parade, the guys all seem to be having a blast celebrating their second title in six seasons.

Boxing star Aidos Yerbossynuly is currently in a medically-induced coma ... after the super middleweight was brutally knocked out in his first career loss on Saturday.

The 30-year-old went down in the final round of his Premier Boxing Champions bout against Cuban boxer David Morrell at the Minneapolis Armory in Minnesota.

In video from the event, the Kazakh boxer (17-1, 11 KOs) is shown attempting to dodge Morrell's punches when he was struck with a fierce right hook, knocking him down to the ground.

As Morrell (8-0, 7 KOs) celebrated in the ring, Yerbossynuly tried to stand up on his own ... but needed assistance from referee Tony Weeks, who then waved off the fight.

Yerbossynuly was clearly not okay ... falling backwards into the ropes.

He was taken to a nearby hospital after the loss -- the first of his 7-year boxing career -- and was put into a medically-induced coma following surgery on a subdural hematoma.

Morrell went to Twitter after the sad update on Yerbossynuly's condition ... saying even though he got the win, he's focusing on Aidos' recovery.

"It is a great moment for me but at the same time super hard for others," Morrell said.

"Let's pray for a super fast recovery and ponta for Aidos," he added. "God bless you and be with you."

Other boxers sent Aidos well wishes as well ... including Muhammad Ali's boxing grandson Nico Ali Walsh who wrote, "Please send many prayers to my Muslim brother Aidos Yerbossynuly for a speedy recovery."

A Premier Boxing Champions spokesperson said they are working with Aidos' team and TGB Promotions to monitor Yerbossynuly's situation.

Late Migos rapper Takeoff's funeral is set for this coming Friday, and much like his career, the homegoing will be big … going down at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

The venue, which is home to the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, has the capacity to host more than 20,000 people.

Rev. Jesse Curney, III of New Mercies Christian Church will be officiating the services, which will begin at 1:00 PM … according to Atlanta radio station V-103.

In a statement, Rev. Curney said, "I was really sad to hear the news. Kirsnick has been a faithful member since he was ten years old. He and his family were active and avid supporters of the church and the community as a whole."

Emotions in the city have been heavy since Takeoff was shot and killed on November 1 in Houston.

Graffiti artist Armondo "Ape" Monoletti crafted a mural in Atlanta, just hours after the tragic news and friends and fam of Takeoff held a balloon sendoff over the weekend in his honor.

The Indianapolis Colts have fired head coach Frank Reich following the team's blowout loss to the Patriots on Sunday at Gillette Stadium ... and, stunningly, have named former star offensive lineman Jeff Saturday the interim HC.

Colts owner Jim Irsay confirmed the news on his Twitter page on Monday morning ... which caught most folks off-guard, considering Jeff has ZERO coaching experience in college or the pros.

His only experience came as ... err, a high school coach with Hebron Christian H.S. in Georgia. His last season on the sidelines was in 2020 ... where his team finished with a 3-7 record.

The Colts dropped to 3-5-1 after losing to New England, 26-3 ... as the team demonstrated an inability to score offensively under rookie quarterback Sam Ehlinger.

Reich took over the Colts in 2018 -- after Josh McDaniels scorned the franchise at the last minute -- leading the team to a 10-6 record that season and an 11-5 record in 2020.

Reich led the Colts to the playoffs twice.

However, the 60-year-old play-caller didn't always enjoy success in Indy ... in 2019, he finished with a 7-9 record, and things were assuredly trending in that direction this season.

The org. benched Matt Ryan ... and turned to Ehlinger to salvage their season, but after falling further behind in the AFC South race, Indy is giving up on the Reich experiment.

Justin Bieber was a crazed fanatic during LAFC's championship game on Saturday ... completely losing it as his team came away with the thrilling win!!

LAFC ended up beating the Philadelphia Union in penalty kicks to secure the title ... and JB was clearly on pins and needles as the drama unfolded.

Bieber and his wife, Hailey, sat among the normies throughout the game ... and after the home team came away with the 'ship, Justin lifted her up in celebration.

Biebs even had his own custom LAFC jersey for the game ... draping it over his head as he cheered on his squad.

Justin and Hailey weren't the only A-listers in attendance -- Magic Johnson and Will Ferrell, who are co-owners of the team -- were also at Banc of California Stadium for the matchup.

It was a busy weekend for the duo -- as we previously reported, they were living it up at Odell Beckham Jr.'s birthday bash later that night.

WWE star Omos -- on the heels of his big match against Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel ---- returned home to Nigeria for the first time in 14 years to surprise his family ... and the video of the encounter is one of the sweetest things you'll see!

TMZ Sports has video of the 7'3", 400-plus pound athlete sneaking into his family home (hard to do when you're a freakin' giant!) in Lagos ... the first time he's been there since 2008.

A camera crew captured the moment 28-year-old Omos was spotted by his family ... and predictably, he was immediately met with hugs, kisses and even some tears from his loved ones.

We're told ... Omos' family had no idea he would surprise them, hence the shocked reaction.

Omos -- real name Tolulope "Jordan" Omogbehin -- was just in Saudia Arabia for WWE Crown Jewel, where he went toe-to-toe with Strowman in a battle of the giants.

We're also told ... the Nigerian Giant is expected to make a major announcement while in Lagos visiting his fam -- though, any news will be hard to top his surprise visit.

Omos signed with WWE in 2019 and was the WWE Raw tag team champion with AJ Styles -- but his reuniting with his family is one of the proudest moments of his career.

The Houston Astros spared no expense when it came to celebrating their World Series title this weekend ... TMZ Sports has learned they popped nearly $400,000 worth of 50 Cent's champagne during their postgame party.

We're told the team unloaded just over 250 bottles of the rapper's Le Chemin du Roi Brut ... right after they finished off the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night to win the Fall Classic.

In total, there were 250 bottles of Rose, 10 Magnums of the bubbly, and one, huge 15-liter bottle as well. The final bill for it all came out to $388,750!!

Of course, the 'Stros enjoyed every bit of it ... soaking in it for hours following their 4-1 win in Houston.

Star pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. seemed to get the most out of it though ... kickin' off Houston's epic celebration by coating his teammates in it first.

The Astros will continue the party later on Monday -- their championship parade is slated to go down at around 11 AM CT.

Logan Paul was left with a torn meniscus and MCL after going up against Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel ... but don't feel too bad for the guy, 'cause he had his model girlfriend, Nina Agdal, to take care of him!!

The Maverick shared his injury status after losing to the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion in Saudi Arabia over the weekend ... posting a pic showing his iced-up knee with the Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover girl sitting nearby.

Logan was pretty beat up after the entertaining matchup ... and had to be wheelchaired through the airport to catch his flight.

"Best girlfriend ever," Paul said as Agdal pushed him.

Paul got an MRI as soon as he touched back down on U.S. soil ... but we're told he does not know the full extent of his injuries just yet.

Logan showed off his insane athleticism on Saturday ... but ultimately, he could not come away with the win.

Kirk Cousins decided to lose his shirt, throw on some comically large jewelry, and then dance his face off on the team plane following the Vikings' big win Sunday ... and video of the hysterical scene could not be better!

Cousins' Minnesota teammates filmed the QB's plane ride party just a couple hours after they came back to beat the Washington Commanders, 20-17 ... showing Kirk letting loose after pulling the Vikes to a 7-1 start.

In his seat, Cousins ditched his top and snagged some chains from his fellow Vikings ... before he gyrated and jiggled around as everyone giddily filmed him on their phones.

The normally buttoned-up 34-year-old revealed he's got a smokin' hot bod during the festivities too -- check out that full-on six-pack!

Of course, Cousins had every right to get down while 30,000 feet in the air ... he's been a big reason the Vikings are running away with the NFC North this year.