TMZ Sports - Page 50

Knicks legend Charles Oakley says after years of sucking, his former squad is finally starting to trend in the right direction ... but tells TMZ Sports he wants to see Jalen Brunson and Co. play more before he considers them legit contenders in the NBA.

The Knicks are currently right in the Eastern Conference playoff race ... and are just a few wins from passing their entire total from last season (37), thanks to solid play from Brunson, an offseason free agency pickup, and his teammates, Julius Randle and R.J. Barrett.

When we spoke to Oak after the Super Bowl last week, he seemed cautiously optimistic about the roster the Knicks have put together as they make a push for a postseason run.

"It's too early to judge," Oak told us. "Brunson doing great things with them. I think Julius has picked his game up, he started off slow. R.J. ... so they got some pieces. Just keep jelling."

Charles also had a message for the hoopers ... saying, "Keep playing your game. Know that you in New York. It means a lot to be in New York."

"When you play in New York, you're going to have a target on your back and you gotta perform. Ain't no ifs, ands, or buts, you have to perform."

BTW -- Oak helped pass out 5,000 meals for those in need before the Super Bowl ... something he's done at big sporting events for years.

Brock Purdy will be riding pine in 2023 -- at least, that's according to Vernon Davis, who tells TMZ Sports he thinks Trey Lance will be the starter in San Francisco going forward.

The ex-49ers star made the prediction out at the Super Bowl earlier this month ... and it's a hot take -- considering Purdy absolutely balled out when he filled in for the injured Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo late last year.

Davis made it clear, though, he simply believes Lance is the more talented signal-caller of the two.

"He needs more time, and I think over time, it's going to happen," Davis said of Lance. "We're going to see him evolve and become a great quarterback."

Davis said Purdy, despite playing well in his five regular-season starts and most of the playoffs, doesn't have the clout to demand a trade ... and "should stay and be a backup."

Former NFL quarterback Jeff Garcia had a completely different take on the debate just before Davis made his opinion known ... telling us in the days leading up to the Super Bowl that if it were up to him, Purdy would be QB1 in S.F. in '23 -- not Lance.

Of course, the decision for Kyle Shanahan might come down to essentially who's healthier. Lance is coming off a badly broken leg -- while Purdy is undergoing surgery on his throwing elbow later this month after injuring it in the NFC Championship Game.

Frankie Muniz landed quite a bit higher than just the middle in his big race car driver debut ... nearly cracking the top 10 at a semi-pro series that was all gas, no brakes.

The actor-turned-driver raced in the ARCA Menards Series Saturday at the Daytona International Speedway down in Florida -- marking his first time revving up among other professionals. It was an 80-lap journey, with around 40 drivers going round and around.

Muniz placed 11th overall when it was all said and done ... and the final lap proved to be quite dramatic, with Frankie climbing back from 12th place. Even before that, though, he was doing incredibly well ... cracking the top 10 several times throughout the course.

Frankie himself detailed the ride, saying he was ecstatic and proud of himself for being able to rank as high as he did ... pointing out that at one point, he was 24th place.

He writes, "Holy moly!!! That was the most insane thing I've ever done. Got up into the top  3 before getting turned and causing damage. Went to the back and went from 24th to 11th in the final 2 laps. I'm so grateful to my team and @hairclub and sponsors for making my dream a reality!"

During the race, Frankie was getting props from the broadcasters for avoiding what could've been a major accident ... so, yeah, he was hanging tough with the best of them out there.

FM has been racing for years now, but it wasn't until recently that he decided to pursue it full-time ... forgoing his acting career, for now, and opting for the smell of burned rubber instead.

We actually talked to him last month about his foray into a whole new industry, and he made it clear to us that he was over the moon about the opportunity, and planned to take it seriously. Considering how well he's done for his first official outing, probably even more so.

Former NFL player, Greg Hardy started his new career in the boxing ring Friday night ... but he wound up getting his ass whooped.

Hardy was duking it out with Josh Watson in the "Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship: Knucklemania 3" and, by the second round, he was eating the canvas.

Hardy's nightmare started at the end of the first round when he got punched so hard by Watson, he went flying into the ropes, nearly crumbling to the ground.

Then, in the second round, Watson landed a crushing left hook that put Hardy flat on his back. He tried to get to his feet, but he couldn't as the ref counted him out.

Last year, Hardy signed with BKFC, which promotes boxing without gloves. He previously had a deal with the UFC, but his contract was not renewed.

Tiger Woods is being called out by a women's empowerment group for his tampon prank at a PGA Tour event ... saying how dare he, especially with a daughter at home.

Kara Sugar, CEO of the Women's Global Empowerment Fund, tells TMZ ... Tiger's tampon moment was not only misogynistic but also tone-deaf and straight-up disrespectful to women and girls all over the world.

Sugar ripped the golfing legend, wondering if he's intimating "periods are embarrassing or shameful or a sign of weakness?"

As you know ... Tiger was playing his Friday round at the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles with Justin Thomas when he hit his ball further than Justin and handed a Tampax to his friend and competitor. The misguided sentiment -- Justin hits "like a girl."

The women's group says it's sad to see Tiger do this because he's a grown man with a daughter ... and they feel the joke distracts from the serious issues involving mental health and periods, which women and girls around the globe face.

Tiger gave an apology/non apology, saying "It was supposed to be all fun and games. Obviously it hasn't turned out that way. If I offended anybody in any way, shape, or form, I'm sorry."  In other words, not really an apology."

Kenny "The Jet" Smith says it's way past time for Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan to be best buddies again ... telling TMZ Sports his "Inside The NBA" cohost needs to do the right thing and apologize for pissing MJ off a decade ago.

Barkley recently revealed in an interview he still hasn't spoken to MJ in forever ... after their friendship was famously ruined over comments he made during a TV appearance about the G.O.A.T.'s job as owner of the Charlotte Hornets.

We spoke with Kenny about the drama ... and he said Chuck and MJ both being super stubborn guys on and off the court is what is keeping them from being cool again -- but there's one thing that should happen in order to bury the hatchet once and for all.

"Apologize, Chuck. You were in the wrong," Kenny told us ... jokingly adding, "He's always in the wrong!! I don't want to speak to Chuck today, either."

Of course, Kenny is the last person to successfully get Chuck and MJ together ... with the trio posing for a pic back in 2016 together.

While Smith told us the interaction wasn't "awkward" at the time, he said even back then Chuck still had work to do to get back in MJ's good graces.

Now, here we are in 2023 ... and Smith is doubling down on wanting Barkley to apologize.

Huge endorsement for Sean Payton ... Broncos legend, Terrell Davis says he believes Denver absolutely hired the right man when it made him its new head coach this offseason -- telling TMZ Sports he's "100 percent bought in" on the guy.

The former NFL tailback talked all things Broncos with us out at Super Bowl week earlier this month ... and he gushed over Nathaniel Hackett's replacement -- saying the former Saints coach's resume has blown him away.

So much so, Davis believes he can turn the ship around in Denver quickly -- and help struggling QB Russell Wilson in the process.

"He's got built-in equity," Davis said of Payton. I've already seen what he can do with quarterbacks which leads me to be very positive in what he can do with Russell Wilson."

As for the state of Russ' game ... Davis told us he doesn't think the quarterback is washed at all.

Instead, he said he thinks the pieces around Wilson -- and the former system he was in -- didn't do much to highlight his strengths.

"He's not washed. He's not broken," Davis said of the ex-Seahawks signal-caller. "But obviously, when you have a surrounding support system that doesn't support what you do well, it will expose your flaws."

That's when Davis reiterated he fully believes Payton can help him with all of that.

Davis also spoke with us about the criticism Russ has received over his social media presence since joining Denver -- and while the Hall of Famer said most of it is completely unfounded ... he did advise the 33-year-old to tamp things down a bit on his Twitter and Instagram.

"Let's back off this a lil' bit and then let's go show them -- and I don't mean on social media," the three-time Pro Bowler said.

Struggling to figure out who to bet on between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia? Canelo Alvarez might be able to help sway you -- telling TMZ Sports he thinks Tank wins the super fight later this year.

The guys are expected to throw hands on April 15 -- that is, if the two can finally settle their differences in heated contract negotiations -- and when we got Alvarez out at the Super Bowl last weekend ... we had to ask, who ya got?

The Mexican boxing champ told us he expects Davis -- saying simply the 28-0 fighter has "got more experience."

Don't get it twisted, though ... he's still expecting a good effort from the 23-0 Garcia.

"It's gonna be a good fight," he said.

Tank has been more active in the ring and recently secured a TKO win over Hector Garcia in Washington D.C. last month. Meanwhile, Ryan hasn't taken a fight since July 2022.

But, of course, some might think Canelo is biased in his opinion because of a beef he had with Ryan when the young fighter left his camp back in February 2022.

Canelo, though, said that's just not the case.

Cody Rhodes says his upcoming match with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39 is going to be a monumental moment in his career ... telling TMZ Sports he has a "tall task" ahead of him, but he hopes to finally end the Tribal Chief's run as WWE Universal Champion.

We spoke with the American Nightmare ahead of the huge event at SoFi Stadium in April ... and he has nothing for respect for his opponent, saying, "there's nobody better than Roman, there truly isn't."

Despite all the love for the Head of the Table, Rhodes tells us he's going to do whatever it takes to dethrone the guy who's had the title since August 2020.

"If you're in the spot you want to make sure you get the job done," said Rhodes, a former WWE Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion.

Rhodes earned the opportunity to fight Roman after winning the Royal Rumble match in January ... and he says the match means a lot to him because nobody in his family has ever headlined WrestleMania before.

Rhodes, the son of Hall of Famer, Dusty Rhodes and half-brother of Dustin, says a win would provide a bit of closure for his family ... while starting a brand new chapter.

Last June, Cody defeated Seth Rollins with a torn pectoral muscle ... but the injury sidelined him for 7 months, setting the stage for his triumphant return at the Royal Rumble.

Rhodes will try to do what no man has done at WrestleMania, pin Reigns ... but first Roman has a date with Sami Zayn at Elimination Chamber before he can get to Cody.

The NFL offseason is officially here, but DK Metcalf is still making headlines -- the Seahawks star made an insane leaping catch that has the internet buzzin' ... or did he?!

Metcalf went viral for the grab on Friday ... when a video posted on Twitter showed the 25-year-old displaying an impressive vertical while making a one-handed catch.

In the clip, Metcalf gives new meaning to the word "airborne," jumping several feet in the air to snare a ball out of the sky with relative ease.

The problem .. not everyone believes Metcalf pulled off the sick play -- insisting there's no way he got up that high, and that the video had to be doctored or altered.

If anyone could make the catch, though, it's DK -- who has maybe the most unique combination of size, speed and explosion for a WR in the NFL.

He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.33 seconds at the combine before his rookie season in 2019 ... and recorded a 40.5-inch vertical jump at the event too. He also famously hawked down Cardinals DB Budda Baker during a legendary play, back in 2020.

Patrick Mahomes didn't drunkenly give away the real Lombardi Trophy to a fan on Wednesday after all ... new footage shows it was actually a replica he passed off to the crowd at the parade.

Chiefs superfan Vinnie Garofalo and his K.C.-themed bar, Casey’s Black Rock, posted the clips to social media on Thursday ... revealing that the clone of the Super Bowl hardware had been brought to the parade after it had initially been made for the Buffalo-area watering hole.

Garofalo told the Daily Mail on Friday that as he was waving it around while the Chiefs were passing by -- they were floored by its resemblance to the real award ... and just had to grab it and pose with it.

In the footage, you can see Mahomes took it, admired it -- even shared it with some of his teammates ... before he handed it off again.

So, no ... Mahomes did not obliviously give away the Chiefs' precious award while having a few too many Coors Lights.

It's sure to bum out a bunch of people who thought otherwise -- including Tom Brady, who actually tweeted his endorsement of the QB's actions on Friday afternoon when he believed Mahomes had messed up.

"Looks like appropriate parade behavior to me," Brady said while tagging the quarterback and adding a handshake emoji.

Of course, Brady knows all too well about infamous moments with the Lombardi at parades ... back at the Buccaneers' SB celebration in Tampa in 2021, he nearly threw it into the ocean before walking off a boat looking rather inebriated.

Tiger Woods is now apologizing for slipping a tampon to Justin Thomas after outdriving him on a hole during a round of golf on Thursday ... saying "it was supposed to be all fun and games."

"Obviously," the golfing legend added, "it hasn't turned out that way."

Woods played the prank -- which many have deemed to be sexist -- on his golfing buddy on the ninth hole of the duo's opening round at the Genesis Invitational ... after putting his tee shot some 20 yards past the 29-year-old PGA Tour star.

You can see in video of the two as they walked toward their balls on the fairway ... Woods handed over the Tampax, and when Thomas saw what it was, he immediately dropped it.

The guys then shared a big laugh and a side hug ... before continuing on with their round.

Woods, a father of a 15-year-old daughter, was panned for the move ... and following his second round at the event on Friday, he insisted he didn't mean to offend anybody with his actions.

"If I offended anybody in any way, shape or form, I'm sorry," Woods said.

The 47-year-old went on to explain he and Thomas play jokes on each other all the time.

"I think this did not come across that way," he said. "But, between us, it was different."

Travis Scott's Cactus Jack Foundation hosted a celebrity softball game yesterday ... and he scored big by carving out loads of opportunities for Historically Black Colleges in honor of Black History Month.

The star-studded game went down Thursday inside Houston's Minute Maid Park -- home to MLB's Astros -- and raised awareness for the Waymon Webster HBCU Scholarship Fund and Cactus Jack HBCU Classic.

LaFlame put out the call and a huge list of famous athletes answered to help in the effort: 9-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, Ken Griffey Jr., Reggie Jackson, Jose Canseco and his daughter Josie, Gary Sheffield, Andre Dawson, Shane Victorino and Nick Swisher. Plus, NFL and NBA greats Terrell Owens, Adrian Peterson, Robert Horry, Vince Young, and Tracy Mcgrady.

Travis' fellow artists came out too ... folks like Scarface, Bun B, Metro Boomin, Slim Thug, Sheck Wes, Trae Tha Truth, Paul Wall, and Dominic Fike.

Following the match (which T.O.'s team won), Travis and his family were presented with the Vanguard award by Daniel Moss, Executive Director of the HBCU Foundation, for their dedication to higher learning within the Black community and the scholarship opportunities they've provided.

To date, Travis' efforts have raised about $1 million for 100 graduating HBCU seniors ... who were all celebrated during Thursday's game.

Mark Wahlberg has closed the deal on his beautiful compound in Beverly Hills ... and while the sale came in lower than his OG asking price, he's still walking away with a fat chunk of change.

We've learned Mark's insane property sold Friday for $55 mil ... quite a markdown from his past asking price of $87.5M -- but impressive nonetheless.

As we reported, Mark listed the estate in April of last year with mega-realtor Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency and Carl Gambino of Compass ... after the actor picked up the land back in 2009 for only $8.25M.

The compound comes with a 12-bed, 20-bath mansion, plus a sweet guest house ... overall it's got 30,500 square feet of living space -- and the amenities are to die for.

The new owners are gonna live the high life with a waterfall pool, grotto, tennis, and basketball courts, and a private spa ... not to mention the movie screening room and 5K-bottle wine cellar!

As for Mark ... he's said he's headed to Vegas, where he plans on creating a new escape for him and his family.

The heroic Florida woman who bravely fought off an alleged sexual predator during her workout is keeping her head up, and not allowing the violent incident to derail her lifestyle ... even in the gym.

Nashali Alma joined "TMZ Live" Friday to talk about the terrifying moment she had to fight off the guy in the gym of her Tampa apartment complex.

She says he was a good 6 inches taller than her, but as we've seen in the video ... Nashali gave him all he could handle. She told us exactly what she did to fend him off.

She says she has gotten an outpouring of love and support in the last few days, since cops released the surveillance footage of the January incident -- and it all has her feeling really good.

As we reported, Nashali was working out in her gym when Xavier Thomas-Jones came to the door and she let him in, thinking he forgot his key.

Minutes later, he charged at her, but the nursing school student wound up giving him a major beatdown ... before eventually breaking free.

Xavier was arrested the next day and charged with sexual battery and kidnapping.

The NFL has a real issue with representation in the head coaching ranks ... and Skip Bayless says he knows why -- old, white NFL owners just aren't comfortable socializing with Black coaches and their wives.

"These older white owners just aren’t that comfortable with a Black head coach because they need to interact, they need to go to dinner with the wives or the [significant others] or whatever," Bayless said on FS1's "Undisputed" this week while discussing 53-year-old Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy's failure to land a gig as HC.

"[White owners are] just not that comfortable. When they do have an interview, it’s gonna be a quicker click with a young white hot candidate."

Of course, the NFL only has four Black head coaches ... Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, Todd Bowles in Tampa Bay, newly hired DeMeco Ryans in Houston and Mike McDaniel in Miami.

Despite a majority of the players in the league being Black, people of color have long had issues getting hired, especially as head coaches.

The NFL has instituted guidelines like the "Rooney Rule" -- dictating front offices must interview a minority candidate before making a hire.

Still, only four of the 32 teams feature a Black man in the top job, and it doesn't appear change is on the horizon.

As for how to fix the glaring issue, Bayless admits it may not be a repairable problem ... 'cause, how do you change how the owners think?

“It’s just culture, it’s just the way life is. And, I don’t know how to defeat it, because each of these guys is an independent owner in the umbrella of the NFL and it’s hard to legislate ‘you must hire a black coach’"

"You can’t unless it’s in the man’s heart to do the right thing, and every once in a while we have the Rooneys in Pittsburgh who did the right thing.”