TMZ Sports - Page 50

The Jumpman has entered the future!!!

The Jordan Brand has officially announced its first ever self-lacing sneaker ... and they look like they'd get Marty McFly's approval.

Dubbed the Air Jordan 11 Adapt, the sneakers are the first of Michael Jordan's iconic signature line to use Nike's electronically-controlled lacing technology ... and will mark the 25th anniversary of the original kicks released in 1995.

Remember, sneakerheads lost their minds when the Swoosh introduced the Nike MAG back in 2016 -- ya know, the "Back to the Future" kicks -- which also featured the Adapt tech.

While the self-lacing tech has showed up on other iconic shoes in recent years, it marks the first time it will appear on an Air Jordan shoe.

Fun fact -- shoe god Tinker Hatfield envisioned a lace-less design when he initially drew up the epic kicks years ago ... and now it's kinda finally happening!!

So, how do these things work?? The kicks are controlled by an app that will help customize the comfort ... as well as the color of the button on the side of the sneaks.

The kicks are set to be released next month ... and rumors say they will come with a $500 price tag.

Need another reason to be envious of World Series MVP Corey Seager?? Well, here ya go ...

The L.A. Dodgers superstar's fiancee, Madisyn Van Ham, loves him SO MUCH ... she got a tiny swimsuit with pics of his face all over it!!!

And, to make sure everyone knows what a lucky guy Seager is ... she shared a photo of it for all to enjoy!!!

"All the 😍 for my soon to be hubby 💍," Van Ham wrote of the suit.

The two have been dating for about 5 years now ... and just got engaged back in December 2019.

They post about each other often ... and Van Ham was even with the shortstop while he was dominating for the Dodgers in the postseason down in Texas last month.

In fact, she got a pic with L.A.'s NLCS trophy right after Seager and the Dodgers moved on to the World Series ... and she hilariously captioned it, "What’s yours is mine, right babe?!"

And, as if the two weren't adorable enough ... they also own the cutest dog ever -- a Toy Australian Shepherd named Hazel Grey!!!

Unbelievable photo of Diego Maradona -- who was smiling for a picture with his doctor just 8 days after undergoing emergency brain surgery.

The Argentinian soccer legend was diagnosed last week with a subdural hematoma -- also known as a brain bleed, a potentially life-threatening condition requiring immediate surgery.

The 60-year-old went under the knife on Nov. 3 -- and it appears his recovery is going pretty well!

Maradona's doctor, Leopoldo Luque, posted a photo posing next to the soccer star ... who is still sporting a bandage to cover the scar on the right side of his head.

Dr. Luque told reporters he expects Maradona to be discharged from the hospital sometime Wednesday.

Maradona will reportedly continue his recovery at a rehabilitation facility just outside of Buenos Aires, where his daughter lives.

Maradona's lawyer, Matias Morla, also spoke to the media -- saying it's a "miracle" the soccer star survived the blood clot.

"Diego has gone through perhaps the hardest time of his life," Morla said.

"What is needed now is family togetherness and being surrounded by health professionals. With the doctors and his family, Diego will be as he should be: happy."

Titus Davis -- who broke Antonio Brown's WR records at Central Michigan -- has died after battling a rare form of cancer.

He was only 27.

Titus -- older brother of Tennessee Titans wideout Corey Davis -- went public with his diagnosis in July, revealing he was suffering from a rare and aggressive kidney cancer called Renal Medullary Carcinoma.

He underwent chemotherapy to battle to illness -- but ultimately passed away on Wednesday. He's survived by his 2 sons.

Titus was a monster during his 4 years at Central Michigan from 2011 to 2014 -- racking up 3,700 receiving yards and 37 TDs during his career, setting school records in both categories.

He's the only player in college football history to have 8 or more touchdowns in four different seasons.

Titus signed with the Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2015 -- where he was a member of the practice squad. He also spent time as a practice squad player with the NY Jets, Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills.

Titus' former college coach Dan Enos issued a statement on Davis' passing -- saying he's "heartbroken."

"On the field, he was a phenomenal athlete and competitor. He was also a great friend and teammate to many."

"From the first moments we started recruiting him, we at CMU football knew he was something incredibly special. He was a joy to coach and to be around. My deepest sympathies are extended to his family during this difficult time."

The president of Notre Dame is "very disappointed" at students who broke COVID protocol and stormed the field when the football team beat Clemson this weekend ... and now there will be repercussions.

Tons of students rushed onto the field Saturday night when the #4 ranked Fighting Irish defeated the #1 ranked Clemson Tigers in a double-overtime thriller -- getting up close and personal with players, coaches and staff. It was a COVID-protocol nightmare.

Now, ND president Rev. John. I. Jenkins has sent a letter to the student body spelling out a NEW protocol -- and threatening to essentially ban students next semester if they don't comply.

"As exciting as last night's victory against Clemson was, it was very disappointing to see evidence of widespread disregard of our health protocols at many gatherings over the weekend," Rev. Jenkins said in a letter sent late Sunday.

Jenkins laid out the following steps:

1) "Because we are now even more concerned about the potential for contagion in your home communities as you prepare to travel home at the end of the semester, the University will place a registration hold on the record of any student fails to appear for testing when asked to do so. A Registration hold would mean that you are unable to matriculate or register for classes next semester or receive a transcript."

2) "Furthermore, you may not leave the South Bend area until you receive the results of your exit test. Again, should we discover that you have left the area, we will place a registration hold on your record."

3) "There will be zero tolerance for any gatherings that do not comport with our health and safety guidelines, on or off campus. Those found responsible for hosting such gatherings will face severe sections."

Rev. Jenkins explained "the grave circumstances of this pandemic compel us to take these exceptional measures."

He finished by telling the students to look to the football team for inspiration on how to get through these challenging times.

"Our football team showed us how to finish strong on Saturday night. Please finish the semester strong by wearing a mask, maintaining physical distance, washing your hands and completing your daily health check."

"Furthermore, as outlined above, you must, if you wish to return as a student in the spring semester, appear for testing were notified and not depart until you receive the test result."

Brett Favre says the Eagles' woes since winning the Super Bowl in 2018 can be explained pretty simply -- they screwed up the Carson Wentz vs. Nick Foles decision.

You'll recall ... back in the '17 season, Wentz had Philly rollin' -- he led the Birds to an 11-2 start -- but he had to sit the bench the rest of the way due to an ACL injury.

Foles went on to lead the team to a title over Tom Brady's Patriots in Wentz' stead ... but the Eagles decided to turn back to Carson when he was healthy the following season nonetheless.

And, when it came time to either pay Foles to keep him around or let him walk after the 2018 season ... Philly chose to punt -- and now, Favre says that was a decision that doomed the franchise.

"I actually thought that they should have kept Nick Foles rather than Carson Wentz just based off of production and where they got to," Favre said on ESPN's "First Take" on Tuesday.

"You know, they won a Super Bowl with Foles. And, that was a little bit surprising."

Foles hasn't done much of anything since he left the Eagles for Jacksonville ... he had an injury-plagued season with the Jags in 2019 and now he's sputtering with the Bears this year.

But, Wentz hasn't been much better ... the Eagles were 9-7 in 2019 and are just 3-4-1 this year -- AND Wentz leads the league in interceptions this season with 12.

Favre says injuries to the QB's weapons have played some role in Wentz's struggles ... but he explained Carson should be just flat-out better regardless.

The Minnesota Vikings say they are shutting down plans to allow fans at their 4 remaining home games -- explaining it's just too dangerous right now.

The Vikings have only allowed 250 fans at U.S. Bank Stadium at home games so far this season ... but have been pursuing options to allow thousands more to attend -- with COVID-19 protocols in place.

But Wednesday, the team announced it is canning those plans in light of rising COVID infection rates in the state of Minnesota.

"We will no longer pursue hosting more than 250 fans for the remaining 2020 Vikings regular-season home games," the team said.

"While we have worked hard to develop a safe and responsible plan to bring back a limited number of fans, our decisions have been based on medical guidance with public health as the top priority," the team said in a statement.

"We take seriously Minnesota's rising COVID infection rates and increasing hospitalizations and believe closing the final four home games to fans is the right decision to help protect our community."

It was TACO (and Sushi) TUESDAYYYYYY at The Masters this week ... Tiger Woods finally got to host his champions dinner at Augusta -- and he picked Mexican food and rolls for the occasion!

If you're unfamiliar ... every year at golf's most prestigious tournament, the past year's winner gets to host previous champs for a feast before tee times begin.

Normally, it all goes down in April -- and it's LAVISH -- but because of COVID, Tiger had to wait 7 months to do the honors.

Don't worry, Tiger still was able to get in an April celebration ... remember his backyard Masters dinner with his kids and GF???

But, when the time finally came for Woods to do the real thing on Tuesday before the major tourney begins in Georgia ... he sure as hell delivered.

Tiger picked an exotic menu ... there was an Augusta Roll (featuring tempura shrimp and spicy tuna), and prime steak and chicken fajitas.

For dessert, Tiger offered up flan, churros and sopapillas. He even had everyone wash it down with some fancy red wine!!

Seemed like it was all a hit ... Jack Nicklaus tweeted of the evening, "Mr. Woods has gotten a lot of practice at picking a menu. 💯"

The Masters officials say the dinner was pared down this season to help prevent the spread of COVID ... explaining only 33 people were allowed to attend.

Dylan Groenewegen -- a pro cyclist from the Netherlands -- was just hit with a 9-month ban for causing the horrific crash that left his rival in a coma.

The incident took place back in August ... 27-year-old Groenewegen squeezed fellow Dutch cyclist Fabio Jakobsen into a wall while on a finishing spring during the Tour of Poland -- causing Jakobsen to flip over some signage and crash face-first into a solid barrier.

Jakobsen sustained major injuries in the wreck -- including "severe" wounds to his face -- and was placed in a medically-induced coma to help his recovery.

Jakobsen also underwent reconstructive surgery on his face and jaw, according to the AP.

Now, the International Cycling Union has dished out punishment -- banning Groenewegen from competition for 9 months ... meaning he won't be able to race again until May 7.

Groenewegen issued a statement through his reps saying, "The crash in the first stage of the Tour of Poland will forever be a black page in my career."

Alex Cora is apologizing for his role in the Houston Astros cheating scandal -- and admitting he "deserved" the punishment he received from Major League Baseball.

45-year-old Cora was a bench coach for the 'Stros during the 2017 season -- and parlayed his success into a better job, manager of the Boston Red Sox.

Of course, an MLB investigation found Cora and several others used technology to steal pitching signs from other teams -- which ultimately gave an advantage to Houston's hitters. Cora has previously said he was not the "sole mastermind" but he's clearly accepting some of the blame.

After MLB's investigation, Cora was slapped with a 1-year suspension and the Red Sox parted ways with him.

But, now that the ban is up, the Sox have hired him back -- and he broke his silence about the situation Tuesday during a press conference.

"I deserved what happened this year," Cora told reporters about his suspension ... "It's something that I'm not proud of."

"We went through the whole process with the Commissioner's Office and the Dept. of Investigations, at the end, I got my penalty and I served it."

Cora apologized to the Red Sox for putting them in a tough spot after they hired him -- saying he understands it made the organization look bad.

"As a leader, as a person that enjoys the game -- I put this organization in a tough spot and I'm sorry."

Cora says he doesn't want to exploit his 2nd chance "to make it seem like it's a great comeback story."

Instead, Cora says he wants other people to learn from his mistakes so they don't go down the same road.

"This situation is part of who I am for the rest of my career. As a man, I have to deal with it. I don’t want people to make it seem like it's a great comeback story."

He added, "I know there’s a lot of people that I disappointed and for that I’m sorry … I'm still Alex, I made a mistake."

Absurd athleticism runs THICK in the Mahomes blood ... here's Patrick's younger brother, Jackson, showing off ridiculous basketball skills with an insane dunk show!!!

The NFL superstar's little bro posted vids of him on the court Tuesday ... and he's CRAZY good!!

Check out the footage ... the 20-year-old threw down rim rattlers with ease -- and he even tossed a pass to himself off the backboard in one of the clips before jamming it home.

The younger Mahomes clearly knows he's got skills too ... 'cause he captioned the vid, "Bruh why am I so cold, like I swear no one wants to play me."

Jackson also showed he's got range as well ... in another vid, he knocked down several 3-pointers like they were nothing more than mid-range jumpers!

Of course, Jackson was a special H.S. basketball player who nearly played in college ... but he said in a video in September he just wasn't in love with the sport enough to pursue it in school.

Instead, Jackson has now become one of the most famous TikTokkers on the planet ... the guy has nearly 1 MILLION followers on the popular app -- and he's even started his own clothing line!

"You can go down to practice and hit each other and be in close contact -- but you have to have plexiglass in between you and the guy next to you in the locker room?"

That's Aaron Rodgers pointing out some apparent "double standards" in the NFL's COVID protocol -- and asking the question, "Are we doing all this based on science?"

The Green Bay Packers QB got very candid about the league's coronavirus plan during an appearance this week on "The Pat McAfee Show" ... explaining why he thinks some of the rules are more about optics than safety.

"I just think there’s some double standards," Rodgers said.

"You can dap up a guy after the game, but you can’t eat at the same lunch table as a teammate? You can go down to practice and hit each other and be in close contact, but you have to have plexiglass in between you and the guy next to you in the locker room?"

"I just think some of those things to me just don’t really add up. Like I understand what we’re tryin' to do, we’re trying to get every game in and stay healthy. But, I think just some of those things, ... I just think that some things make sense and then some things don’t make a lot of sense."

Rodgers says he also thinks it's weird that players can't talk to opponents after a game -- despite incredibly close contact during the 4 quarters of action.

"There’s spit and sweat and all this stuff and we hit and we're tackling -- and we can't go and talk to somebody who we know on another team?"

Boxing superstar Teofimo Lopez has a message for Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia -- "Don't f*ck with me."

The reigning unified lightweight champion (he basically has all the belts at 135 pounds) says he knows there's a lot of chatter from the other stars in the division ... but he's not interested in verbal sparring. Teo wants to fight.

When asked specifically about a fight with Gervonta Davis in 2021 -- Lopez (who just defeated Vasyl Lomachenko) told us he's ready to go.

"Yeah, it can happen," 23-year-old Lopez told us while channeling his inner Ric Flair -- "In order for him to be the man, he gotta beat me."

As far as Gervonta's recent devastating knockout of Leo Santa Cruz, Lopez says he's not concerned -- it's Tank who should be worried.

"I can throw a mean ass uppercut as well and he'll go out. It goes both ways. I'm a very smart fighter when it comes to it and I'm the bigger guy at [135 pounds]. I'm the kingpin of 135 pounds."

Lopez even had this message for Davis, Garcia, Devin Haney, and anyone else looking to challenge him for his titles.

"Y'all calling out my name like I'm giving out free belts," Lopez says ... "But, deep down you know I'm the king of this division."

"If y'all wanna fight me, you know where to find me ... Don't f*ck with me, don't f*ck with me!"

He added, "The whole thing now is who's gonna be up first in line to get that ass whoopin'?!"

Odell Beckham is officially on the road to recovery ... the star receiver and the Cleveland Browns just announced he underwent successful surgery to repair his torn ACL.

Beckham shredded the knee early in the Browns-Bengals game back on Oct. 25 ... and he was finally able to go under the knife Tuesday to repair the issue.

The Browns said in a statement the operation -- performed by world-renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews down in Florida -- was a complete success.

"Beckham is expected to be ready for the 2021 season," the team added.

Beckham appeared to be pleased with the results of the surgery as well ... he posted a pic of himself post-op and wrote, "Sit back relax n watch how God work.....Now let the journey begin."

Beckham was having his best year as a Brown before the injury ... logging 319 receiving yards and 4 total TDs in 7 starts.

The wideout has vowed to come back stronger than ever ... writing on his social media page earlier this week, "Adversity.... it’s nothin new to me!"

Get well soon!

Ya wanna know what Bill Belichick hates more than losing?? Coffee and everything about it -- the smell, the taste and even java-flavored treats.

Like ... the dude freakin' LOATHES the stuff with a burning passion.

Here's how we know -- the New England Patriots coach came clean on his disgust for joe in an interview with WEEI's "Ordway, Merloni, and Fauria Show" on Tuesday ... and it basically turned into a roasting session on all things coffee.

"Look, I mean I understand I am probably missing it, but I just don’t like coffee," Belichick said.

"I can’t stand the smell of coffee. I don’t like coffee ice cream and I like every sweet that has ever been made. But, that’s not one of them."

"I don’t like coffee-flavored anything."

He didn't stop there.

"I just don’t have the taste for it. I've tried, but it just doesn’t work for me. My grandmother put a glass of milk and poured like probably a thimble of coffee and I couldn’t even drink that."

"It’s just one of those things I didn’t develop a taste for. I didn’t develop a taste for scotch either. I tried that. I just couldn’t develop a taste for it," he added.

"Nothing against coffee. Nothing against Dunkin' Donuts. Nothing against anything, it’s just not for me."

Ex-S.F. Giants outfielder Mac Williamson says his career was ruined by the old placement of the bullpen mounds at Oracle Park in San Francisco ... and now, he's suing over it.

In new court docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, Williamson claims the company that financed and helped create Oracle Park knew the field design posed significant injury risks ... but did nothing about it.

And, Williamson says that all led to a catastrophic head injury that ultimately led to the end of his MLB career.

Williamson was attempting to catch a fly ball back on April 24, 2018 ... when he ran straight into the left field's bullpen mound, slipped and crashed headfirst into a wall.

Williamson stayed in the game and even went on to hit a home run ... but, in his suit, he said he began feeling groggy a short time later.

In the docs, Williamson said the next day, he was "dizzy, disoriented, and nauseous" -- and he was ultimately diagnosed with a concussion and placed on the team's injured list.

Williamson tried to come back and finish out the season ... but he claims he was still struggling with post-concussion symptoms and had shut down for the season.

30-year-old Mac went on to play in 40 games in 2019, but hit just .156 ... and was unable to latch on with an MLB team in 2020.

Now, Mac says in his suit he believes the decline in his play was all due to the injury ... and he wants the company behind Oracle Park to pay for it.

FYI -- it should be noted Williamson is NOT suing the Giants ... rather, just the company behind Oracle Park.

Williamson is asking for unspecified damages in the suit ... adding in a statement Tuesday, "My life hasn’t been the same since suffering the injury."

"The concussion ended my career and left me with life-long injuries that have also taken a significant toll on my personal life."

"I'm fortunate to have such an understanding fiancé who has been there every step of the way and helps me get through the days I suffer nausea, trouble sleeping, mood swings, and other issues. I wake up every day hoping that today is a better day and that I will get closer to how I felt before the injury."

For their part, the Giants and Oracle Park -- which ended up removing the bullpen mounds from the field after the 2019 season -- released a statement Tuesday to the San Francisco Chronicle, saying, "MLB and its clubs have a longstanding practice of addressing claims arising from player injuries through the collectively-bargained grievance procedure and the worker’s compensation system."