TMZ Sports - Page 50

Jon Gruden apologized for his racially insensitive 2011 email once again on Sunday ... insisting he's not a racist and telling reporters, "I can't tell you how sick I am."

The Las Vegas head coach met with media members just minutes after the Raiders' 20-9 loss to the Bears ... and it wasn't long before Gruden had to answer questions about an 11-year-old email that contained racist language.

"I apologize for the insensitive remarks," the 58-year-old said. "I had no racial intentions with those remarks at all."

If you missed it ... during a probe into allegations of workplace misconduct in the Washington Football Team's organization, an email Gruden had sent to a team exec had been discovered by NFL investigators.

In the body of the message, Gruden had said NFL Players Association president DeMaurice Smith had "lips the size of Michelin tires."

Gruden initially apologized on Friday, claiming the comment was not a racist one ... but rather a unique way of calling Smith a liar.

On Sunday, he reiterated that stance yet again ... adding, "I stand here in front of everybody apologizing. I don't have an ounce of racism in me."

"I'm a guy that takes pride in leading people together. I'll continue to do that for the rest of my life. And again I apologize to D. Smith and anybody out there that I have offended."

Gruden said he had yet to meet with NFL officials over the email ... but acknowledged that could happen in the next few days.

It's unclear if the coach faces any discipline. League sources said Friday a probe was ongoing.

Raiders owner Mark Davis, meanwhile, said Gruden's words were "disturbing" and added, "we are addressing the matter with Coach Gruden."

Even after retirement, Michael Jordan still finds ways to break records ... 'cause a game-worn patch card he signed just sold for $2.7 MILLION, an all-time high price for a piece of His Airness' memorabilia.

The rare card is a 1997-98 Upper Deck -- and it's considered one of the greatest hoops cards ever made.

It features M.J.'s autograph, a swatch of the jersey that he wore during the 1992 NBA All-Star Game, and it's limited to just 23 copies.

But, more importantly, it's believed to be the first card to ever feature both a piece of a game-worn jersey and a signature -- which experts say make it truly historic.

"It makes sense that this card -- and the innovative new designs and card styles that it spawned in the industry -- is one of the most pivotal in our hobby," said Ken Goldin, president of Goldin Auctions, which auctioned off the piece Monday.

"Owning this card is like owning a sliver of MJ's legacy and we were very proud that we were trusted with this record-breaking transaction."

The card is also an important piece because the '92 All-Star was the one where Magic Johnson made his return to the NBA after retiring before the 1991-92 season.

The previous record for Jordan memorabilia was held by a different version of the card -- numbered 21/23 -- which sold for $2.1 million at Goldin Auctions earlier this year.

Baker Mayfield's wife is going OFF on fans blaming the Browns QB for Sunday's loss ... saying all the haters need to "wake up" and quit being so ungrateful.

Baker and Co. fell to 3-2 after a heartbreaking 47-42 loss to Justin Herbert and the Chargers at SoFi Stadium ... with #6 going 23-32 for 305 yards and 2 touchdowns in the effort.

Despite having an overall decent game, some fans criticized the 26-year-old signal-caller for not coming away with the dub.

Enter Mrs. Mayfield, who fired back at all the anti-Baker hate with a passionate Instagram post Monday morning.

"For all you fans who are blaming yesterday’s loss on Baker, wake up," Emily said. "It was one hell of a game and that game could have gone either way. He left it all on the field."

Baker's wife of 2 years says he has worked his ass off since he joined the team in 2018 ... and hasn't received the acknowledgment he deserves from the fans.

"You truly don’t know what you have. I have watched him give his all and change the entire  culture in Cleveland, yet he gets so little credit for it."

"He never asks for recognition and continues to carry the weight, day in and day out, despite the hate."

Emily calls for the Dawg Pound to start supporting the guys on the team instead of tearing them down all the time ... saying, "The hate does nothing for them."

The Philadelphia Eagles fans initially believed to be banging in a bathroom stall at the Carolina Panthers' stadium Sunday were NOT arrested over the incident ... TMZ Sports has learned.

A rep for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department tells us officers were dispatched to a men's bathroom during the Eagles vs. Panthers game at Bank Of America Stadium ... but they could not confirm if the couple was, in fact, engaging in intercourse.

Instead, we're told the cops simply arrived due to reports of a woman in the men's bathroom -- which, they say, is a violation of stadium policies.

The CMPD spokesperson says the couple was taken out of the stall and escorted out of the venue ... but they were not ultimately arrested.

Still, video from the scene showed the whole incident created quite the spectacle regardless.

In clips filmed by witnesses in the bathroom, you can see several males crowded around the stall while the two were in it.

Unclear exactly what was going down behind the closed door -- cops only said the two were fully clothed when they arrived on scene.

Jon Gruden could lose his job over his 2011 racist email ... so says Raiders legend Tim Brown, who claims firing the head coach is on the table for Las Vegas owner Mark Davis.

"If Mark thinks that there's a problem here, Mark will make a move," Brown said over the weekend during an interview with "SiriusXM NFL Radio," according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"That's how serious Mark is about this kind of stuff. Mark is not going to play this racist stuff. He's not going to allow this stuff to happen."

In a 9-year-old email that Gruden sent to a Washington Football Team exec ... Gruden used racist language to criticize NFL Players Association president DeMaurice Smith.

"Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of Michelin tires," Gruden wrote.

Gruden -- who was an analyst for ESPN at the time -- has apologized vehemently for his language ... but has insisted there were no racial undertones to it.

Instead, Gruden claimed he was just trying to use a different wording of "rubber lips" -- a phrase he says he often uses to describe liars.

Regardless, Brown said he could see Davis bringing out the axe and starting a search for a new head coach over Gruden's words.

"He loves Gruden," Brown said of Davis, "but he loves things being right more than he loves Gruden."

For his part, Brown defended his former head coach -- who he played for with the Raiders from 1998 to 2001 -- saying he does NOT believe the 58-year-old is a racist.

"The way I talk about Gruden, people think he's my dad or something because I have that kind of admiration for him," Brown said.

J.R. Smith's officially a college golfer -- the 36-year-old made his debut at a tournament on Monday ... and it may not have gone the way he was hoping.

The ex-NBA star suited up for North Carolina A&T on the first day of the Elon Phoenix Invitational at the Alamance Country Club in Burlington, NC on Monday ... and he had a pretty solid start, hitting 2 birdies in his first 5 holes.

But, after making par on holes 10-14, Smith carded 7 bogeys and a double-bogey to finish out with an 81 (+7) ... just 6 spots above last place.

Look, there was no way the former All-Star was going to come in and wreck the competition, but the fact he's even out there doing his thing is pretty awesome ... and he looked damn good, too.

Smith will be able to work on his score during the second round of competition -- which got underway -- and we'll be keeping an eye out to see what he does on the links!!

Big shout-out to Smith for putting in the work and getting this far.

Muhammad Ali vs. Tyson Fury would be the GREATEST FIGHT OF ALL TIME ... period, so says The Greatest's grandson, professional boxer Nico Ali Walsh.

TMZ Sports talked to the 21-year-old, 1-0 boxer ringside following the Fury-Deontay Wilder trilogy fight ... and we asked him how Fury would've fared against his legendary grandfather.

"That would be my favorite fight to watch. That would be the greatest fight of all time. The press conferences would sell out, the weigh-ins would sell out. The fight would sell itself," Ali Walsh said.

Okay, okay ... this obviously is nothing more than a fantasy matchup, a dream fight ... but it's fun to imagine.

Picture Fury and Ali -- 2 of the best talkers the sport has ever seen -- on the mic before the fight. Then, once in the ring ... wow.

We also asked Nico where Fury ranks all-time ... and it's clear how highly the young fighter thinks of the Gypsy King.

"I’ve always said that Tyson Fury is the greatest Heavyweight of my era, and I gotta say that Deontay is number two. And that's what Tyson said. It was an amazing fight tonight."

But, where does Tyson rank all-time?

"I’d put him in the top five heavyweights of all-time. He’s unlike any other heavyweight." Ali Walsh told us.

And, who'd win that fantasy matchup between Fury and Ali?

Well, Nico has an idea ... but even he admits he might not be the most objective her.

"I'm biased, but I'd say my grandfather all the way."

Chipper Jones' baseball skills have apparently deteriorated over the years ... 'cause the MLB legend just embarrassingly fumbled an attempt at catching a foul ball Monday.

The former Braves star's gaffe just went down in the second inning of Atlanta's playoff tilt with the Brewers ... when Milwaukee 2nd baseman Luis Urias hit a pop fly toward the ex-3rd baseman, who was sitting just a few rows behind home plate.

The ball was hit sky-high ... and despite camping underneath it and having a Hall of Fame baseball resume -- Chipper muffed the grab!!

The ball clanked off the 49-year-old's mitt ... and it ain't hard to see in the broadcast footage that he was pretty embarrassed.

The game's announcers had fun with the moment, with one ruling it an error -- and the other adding, "Poor Larry. That's going to be all over the place today."

In Chipper's defense, he hasn't played in a Big League game in 9 years ... so the debacle is at least kind of forgivable.

President Biden is starting his week off with a wedding ... because his nephew is about to tie the knot with a real housewife.

The White House says the President and First Lady Jill Biden will be in attendance when Biden's nephew, Cuffe Owens, marries 'Real Housewives of Orange County' star Meghan O'Toole King today.

Monday's ceremony is said to be pretty small and reserved for family ... and it's going down at the home of Biden's sister, Valerie Owens.

Cuffe is a 42-year-old attorney based in Los Angeles, and he only recently went public with his relationship with Meghan.

It's the third marriage for Meghan ... remember, her last marriage to former MLB star Jim Edmonds ended in a messy divorce complete with a nude text messaging scandal and alleged infidelity with their nanny.

POTUS is attending the wedding after spending the weekend back home in Delaware, then it's back to The White House.

No word if Biden's planning to say a few words at the ceremony.

Who's next for Tyson Fury?? Could be Andy Ruiz, if the former heavyweight champion gets his way ... telling TMZ Sports he'd love to fight the Gypsy King next!

We got 32-year-old Ruiz leaving the T-Mobile Center in Las Vegas, right after the epic Deontay Wilder-Fury fight ended, and we asked if he had interest in facing Tyson next.

"Of course. Right now, everybody is eliminating each other. So, I just got off of surgery, but I’ll be back in December, January," Ruiz says.

The Destroyer continued ... "I have other belts but I’m just missing the one and that's the WBC. That’s what we're aiming for."

Fury has clearly stamped himself as the world's top heavyweight.

He beat Wilder -- who many believe is the 2nd best heavyweight alive -- in back-to-back fights.

Anthony Joshua would've without a doubt been the guy to face Fury next ... had he not just lost to Oleksandr Usyk. The men are expected to rematch sometime next year. If Joshua wins, the fight with Fury could be back in play for late next year, or early/mid 2023.

Dillian Whyte and Otto Wallin -- who pushed Fury to the brink in 2019 -- are fighting later this month ... and the winner would be Tyson's mandatory challenger.

As for Ruiz ... he's been recovering from knee surgery. He last fought in May 2021 ... beating Chris Arreola by unanimous decision.

Of course, Andy previously shocked the world, beating Joshua as a huge underdog in June 2019.

If Ruiz and Fury were to fight ... the Gypsy King (6'9") would have a massive size advantage over Andy (6'2").

NFL rookie Kadarius Toney is apologizing for swinging on a Dallas Cowboys player during the N.Y. Giants' loss on Sunday ... saying he let his emotions get the best of him.

The incident went down with 6 minutes left in the 4th quarter ... when safety Damontae Kazee slammed Toney to the ground after making a first down catch.

The 22-year-old quickly bounced up and threw a punch in retaliation ... and was ejected from the game.

Joe Judge was clearly pissed with Toney's actions ... barking at the receiver as he made his way to the sidelines.

Now, Toney is owning up to his mistake ... saying, "Wanna take the time out to apologize to the entire organization, Owners, My Teammates and the entire #BigBlue," he tweeted Monday.

"Your emotions just can get the best of you sometimes ... No Excuses just actions #ThankYall"

Toney will now face punishment from the league ... but it sounds like he will NOT be suspended for his actions.

White Sox pitcher Ryan Tepera clearly believes the Astros haven't stopped cheating despite being busted in 2020 ... telling reporters Sunday he thinks something fishy is still happening in Houston.

Tepera made the insinuation following the Sox's first playoff victory over the 'Stros ... saying he can see a tangible difference in Houston's offense at Minute Maid Park vs. away from it.

"It's a different game here at our field," Tepera said. "You play at Minute Maid, and they’re doing something over there that's a little different."

Tepera said the Astros' swings and misses on pitches -- they struck out 16 times on Sunday in Chicago vs. 16 total times in the first two games of the series in Houston -- tell the whole story.

"I mean, it is what it is," said Tepera, who threw two scoreless innings in the White Sox's 12-6 win in Game 3 of the ALDS. "They've obviously had a reputation of doing some sketchy stuff over there. We can say that it's a little bit of a difference."

"I think you saw the swings and misses tonight compared to the first two games at Minute Maid."

Of course, the Astros are no strangers to cheating allegations ... they were found to have used an illegal sign-stealing system back in the 2017 and 2018 seasons that ultimately caused Houston to fire manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow.

The team has obviously insisted there's been no cheating since ... but Tepera certainly seems to believe otherwise.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell turned into a puddle of emotions following Detroit's latest loss ... breaking down in tears in front of media members.

The Lions dropped their fifth straight game Sunday, falling 19-17 to the Minnesota Vikings ... and Campbell wasn't pleased at all about it in his postgame meeting with reporters.

The first-year headman cried ... saying he was disappointed over yet another L and felt awful for his players.

"You want it for yourself as an organization and for all of us but you want for those players," Campbell said, wiping away tears. "I mean, they're out there busting their ass and you know, it's tough."

Campbell added, "When you see your players give all that they have and you lose that way, it’s tough. You don’t want that for them, but we’ll be better for it."

The loss was tough for Campbell considering the Vikings pulled off a miraculous win in the same manner that the Ravens had done to Detroit earlier this season.

Minnesota put together a crazy field goal drive to close out the game -- similar to the way Lamar Jackson and Baltimore did against the Lions back in Week 3.

"It's tough to be 0-5," Campbell said. "It's tough to lose like that again but I was proud of them, man."

Tiger Woods is off crutches and walking without a limp ... new video, obtained by TMZ Sports, shows.

The golf legend was out in Port St. Lucie, FL. watching his son, Charlie, play in a junior tournament Sunday ... and Woods was moving around the course without much issue at all.

A witness tells us Tiger -- who is still wearing a sleeve on his surgically repaired right leg -- was in great spirits, alternating between walking holes and riding around in a golf cart for others.

We're told Tiger was speaking with fans throughout the tournament ... thanking them for encouraging words while he was following Charlie around the track.

Of course, the images are a very positive sign for Woods ... considering they're the first time since his Feb. 2021 accident that he's been seen without any sort of walking aid.

As we previously reported, Woods horrifically injured his leg in a rollover car crash in Los Angeles ... suffering comminuted open fractures that required a rod, screws and pins to fix.

As late as July, Woods was still using crutches to help get around.

Hopefully Justin Bieber's watched the "60 Minutes" special on deepfakes by now, so he can tell when he's complimenting -- or challenging -- the real Tom Cruise.

JB got totally fooled by the @deeptomcruise TikTok account recently, believing the "Tom Cruise" created by artificial intelligence was the real deal playing guitar and singing.

Justin was impressed, so he shouted out Tom for his musical skills ... and then reminded him of their previously rumored fight-to-be that never was ... with the Biebs suggesting he'd still wallop Cruise.

JB even went a step further later on by posting his own cover of the deepfake Cruise's song to show his respect.

But, it was all for naught, because Justin was fooled -- like so many others -- by the deepfake account that's existed since February, created by Chris Ume ... who uses A.I. technology to merge Cruise's face with impersonator Miles Fisher's to create the realistic effect.

Lamar Odom might have his next boxing opponent ... 'cause O.T. Genasis tells TMZ Sports he'd consider stepping in the ring with the NBA champ -- if the money's right.

41-year-old Lamar is fresh off whooping J.Lo's ex-hubby, Ojani Noa, in his second-ever Celebrity Boxing bout ... and has already been called out by Benzino.

When we spoke with O.T. at Rajon Rondo's Tacos AF event earlier this week, we had to ask if he would be putting his name on the list of Lamar's future opponents ... and hey, he didn't say no.

In fact, he tells us he's been training privately for years ... and hints he might be too skilled for the hooper.

Genasis wouldn't give us a guarantee on the fight ... but if you can read between the lines, you can tell he's highly confident in the hypothetical bout.

Genasis -- who would be a LOT shorter and lighter than LO -- says he'd take the fight very seriously ... and would need to spend countless hours in the gym in order to be ready to compete.