TMZ Sports - Page 44

Aside from Travis Kelce falling in love and holding hands with music's hottest star this year, he and his fellow Kansas City Chiefs have had quite the season! Put one foot forward and see if you can tackle the discreet changes in these two images.

In preparation for tomorrow's big game, the tight end was loosening up this week in Vegas during practice -- and was lookin' swift sporting some red-hot short shorts 😜.

There's no way you can mess with #87 ... but what about the others??

Jason Kidd lit NBA Twitter/X on fire for saying Luka Doncic is better than Dirk Nowitzki ... but Shawn Marion is coming to his defense -- telling TMZ Sports the Mavs coach's comments were simply based on skill set, not accolades.

ICYMI, Kidd -- who started coaching the Mavs in 2021 -- recently said Doncic has surpassed Nowitzki in his eyes ... as the 24-year-old "does things that Dirk could never do."

Kidd was ripped for his comment ... especially since Dirk -- a 7-foot forward who can drain threes -- led the Mavs to their first NBA Finals title in 2011.

But Marion -- who was on that championship squad with Dirk and J. Kidd -- said people were mixing up what Jason truly meant ... and he doesn't think it was meant to downplay all Nowitzki did for the franchise.

"He's talking about the whole package," Marion told TMZ Sports. "He's talking about his skill set."

"He's not approaching [Dirk] in the accolades. There's no comparison [there]."

Marion is not taking anything away from Doncic ... pointing out the Mavs guard has amazing highlights at just the age of 24, including his recent 73-point game -- his career-high and franchise record.

Of course, old-school NBA fans would say Doncic can get so many points up because of the lack of defense in today's game ... but Marion -- who played 16 seasons -- says the game is just evolving at a faster pace.

"Layups are almost becoming null and void," the 45-year-old said. "They're making a conscious effort to get shots up within two passes."

"We ran systems, we had sets [in our era]. It's a big difference when you just running to score."

Time to settle into the weekend, and what better way than to catch up on what we talked about TMZ???

Kicking things off on 'TMZ Live,' we talked about Kanye West's latest listening event for his new album, 'Vultures,' which didn't get released digitally ... but did get played live.

Of course, there were some controversial things said during the performance -- in lyrics, no doubt -- and some of it touched on antisemitism ... which got Ye censored at his own show.

Over at 'TMZ on TV,' it was the battle of the Brads at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

Brad Pitt presented Bradley Cooper an award and heaped on praise for his A-list counterpart -- delivering some bad jokes to get his point across ... although, he looked great doing it.

Travis Kelce already hosted 'SNL,' and now ... his brother says he'd be down to give it a go. Jason Kelce talked to us on camera and communicated as much -- he wants his turn!

Check your local listings for when TMZ is on in your area or catch up on past episodes!

Before the world's greatest athletes get padded up and hit the grass of Allegiant Stadium to battle out in this year's highly anticipated Super LVIII in Las Vegas ... the hottest players on the Chiefs and 49ers showed off their bulked-up bods on social media, so get in the game and see if you can tackle who's behind the ballin' bod.

Showin' skin for the win ... Big-shot quarterback Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes took off his pads and posed for a shirtless shot, and in a position you've never seen 'em in before ... while San Fransisco's Trent Williams, Kyle Juszczyk and Christian McCaffrey showed off their game day-ready physiques!

Put your game face on and test your skills on these peak physical forms off the field!

New Hollywood bromance alert ... Glen Powell and Johnny Manziel are apparently buddies, because they partied their faces off together in the desert.

TMZ obtained video of Glen and Johnny hanging out last night at Casa Amigos Tacos and Tequila in Scottsdale, where Johnny Football had a VIP section.

Folks who were there say Johnny was already in the club when Glen showed up and joined the group.

We're told this wasn't a coincidence ... Johnny and Glen clearly planned to hang out, and their group of about a dozen were mostly hot chicks.

As you can see, Glen is chatting up a woman in one of the videos ... and we're told they stayed close throughout the night.

Johnny meanwhile, was talking to several different ladies ... and we're told there was no drama and everyone seemed to be in good spirits, with JM and GP partying for at least a few hours.

Glen was in town to play golf in Wednesday's Pro-Am at the WM Phoenix Open ... Johnny wasn't golfing, but he's never turned down a good time.

It's an interesting pairing ... Johnny won the Heisman Trophy at Texas A&M and Glen studied at the University of Texas at Austin before heading to Hollywood. The schools are big rivals, but it's more of a big brother-little brother type deal.

A 4.6-magnitude earthquake just hit L.A. ... and disrupted the hectic TMZ newsroom -- and while some of our staffers knew just what to do, not everyone hit the deck immediately.

According to the CDC ... the first thing to do during an earthquake is to drop to the ground before it knocks you down and crawl underneath a sturdy desk or table to protect yourself from falling objects.

If no such structure is available, get near some low-lying furniture and cover your neck and head. Then, hold on to your makeshift shelter until the shaking stops ... and pray for dear life!

Our own Charlie Neff stood out as a model earthquake expert by the CDC's guidelines ... dropping to the floor and rolling under her desk as soon as the building started to shake.

Charlie, an L.A. native, credits dozens of elementary school earthquake drills for preparing her for exactly this moment.

Her deskmate, Brendon Geoffrion, could probably have used a few more of those drills himself ... 'cause he decided to start wandering around and investigate the ceiling. Pretty much the opposite of the suggested guidelines!

Charles Latibeaudiere didn't hit the ground ... but nearly hit the ceiling with how high he jumped when the quake started. The scary shake definitely gave him a startle --- though he quickly regained composure and checked on everyone to make sure they were OK.

Another camera angle will give you a pretty good idea of how badly the building was shaking ... and our man John Brix knew what was up. Check him out on the right side of the screen, brown beanie on. He disappeared under the desk about as quickly as he could.

The ordeal definitely gave the whole office a jolt ... but don't worry ... everybody's fine, and nothing major seems to have been broken. So all's well that ends well!

Remember ... earthquakes can feel differently to everyone. One of our staff members said she thought someone was shaking her chair while another could've sworn the earthquake was just a heavy gust of wind.

If you're not sure ... the best thing to do is drop, cover and hold -- better safe than sorry.

Nike's "Just Do it" days are gone ... the Swoosh has a new and improved tagline, "TOUGH S***"

Okay, not exactly ... but this is pretty cool.

The day after Kobe Bryant was honored at Crypto.com Arena with just the 7th statue in the organization's ridiculously rich history, the sportswear giant hooked Vanessa Bryant up with a hoodie bearing her quote from the emotional ceremony.

Remember, Vanessa warned fans who might be thinking about complaining about the statue, saying, "Kobe picked the pose you’re about to see, so if anybody has any issue with it, tough s***."

The clip went viral ... and on Friday, Nike sent Bryant a 1-of-1 hoodie with the phrase.

"Lol. Thx for my new hoodie @nike 😃💜💛," Bryant said in the IG caption on Friday, posting a photo of the garment.

It's unclear if Nike plans to sell the design ... wouldn't be a bad idea -- they'd sell like crazy.

NLE Choppa has unlocked the code to prevent being bored in bumper-to-bumper Los Angeles --- stage a fan meet-and-greet on the spot!!!

TMZ Hip Hop obtained video of Mr. Cottonwood posing for pics and signing autographs for his adoring public from the backseat of a car in DTLA at the let out of the Lakers game last night ... after they got smacked by the defending champs Denver Nuggets.

The fans were geeked to get up close and personal and NLE's giving them more than enough reasons to stay excited in 2024.

On Friday, the Memphis rapper released his new "City Lights" single -- a tribute to his slain friend Deonte' "Tae Grape" Fletcher and hits the road later this year with A Boogie Wit da Hoodie for the 'Better Off Alone' tour in May.

Travis Kelce's ex, Kayla Nicole, might have had a falling out with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes ... but there's clearly still plenty of love between her and Jackson Mahomes -- 'cause TMZ Sports has learned they rubbed elbows in Vegas.

Eyewitnesses tell us ... Kelce's former flame -- who he dated for years before Taylor Swift -- and the Chiefs QB's younger bro came together at the Aria's High Limit Lounge around 10:15 PM Thursday, and they didn't leave each other's side for about an hour.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us this meetup wasn't planned -- it was more of a bump-into sitch, apparently -- although folks at the casino say it seemed coordinated, as we're told Kayla joined Jackson at the hotel's fancy bar after he'd been waiting around for a minute.

So, to some, it appeared Jackson might've been waiting for her.

Regardless, witnesses say Jackson and Kayla -- who became good friends during the years the model dated Kelce -- were warm toward each other while they talked, appearing jovial throughout their entire conversation ... which, we're told, was an engrossing one for both.

Of course, this is notable because Kayla has recently attempted to distance herself from Patrick and Brittany ... after the latter struck up a bond with Kelce's new bae, Tay Tay.

ICYMI ... Kayla unfollowed the famous couple online -- later explaining she did it to "protect" herself amid the tight end's new romance and his obvious continued bond with Patrick.

While Kayla seemingly shook off any connection to Mahomes/Kelce -- she's clearly still cool with Jackson, which makes sense based on what else we know.

Sources tell us there's no bad blood between any of the parties, and just because Brittany and Kayla's friendship fizzled after she and Trav ... there was never an expectation anyone else surrounding them would cut ties, including Jackson.

Trav, of course, has moved on ... and Kayla seems more than ready to do the same -- saying last month she's no longer interested in dating athletes, wanting a man with power instead.

On its face, her run-in with Jackson doesn't appear to have been romantic. But it is interesting Kayla is in Vegas at all right now ... suppose we'll see what happens.

Usher had a lot of celebs in his teaser promo ahead of his Super Bowl Halftime Show, including J Balvin -- but despite speculation he'll be in the mix ... we now know otherwise.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the Colombian singer will not be participating in the halftime show with Usher and co. come Sunday, even though a lot of people assumed that might be since he showed up in the short film that Apple dropped Thursday.

As it turns out ... we're told Balvin is actually in Brazil right now and will be performing at Carnival on Super Bowl Sunday -- so he'll be far away from the action going down in Vegas.

Not only is he technically booked on the same night of the SB ... our sources say his focus right now is on his upcoming international tour -- "Que Bueno Volver a Verte" -- that kicks off in April in Germany. Plus, we're told he's in the middle of rehearsing for Coachella too.

Now, if you're wondering why JB was even featured in the Apple promo to begin with -- which also had Ludacris, Lil Jon and Taraji P. Henson in there -- we have an answer.

Our sources say the point of the promo was to highlight Usher's biggest collaborators over the years -- and Balvin is one of those lately ... they have their song 'Dientes' together.

In terms of who will actually come out for Usher's performance ... it's almost a given that Luda and Jon will join him at some point -- and we first reported ... Alicia Keys is for sure going to be onstage with Ursher.

Another person we know has been spoken to about potentially coming on as a special guest in none other than Justin Bieber -- but it's unclear if he'll actually perform or not for now.

Alicia Keys will be a featured guest at Usher's Super Bowl Halftime Show, TMZ Hip Hop can reveal ... the latest development in the highly anticipated performance!!!

Sources close to the production confirm eyewitness accounts that AK rehearsed with Usher inside Allegiant Stadium on Thursday. Now that we know she'll be in the mix -- the first confirmed guest of his BTW -- all signs pointing to them doing one big song together.

Of course, we're talking about their 2004 mega duet "My Boo" -- which will undoubtedly be at least one of the tracks she performs.

The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 6 weeks when it came out -- and became the soundtrack to high school slow dances worldwide. It'll be interesting to see where the slow jam is included in the track list ... but he'll have plenty of time to squeeze it in.

Remember ... Usher negotiated to have a 15-minute set as opposed to the originally allotted 13 minutes ... 'cause it's the only way he knows how to rock, it seems. Considering how many famous collaborators Usher has had over the years ... it makes sense he needs the extra time.

His Apple Music commercial to promote the big event also heavily featured his "Yeah!" collaborators Ludacris and Lil Jon. Most everyone assumes these two guys will also be special guests during his performance ... although, they technically haven't confirmed yet.

As you know ... Usher has also been talking to Justin Bieber as a potential guest onstage -- although we haven't locked down whether the Biebs will actually be in attendance or not.

O.J. Simpson is reportedly battling cancer -- but the man himself is somewhat pushing back that he's in poor health ... although, not necessarily denying the notion that he's been diagnosed.

The notorious ex-con -- who was famously acquitted in his double murder trial in the '90s, and who has maintained his innocence -- was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer ... according to Local 10 News.

The publication cites sources for their reporting ... and they go on to say O.J. has been receiving chemotherapy in the area. Unclear when exactly he was given the bad news.

One other bizarre element about this report is that Local 10 News says they're hearing O.J. has been going around and telling friends there are rumors about him going into hospice ... something he's apparently been denying to his closest pals.

Welp, O.J. doubled down on that denial Friday on the heels of this report coming out -- and while he is denying any notion of him being in hospice ... nobody seems to be claiming that.

Again, O.J.'s not saying he doesn't have cancer ... but he is trying to make it seem like everything is just fine and dandy in his world -- and that his focus is on the Super Bowl.

Here's the weird thing about all this ... O.J. appears to have already acknowledged that he has cancer and that he had done chemo. A video he posted in May 2023 -- where he rambles -- briefly touches on the fact that he "caught cancer," without specifying what type -- but in the clip, he also suggested he'd beaten it and that he was doing just fine now.

The ex-RB talked about dropping weight during chemo and how weed helped him get his appetite back -- but this video seems to have completely flown under the radar at the time.

Turns out Patrick Mahomes hasn't actually worn the same pair of nasty red drawers DURING nearly every NFL game of his career, just before kickoff ... according to his mother, Randi Mahomes.

Randi recently joined the "Got It From My Momma" podcast ... when the conversation turned to the infamous underwear Patrick recently revealed he wore for almost all of his career. Mom straightened the record.

“I asked Brittany, it’s not that he wears them in the game. He wears them from point A -- like leaves the house, gets to the game. I don’t think he actually wears them in the game,” Randi explained.

Of course, Patrick made the admission to a stunned Peyton and Eli on the Manningcast earlier this season, saying he'd worn the present from his wife Brittany Mahomes since his great rookie season.

"I love a good superstition, but couldn't you just do something like eat the same pregame meal? Did it have to be the red underwear?" Eli asked Patrick at the time.

Randi, like Manning, wasn't a fan of the tradition when she first heard about it, saying, “I was at work, I went into my co-worker's office like I can’t handle this.”

Mahomes and his Chiefs squad are slight underdogs against the 49ers ... we'll see if Patrick breaks tradition and wears them for the game on Super Sunday.

Usher has been in direct talks with Justin Bieber about sharing the stage during the Super Bowl Halftime show, TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Usher reached out to Bieber about performing. We're told there were no handlers involved on either side ... they talked directly to each other.

Our sources say they do not know the outcome of the talks, but Usher definitely wants Bieber to join him for what promises to be the most-watched Super Bowl in history.

As you know, Usher mentored Bieber when the latter was 13 years old and helped guide his career, along with manager Scooter Braun. The 2 have been close ever since.

Justin has pulled back from performing on tour. He stopped his "Justice" world tour in 2022 -- officially canceling the tour in March 2023 -- after being diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. He has performed at one-off events, including a performance at NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto this past weekend.

We know Usher will be joined by Lil Jon and Ludacris. There's some rumblings Alicia Keys will also perform.

Travis Kelce did NOT host a big shindig in Sin City a couple nights before the Super Bowl, despite his name being on the invitation for a house party ... TMZ has learned.

There was an invite going around social media Thursday promoting "The Kelce House Party" later that night in Las Vegas ... with Travis' name prominently displayed above the RSVP. Of course, many quickly wondered ... is TK partying his off just a few nights before the game???

Understandable -- on its face, the invite made it seem like Travis was hosting the party with his brother, Jason, which was billed as an event for their 'New Heights' podcast ... and there were even some reports going around claiming Travis was hosting this thing.

However, sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … Travis didn't host any parties in Vegas last night, and more importantly ... he isn't hosting any ahead of Super Bowl LVIII, period.

For the non-sports fans out there thinking the players on the Super Bowl teams will be having fun in and around The Strip before Sunday's Big Game, our sources say that's just not the case ... and players are basically having zero fun in Sin City before the SB.

Thing is ... we're told Travis and the Kansas City Chiefs players have some pretty loaded schedules, plus a curfew. They start their days early and the day is filled with meetings, practices and training.

They have a strict curfew at midnight every night ... and our sources say if Travis or any of the players get caught anywhere near The Strip, they aren't going to be playing in the Super Bowl.

By the way, the Chiefs are staying far away from the glitz and glamour ... the team hotel is The Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa, about a 40-minute drive from The Strip.

Sounds like Travis missed out on a fun party with his brother ... the invite says, "You're invited to come through the Kelce House, grab a beer (or 20, alright nah), kick back in the living room, take in an electric set from Cleveland's own DJ MEEL, play some pong on the deck, and all that. Be cool, have a good time, and above all - DON'T tell mom!"

Now, on the question of whether this 'Kelce House Party' is legit -- our sources tell us it is ... but that Travis himself was never explicitly tied to it. It was basically a bash put together by people who help run his podcast ... and we're told upwards of 400 individuals got an invite.

Unclear if Jason showed up or not -- he's a cohost of 'New Heights,' after all -- but we know for a fact ... Trav was nowhere near this thing on Thursday.

Travis Kelce got asked to finish a Taylor Swift lyric this week ahead of the Super Bowl -- and it sounds like he might not have known it off the top ... which is interesting.

The Chiefs tight end was talking to media members Thursday in Vegas, and yes -- he was getting asked about his girlfriend a lot, including a question from one journo who compared him and Tay Tay to the American version of the Royals. Yep, major sucking up, no doubt.

She then asked why he thinks people are so fascinated with them as a couple -- and he said people love the "values" they stand for, etc. Legit answer, and probably true ... but ya know what else they love? Taylor's lyrics, and that's where this exchange got interesting.

The reporter asked Trav to complete a line from a VERY well-known Taylor song, "Karma," and she lobbed up the lyric even a mild Taylor fan could recite.

And yet ... TK appeared to fumble on the play, as he chuckled and asked the reporter to jump to her next question.

The actual lyric in question is, "Karma is the guy on the screen // Coming straight home to me."

The reporter gave him, "Karma is the guy on the" ... and Travis confidently added, "Chiefs" -- a nod to the lyric change Taylor made while he was in the crowd for one of her Argentina shows last year.

It's unclear if he realizes that's not the OG lyric. BTW, he wasn't able to finish the rest of the lyric either.