TMZ Sports - Page 45

A man who attended a recent comic convention in China wore a Kobe Bryant helicopter crash costume to the event ... and, as you can imagine, it's sparked a ton of outrage here in the States.

The unidentified person created the crass and offensive ensemble for the festival in Hangzhou ... using plastic bottles, cardboard and a No. 24 Bryant Lakers uniform for the piece. He also capped it off with a Kobe Bryant mask.

Somehow, as he walked through the venue with it all strapped to his person ... other attendees seemed OK with it.

Legendary sports announcer Bob Costas is calling out the hypocrisy within the WNBA ... saying fans are choosing when to be outraged based on race -- pointing to a "Black on Black" incident involving Angel Reese to make his case.

A hard foul on Caitlin Clark resulted in a ton of backlash toward Chicago Sky player Chennedy Carter over the weekend ... with many claiming opponents are going too hard on the rookie sensation.

Costas says that energy was nowhere to be found for Reese earlier this season ... when Connecticut Sun player Alyssa Thomas grabbed her by the neck and pulled her to the court, resulting in a Flagrant 2 foul and an ejection.

Flavor Flav's not letting Red Lobster get lost at sea without a fight ... 'cause he's spending his hard-earned bucks mukbangin' their entire menu -- all in an effort to save 'em.

The Public Enemy MC made good on his promise to help the drowning seafood chain after it recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy -- posting a pic inside one of the restaurants (that's still open) where he ordered every last nibble they had left.

Flav's team tells us he and his daughter had a grand time fine dining on RL and nearly finished the entire spread ... returning home with only two boxes, which angered his son. 😂

6/4 7:20 AM -- Tucupita Marcano has been banned from Major League Baseball for life, officials announced Tuesday.

The league released a statement on the decision ... saying it was determined Marcano placed 387 baseball bets, including 231 related to MLB, in 2022 and 2023 -- totaling more than $150,000 on the sport.

The league added Marcano bet on the Pirates 25 times while he was a member of the organization -- although he did not play in any of the games due to his season-ending injury.

World Cup Skier Jean Daniel Pession, along with girlfriend Elisa Arlian, tragically died after the couple fell 2,300 feet off of a mountain in Italy.

The Italian Winter Sports Federation confirmed the awful incident happened June 1 on Mount Zerbion, a popular peak for skiers in Aosta Valley ... where the couple went for a hike.

When Pession, 28, and Arlian, 27, did not return, their families panicked and contacted authorities who sent three helicopters to search for them.

Rodeo star Spencer Wright's three-year-old son tragically passed away on Sunday ... two weeks after he was left in critical condition following a toy tractor accident.

A friend of the Wright family confirmed the heartbreaking news to People ... saying they had to make the impossible decision to let Levi go.

Wright's wife, Kallie, said on Sunday the family spoke with the top neurologists and came to the conclusion he would not survive the accident ... and it was time to face their biggest fear.

Jayla Allen -- the daughter of Dallas Cowboys legend Larry Allen -- said in a social media post Monday night she's stunned over her dad's death ... writing in an emotional message, "I feel like this is a nightmare and I can't [wake] up."

Larry -- a Pro Football Hall of Famer and one of the greatest interior offensive linemen the NFL's ever seen -- died on Sunday while on vacation in Mexico ... and his daughter seemed to indicate he had shown no signs of being in poor health prior to the tragedy.

Jayla said Larry's death left her "in complete shock," and now, she's not quite sure how she's going to pick up the pieces he left behind.

Jason Kelce's recent -- maybe serious, maybe not -- revelation he doesn't wash his feet left one soap maker grossed out ... but she does say he's on the right track in one regard.

Here's the smelly deal ... the ex-NFL'er claimed on social that he never washes his feet and people shouldn't trust the "diabolical liars" at "big soap." Now, maybe he was for real... or maybe he was joshing, but in any case ... his remarks caught a lot of people's attention.

Count Cynthia Jennings among those folks ... she's the owner of Sweet Harvest Farms -- a manufacturer of organic, natural soap -- and tells TMZ she sure as hell hopes JK is just messin' ... 'cause not washing your feet is not just plain nasty – but dangerous. She explains why in our interview, but says JK can be helped.

Former Detroit Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew spent part of his Sunday morning in jail ... after he punched and broke a glass door during a spat with authorities inside a Texas convenience store.

TMZ Sports has learned ... the incident happened at around 2 AM at a 7-Eleven in Dallas -- when police say Pettigrew became aggressive during an argument inside the shop.

It's unclear exactly what kicked off the tiff -- but in surveillance video, you can see after Pettigrew and several people exchanged words, the former ex-NFLer threw a right hook at the front door, causing it to break.

Rory McIlroy looked extra cheerful during his sit-down with Amanda Balionis at the Canadian Open -- and they even hugged after ... a big deal since folks think they're dating.

Here's the deal ... romance rumors have been flying for the past few weeks about the golf pro and the CBS Sports reporter -- this after they've been seen seemingly getting cozy on PGA tours of late, not to mention the fact they're both single ... well Rory certainly is anyway.

Amanda is rumored to be on the outs with her hubby -- and of course, Rory is divorcing his wife ... which makes these pics TMZ Sports got of them on Sunday all the more interesting.

Angel Reese wants people to put respect on her name ... the star Chicago Sky rookie feels she deserves credit for making the WNBA popular now, not just Caitlin Clark!

Reese's remarks come just days after her first game against Clark -- which definitely wasn't without controversy -- as Angel's teammate Chennedy Carter took a cheap shot at the number one overall pick, resulting in a flagrant foul, and a bunch of criticism.

The ire wasn't only directed at Carter ... Reese also got her fair share for her reaction to the hard foul. She was asked about what happened during Saturday's game.

1:21 PM PT -- Pat McAfee is addressing the criticism ... saying he shouldn't have used the phrase when describing Caitlin Clark -- and he personally sent her an apology for his mistake.

"No matter the context.. even if we’re talking about race being a reason for some of the stuff happening," PM said on X. "I have way too much respect for her and women to put that into the universe."

He added ... "My intentions when saying it were complimentary just like the entire segment but, a lot of folks are saying that it certainly wasn’t at all. That’s 100% on me and for that I apologize."

Conor McGregor is opening up on the scrapped UFC 303 press conference that was scheduled for Monday ... and while he didn't explain exactly why it was canceled, he did say it was the result of a number of problems.

Notorious and Michael Chandler were slated to talk some trash in Dublin to promote the June 29 event ... but just hours before it was all supposed to go down, the organization confirmed it was a no-go until further notice -- without providing any more information.

Now, Conor is shedding a bit of light on the situation ... saying, "In consultation with the UFC, today's press conference was canceled due to a series of obstacles outside of our control."

Chicago Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon just condemned Chennedy Carter for her controversial foul on Caitlin Clark ... calling the shooting guard's actions unnecessary.

The Sky honcho made the comments in a statement on Monday afternoon ... admitting the body check that Carter laid on Clark during their game Saturday was "not appropriate."

"Nor is it what we do or who we are," she added.

Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann have delayed foreclosure on their home -- reaching an agreement with their bank to buy themselves a little time to unload it ... TMZ has learned.

In court docs obtained by TMZ ... Truist Bank agreed to cease foreclosure proceedings for the next 90 days ... meaning the estranged spouses can try to sell the property without the bank stepping into foreclosure on it.

But, if they fail to sell the home and pay back the bank by August 26, TB can resume foreclosure proceedings.

Jonathan Tucker usually plays misfits and bad guys on TV and in movies -- but he became a real-life hero this weekend ... rescuing a neighbor and her kids after a home invasion.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the actor -- famous from "Kingdom," "Hostage," "The Ruins," and other shows/films -- called 911 Sunday evening to report a suspicious man who was going around banging on doors and talking to himself in his L.A. neighborhood.

We're told after Jon got off the phone with cops, he went outside after losing sight of the guy -- and when he got out there ... he saw that one of his neighbors' front doors was wide open, so he raced over to make sure everything was okay.