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Ladies and gentlemen, meet your first regular season National Anthem protester ... Brandon Marshall of the Broncos.

The Super Bowl champs' star linebacker followed Colin Kaepernick's lead and took a knee during the Star Spangled Banner Thursday night in Denver during the league's kickoff game.

The Broncos almost immediately released a statement, saying ... “While we encourage members of our organization to stand during the National Anthem, we understand and respect it being a personal decision.”

As we've reported ... Kaepernick's movement has been spreading.

Meet the Met ... well, at least the guy who just signed a minor league deal with the team.

The New York Mets just announced Tim Tebow has signed a minor league contract.

So, what does that mean?

The 29-year-old will begin in the Instructional League -- and could be sent to the Arizona Fall League.

Tebow showed some good power during his workout for MLB teams last week -- despite the fact he hasn't played competitive baseball since high school.

There were rumblings that the Atlanta Braves were interested -- but they didn't move quick enough.

Good luck ...

Ex-Baylor head coach Art Briles is apologizing for the way he handled the school's rape scandal ... saying he knows he "did wrong" and vows to be better in the future.

In an interview with ESPN Briles said he's aware "bad things" happened during his tenure in Waco ... and now realizes he failed the school, because the buck stopped with him.

"I understand I made some mistakes, I was wrong. I was the captain of this ship. The captain of the ship goes down with it."

Briles was fired back in May along with several members of the program when an independent investigation found Baylor higher-ups failed to properly address sexual assault allegations against football players.

Briles has said he plans to coach again ... and hired high-powered agent Jimmy Sexton last week in hopes to secure a job in 2017, but is adamant he's not making his apology as part of a job hunt.

Lil Wayne got a rude awakening from cops inside his home, and went from calm to furious very quickly when he realized what was happening -- an apparent swatting call.

We've learned Miami Beach police responded to a call last week of an unknown male shot and bleeding at Wayne's home. When cops arrived, they entered through an unlocked garage door and found Wayne sleeping at 2:53 PM.

According to police docs ... Weezy was initially cooperative and even gave cops permission for a K-9 unit to search the home. But just moments later ... cops say he got pissed and screamed, "I'm tired of this s*** ... take me to jail."

Cops say they cuffed the rapper, but when they didn't find a victim they let him go. We're told Wayne calmed down and told officers he understood they were doing their job.

Bill Cosby is the victim of discrimination and racial hatred ... according to Bill Cosby.

Cosby's lawyers just released a statement calling out those who "accuse him of crimes for unwitnessed events" ... and Cosby particularly directs his frustration at Gloria Allred.

The 79-year-old's adamant Allred's trampling on his civil rights, saying, "her campaign against Mr. Cosby builds on racial bias and prejudice that can pollute the court of public opinion. And when the media repeats her accusations -- with no evidence, no trial and no jury -- we are moved backwards as a country."

Cosby was in court Tuesday as his team tried moving the sexual assault case out of Montgomery County ... arguing Cosby won't get a fair trial there. His trial's set to begin June 5th, 2017.

Bad news for Kim Zolciak ... the Buffalo Bills have 86'd her husband, Kroy Biermann, in their latest round of cuts.

Brock Turner is getting a jarring return to society ... getting hammered with questions about his sexual assault victim, his life in jail and what the future holds.

Shortly after the ex-Stanford swimmer walked out of Santa Clara County Jail, his parents whisked him away to a nearby hotel. Reporters were waiting, and unloaded on the Turners.

L.A. Angels superstar Mike Trout was involved in a bad crash in Orange County after his game Wednesday night -- but miraculously, the outfielder was NOT hurt.

The crash occurred around 8:50 PM -- after the Angels defeated the Reds in Anaheim.

Officials say 4 cars were involved in the wreck on the 55 Freeway -- very close to the Angels Stadium -- and one car was wrecked so badly, rescuers needed the Jaws of Life to cut one person out their vehicle.

Trout was driving a black Mercedes, which suffered pretty significant damage to the front passenger side.

Two people were hospitalized in the wreck. Unclear how serious their conditions are.

Trout appeared to be okay ... with Angels general manager Billy Eppler issuing a statement saying, "I have spoken with Mike this evening and he feels fine."

"He is at home with his roommate and is planning on traveling with the club to Seattle tomorrow afternoon. We will update as more information becomes available."

The California Highway Patrol is currently investigating the cause of the crash.

In footage obtained by Fox 11's Liz Habib, Trout appears relatively calm at the scene.

Story developing ...

3:30 AM PT -- Brown has been booked and released after posting bail.

Chris Brown has been arrested for assault with a deadly weapon ... a felony.

TMZ broke the story ... Brown allegedly pulled a gun on a guest at his home early Tuesday morning after an argument ... she claims over jewelry.

Baylee Curran filed a police report and cops obtained a search warrant. As we reported, while Chris was holed up in his house, he threw a duffel bag out his window that contained 2 guns and drugs.

Brown will be taken to the police station for processing.

Baylor sophomore receiver Ishmael Zamora has been handed a 3 game suspension, community service, and counseling after an animal abuse incident in June ... TMZ Sports has learned.

"Our football program does not condone this behavior by anyone," Baylor interim Head Coach Jim Grobe said. "We are deeply saddened by it and have worked together with the University to hold Ishmael accountable for his actions."

Along with the suspension, Zamora "must undergo counseling and must relinquish the dog to an animal-friendly home," according to a statement released by Baylor.

A gruesome video showing the incident surfaced on the internet earlier this month, sparking outrage from animal rights group PETA.

"We have received communications about this incident from many passionate individuals over the past 10 days, and I am aware of their concerns," Grobe said.

"Our goal is for this discipline to be educational and restorative, and I believe that we have taken corrective measures to help Ishmael learn from his actions and better understand the behavior we demand of all students at the University."

Ishmael accepts the punishment, and vows that the incident "will never, ever, happen again."

T-Pain is begging the public to help him and authorities find the suspect who fatally stabbed his niece Tuesday morning in Florida.

Tallahassee cops say they responded to a call of someone getting stabbed at a Walgreens. When cops arrived, they found the victim bleeding heavily and she eventually died from her wounds.

Law enforcement has confirmed the 23-year-old victim was T-Pain's niece, Javona Glover.

Cops are looking for a black male suspect.

Minister Louis Farrakhan says he -- and the entire Nation Of Islam -- are 100% behind Colin Kaepernick ... praising the QB's American flag protest as a "courageous stand."

Farrakhan released a statement via his Facebook page in which he thanked Kaep for taking a stand, and lauded his courage in the face of intense criticism.

"Courage is one of the great characteristics of great men and women. And at the root of courage is love for the principle that is bigger than our lives, bigger than our nation ... This nation would not be what it is had there not been men and women who were willing to suffer to bring about meaningful change that moved a people, a nation and a world toward the realization of some eternal principle."

Farrakhan went on to pledge his unyielding support ... and even took a shot at the National Anthem itself.

"I stand with you. We in the Nation of Islam stand with you. And I’m asking all right thinking Black people, Brown people, and White people to stand with you to force the change that Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton are talking; but it will never happen until the people are sick and tired of injustice and summon the courage to stand to make a difference."

"Your stand has unearthed things about Francis Scott Key and the writing of the lyrics of the Star-Spangled Banner, that would make any person of right thinking and right mind cringe at what was in the mind of the man that wrote the words of the Star-Spangled Banner."

10:37 AM PT -- Harrison just issued a statement on Twitter saying, "I apologize to anyone that I offended, wasn't meant to be hurtful to anyone. God bless."

However, we spoke with him on the phone and he didn't back down -- essentially saying the comments he made on the radio show were his real feelings and he stood by them.

Colin Kaepernick is not a TRUE black man ... because he's mixed race ... so says ex-NFL star Rodney Harrison.

The former Patriots safety went on SportsTalk 790 in Houston -- and not only blasted Kaepernick for his National Anthem protest, but says he doesn't REALLY understand the plight of black Americans because his birth mother is white.

"I'll tell you this," Harrison said ... "I'm a black man and Colin Kaepernick ... he's NOT BLACK."

"He cannot understand what I face and what other black men and black people face on a every single [day] basis."

Check out the audio ... Harrison essentially says there's a scale that measures blackness ... and Kaep doesn't measure up.

NASCAR legend Tony Stewart just fired a huge shot at Colin Kaepernick -- calling him a "dumbass" and an "idiot" over his National Anthem protest.

"I'm sorry but @Kaepernick7 needs to learn the fact about police before running his dumbass mouth," Stewart said on Twitter.

"He has no clue what they go thru! #idiot."

Stewart is essentially echoing the sentiments of the San Francisco Police Officers Association -- which claimed the QB showed an "incredible lack of knowledge."

So far, Kaepernick has yet to respond to Stewart or the SFPOA.

3:04 PM PT -- Dolphins running back Arian Foster saw Tony's tweet and has responded -- saying, "How about attempting to educate him via your views instead of fueling hatred."

Taylor Swift was just dismissed as a prospective juror in an aggravated rape/kidnapping case because she told the judge she has a pending civil case that also involves sexual assault.

Taylor was being questioned about possible bias in a case involving a man who allegedly penetrated a woman with a broom handle after holding her at bay.

The singer told the judge she has a case in Colorado in which a DJ allegedly fondled her backstage during a concert, so the judge didn't think she could be impartial.

Taylor was dismissed from the jury panel for cause.

It's 3 strikes and you're out for Anthony Weiner ... his wife, Huma Abedin, says she's ending their marriage on the heels of his latest sexting scandal.

Hillary Clinton's right-hand woman says, "After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband."

Her announcement came hours after the NY Post story about Weiner sending new crotch shots to a woman. Weiner was in his underwear, but one of the shots included their young son.

Weiner resigned from Congress after his first sexting scandal in 2011. His run for NYC Mayor was also derailed in 2013 when he was sexting Sydney Leathers ... using his now infamous alias, "Carlos Danger."