Football

Charissa Thompson is now saying she did NOT fabricate sideline reports despite previously admitting to doing so ... explaining in an apology statement on Friday, "I chose the wrong words."

The famous sports personality set social media ablaze this week when she said on the "Pardon My Take" podcast that she would sometimes "make up" reports when she used to work football sidelines.

She said on the Barstool Sports show that if a coach wouldn't speak to her -- or if she was running out of time on a broadcast -- she'd just pretend she was told something about the action on the field.

"Like, they're not going to correct me on that," she said with a smile. "So, I'm like, 'It's fine. I'll just make up the report.'"

Sideline reporters everywhere, however, immediately dumped on her over the admission ... with longtime ESPN journalist Lisa Salters saying she was straight up "shocked," "disappointed" and "disgusted" by the comments. Molly McGrath, Jenna Laine, Tracy Wolfson and Laura Okmin all chimed in as well.

Thompson, however, said in a statement posted to her Instagram page Friday morning that she misspoke ... and did not actually ever cook up stories while working games.

"I chose the wrong words to describe the situation," Thompson said. "I'm sorry. I have never lied about anything or been unethical during my time as a sports broadcaster."

"In the absence of a coach providing any information that could further my report, I would use information that I learned and saw during the first half to create my report."

"For example," she continued, "if a team was 0 for 7 on 3rd down, that would clearly be an area they need to improve on in the second half. In these instances, I never attributed anything I said to a player or coach."

A group of Baltimore Ravens fans had no problem adding insult to injury after Thursday Night Football, literally ... after the Bengals superstar quarterback left the game with an injured wrist, they chanted "F*** Joe Burrow" on live TV!

The Bengals QB was forced out of the game during the first half of TNF with a mysterious wrist injury ... and was eventually ruled out.

Of course, Burrow's absence was felt on the field, and the Ravens won the game, 34-20.

The Ravens fans weren't content with the win ... after the game, they made it clear they're no fan of JB.

"F*** Joe Burrow! F*** Joe Burrow!" fans yelled during Prime's post-game broadcast.

The chants were captured loud and clear on the stream ... and many football fans weren't happy with their actions.

"This is actually embarrassing," a fellow B-more fan said on X. "As a Baltimore Ravens fan since '96, I am ashamed of my fellow fans. Wishing Joe Burrow a speedy recovery."

But, the Bengals may have other issues besides Ravens fans ... the NFL has launched an investigation into the team after they posted a video on social media ahead of the game that appeared to show JB wearing a brace on his hand prior to the game. The Bengals eventually removed the post.

Los Angeles Chargers superfan Merrianne Do is turning her viral Monday Night Football appearance into a keepsake -- she's getting her very own bobblehead!!

TMZ Sports has learned ... Do has teamed up with the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum to release limited-edition mementos -- depicting the wide range of emotions she showed while watching the Bolts take on the Dallas Cowboys last month.

Fans who want to snag one of the 2,023 bobbles can choose from nervous, sad, happy, angry, and angry with red eyes versions for $30 each ... or get the whole set for $125.

The Bobblehead H.O.F. threw together an artist rendering of what the finished product will look like ... showing an 8-inch, mini Do wearing a blue jersey.

"I'm super thrilled and can’t believe my game-day reactions are turning into bobbleheads!" Merrianne said of the business move. "I think many sports fans can relate to one of more of these roller coaster emotions, and the fact that they are being encapsulated into bobbleheads is so fun!"

Of course, Do's popular fandom was the talk of social media for days ... with many questioning whether she was a paid actor.

Do previously told us that couldn't be farther from the truth ... as she simply just loves the hell outta her team.

Tyreek Hill says his marriage to Keeta Vaccaro last week was a bit of a spontaneous one ... admitting to reporters on Thursday the idea to officially tie the knot with his longtime fiancée came about only recently.

"I was spending a lot of time with my kids, spending a lot of time with her, and the conversation just came up," the Dolphins star told a gaggle of media members in front of his locker.

"I was like, 'Babe, we've been engaged so long, are you ready to tie the knot?' It kind of caught her off guard. She didn't believe me because we've been engaged ever since 2021. It was like, 'OK, let's go do it.' She was like, 'Show me you're for real.' And we did it."

Hill and Vaccaro headed to a courthouse in Travis County, Texas back on Nov. 8 to formalize things ... and while it surprised many, Hill still described it all as ultimately being "perfect timing."

"It was about time, man," he said. "You feel me?"

Hill added he and Keeta will now have a more formal -- yet still small -- ceremony to celebrate the nuptials in the near future.

Jim Harbaugh is waving the white flag in his fight against the Big Ten -- the Michigan head football coach has agreed to accept his three-game suspension as a result of the program's sign-stealing scandal.

U of M released a statement on the matter Thursday afternoon ... saying all sides resolved their pending litigation, with the conference closing its investigation.

"Coach Harbaugh, with the University's support, decided to accept this sanction to return the focus to our student-athletes and their performance on the field," the school said.

"The Conference has confirmed that it is not aware of any information suggesting Coach Harbaugh's involvement in the allegations."

Harbaugh's punishment means he will now miss Michigan's game against Maryland -- plus its massive rivalry with Ohio State ... which has a lot riding on it, as both schools are ranked in the top four.

Thursday's decision, however, doesn't mean Coach is out of the woods just yet -- the NCAA is still looking into the whole saga involving staffer Connor Stalions, who is accused of buying tickets to games to decipher the sideline signals of Michigan's future opponents.

The school stated it will continue to cooperate with that investigation.

Harbaugh will be able to coach during the week ... but he will be persona non grata on gameday for the next two matchups.

Tua Tagovailoa used part of his bye week to get cornrows ... and then he spent most of his press conference Wednesday insisting he doesn't look like Drake now!!

The Miami quarterback showed off the new hairdo in his first meeting with reporters since the Dolphins returned to Florida from Germany this month ... and almost immediately, reporters on the scene and social media users away from it said he now bears a striking resemblance to the "God's Plan" rapper.

But, Tagovailoa said flat-out he ain't sure about the comp ... although he certainly had some fun over it all during the newser regardless.

"I don't know if I look like Drake," he said with a laugh. "Drake?!"

When a media member then asked if he could rap, he leaned into the microphone and sang, "Kiki" ... before hitting a little dance.

The scene was hilarious -- but if you were wondering ... he said the person he needed to impress the most with the haircut is a fan of it.

"The wifey likes it," Tagovailoa ensured. "She loves it."

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are about to have their own real-life version of "Meet the Fockers" play out on Monday Night Football ... where their parents will come together!

Sources confirmed to TMZ ... the pop icon and NFL athlete are hoping to introduce their families to one another when the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs meet up.

Plans aren't set in stone yet, but we're told the hope is for Andrea and Scott Swift and Donna and Ed Kelce to all be under one roof for the first time. That's right, NFL fans, get ready for LOTS of luxury box shots of the folks.

ET was first to report the news of the family jamboree, and it makes a lot of sense. Of course, you'll remember from the last Super Bowl -- Travis plays for the Chiefs and his older bro Jason is an Eagles star.

Here's how the families get involved -- Taylor's dad is a massive Eagles fan, although his devotion seems to have cracked due to his daughter's new bae ... Scott was wearing a Chiefs lanyard while bonding with Travis at Tay's Argentina show.

On their podcast, Travis boasted to Jason ... "Got him over to the good side, baby," referring to Scott Swift's apparent switch. He piled on by adding, "Just one by one, getting all the good ones to come on over." Yes, Taylor was also once a diehard Eagles fan.

In a direct message to Scott, Jason asked: "What are we doing, Scott? You're gonna let this man's devilish good looks and relationship with your daughter sway you from a lifetime of fandom, Scott? Ridiculous."

Meanwhile, we already know Taylor has hit it off with Donna -- they've hung out at Chiefs games -- and Trav's mom was recently watching the "Eras" tour film in a theater when a Swiftee spotted her.

Travis Kelce says he was downright floored when he heard Taylor Swift give him a shout-out with a lyric change last week ... admitting the now-viral moment in Buenos Aires "blew me away."

The NFL star went in-depth about his trip to Argentina to see his new girlfriend on this week's episode of  "New Heights is presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment" ... saying that because it was all "public knowledge," he was down to spill some of the beans on how his bye week vacation went.

The Chiefs tight end told his brother, Jason, that he had a "whole bunch of fun" on the excursion ... revealing it was his first time ever heading south of the equator.

He said he and Swift -- plus her dad -- got dinner on Friday night following the postponement of Taylor's concert ... and they dined on "some good steak."

Then, he opened up about Saturday ... gushing to Jason about how "electric" it was to be in attendance for her show.

As for the big moment when Swift sang about him during her "Karma" performance ... he said he had some idea it was coming -- but that didn't change his emotions when "Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me" reverberated through the stadium.

"Definitely when I heard it come out of her mouth, it still shocked me and blew me away," he said. "I was like, 'Oh, shhh! She really just said that! All right!'"

Kelce then apologized to Taylor's dad for missing a high-five he had tried to get during the calamity.

"Sorry, Mr. Swift!" he said with a laugh.

Kelce also said he convinced Taylor's dad to switch allegiances from the Eagles to the Chiefs -- something Jason, Philadelphia's star center, wasn't exactly pleased about.

Deshaun Watson's season is over -- the Cleveland Browns just announced the quarterback will undergo shoulder surgery on his throwing arm this week ... which will keep him sidelined until 2024.

The Browns released a statement on the injury Wednesday morning ... saying Watson sustained two ailments during the team's 33-31 win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

The team says Watson alerted staffers of discomfort in his right shoulder after taking a hit in the first half of the contest ... and despite finishing the game, he met with medical professionals to get it checked out earlier this week.

Watson was looked at by team physician James Voos and famous specialist Neal ElAttrache -- who recently worked on Aaron Rodgers' Achilles -- and an MRI determined he had a displaced fracture to the glenoid and would need surgery to avoid worsening the injury.

As a result, Watson -- who was 4-1 as a starter this season -- will be placed on injured reserve as he gets back to 100% for next season.

The team also revealed Watson suffered a high-ankle sprain in the win over the Ravens.

The Browns can now look to either Dorian Thompson-Robinson or P.J. Walker to replace Watson under center. Both QBs have seen the field this season, with Walker helping Cleveland to an upset win over the San Francisco 49ers last month.

Model Danii Banks isn't used to complaints when she drops her top -- but Las Vegas Raiders games are, apparently, a much different story ... because her boobs got her booted from the stadium.

Danii tells TMZ ... shortly after she recorded herself flashing her breasts inside Allegiant Stadium, security guards and police officers swooped in, not in appreciation, but to deliver that classic line -- Danii didn't have to go home, but she had to get the hell outta Sunday night's game.

DB says cops didn't ticket or arrest her, but she had pretty good seats, and she didn't get to stick around long enough to see the Raiders' thrilling-ish win over the New York Jets.

Danii, who's big on OnlyFans, says security or police must have seen her go topless in the moment, because she didn't post the video until after she got the boot.

The incident was reminiscent of Blueface's recent visit to a Los Angeles Rams game ... where he brought a bunch of strippers with him to a suite and made it rain as the nearly nude dancers twerked.

Now, Blueface says he wasn't kicked out and stadium officials didn't say anything to him. While that might look like Vegas is running a tighter ship ... it's worth noting no one in Blueface's crew freed the nipple like Danii did.

La modelo Danii Banks no está acostumbrada a que la critiquen cuando deja caer su ropa, pero los partidos de Las Vegas Raiders son, al parecer, una historia muy diferente porque sus tetas le costaron su permanencia en el estadio.

Danii le dice a TMZ que poco después de que se grabara mostrando sus pechos en el estadio Allegiant, los guardias de seguridad y los agentes de policía se abalanzaron sobre ella y no en agradecimiento, sino para decirle que no tenía que irse a casa, pero sí salir del partido que se estaba jugando el domingo por la noche.

Danii Banks dice que los policías no la multaron ni la arrestaron, pero asegura que tenía asientos bastante buenos y no pudo quedarse lo suficiente para ver la emocionante victoria de los Raiders sobre los Jets de Nueva York.

La modelo, que es muy popular en OnlyFans, dice que la seguridad debe haber visto su topless en el momento, porque no publicó el video hasta después de que la sacaran.

El incidente se parece a una reciente visita de Blueface a un juego de Los Angeles Rams, al que llevó a un montón de strippers a una suite y empezó a lanzar billetes con las bailarinas, las que estaban casi desnudas y bailando twerk.

Ahora, Blueface dice que no fue expulsado y que los funcionarios del estadio no le dijeron nada. Aunque con este incidente puede parecer que Vegas está siendo más estricto, vale la pena señalar que nadie en la tripulación de Blueface liberó el pezón como lo hizo Danii.

For Travis and Jason Kelce, blood is thicker than water ... because the Kansas City Chiefs star is singing on a Philadelphia Eagles Christmas song despite an NFL rivalry.

Here's the deal ... Travis is lending his voice to a track on the upcoming Philadelphia Eagles holiday album, "A Philly Special Christmas Special," singing a duet with his brother Jason.

The Kelce Christmas song is called "Fairytale of Philadelphia" and it's dropping Wednesday ... ahead of next month's full album release.

Travis and Jason are super close, but they play on rival NFL teams ... with their squads meeting in last season's Super Bowl. They play the rematch this week on Monday Night Football.

Frankly, it's kind of strange for Travis to be on a Philadelphia Eagles holiday album ... and some are questioning if the Kelce brothers' relationship is going too far. Sure, they host a weekly podcast together ... but this is a whole different ballgame.

Of course, there's a Taylor Swift angle to this too ... the main reason Travis is being featured on an opposing team's album is because he's dating Taylor.

In a preview for the song, Travis sings "You are handsome" to Jason, who replies, "You are pretty." Travis then sings "You're the king of South Philly" before they launch into song together.

Jason's Eagles teammates Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson are his partners on the album ... and in the song with Travis they say, "We're going to let a Chief steal the show? Hell no!!!"

For his part, Travis said on the most recent Kelce brothers podcast he has no musical talent. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Para Travis y Jason Kelce, la lealtad entre hermanos es más fuerte que cualquier cosa, porque la estrella de los Kansas City Chiefs está cantando en una canción de Navidad de los Philadelphia Eagles a pesar de su rivalidad en la NFL.

El asunto es el siguiente, Travis está prestando su voz para una pista que saldrá en el próximo álbum navideño de los Philadelphia Eagles, "A Philly Special Christmas Special", cantando a dúo con su hermano Jason.

La canción navideña de Kelce se llama "Fairytale of Philadelphia" y fue liberada el miércoles, antes del lanzamiento del álbum completo que será el próximo mes.

Travis y Jason son súper cercanos, pero juegan en equipos rivales de la NFL. De hecho, sus escuadrones se encontraron en el Super Bowl de la temporada pasada. Ellos juegan la revancha esta semana en Monday Night Football.

Francamente, es un poco extraño que Travis esté en un álbum navideño de los Philadelphia Eagles, y algunos se preguntan si la relación de los hermanos Kelce está yendo demasiado lejos. Claro, ambos son anfitriones de un podcast semanal juntos, pero este es un juego completamente diferente.

Por supuesto, también hay un ángulo de Taylor Swift en todo esto. La principal razón por la que Travis está en el álbum de un equipo contrario es porque está saliendo con ella.

En un adelanto de la canción, Travis canta "Eres guapo" a Jason, quien responde: "Eres bonita". A continuación, Travis canta "Eres el rey del sur de Filadelfia" antes de lanzarse a cantar juntos.

Jordan Mailata y Lane Johnson, compañeros de Jason en los Eagles, son sus compañeros en el álbum, y en la canción con Travis dicen: "¿Vamos a dejar que un Chief nos robe el show? Diablos no!!!"

Forget ketchup and mustard ... Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams topped his McDonald's burger with some McFlurry this week -- and, unsurprisingly, it had a ton of his fans grossed out.

Williams proudly presented the concoction on his Instagram page Tuesday ... showing that he put some Oreo-infused ice cream right on top of his McDouble in order to enhance the flavor of his lunch at the Golden Arches.

While some (very few) were in favor of putting the medley of wide-ranging flavors in between two buns ... most were in shock.

"Up until this point I've enjoyed his hard work getting back into the fold. With that said, trade him now," one wrote on X.

"Aight man lock him up now," another said.

Williams, one of the Lions' first-round picks in 2022, has yet to defend the way he eats his fast food -- though given the backlash, we wouldn't be surprised if a comment is coming shortly.

Tom Brady is so confident Michigan will roll over Ohio State in the next couple weeks ... he's betting a Super Bowl ring on it!!!

Well ... kind of.

The seven-time champ and UM alum made the wager with former Buckeyes star C.J. Stroud earlier this week on his "Let's Go!" podcast ... before quickly revealing he was just playing around.

"So," Brady said to the Texans QB on the show as the two signal-callers were bantering about their alma maters, "if Ohio State wins ... how about this, you get one of my Super Bowl rings."

Brady, however, then quickly made it clear he was kidding ... adding, "And if Michigan beats Ohio State, then you got to give me all your youth, your agility, your time in the 40 and all your future years in the NFL."

Stroud played along for a minute, telling the G.O.A.T., "All right, that's a bet. That's a bet," before he said, "I'm not going to take your Super Bowl rings, Tom! I'm not going to lie. That's yours, bro, I want to get my own."

Unclear if the two will ultimately make some sort of wager on this year's rivalry game ... given how confident both guys were when talking about their former squads on the pod.

Looks like Kim Zolciak is trying to chip away at her and Kroy Biermann's mountain of debt ... 'cause she's unloading some of her designer wear online in hopes of making a profit.

Kim listed handbags, shoes and more Tuesday -- but it ain't garage sale prices -- she's charging $5,900 for a Chanel Shearling bag, and $4,500 for a grey Louis Vuitton purse!!!

She's also asking $1,250 for a pair of her Gucci mink heels and $600 for her Balmain plastic heels ... so if ya want it, you better bring some serious dough.

The impromptu sale might not just be proof she's working off that debt -- it could also be another sign that things between Kim and Kroy are positive yet again ... kinda like a peace offering to her estranged hubby amid their divorce.

As we reported, Kroy was selling off some of his stuff to tackle their financial woes in the past, and he asked Kim to do the same. However, we were told she sold off some of her things and pocketed the cash for herself instead of helping pay off the debt.

She's also recently changed her IG handle to include "Biermann" as her last name, and they were out to dinner over the weekend to celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary ... an outing you likely wouldn't do with someone you're actively divorcing.

Hopefully, Kim's new sale can help get them outta the hole ... and it better -- because her swag ain't cheap!