TMZ Games

How does it feel to be the BEST tight end in Fantasy Football?

It actually SUCKS when you don't own yourself! Just ask Eric Ebron!

The Indianapolis Colts tight end is having a crazy year -- with 7 TDs (more than any other TE in football) and no signs of slowing down!

So, what's the problem? Eric says he loves to play FF -- but this year, his best friend drafted him before he could draft himself ... and the points he's been putting up are killing him!

Remember that game against the Patriots where Ebron had 9 grabs for 105 yards and 2 scores? Yeah, Eric says he was playing his buddy that week.

The good news -- Eric says he's having a blast playing with the Colts and LOVES his new QB Andrew Luck, telling TMZ Sports he believes Luck's the best in the league right now.

In fact, Ebron says the two have really bonded since he came to Indy from the Detroit Lions -- they sit together in meetings, they run routes before practice and they get along outside the office.

"He's like a nerdy goofball," Ebron jokes ... noting that Luck's one of the hardest working dudes in the league.

Michael Jordan has teamed up with Magic Johnson -- buying an ownership stake in aXiomatic ... the company that operates the prestigious eSports franchise, Team Liquid.

Jordan was part of a new $26 million funding round -- joining other prestigious co-owners including Golden State Warriors co-owner Peter Gruber, Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, and Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis.

Team Liquid is a FORCE in eSports -- with teams competing in games like League of Legends, Dota 2, Fortnite, CS:GO, Street Fighter, PUBG, FIFA and more.

In fact, the Team Liquid Dota 2 squad won the 2017 World Championship -- an $11 million grand prize!

Magic Johnson was an early investor in aXiomatic -- and Leonsis is stoked to reunite the 1992 Dream Team stars.

"Probably no other franchise has the championship pedigree as we do with now Michael and with Magic."

Team Liquid will be in direct competition in some games with 100 Thieves -- the eSports team founded by Nadeshot and now co-owned by stars like Drake and Scooter Braun.

The Toronto Overwatch squad finally has an official team name -- TORONTO DEFIANT!!!

It's a big deal in the eSports world -- there are 20 teams from cities all over the world competing in the official Overwatch league.

Toronto was 1 of the 8 expansion franchises that joined the league for the 2019 season -- and now they're debuting their official team name and colors.

Check out the logo ... featuring red and black colors next to some bad-ass looking heroes.

The team will compete in the Atlantic Division when the league kicks off in February -- taking on squads from Boston, London, Houston and New York.

FYI, it's a tough division considering London won the Overwatch League championship in 2018.

TMZ Sports spoke with Toronto's team president, Chris Overholt, who tells us since Drake is becoming a big eSports fan, they're hoping he'll come out and support the hometown squad.

And, since team players make a real-life salary in the Overwatch league, we asked if anyone would crack 7 figures this year ... but it doesn't seem we're at that point quite yet.

The highest player in the league right now is a 17-year-old who goes by the name Sinatraa -- he's making $150k per year (and his mom had to sign his contract).

Bottom line -- eSports is exploding, so get your kids some sticks already.

More huge mainstream stars are buying into the eSports biz -- with Drake and Scooter Braun buying an ownership stake in 100 Thieves, the brand founded by gaming legend Nadeshot.

100 Thieves has teams that compete in League of Legends, Call of Duty and Fortnite -- where there's big money to be made in massive gaming tournaments around the globe.

Nadeshot is a former Call of Duty world champ -- so, he knows what it takes to win and has proven to be a big draw for other up-and-coming gaming stars.

Along with the gaming side, 100 Thieves is also a lifestyle and apparel brand, which has already raised $25 million in investment money from other major players including Cleveland Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.

100 Thieves says Drake and Scooter will act as strategic advisors for the company.

Nadeshot points out that Drake has already collaborated with 100 Thieves on custom gaming stations he uses on his Scorpion tour.

Braun issued a statement saying, "With Matt's [aka Nadeshot] experience, talent and vision as a professional gamer he and his team have built one of the most authentic brands in the ever-evolving gaming space."

Ben Simmons, DeMarcus Cousins and Giannis Antetokounmpo were just SOME of the massive NBA stars refusing to be scared away from a video game event in NYC ... in the wake of the Florida tragedy.

The NBA stars -- along with rapper Travis Scott -- hit up the NBA 2K19 launch event at the Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse in NYC on Wednesday night ... partying the night away while gaming it up.

The party went down less than a week after a disturbed gamer opened fire at a Madden tournament in Jacksonville, killing 2 people and injuring 11 more.

Several tournaments have either been canceled or postponed since the shooting -- but the NBA 2K19 event decided to move forward as planned.

It's a good thing too -- everyone seemed to have a great time without incident.

Just another reminder ... video games are supposed to be fun.

Ex-NBA star Roy Hibbert is a big video gamer and was clearly upset about the tragedy at the Madden tournament in Florida ... but tells TMZ Sports don't blame violent video games, GUNS are the real issue.

"The conversation shouldn't be on video games," Hibbert says ... "It should be on the other thing. And you know what the other thing is."

24-year-old David Katz opened fire at the Madden 19 NFL tourney in Jacksonville -- killing 2 people and injuring 11 before turning the gun on himself.

Katz was reportedly furious after losing in the tournament earlier that day. Some people are pointing the finger at vide game addiction -- saying it's a real problem that drove Katz to murder.

But, Hibbert isn't buying that excuse and says he won't let the tragedy stop him or his kids from playing video games. In fact, Hibbert says he would still support his kids trying to be pro gamers, if that's what they wanted ... citing the 6-figure salaries some pro gamers are making.

As far as the shooting, officials say the FBI is involved in the investigation and President Trump has already been briefed on the situation.

The two people who were killed in the shooting have been identified as 27-year-old Taylor Robertson (winner of last season's Madden Classic) and 24-year-old Eli Clayton, a former high school football player at Calabasas High School.

YBN Nahmir has racked up more than 250 MILLION views on YouTube after exploding onto the rap scene ... and says he's living proof the next place to find huge rap stars is in video gaming.

Here's the deal ... Nahmir would showcase his freestyle skills while playing games like Grand Theft Auto and people loved it. He blew up and now the 18-year-old is becoming a force in the hip-hop world.

But, Nahmir is not some anomaly -- telling TMZ Sports there are TONS of super talented young rappers using video game streaming services to get noticed ... and it's a matter of time before big record labels start heading to Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network to start hunting for talent.

"You see how I blew up? Off the game," Nahmir says.

"These motherf**kers are everywhere that's like unknown ... It's a whole 'nother thing coming."

As for his own gaming career, don't expect him to go back to full-time for a VERY long time. Nahmir is traveling the world doing hip-hop -- performing in front of massive crowds.

Right now, Nahmir says it's all about the music.

Steve Wozniak went up against the real-life "Molly's Game" ringleader, but the look on his face says it all ... he can win the pot like the best of 'em.

The Woz and Molly Bloom spoke at the cryptocurrency convention, ChainXChange, at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, but had a meeting of the poker minds backstage before going onstage.

If you're unfamiliar with Molly ... she's a badass. Molly's the inspiration for Aaron Sorkin's first film as a director. He also wrote the script to the flick starring Jessica Chastain as Molly.

Molly ran a high-stakes poker game back in the day at the famed Viper Room in L.A. ... frequented by celebs like Ben Affleck, Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio ... and the freakin' Russian mob.

See, badass.

We're told the meeting between Wozzy -- an avid poker player -- and Molly played out more like a mutual admiration society. And, for the record ... no real money changed hands ... it was all in fun.

EA Sports has fixed the Colin Kaepernick "mistake" -- removing the edit that scrubbed the QB's name from a song that's on the soundtrack for the Madden NFL 19 video game.

As we previously reported, Colin's name is a part of the original lyrics for YG's track, "Big Bank" -- which is featured in the game. But, on the version released on Madden, Kaep's name was mysteriously absent.

EA Sports claimed they made "an unfortunate mistake" when "members of our team misunderstood the fact that while we don’t have rights to include Colin Kaepernick in the game, this doesn’t affect soundtracks."

EA added, "We messed up, and the edit should never have happened. We will make it right, with an update to Madden NFL 19 on August 6 that will include the reference again."

Turns out, EA kept their word on that -- and now, Colin's name can be heard on the song in the game.

Colin Kaepernick's name will be added back to the soundtrack on Madden 19 ... according to a statement by the video game's developers.

According to EA, it was all an unfortunate misunderstanding. The company's taking the blame for Colin's name being scrubbed from YG's song "Big Bank" on the game.

EA says ... "We made an unfortunate mistake with our Madden NFL soundtrack. Members of our team misunderstood the fact that while we don’t have rights to include Colin Kaepernick in the game, this doesn’t affect soundtracks."

The company adds the edit never should have happened, and apologized to Kaep, the NFL, players and fans ... along with YG and Big Sean.

Colin Kaepernick won't be seen OR heard on the new Madden NFL 19 ... 'cause the free agent QB's name was pulled from a Big Sean verse on the game's soundtrack.

The game doesn't officially drop until next week, but people who have gotten their hands on an early copy have noticed Kaep's name was scrubbed from Sean's verse on YG's song "Big Bank" featuring 2 Chainz and Nicki Minaj.

What you're supposed to hear is "Feed me to the wolves now I lead the pack and sh*t. You boys all cap, I'm more Colin Kaepernick" ... but aside from the obvious edits to keep the lyrics rated PG, the game also took the Kaep shout-out off the track.

A video has been going viral on social media ... and most people are assuming it has to do with Kaep's involvement in kick-starting the National Anthem controversy.

As for Kaep appearing in the game as a player ... that won't happen until he's signed to a team. So, don't hold your breath.

Pro gaming star FaZe Censor just chose Duty over booty -- breaking up with his smokin' hot celebrity weathergirl GF, Yanet Garcia ... so he can focus on playing video games.

Censor and Yanet started dating 3 years ago and have become one of the most famous couples in the gaming world ... because they're both insanely good looking.

But, the love train is OVER -- with Censor saying he broke up with the 27-year-old Mexican meteorologist because he wants to direct all of his energy on winning a Call of Duty championship.

In a 10 minute speed rant, Censor praised Garcia as an "awesome girl" -- who's smart and talented -- but says they're just not on the same page anymore.

"I gotta do what's right for me," Censor said ... explaining that Garcia recently took a job in Mexico City where she can focus on growing her career as a model and an actress.

Censor made it clear his eye is on the prize -- "I'll do whatever it takes to be a champion."

Dude ... after this move, you BETTER win.

Wanna piss off an NFL player?? Tell him his new Madden ratings.

Wanna REALLLLLY make an NFL player upset?? Make his avatar look like a fat tub of lard.

The creators of Madden 19 did both to Dallas Cowboys stud Tyrone Crawford ... and the results of T.C.'s ensuing rage were hilarious.

"YO @EAMaddenNFL we need to have a talk," Tyrone posted on social media. "This is unacceptable. Forget my stats. What’s up with the photo? Who on your staff felt it ok to make my body look like humpty-dumpty? I DEMAND A REVIEW!"

The Cowboys' D-lineman IS 290 pounds ... but he makes it look svelte in real life -- something Madden developers clearly overlooked.

BUT ... there might be a happy ending here! Madden's official Twitter account just responded to Crawford -- saying their play on this matter is officially "UNDER REVIEW."

Pro gaming legend Ninja says he's not going out like Antoine Walker -- telling TMZ Sports he's saving every penny of the FORTUNE he's making playing video games so he doesn't end up broke.

Ninja is considered the best Fortnite player on the planet -- and rumor has it he's making around $500k PER MONTH murdering people at Tilted Towers and Paradise Palms.

So, when we saw him out in L.A. this week, we asked what he's doing with all that cash -- and it's clear he's learned from Nic Cage's insane spending mistakes.

"We've been very smart with [our money] and just kind of saving it until we eactly know how we want to move forward," Ninja told us.

"Nothing lasts forever, and we're making sure that we're taken care of."

Baker Mayfield's ex-Oklahoma teammate is going to bat for the Browns QB ... with Sterling Shepard telling TMZ Sports his boy is really NOT fat -- despite a very unflattering photo on social media.

The Cleveland Browns rookie has been getting criticized over a pic he took Tuesday night with gaming legend Ninja -- in which he appears to be a little thick around the midsection.

So, when we got Shep out in NYC on Thursday -- the Giants receiver told us the camera angle must've been distorted ... not Mayfield's waistline.

"He lookin' good, man, I've been training with him," Sterling says.

"He's been grinding. I already know my man's going to be ready. Ain't worried about that."

Spud Webb wiped the casino floor with a bunch of sports stars in a blackjack tourney Wednesday night -- but the best part ... all of his winnings are going to charity.

The ex-NBA star took on guys like Clinton Portis, Santana Moss, Ron Harper and Dr. J at the grand opening of the Live! Casino and Hotel in Maryland.

Webb was the last (and shortest) man standing when all the cards fell ... winning the $5,000 grand prize, which he donated to the Boys & Girls Club.

The whole thing was pretty cool ... and Dr. J even roasted his pal, Ron Harper, with a funny golf story.