TMZ Sports

Kobe Bryant's fatal helicopter crash is hitting close to home for Kylie Jenner -- she was a frequent-flier on that particular chopper, and even rented it for one of Dream's birthdays.

Kylie just broke her silence on the tragic accident that killed Kobe, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and 7 others Sunday morning in Calabasas ... and says she knew the pilot, Ara Zobayan, especially well.

The billionaire cosmetics mogul says Zobayan was the pilot whenever she flew on Kobe's helicopter, and she's remembering him as "such a nice man."

Former WCW wrestler Van Hammer was arrested and charged with DUI ... after he allegedly hit a 5-year-old boy with his car in Florida Sunday afternoon.

Boynton Beach police say Hammer -- real name Mark Hildreth -- was driving 58 MPH in a 35-zone and drunk when he hit the young boy, who was riding a bike with training wheels.

According to the report, the boy flew on to the top of Hildreth's car hood and suffered possible internal injuries.

The boy was taken to a nearby hospital, where he remains in stable condition, the Palm Beach Post reports.

A handcuffed Hildreth appeared before a judge on Monday morning ... and he was officially charged with first-degree felony hit and run and DUI.

During his court appearance, officials point out 2 previous DUI arrests on Hildreth's record.

Hildreth's bail was set at $125k with an option for house arrest ... and was ordered to stay away from drugs, alcohol and weapons.

Van Hammer had stints in the WCW in the '90s and early '00s ... before officially retiring from the ring in 2009.

Kobe Bryant had already made plans for his daughter, Gianna -- AKA GiGi -- to follow in his legendary footsteps by filing to trademark her very own hoops nickname.

TMZ Sports obtained the paperwork Kobe filed for "Mambacita" on Dec. 30, 2019. Of course, the name is both a tip of the hat to GiGi's father -- the Black Mamba -- and also to her own growing prowess on the hardcourt.

According to the docs ... the plan was to put "Mambacita" on all sorts of sportswear -- shirts, shorts, hats, jerseys, sweatpants, sweatshirts and hoodies.

Kobe had started referring to his 13-year-old daughter by that handle on social media. In fact, one such post, back in November, is eerily poignant today. Kobe praised GiGi's offense, and also the defense of Alyssa Altobelli.

Alyssa, her mother and father -- Keri and John Altobelli -- all perished on the chopper Sunday. Alyssa, like GiGi, was a star player at Kobe's Mamba Academy.

Kobe ended the post by shouting out the "familiar fade" shot by his beloved daughter ... "#Mambacita."

Kareem Hunt had an open vodka container in his car, admitted he'd fail a drug test and was chastised by a self-proclaimed Browns fan cop during his speeding stop last week ... this according to new bombshell police video.

... Oh, and Ray Rice's elevator incident was brought up during the pullover too.

The footage, obtained by TMZ Sports, shows 24-year-old Hunt bolting down a freeway in his Chrysler in Rocky River, Ohio on Jan. 21.

You can see in the video, the Cleveland Browns running back blows by an officer ... quickly slams on his breaks and then is immediately pulled over to the side of the road.

The cop gets Kareem out of the car ... and while police audio doesn't pick up their conversation at that point -- it's pretty clear Hunt is emotional.

He frustratingly gestures to the cop ... and once he gets into the back of the squad car -- he appears to be sobbing over the stop.

Former Jacksonville Jaguars safety Donovin Darius was arrested for DUI on Sunday ... and he allegedly told law enforcement officials during the stop he had just ingested 20 to 30 pills.

Darius was found discombobulated in the driver's seat of his ride following a vehicle crash at around 10 a.m. ET in Jacksonville, according to ESPN, when things turned scary.

Darius was reportedly placed in an ambulance ... where he told on-scene rescue personnel that he was suicidal and had just swallowed a ton of pills.

Cops discovered two pill bottles in the 44-year-old's car ... but were NOT able to do a sobriety test on the former NFL safety because he could not stand on his own.

Darius was immediately taken to the hospital for a mental health evaluation.

According to jail records, Donovan was ultimately charged with misdemeanor DUI for the stop. An initial appearance court date has not been set yet.

Darius was a longtime stud for the Jaguars ... he was drafted in the 1st-round by the team in 1998 and started 115 games for the team from '98 to 2006.

Some of the biggest tennis stars in the world showed love to Kobe Bryant at the Australian Open on Monday ... from Nick Kyrgios to Rafael Nadal and Coco Gauff.

24-year-old Kyrgios was particularly emotional before the 4th round matchup against Nadal -- wearing Bryant's #8 Lakers jersey and choking back tears as he warmed up at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

After the match, which Nadal won, Rafa put on a Lakers baseball cap and led the crowd in a round of applause for the 41-year-old NBA star.

"What can I say? I woke up this morning with this terrible news," Nadal said during the on-court post-game interview.

"It's super sad. He was one of the greatest sportsmen in history. He deserves a big round of applause. It's one of these days that you want to forget but of course, Kobe Bryant will be in our hearts and in our minds for the rest of our lives."

The biggest stars in the world -- from all walks of life -- are mourning the death of Kobe Bryant ... from Mark Wahlberg to Jay-Z, The Game, Lil' Kim and more.

Of course, everyone happened to be in L.A. for the Grammys ... but Kobe was clearly on everyone's mind.

Some of the stars remembered Kobe as a hero. Others focused on the tragedy that caused his death.

Ex-NBA player Al Harrington -- who was friends with Kobe -- couldn't believe the helicopter crashed so close to Al's Calabasas home. Al says he's still trying to process everything.

Swae Lee, French Montana, Offset and Michael Blackson also talked about Bryant and his daughter, GiGi.

Conor McGregor -- who was also in town for the Grammys -- admitted he never met Kobe, but clearly drew inspiration from the NBA star and talked about the huge impact Bryant had in Ireland, despite the fact nobody over there really cares about basketball.

Hillary Clinton reacted to the horrible news of Kobe Bryant's death the same way as everyone else -- she was stunned, momentarily speechless ... then heartbroken.

The former Secretary of State was at Sundance in Park City, UT Sunday following the premiere of her new docuseries, "Hillary" ... and we broke the tragic news to her.

Hillary came back around later and touched on the passing of the NBA legend, saying she couldn't believe it until she checked her phone ... and felt anguished that it was real.

She called Kobe's death an "incredible loss ... in every way," echoing the sentiments of millions still reeling from the sad news.

We broke the story ... Bryant died in a helicopter crash Sunday morning, along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna and 7 other people -- later identified as John Altobelli (56), Keri Altobelli, Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah Chester, Payton Chester (13), Christina Mauser and the pilot, Ara Zobayan.

Kobe Bryant loomed large in the minds of all the musicians at the Grammy Awards -- which was evident in Alicia Keys' touching opening tribute to the late NBA legend.

This year's host started Sunday night's show with some solemn words for the crowd, acknowledging Kobe's death right off the bat by saying that everyone there was feeling "crazy sadness" ... adding that L.A., the U.S. and the world had lost a great one.

She went on to say, "We're literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built." The Grammys are being held at the STAPLES Center ... so she's correct there. The building even lit up his two jerseys in the rafters as AK spoke.

Alicia asked the audience to hold Kobe, Gianna and all the other victims in the helicopter crash in their thoughts, prayers and spirits as their families mourned. Then came a huge moment ... she brought out Boyz II Men and sang "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye."

Just outside, fans were paying their respects to their hometown hero ... but some weren't so happy the Grammys were continuing at all. You can hear several people shouting, "F**k the Grammys!" in what appeared to be a spontaneous protest of sorts.

Lamar Odom and his fiancee say people are reading too much into her deleting some IG pics -- including one of her engagement rock -- 'cause there's a simple reason for the vanishing act.

We got Lamar and Sabrina Parr outside the Whiskey Mistress bar in ATL, and the fact they showed up together shoulda been our first clue on their relationship status -- as they both pointed out to our photog. We did press Sabrina -- who's a personal trainer -- about deleting the pics, and she chalked it up to a "health and fitness" related cleansing.

Mostly, anyway. She also copped to a bit of vanity. The best sign here for LO fans ... Sabrina was wearing her ring.

Bottom line ... they're still going just as strong as they were when we spoke to the couple in November and LO praised the hell outta his "star."

BTW ... we also asked Sabrina how the wedding dress search is going. The short answer ... not even close. Especially because she's shopping for several of them!!!

Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez's billion-dollar rematch ain't happening -- not now, not ever -- so says the Mexican superstars' promoter, Oscar De La Hoya.

Remember, the boxing legends fought back in 2013 ... and Canelo -- who was only 22 years old at the time -- was easily handled by Floyd, losing by majority decision.

The two have been talking trash to each other publicly ever since -- Canelo's mocked Floyd for fighting Conor McGregor. Floyd went after Canelo for his positive PED test in 2018. For a second, it started to feel like they were seriously building toward a rematch.

In fact, just last year De La Hoya told us the rematch would be the biggest event in boxing history -- easily a $1.5 BILLION event.

But, things have changed and now, Oscar seems to be slamming the door on getting the superstars back in the same ring.

CM Punk is finally responding to Logan Paul's big MMA call out ... and bad news -- it's a big, fat THUMBS DOWN!

Of course, Paul is looking to continue his combat sports career after that big boxing match with KSI back in November -- and the two names he's thrown out are Antonio Brown and CM Punk.

With AB's troubling legal issues, that fight seems like a long shot now ... so what about Punk?

Remember, 41-year-old Punk has two UFC fights under his belt -- and even though he lost 'em both, we're told he's a maniac in the gym ... and a lot of people would like to see him get another shot.

Paul is one of the people ... telling TMZ Sports he'd LOVE to throw down with the WWE legend and bragging, "I think I would destroy CM Punk if I'm being honest."

So, when we saw CM out in L.A. the other night -- we had to ask if he had any interest.

The Super Bowl isn't just a huge weekend for football, it's a massive weekend for strippers who come from all over the world to get in on that Super Bowl cash!!

But it's not just female strippers who hit the jackpot ... male strippers can clean up too.

We've learned that several male reviews have been holding auditions to make sure they're only trotting out the best of the best for customers looking to spend.

In fact, we got one of the auctions from LaBare, where a bunch of ripped ass dudes stripped off to their g-strings and twerked their asses off in hopes of getting a coveted spot on the stage this week.

"We're getting tons of men who want to join the cast for Super Bowl weekend from all over the world," LaBare's marketing manager, Jessica Jones, tella us, "Texas is the most popular."

Cooper Kupp is going to bat for his quarterback ... saying there's NOTHING wrong with Jared Goff -- and promising TMZ Sports JG is going to be just fine next season!!

"We have all the faith in the world in Jared," the Rams superstar receiver says. "Absolutely love him."

Of course, a lot of L.A. fans ain't exactly feeling the same way ... Goff saw his QB rating dip nearly 15 points to 86.5 this season, his touchdown passes fall from 32 to 22 and his interceptions rise from 12 to 16.

But, when we got Kupp out at LAX this week ... he told us there's ZERO panic in the Rams' locker room over their signal-caller.

"We're going to be just fine," the receiver says.

The Rams have already taken some steps to try to get Goff back to his 2018 form ... Sean McVay hired Kevin O'Connell to be the team's new OC, and Goff's already said he's stoked for that addition.

These celebrity football fans are kickin' grass and taking names!

As the NFL season is rushing into the final week before Super Bowl LIV, stars are showing off their support on the sidelines. The National Football Conference and American Football Conference face off for the Pro Bowl today, but throughout the season famous fanatics like Taylor Hill, Vanessa Hudgens, and Kevin Hart have been facing off with the camera to snap the perfect pics!

Get your head in the game and blitz your way through this green gallery of famous NFL fans having a field day!