TMZ Sports - Page 50

All the hand-wringing over CTE and its link to football needs to SLOW THE HELL DOWN ... so says Merril Hoge -- who tells TMZ Sports he's getting support from NFL stars like Ben Roethlisberger.

Merril -- an ex-Steelers RB and former ESPN analyst -- makes the argument in his new book, "Brainwashed: The Bad Science Behind CTE and the Plot to Destroy Football," that football does NOT necessarily lead to CTE, as some reports have strongly suggested.

In fact ... Merril tells us it was those articles that made him want to write the book in the first place.

"You look at a headline and all of this fear that is driven from CTE, I wanted to understand the science."

Merril's findings?? CTE does exist and is a problem ... but he wants to know more about the condition and what causes it before pointing the finger at football.

Hoge tells us A TON of current and former players that have read the book couldn't agree more -- including Big Ben!!

"I have not had a player that has said anything negative that has read the book to this point," Merril says ... "A lot of them have been relieved!"

New York Giants legend Amani Toomer tells TMZ Sports the problem in NY ain't Eli Manning ... it's his trash O-line!!!

Of course ... Amani's biased -- dude is rockin' a Super Bowl ring these days 'cause of Eli's heroics in SB XLII -- but he swears he's tellin' the truth.

"I'm not an Eli apologist," Toomer tells us ... "I just think that, in my honest opinion, I just don't think Eli's it -- I don't think he's the issue."

So, what is? Amani tells us to look at the five dudes in front of Manning for that.

"Realistically, there's not many quarterbacks that you can insert in this situation and get an appreciable difference."

As for the future of the franchise ... Amani says the team just needs to stick with Eli -- 'cause the ex-WR clearly HATES the idea of drafting QBs.

"I think when you're getting a rookie quarterback," Toomer says ... "you're wishing on a star."

Lauren McCluskey -- the Utah track star who was brutally murdered on campus this week -- will be honored by the entire Utes football team when they take on UCLA Friday.

The school announced players will wear a black and white sticker featuring a winged foot with Lauren's name on it ... in remembrance of the slain student.

As we previously reported ... 21-year-old McCluskey -- a 2017 honorable mention Pac-12 All-Academic -- was shot to death by her ex-bf on Monday after finding out he was a registered sex offender.

Utah announced in addition to the helmet decals ... they'll hand out a similar sticker at this week's women's volleyball and women's soccer games to remember her legacy.

For their part ... UCLA says it'll hold a moment of silence for McCluskey at the Rose Bowl.

Former Miami Hurricanes head football coach Al Golden is suing his former employer -- claiming the University screwed him out of $3 million after they fired him back in 2015.

Golden says he signed a massive multi-million dollar contract to lead the Canes back in 2011 -- a deal loaded with incentives. The contract says Golden's initial base salary was $150k per year but the upside was tremendous.

For example ... as part of his deal, the University of Miami guaranteed that in addition to his base salary and bonuses, Golden would get MILLIONS from third parties for TV and radio deals.

$1.25 mil for year 1, $1.675 mil for year 2 ... and incrementally increasing all the way up to $2.94 million for year 9.

Golden would receive a $750k bonus if Miami won the BCS Championship game, $400k for a 2nd place finish, $300k for a non-title BCS bowl game 1st place finish and so on.

More bonuses include ... $25k for 10 regular season wins, $75k for 11 wins and $175k for 12 wins.

He also got $5,000 annually from UM's deal with Nike.

There's more ... Miami also provided Golden with a luxury car, paid for his membership to the fancy Deering Bay Country Club along with a bunch of UM football tickets and usage of the suite at Sun-Life Stadium.

Unclear exactly how Golden got to the $3 million he's asking for in the lawsuit -- but saying it's "separation pay" that he never received based on their deal.

An assistant coach for the University of Michigan gymnastics team was arrested earlier this month for having sex in public after officials say he nailed an 18-year-old member of the UM team in a car.

The asst. coach is 39-year-old Scott Vetere -- a former stud gymnast back in the day who was the 2000 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year.

Officials say Vetere and a female gymnast were doing floor exercises in a car in the parking lot of an Ann Arbor apartment building on Oct. 8 ... when they were spotted by police and arrested for performing an indecent act in public.

The female gymnast was also arrested. Both parties are due back in court next month.

A rep for the University of Michigan confirmed Vetere was "immediately suspended" when the school learned of his arrest.

He later resigned from his position and no longer works for the University.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has just approved a motion to release HALF of Khabib Nurmagomedov's $2 million purse from UFC 229 immediately.

The other $1 million will be held until Khabib's next hearing in front of the commission on Dec. 10 -- where the board will decide Khabib's ultimate punishment for the melee at the Oct. 6 incident.

Board members said during the hearing that they felt the $1 million they're still holding will cover all expenses related to the incident and is substantial enough to keep Khabib interested in the hearing.

Translation -- it's too much money for Khabib to blow off the commission.

NSAC officials noted that Khabib made roughly $5 to $6 million from the UFC 229 fight. It's interesting, considering Conor McGregor said he expected to make around $50 mil.

They also said had the board had access to additional video from the UFC 229 melee, they would have held Conor McGregor's purse as well.

As it stands now, both are due to appear in front of the Commission -- in person -- in December after the investigation is complete.

All hell ALMOST broke loose at a Kobe Bryant book signing in L.A. on Tuesday -- with cops responding to an upset crowd ... but sources at the scene tell us Mamba stepped in and diffused the situation.

Kobe was set to meet with 500 fans at Barnes & Noble at The Grove shopping center -- taking pictures and signing copies of his new book, "The Mamba Mentality: How I Play."

We're told everything was going fine until someone at the store let in an additional 300 people with less than 30 minutes left in the event.

When time was up and Kobe had to leave, sources say the crowd became upset -- and cops responded to keep the peace.

The good news -- one witness tells us Kobe grabbed the mic, thanked everyone for coming and said he would stay late until he met every person who came out to the event.

The Denver Broncos have axed backup QB Chad Kelly from the team after he was arrested Tuesday morning for allegedly trying to break into a Denver-area home.

Broncos general manager John Elway was furious after learning about the arrest and decided it was best to get rid of Kelly ... according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

Cops say Kelly broke into a home around 1:17 AM and sat down on the couch next to a woman who was holding her baby. Kelly was reportedly mumbling incoherently at the time.

Police say someone in the home chased Kelly out while striking him with a piece from a vacuum. He was ultimately arrested for criminal trespassing.

Kelly had attended Von Miller's Halloween party earlier in the evening ... and there are reports Kelly had to be escorted out after getting into a physical altercation with another guest.

Elway released a statement on the decision, saying, "Even though Chad's no longer part of our team, we've offered to help him however we can and are supportive of him in every way possible."

The Boys in Blue were looking out for the Boys in Blue during Game 1 of the World Series -- check out the heavy LAPD presence in front of Yasiel Puig's home on Tuesday!

As we previously reported, cops had reached out to several Dodgers players to help make sure their homes were protected during the series -- unlike last year when Puig's home was burglarized during Game 7.

Cops believe Puig -- and several other high-profile people -- were targeted by a burglary ring that knew when Yasiel (and others) would be out of their homes.

So, this time ... with Puig and the Dodgers in Boston, the LAPD sent a few units to Yasiel's house to make sure the bad guys know they ain't playin' around this time!

Former pro skateboarder Neal Hendrix has been accused of sexually assaulting a much younger female pro skater when she was just 14 years old .... and now cops are investigating.

25-year-old Julie Lynn Kindstrand Nelson -- known professionally as Julz Lynn -- went public with the accusations on Tuesday ... saying Hendrix "used his position of influence to pursue his own sexual ambitions, which included luring me to have sex with him" ... beginning when he was in his early 30s.

Julz told espnW ... Hendrix first met her at a skate park in 2006 and convinced her to come to his apartment for "sex lessons." She also claims Hendrix masturbated in front of her and took naked videos of her while she was underage.

Julz has reached out to the Costa Mesa Police Department in CA -- and has also called for other possible victims of Hendrix to come forward.

She's also pointing the finger at skate officials -- saying the International Olympic Committee and USOC "never cared to pay any attention or look into illegal inappropriate interactions with many underage athletes."

Julz says her experience with Hendrix took her innocence and destroyed her career ... and now she's "in the process of getting my life back together."

Hendrix -- now 45 -- won five X Games medals during his career ... and has been a TV commentator for big events like Dew Tour and X Games. He's also on the USA Skateboarding executive committee.

Ever wonder what a 1-on-1 game between Lakers legends Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant would have looked like????

Good ... 'cause Kobe spilled the beans to Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday night's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" -- and the ex-L.A. superstar says it was actually pretty funny!!!

"He called every single foul," Bryant joked ... "even the ones that weren't there."

Mamba says the two basketball icons only squared off one time during a Lakers practice ... but Magic made sure to tweak the rules -- and the score -- in his favor.

"What's the score?" Kobe says Magic would ask.

"It's 10-6," Kobe would respond.

"No, it's not, it's 10-9."

"I'm like, 'Wait, what the? All right, I'm done.'"

Rae Carruth has informed officials he's planning on moving to Pennsylvania now that he's out of prison -- though it's unclear why he's chosen that state or what he's planning to do there.

TMZ Sports spoke with the Pennsylvania Parole Board and a rep confirmed that Carruth is now under their supervision.

We're told Carruth must still abide by the same release conditions imposed on him by the state of North Carolina, where he served his prison time -- which include routine meetings with a parole officer and staying out of trouble. The usual stuff.

Carruth was released on Monday morning -- nearly 19 years after he participated in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Cherica Adams, who was 8 months pregnant with their child.

Rae and Cherica's son survived the shooting -- though he now has severe disabilities -- and lives with Cherica's mother in North Carolina.

Joe Rogan doesn't think Logan Paul is a joke -- he watched the YouTube star's boxing match and thinks he has more fighting talent that at least one guy who's fought in the UFC ... CM Punk.

First off, Rogan says Punk is a real nice guy and he doesn't mean any disrespect -- but when it comes to his 2 fights in the UFC, Joe realized CM just doesn't have the raw talent it takes to win.

In fact, Joe -- on the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast -- said Punk's brief stint in the UFC was a "nightmare" ... especially since he fought a guy like Mickey Gall who's "f**king good."

As for Logan, Joe heard Dana White slam the door on the possibility of Paul fighting in the UFC because he'd get hurt -- and says, "You had f**king CM Punk fight! This guy's way better than him."

Joe says he was impressed with Logan's striking skills and wrestling background -- and while he's no Canelo Alvarez, the guy clearly has some level of talent.

Joe isn't really campaigning for Dana to book Logan a fight -- he's just making the point that it wouldn't be the craziest thing the UFC has ever done.

Mike Vick would be rockin' a Super Bowl ring on his finger these days if somehow one of his teams had managed to trade for Chad Ochocinco ... so says the legendary QB himself.

We got Vick and Chad promoting WinView out in Bev Hills when we asked the two what would've happened if they were on the same team ... and Vick couldn't help but dream.

"Man, I mean, to have him, I would have probably had a ring for sure," Mike says.

Chad seemed to agree, saying, "That woulda been dope."

So, why'd it never go down?? Chad was locked in with the Bengals and Vick was entrenched with the Falcons during their primes.

"He woulda never got traded and I woulda never got traded, so we woulda had to have been drafted at the same time," Vick says.

As for how their careers went without each other and if they warrant busts in the NFL's Hall of Fame ... both surprisingly didn't seem too worried about that just yet.

"I'm not one that really needed validation," Ochocinco tells us.

Added Vick, "You leave that up to the people."

Too Short ain't exactly throwing Jon Gruden a vote of confidence ... telling TMZ Sports he's legit torn over the way the Raiders head coach is dismantling his favorite team.

We got the legendary Bay Area rapper leaving Sirius in NYC on Tuesday ... and he made it clear right away -- he ain't pleased with what's going down in Oakland.

"I'm really mad about 1-5," he says as he showed off all the silver and black he wore ... "I'm pissed about that."

Short's biggest problem with the team? Gruden ... 'cause Short says he's got some serious mixed feelings over Chuckie's first season back as Raiders head man.

"I'm just like everybody else, I'm mixed in between trading away all our players and bringing in the coach that beat us in the Super Bowl ... it's just we all got mixed emotions right now."

Short says it's gotten so bad for him ... he's legit on the verge of tears!!!!

But ... he does have one saving grace that he says makes him feel better ... "the Warriors, man!!"

As a diehard Yankee fan -- Michael Rapaport has a message for Red Sox nation before Game 1 of the World Series ... "KISS MY ASS!"

Here's why ...

"Listen, I grew up a Yankee fan hating the Dodgers, hating Rick Monday, hating Steve Garvey and his butt nose. That being said, I can not stand the Boston Red Sox. I want the Dodgers to kick their ass."

"I can't stand Big Papi, Pedro Martinez, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice -- they can all kiss my ass," Mike added.

So, in conclusion ... Rap says he's "rocking with the Dodgers and Magic Johnson 150 percent."

One last shot -- "They should knock down Fenway Park and rebuild it!"