TMZ Sports - Page 50

Police say they've arrested a man who allegedly heaved his drink onto the court during the Celtics vs. Spurs game Wednesday ... identifying the guy as a 22-year-old and hitting him with disturbing a public assembly charge.

Late in the third quarter of the Celtics' game at TD Garden ... Kemba Walker was ejected for arguing a non-call.

The Boston superstar was cracked on a screenplay ... and when no whistle came -- he went IN on the refs.

It didn't take long for the point guard to get tossed from the game ... and when Celts head coach Brad Stevens also got ejected for arguing the call -- a fan was so pissed, he lobbed his drink onto the court.

You can see in the video, the can -- allegedly full of hard seltzer -- BARELY missed San Antonio Spurs players ... and splashed all over the hardwood.

Zion Williamson has touched down in New York -- and the minute he stepped out of his hotel, the NBA star was mobbed by fans asking for autographs and photos!

The 19-year-old New Orleans Pelicans rookie was NOT FAZED by the swarm -- he kept his composure and knocked out a ton of autographs before eventually walking to the team bus.

The Pels are in NYC to take on the Knicks on Friday -- though Zion won't be playing, as he's still recovering from the knee injury that's kept him out the whole season.

Zion's expected to come back soon and NBA fans can't wait -- the guy is an absolute monster on the court.

If Zion WAS healthy, this would have been a great game to watch -- Zion matching up against his former Duke teammate and #3 overall pick R.J. Barrett.

PARTY TIME IN THE BAYOU!!!!

LSU just announced it's canceling ALL of its classes on both Monday AND Tuesday so students can rage their faces off for the National Championship Game against Clemson!!

The Tigers are set to play the Tigers on Monday ... and in anticipation of none of the students showing up for class anyway, the Louisiana university made the call Friday.

Seems like a pretty smart move by the school ... the game is being played just a short drive away from the Baton Rouge campus in New Orleans at the Superdome.

As for Clemson ... no announcement has been made about its classes yet -- so keep your fingers crossed for those kids!!

By the way, the game should be awesome ... both LSU QB Joe Burrow and Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence are expected to be the next two No. 1 overall picks in the NFL draft.

Plus, there are about two dozen other players on the field who could eventually end up being NFL stars down the road!!

T-minus 8 days until the return of Conor McGregor ... and no one seems more excited than Conor himself!

Check out the Irish superstar in a pre-fight workout at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas earlier this week -- his energy is through the roof.

As we previously reported, Conor returned to America a few weeks before the January 18 bout with Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone ... and he's been training like crazy.

During this week's workout session, Conor was bouncing around the gym while Notorious B.I.G. played in the background. At one point you can hear McGregor say, "I f**king love it!"

McGregor hasn't fought in the Octagon since his UFC 229 loss against Khabib Nurmagomedov in Oct. 2018.

Conor has said his main goal is to run it back with Khabib -- but Dana White wants him to EARN his rematch by getting through Cowboy first at UFC 246, only available on ESPN+.

O.J. Simpson's hell-bent on going to trial with The Cosmopolitan, and he's evoking the name of Meek Mill to plead his case ... according to new legal docs.

Juice is trying to avoid arbitration in his lawsuit against the Las Vegas hotel -- in which he claims he was defamed -- because he argues the Cosmo's history of "intentionally and recklessly attacking well-known public figures by placing them in a false light and defaming them" warrants a jury trial.

Simpson refers to the rapper in the docs as "another African American public figure" who was defamed by The Cosmopolitan, and says the hotel was "forced to apologize" only because Meek went public with his grievances.

Essentially, O.J. wants to go public with his as well ... which is why he seeks to put the kibosh on a much more private arbitration process. According to the docs ... he also expects a jury to award him much more money in punitive damages.

As you'll recall ... Simpson was banned from Cosmo in 2017 just weeks after his prison release for allegedly being drunk and disruptive. He claims he was neither drunk nor belligerent and was falsely accused.

Meek Mill, on the other hand, was threatened with an arrest by the hotel back in May for trespassing. The rapper accused Cosmo of going to "extreme racist levels" to keep black entertainers off its property.

Note to future broadcasters ... an on-air tribute to a dead pet is the WORST time to get fired up over a crazy dunk!!!

Want proof? Check out this clip from a high school basketball team in Minnesota on Nov. 30 (captured by Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools) when one announcer reveals that his dog recently died after being run over by a car.

While making the emotional announcement during a "Gone But Not Forgotten" moment, his co-announcer gets FIRED UP about an aggressive slam dunk happening in real time on the court ... and the exchange is SUPER AWKWARD.

Here's the transcript ...

Announcer 1: "Our sweet Lucy, at the age of 12 she was run over in our driveway ..."

Announcer 2: "LIKE THAT?!!! Was she run over like that?!!"

Yeesh.

Thankfully, there was a time out in the game that gave everyone a chance to calm down and reset ... and later on, Announcer 2 offered his condolences to his broadcasting partner.

Tim Tebow will get yet another shot to play in the big leagues ... the NY Mets just announced they invited the former NFL QB to their spring training camp for the 4th straight year.

Tebow's been trying to make it to The Show since 2016 ... when he decided to quit playing football to pursue the chance of being the MLB's next big slugger.

But, the road has been pretty rocky for the former Heisman Trophy winner ... in the 2016 and 2017 seasons in the Mets' minor league system, he stunk up the diamond.

2018 was MUCH more promising for the ex-NFL first-round pick ... he batted .273 and hit 6 home runs in 84 games -- but his year was cut short because of a broken hand.

Last season, meanwhile, was another down year for Tim ... he batted just .163 in 77 games and was forced to miss most of the season yet again because of another hand injury.

But, the Mets seem determined to give him every chance in the world to make their Opening Day roster ... 'cause the invite they handed down to him Friday is no joke.

Tebow was 1 of 8 non-roster invitees to the Mets' 2020 Spring Training camp ... and the other seven dudes that got the coveted honor are LEGIT prospects.

So, with Tebow being treated like one of the org's best ... could this be the year he gets Big League ABs???

Just 'cause Steph Curry and Draymond Green can't play together right now doesn't mean they can't date together ... the Warriors superstars teamed up for a double date night with their wife and finacee!!

The Dubs are in town to play the Clippers on Friday ... and their 2 superstars kicked off their trip with a night on the town at Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills.

Of course, Steph has been sidelined with a broken left hand since October ... but has slowly worked his way to getting back to practice with the team.

Steph and Ayesha -- who have been married since 2011 and have 3 kids together -- met up with engaged Draymond and Hazel Renee on Thursday night. Maybe they were discussing marriage advice??

While the wedding date for Green and Hazel hasn't been made public, Draymond has said they planned the big day around the Tokyo Olympics ... so the wedding bells may be coming soon.

Did you know ... Philadelphia Eagles QB Carson Wentz has a super-customized green Dodge Challenger, with his jersey number etched into the seats?!

It's true ... but now he's parting with his pimped out whip and it could be yours if you've got $150,000 to spend!

Wentz has decided to sell off his 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon Coupe -- which features a SuperCharged 6.2-liter HEMI SRT V8 engine.

If that's too shop-talky for you ... here's what you need to know -- it can do a quarter mile in 9.65 seconds and has a top speed of 199 mph!!!

Unclear when Wentz got the car but it seems he's selling it because his wife's pregnant and they don't feel it's an appropriate family vehicle. Asking price, $149,984.

The good news, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Wentz's AO1 Foundation -- a religious-based charity that helps various groups of people, from special needs children to impoverished communities.

Kendrick Perkins thinks Kevin Durant is a "coward" for signing with Golden State in 2016.

Kevin Durant thinks Perkins was a trash player who constantly underperformed.

... This was just the beginning of an epic Twitter war between the former NBA teammates on Thursday -- and it's clear, the beef is REAL.

It all started with Perkins saying Russell Westbrook is the best OKC Thunder player ever -- even calling Russ, "Mr. Thunder!"

When NBA analyst Marc D'Amico challenged Perk, saying KD has the better resume, Perk took another swipe at Durant.

"KD lost in the second round without Russ when I was there. So what that mean?"

That's when Durant got involved -- clapping back HARD at Perk.

"Yeah and our starting center [Kendrick Perkins] averaged a whopping 2 and 3 during that series. U played hard tho champ lol."

Perk didn't back down and responded again ... burning Durant for leaving OKC to go to the Warriors.

"Boy stop you did the weakest move in NBA History!!! Up on a team 3-1 in the western conference finals and then go join them the following season?! Heart of Champion right there."

Again, KD clapped back ...

"Weak is starting at center, playing real minutes with no production. Should've worked on your skills as much as I did."

Perk ...

"That's fine!!! You worked that hard and still had to go join a 73-9 team. Truth be told, you don't even feel like a real champ, you have hard time sleeping at night huh knowing that you took the coward way out!!!"

Jennifer Lopez has friends in high places ... and her star power was on display while shooting a Super Bowl commercial.

J Lo put in some serious work Thursday at the Hard Rock Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, where she was on set with her fiance Alex Rodriguez, mega-producer DJ Khaled, rockstar Steven Van Zandt and NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

TMZ's obtained behind-the-scenes pics and vids showing Jennifer rocking a tight white outfit from head-to-toe, and flanked by a huge filming crew. A-Rod's wardrobe included a blue sport coat, while DJ Khaled was, of course, wearing an eye-catching, bright yellow tracksuit -- and cracking up everyone on set.

"Screw you, motherf**ker! You suck too! Hey! You suck too, motherf**ker!!!"

That's Texans head coach Bill O'Brien going absolutely ballistic on a heckler during the Broncos game earlier this season ... and the EPIC rant was all caught on video!!!

Houston fans were pretty pissed off at their team during their Dec. 8 game -- when the Texans were down 31-3 at half -- and one fan decided to let O'Brien hear it in the team's tunnel.

As the coach was on his way back to the locker room with star quarterback Deshaun Watson -- you can hear a man clearly yell "YOU SUCK!" at the guys.

That's when 50-year-old Billy O went OFF ... turning toward the fan and unleashing a tirade for the ages!!!

"You suck too!" O'Brien screamed. "F**k you!"

You can see in the video, star receiver DeAndre Hopkins tried to break up the scene ... but that didn't stop O'Brien from firing at the heckler, "Go the f**k home, motherf**ker!"

Clearly, there are much happier times in Houston these days ... since that blowup loss -- the Texans have gone 3-1, including a massive playoff win over Buffalo last weekend.

And, of course, the team is now just two wins away from its first-EVER Super Bowl appearance.

Which begs the question ... wonder how the heckler's feelin' now?

Derrick Henry wanted to give a lil' "thank you" gift to his offensive line for making him look so damn good ... and nothing shows gratitude like a BRAND NEW ROLEX!!!

Of course, the Tennessee Titans just beat Tom Brady and the Patriots in the AFC Wildcard game 20-13 ... and Henry went BEAST MODE in that game with 182 yards and a TD!

Obviously, Henry couldn't have done it without his lineman --- so the Titans RB showed up to practice with a Rolex for each of 'em ... and they went CRAZY!!!

"Appreciate you big dog!!!" Titans guard Jamil Douglas told Henry.

This is not the first time the 26-year old hooked his line up. Last January, he gifted 'em custom diamond chains after he ran for 238 yards against the Jaguars!

Longtime NFL executive Marc Ross says the "Rooney Rule" is a "mockery" and a "sham" and if it isn't fixed, talented minority coaches will continue to be overlooked.

If you're not familiar with Ross ... he has 21 years of front office experience and was most recently the NY Giants VP of Player Evaluation. Ross was responsible for helping draft players like Odell Beckham Jr., Landon Collins, and Jason Pierre-Paul.

In December 2017, Ross interviewed for Big Blues general manager job after the organization fired Jerry Reese.

Ross didn't get the gig ... and he says that's not the only time he's interviewed and been passed over for a GM job.

In fact, Ross -- who graduated from Princeton and was at one time the youngest college scouting director in the NFL (27 years old) -- says he interviewed 12 times for the position ... but was never hired.

So, why are we talking about this?

The NFL's "Rooney Rule" has been under major scrutiny this off-season after all but 1 (Ron Rivera in Washington) of the available head coaching jobs went to white coaches.

The Rooney Rule is a policy that was instituted in 2003 ... which mandated all teams interview a minority candidate prior to hiring a coach or GM.

In theory, it was designed to help minorities land jobs ... but Ross says it clearly hasn't worked.

"The intent of it was to put minority candidates in front of the owners and think that once the owners saw these candidates that were qualified and capable of the job that they would start hiring them," Ross tells us.

"The problem was that the owners already in their mind, for the most part, knew who they wanted to hire and were just going through the routine of interviewing a minority candidate without any true intentions of making them a viable candidate for the job, so it turned to just kind of a mockery or a sham."

Ross says although the Rooney Rule hasn't been effective, it's not a complete lost cause ... but changes need to be made.

Olympic athletes looking to follow Colin Kaepernick's lead will have to do it somewhere other than Tokyo ... 'cause the IOC has banned kneeling and raising fists in protests at the 2020 games.

The International Olympic Committee released its guidelines for the upcoming Summer Games ... and it's clear the committee is trying very hard to keep politics out of it.

"The unique nature of the Olympic Games enables athletes from all over the world to come together in peace and harmony," the guidelines say.

"We believe that the example we set by competing with the world’s best while living in harmony in the Olympic Village is a uniquely positive message to send to an increasingly divided world."

"This is why it is important, on both a personal and a global level, that we keep the venues, the Olympic Village and the podium neutral and free from any form of political, religious or ethnic demonstrations."

Don't write off Julianne Hough and Brooks Laich's marriage just yet! If the couple's having marital issues, they sure as hell didn't show it during a very loving airport embrace.

Julianne picked up her hockey star husband Thursday morning at the Hollywood Burbank Airport Thursday, where they exchanged smiles and a loooooong hug before driving off together.

The PDA didn't include any kissing, but the reunion was romantic enough ... especially considering all the rumors about them separating. It is interesting, though ... while Julianne picked up Brooks, she still wasn't wearing her wedding ring -- part of what started the rumors. Brooks was wearing his.