TMZ Sports - Page 50

Bill O'Brien is sick and tired of hearing about his awful DeAndre Hopkins trade ... and now he's begging fans to stop ripping him for the inexplicable move.

"The best thing I can tell the fans is to please ... I think we have to let it all play out!" the Houston head coach said Thursday. "Let it play out. Let the whole thing play out!"

O'Brien has been slammed for jettisoning D-Hop and a 4th-round pick to Arizona for David Johnson (plus his terrible contract) and some other draft picks ... with fans wondering what the hell he's doing with the Texans' roster.

FYI, Hopkins is arguably the best receiver in the league -- AND he's on a team-friendly deal -- while Johnson hasn't rushed for more than 1,000 yards since 2016.

But, Bill says he's got a master plan going ... and is pleading for patience.

"I would say let's review it a year from now," O'Brien says. "Two years from now. Three years from now. Let's let it all play out."

Bill told reporters he's seen some analytics that have made the trade make sense in his mind ... saying he feels "very good about the value that we got for the trade."

THIS IS AWESOME!!!

Check out Mike Beltran -- one of the top referees in MMA -- turning his legendary facial hair into a coronavirus mask ... just for fun!

Of course, Beltran -- who's reffed fights for everyone from Henry Cejudo to Demetrious Johnson and Nate Diaz -- is famous for that long, flowing mustache.

So, with the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, Beltran decided to have fun ... and show off his version of nature's mask!

"Well, my friends, I think this works. I don't think anything will penetrate the 'state," Beltran joked.

Obviously, he's just kidding around (USE A REAL MASK, PEOPLE!) but ya gotta love it!

"Hope you guys had a good laugh at my expense," he added (assuming with a smile on his face?).

Awesome gesture by Kirby Smart ... the UGA football coach was one of hundreds of people at a local hospital Thursday who cheered on a Dawgs staffer that beat coronavirus after nearly dying from it.

The incredible scene all went down at Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital in Georgia ... where football team video coordinator Jeremy Klawsky had been the past few weeks fighting COVID-19.

Klawsky reportedly checked into the facility roughly 6 weeks ago, and, according to the Athens Banner-Herald, needed to be intubated shortly after because of complications with the virus.

The 32-year-old battled through it all, though ... and the scene at the hospital when he was finally released Thursday was moving.

Nurses, doctors, Smart and even UGA's athletic director all gave the guy a round of applause as he made it out of the treatment center.

"We are just thrilled that he is home," his mother, Sherry Klawsky, told the Athens Banner-Herald. "The hardest part of when he was on the ventilator is over. He's home now and he can start to get stronger and really move forward."

Bubba Wallace -- NASCAR's only top-level African-American driver -- says he spoke to Kyle Larson about his N-word incident ... and has accepted his apology.

26-year-old Wallace says Larson called him on the phone 5 minutes after using the slur Sunday night during an iRacing event that was publicly streamed on Twitch.

After ignoring multiple calls, Wallace says he finally accepted a FaceTime from Larson the following day, so they could speak "face to face."

"We had a good conversation, his apology was sincere. His emotions and pride were shattered."

Wallace says, "We discussed why he chose to use that language and I shared my thoughts. I told him, it was too easy for him to use the word and he has to do better and get it out of his vocabulary."

"There is no place for that word in this world. I am not mad at him, and I believe that he, along with most people, deserve second chances, and deserve space to improve."

"I do wish him and his family nothing but the best. And, I am more than willing to work with him to address diversity and inclusion in our sport."

Wallace also explained why the word is so damn offensive -- and has no place in any part of society ... especially NASCAR.

"It’s NOT just a word. There is a ton of negative meaning behind the word. Doesn’t matter if a person uses it in an offensive way or not. The word brings many terrible memories for people and families and brings them back to a time that WE as a community and human race have tried our hardest to get away from."

"The sport has made combatting this stereotype one of their top priorities. NASCAR has been doing what it can to get away from the ‘racist and redneck sport’ labels. Diversity and inclusion is a main priority for the sport across every team, every car, every crew member and employee. With that said, it hurts to see the African-American community immediately throw NASCAR under the bus with the ‘I’m not shocked it’s NASCAR.’"

He added, "NASCAR has been, and will be way better than how we’ve been represented in the last couple of weeks. As the person that arguably has the biggest voice on this topic in our sport, it’s tough for me to speak to because I didn’t imagine us being here."

For his part, Larson issued a public video apology -- but it didn't save his job or sponsors.

DePaul's former softball coach allegedly punched his assistant in the face and repeatedly verbally abused players ... but school officials did nothing about it -- this according to a new lawsuit obtained by TMZ Sports.

In the suit, one of the mental health doctors DePaul used regularly, Jenny Conviser, alleges she uncovered a pattern of abuse stemming from Eugene Lenti's softball program.

FYI, Lenti is a legend at the school ... coaching there for nearly 40 years and racking up more than 1,000 career wins.

Conviser -- a noted sports psychologist who worked with DePaul from 2005-2018 -- says in meetings with student-athlete patients in 2016 ... they told her Lenti exhibited abusive behavior often.

In the docs, Conviser says players told her the coach often called them "f**king whores" and "regularly punched them about their bodies," among other things.

Conviser says when she brought this to the attention of school officials ... they failed to properly investigate -- and says it's all because Lenti's sister, Jean Lenti Ponsetto, was the program's athletic director.

Conviser says in 2018, a similar incident happened ... when a patient told her Lenti, during a dispute, "had punched in the face his female Associate Head Coach."

Yet Conviser says when she brought this up to the school once again ... she claims officials not only didn't look into the allegations -- they attempted to cover them up.

In the docs, Conviser alleges the school allowed Lenti to "slip out the back door" and quietly retire. She also says the school fired Lenti's entire staff, including the alleged victim of the punching attack.

Conviser also claims the school terminated its involvement with her and her medical companies ... and also defamed her by painting her as a "befuddled and disgruntled vendor crassly using DePaul’s patients’ well-being as an excuse to extort money."

Conviser is now suing the school -- but not Lenti or other officials -- for retaliation, breach of contract, defamation and more.

We've reached out to DePaul for comment, but so far, no word back yet.

As for Lenti, he unretired one year after leaving DePaul ... and was hired as an assistant coach on Auburn's softball staff in 2019. He's currently still on the school's coaching roster.

We've reached out to Auburn for comment as well, but no word back yet there either.

Here's Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly giving a whole new meaning to "breaking ball" ...

The L.A. pitcher was working on his off-speed stuff in an at-home, quarantine throwing sesh this week ... when he let one get away from him -- and threw the cowhide straight through a window!!!

Yeah, JUUUUUUUUUUUUSTTTT a bit outside!!!

You can see in the footage of the aftermath (filmed by his wife) ... the damage Kelly's changeup did was pretty significant.

There was glass everywhere and a big ol' hole through the window ... and JK sure seemed to be in disbelief over it all.

Don't worry, Joe's got enough funds to pay for a new piece of glass ... dude signed a 3-year, $25 MILLION deal with the Dodgers just before last season.

Also, it coulda been much worse ... at least it wasn't fastball practice -- the guy throws his heater 100 MPH!!!

G.O.A.T. blood clearly runs thick in the Brady fam ...

Tom Brady's niece -- a BEAST on the UCLA softball diamond -- just won a huge national award ... and yeah, the Bradys are now officially good at everything!!

If you weren't aware ... Maya Brady -- the daughter of Tom's older sister -- was a coveted softball recruit last year who chose the Bruins over a bunch of other offers.

And, before the season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic ... she CRUSHED it in her first collegiate season -- leading the team with 7 home runs and batting an absurd .356!!

Softball America named her its 2020 Freshman Player of the Year this week ... now cementing her as one of the best players on the globe.

Of course, we should've seen this coming ... remember when Tom posted footage of their family dodgeball game back in 2018??

Yeah, she was the one FIRING LASERS AT THE QB LEFT AND RIGHT!!!

Roy Halladay's dad told investigators he was worried the abuse of prescription meds played a role in his son's fatal plane crash back in Nov. 2017 ... this according to new docs obtained by TMZ Sports.

NTSB officials say in 2 separate interviews with Halladay's father shortly after the fatal flight -- he told them he was worried the ex-Philadelphia Phillies ace might have been abusing Rx drugs.

Investigators claim Halladay's father told them Roy had "enrolled in an in-house detox program for an addiction to Lorazepam" a couple years prior to the accident ... and he told officials he was "concerned that Roy was abusing prescription medications, and that may have played a role in the accident."

As we previously reported, an autopsy revealed Halladay had zolpidem (the generic name for Ambien), as well as morphine in his system at the time he crashed his plane in the Gulf of Mexico.

The tests also came back positive for amphetamines.

Investigators say Halladay's dad told them Roy was suffering from anxiety and depression around the time of the accident.

According to the report, Halladay's dad also told officials he believed back pain, shoulder surgery and anxiety were the only medical ailments the former pitcher suffered from.

There's more ... officials also claim Halladay's father told them Roy often took risks while flying ... saying, "Mr. Halladay had a feeling that his son did not appreciate the dangers involved with flying."

Roy -- who was 40 at the time of the crash -- had tweeted about a conversation with his father just days before the accident, writing, "I keep telling my dad flying the Icon A5 low over the water is like flying a fight jet!"

"His response...... I am flying a fighter jet!!"

Officials also included new photos of the wreckage after it was pulled from the water -- which shows the aircraft was essentially reduced to scrap.