TMZ Sports - Page 50

Mike Ditka says anthem kneeling protests are unpatriotic ... and the NFL legend tells TMZ Sports if he had it his way, he wouldn't allow the demonstrations in his new women's football league.

The Hall of Famer is slated to be the chairman of the X League -- a women's tackle football org. that was previously known as the Legends Football League -- and when we asked him if he'd be OK with protests during the national anthem, he straight-up said no.

"If you can't respect our national anthem, get the hell out of the country," Ditka said. "That's the way I feel. Of course, I'm old fashioned, so I'm only going to say what I feel."

Colin Kaepernick and others have said the kneeling protests have nothing to do with military or the flag ... they've continuously claimed the demonstrations are all about raising awareness for social justice and police brutality in America.

Some high-profile people like Drew Brees have changed their stance on the anthem in light of recent events -- including the death of George Floyd.

But, Ditka says he's sticking to his guns -- claiming he views kneeling as a slap in the face to the red, white and blue.

"You don't protest against the flag and you don't protest against this country who's given you the opportunities to make a living playing a sport that you never thought would happen," Ditka says. "So, I don't want to hear all the crap."

Ditka says he does NOT have the final say when it comes to the league's national anthem policy -- these are just his personal feelings.

As for the league itself, Ditka believes it has HUGE potential -- featuring a bunch of truly talented female athletes "knocking the crap out of each other."

Ditka's new league, which will feature 8 teams in major markets like L.A., Chicago and Seattle, is slated to kick off in April 2021.

"These women are pretty and good looking and want to knock the crap out of each other -- we'll see how it works!"

The war between Mike Tyson and Don King is officially over -- so says Don King who tells TMZ Sports the two have finally made peace after decades of animosity.

The beef between the two men is legendary -- Tyson had accused his former promoter of bilking him out of millions of dollars during his boxing heyday.

In fact, Tyson famously sued King for $100 MILLION in 1998 -- but ultimately agreed to settle for $14 mil.

Tyson has bashed Don publicly over the years -- even calling him a "wretched, slimy, reptilian motherf**ker."

And, who could forget when Tyson threw water on Don King for touching him without permission during a 2018 boxing event.

But, GOOD NEWS ... Don says despite all of the drama, they're back on speaking terms!

"I love Mike Tyson," King tells us ... "I have never had anything negative to say about Mike Tyson."

"I just talked to him on his birthday on June 30th -- him and his beautiful wife and I wished them a happy birthday. "

King says the two men had a "substantive call" -- and he's excited about the way it went down.

"I'm just very very happy to be able to still see Mike around."

As for Mike's upcoming fight against Roy Jones Jr., Don danced around the question when we asked him to pick a winner -- but it's clear he still thinks Tyson is as dangerous as ever.

By the way, King is still VERY involved in pro boxing -- he's promoting a huge fight between undefeated heavyweights Trevor Bryan and Christopher Lovejoy on Sept. 26 for the WBA interim heavyweight title on the Impact Network.

88-years-old and still going strong -- only in America!

Ex-UCLA player Craig Lee -- a key piece of one of the school's best recruiting classes ever -- is breathing easier today ... the former Bruin just cut a plea deal with prosecutors in his attempted murder case, and is only getting probation.

We broke the story ... Lee -- a top UCLA recruit in Jim Mora's famed 2013 class -- was arrested last year after law enforcement says he was involved in an altercation at a weed dispensary that turned violent.

According to court docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, officials say Lee and at least 2 other men entered Kings Palace Marijuana Dispensary in Jurupa Valley, Calif. on June 30, 2016 ... when someone from the group shot a store employee.

Officials say a security guard in the store returned fire ... and that's when they say Lee and the other suspects bolted out of the place.

After an ensuing 3-year-long investigation into the incident ... law enforcement claimed the whole thing was a robbery gone wrong, and say a key witness told them Lee's role in it all "was to grab drugs and money and run."

Lee was eventually hit with 3 felonies by prosecutors ... including attempted murder, attempted robbery, and accessory for allegedly aiding the others to flee.

But, a rep for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office tells TMZ Sports Lee agreed to a deal this month ... pleading guilty to the accessory count.

In exchange, the prosecutors agreed to drop the other 2 charges.

We're told Lee was sentenced to 80 days in jail ... but was given credit for time served and won't have to spend another day behind bars.

Lee was also hit with 36 months of formal probation ... but prosecutors say if he keeps his nose clean for two years, he'll have the opportunity to have the felony conviction reduced to a misdemeanor.

As part of his probation terms, Lee, among other things, cannot possess a firearm or leave the state without first getting permission.

Sorry, Conor McGregor ... Georges St-Pierre believes Royce Gracie -- not you -- is the greatest MMA fighter of all time.

And, he's praising the "UFC 1" champion for paving the way for everyone else!

"Royce Gracie is the one that really changed the sport," GSP tells TMZ Sports ... "[He] changed the entire belief system of what a real fight is."

Gracie is a LEGEND -- who famously won 3 FIGHTS IN A ROW IN THE SAME NIGHT at UFC 1 back in 1993.

The UFC events back then were tournament-style -- where winners advanced to another fight in the same night.

Oh, and weight classes weren't a thing back then either! So you had giant dudes fighting small dudes with basically no real rules.

Gracie went on to win UFC 2, UFC 4 and fought to a draw with Ken Shamrock in the championship fight at UFC 5.

Royce also popularized Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) -- which revolutionized the sport.

"We should never forget the guys that were there before us," GSP says ... "We should never forget about these guys. Like Einstein says, we stand on shoulders of giants. They've paved the way for us."

Gracie was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2003.

Georges says Jon Jones is the best modern-era fighter -- but argues Khabib Nurmagomedov should be in the conversation as well.

Watch the video -- it's great.

There's more ... GSP also tells TMZ Sports about his new fitness program on TV.fit -- a "well-being application" that helps people get and stay healthy!

"There's programs for everybody or people that are older, yoga. There's also a book on mental health, there's a lot of things. It's a lot more than a fitness app and there's nothing like it on the market right now."

Rapper Jack Harlow says he was NOT hanging out with Lou Williams on Thursday ... claiming he has nothing to do with the Clippers star leaving the NBA bubble.

The 33-year-old L.A. hooper reportedly left the Disney campus this week due to "excused personal reasons" ... but is expected to rejoin the team at a later date.

The whole thing seemed pretty normal -- considering several players have left the bubble for a number of reasons in the past few weeks -- until the "What's Poppin'" rapper posted an IG Story with Williams.

"A location U would never guess," Harlow captioned the pic ... tagging Williams.

Harlow quickly deleted the pic ... which led people to speculate if he accidentally got the Sixth Man of the Year in trouble.

But, Harlow tried to clear the air on Friday ... saying the pic was old and he was just missing his buddy.

"That was an old pic of me and Lou. I was just reminiscing cuz I miss him," Harlow said.

What makes things even more bizarre -- Harlow deleted that tweet minutes later.

So ... what the hell is going on?? Is Harlow trying to cover his tracks, or is it all a misunderstanding??

Either way, the Clippers have lost several guys -- including key players like Montrezl Harrell and Patrick Beverley -- with the season restart quickly approaching on July 30 ... so it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Story developing ...

President Trump's latest guest on the golf course is someone many people probably didn't expect to see ... one Brett Favre, who recently voiced admiration for Colin Kaepernick.

The former QB and 45 hit the links Saturday, and even posed for a photo together that the White House later threw up online. They're both in golfing attire, and seem pretty chummy standing next to one another, with DT flashing the thumbs up and Brett with his arm on the Prez's back.

Up until now, we hadn't heard much from BF on his political leanings, especially as it pertains to Trump. Not that golfing with the guy indicates anything either, other than the fact that they're friendly. Still, though it's interesting -- especially when you bring Kap into the equation.

Remember, Brett told TMZ Sports that he considered Kaepernick in the same vein as Pat Tillman -- the former NFL player who enlisted in the armed services back in the 2000s, and then later died while at war ... a hero, in other words. Brett seemed to compare Kap to Pat.

He later clarified his comments, saying they weren't completely alike -- obviously, Pat made the ultimate sacrifice with his life -- but he noted they both sidelined their football careers for a cause bigger than themselves. Still, the sentiment was more or less the same.

With that in mind, you gotta wonder if CK was brought up during this outing. Of course, Trump has vocally criticized Kaepernick in the past, as well as any other players who take a knee during the National Anthem -- but he hasn't been so down on the guy these days.

Kanye West is not letting his bipolar episode and fierce family feud mess with his bottom line -- it's still business as usual as far as Ye is concerned.

Sources close to Kanye tell TMZ ... this drama-filled week has not had a negative impact on his massive deals with Adidas and GAP. We're told through all of his tribulations -- Twitter rants, family wars and the off-the-rails campaign rally -- Ye's still been able to balance several projects at once because the guy is passionate about his businesses.

Kanye's not doing it alone either ... we're told he has a big team helping to keep the trains running -- and GAP and Adidas trust they'll continue operations on schedule.

Our sources say Kanye's hired Mowalola Ogunlesi as his lead designer for his YZY GAP project and this week hasn't stunted anything she's been working on ... and GAP knows that.

Now, it's true Kanye did not drop his new album, "Donda," Friday, as initially planned -- however we still saw him directing a music video that day for the project. And, let's be honest, Ye's never been one to stick to release dates ... it's just not his thing.

George Foreman says Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr.'s return to the boxing ring is a "beautiful thing" ... but admits he is scared the legendary pugilists could be seriously hurt.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... 54-year-old Tyson and 51-year-old Jones Jr. are coming out of retirement to put on a massively anticipated 8-round exhibition fight -- and combat sports fans are PUMPED!

But, Foreman -- who had 81 professional bouts against immortal fighters like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier -- says he's very concerned about "Iron Mike" and RJJ's well-being.

"There's a time when you gotta worry about your health, but it's a beautiful thing that they would even come out," George says.

"Maybe they can even name a charity or something for the recipient of the funds. I think it's good to come out but its gotta be a fun thing, but I hope one does not hit the other."

FYI, Tyson -- who last fought in 2005 -- told us he's donating a portion of his fight paycheck to charity.

Foreman is admittedly anxious Mike and Roy could be permanently hurt, so we asked him if he'd advise the men to rethink their decision to step back into the squared circle.

"I would just tell them it's really dangerous but when you make up your mind to do something like that, you can't tell them 'don't do it.' They're not gonna hear that. Even me. Big fool like me, back in the day, I only saw what I wanted to see."

George says he totally understands why Mike and Roy want to fight ... and even revealed he attempted to make a third comeback in his mid-50's.

(Of course, George became heavyweight champ for a 2nd time at 45 years old.)

"I was 55 years old. I was in shape and everything," Foreman says, continuing ... "[My wife] says 'you're not going to do anything like that,' I said, 'I'm telling you, you can't tell me what to do. I can still  -- I said don't you believe in me? Look at me, I can still do it!'"

Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Malik Jackson says West Coast Customs overcharged him BIG TIME after he brought them some cars to trick out ... and now, he's suing.

In a new lawsuit obtained by TMZ Sports, Jackson claims back in July 2019 ... he reached a deal with the famous California custom car shop to flip two of his Chevys into sick hot rods.

The problem? Jackson says more than a year later ... the shop still has his cars -- and wants WAY MORE cash than they initially quoted him on for the job.

Jackson says for one of the builds -- a Chevy Gasser -- he agreed to pay $200,000 to have the thing rebuilt and customized.

But, in the docs, Jackson claims when West Coast Customs brought him the bill ... it was more than $37,000 above the agreed-upon price.

In the docs, Jackson says with the other car he brought in -- a Chevy Cruiser -- WCC charged him more than $150,000 above the agreed-upon price as well.

Jackson is now suing the shop for breach of contract ... asking for more than $187,000 in damages.

We reached out to WCC -- which gained HUGE fame in the early 2000s for its work on MTV's "Pimp My Ride" ... but they had no comment.

Jackson is one of the NFL's highest-paid defensive players ... he signed a 3-year, $30 MILLION contract with the Eagles in 2019.

"I'm trying to go in there and try to break his face! That's it!"

That's Robert Whittaker's game plan to fight Darren Till -- and we gotta say, it's straight and to the point!

The two are set to clash on Fight Island on July 25th -- Whittaker's first fight since losing the UFC middleweight belt to Israel Adesanya back in October.

The goal for Robert is obviously to work his way back to a title shot -- but first, he's gotta get through Till, who's coming off a win over Kelvin Gastelum.

"I am so excited," Whittaker tells TMZ Sports ... "It is time to get back to work. I want to get in there, I want to test myself and get my direction."

So, what's the plan for Till?

"I'm gonna get in there and try and punch him as hard as I can!"

In other words, Whittaker just wants a brawl -- and we're here for it!

He even has a message for his opponent -- "I'm gonna crush your face! I hope you've been preparing because I have."

Iconic NY Giants super fan "License Plate Guy" says he understands why his team is implementing a no fan rule this season due to COVID-19 ... but he tells TMZ Sports he's still "devastated!"

LPG -- aka Joe Ruback -- is maybe the most famous Giants fan on the planet ... he's been to EVERY G-men game for nearly TWO DECADES, always showing up with NY license plates around his neck.

But, with New Jersey passing a rule this month that says no fans can come to MetLife Stadium this season ... Ruback's streak is now over -- and he tells us he's feeling pretty blue about it.

"We can sit here and talk about how devastated I am, and then you get the people that are like, 'Oh, you don't care about people's health then!'" the 51-year-old fanatic tells us.

"But, no, we're just talking football. Let's just talk football, OK? I'm devastated, yo! I mean, I'm devastated!"

Ruback, though, says he's still planning to make the most of the situation ... promising to throw some epic watch parties to make up for not being able to cheer on Saquon Barkley in person.

"If you think I'm going to sit here in my basement, you got another thing coming," Ruback says.

"I'm going to get a caterer, I'm going to get a DJ, I'm going to drink, eat and I'm going to watch on a big-ass screen wherever it is."

Fortunately for LPG ... his ties to the team are still strong -- he tells us he was just in contact with star receiver Golden Tate about the upcoming season this week.

Logan Paul -- Cam Newton's next New England Patriots receiver??

Hell no!! But, the YouTube superstar DID put in work with the NFL QB in a training sesh earlier this month ... and he actually made some impressive catches!!

Logan -- who says he recently broke his wrist -- spotted Newton while leaving sports rehab in L.A. ... and naturally, they joined forces to whip up some #content.

The 2015 MVP enlisted Paul to be his receiver for some throwing drills ... starting off with 5-yard stop routes and 10-yard dig routes ... and we'll keep it a buck -- LP didn't do so hot.

"Everybody think they an athlete," Cam says. "But, real athletes come out when you're doing certain things athletically that you're not used to doing."

Newton's new Pats teammate, 4th-round pick Devin Asiasi, was there as well ... and simply put, things went a little better for him.

Then Logan turned it up a notch during the rest of the workout ... connecting with Cam from 15, 35 and 50 yards out!!

Cam seemed genuinely impressed with Paul ... and celebrated when he landed the final deep bomb.

FYI -- Logan was a star athlete in high school ... and was an All-Ohio honorable mention.

For a dude who says his old nickname was "No Hands," Logan didn't do too shabby!!

Dr. Anthony Fauci's hilarious ceremonial first pitch will be forever immortalized in the baseball world ... with the moment getting its own trading card!!

Topps just launched the card for a limited time ... showing the COVID-19 expert mid-throw before the Nationals' Opening Day game against the New York Yankees.

Of course, we all know how it went down ... but the card actually makes the dude look a bit more like Max Scherzer -- talk about a good angle!!

The card also features some info on the Doc ... saying, "Dr. Anthony Fauci, longtime Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and ardent Washington Nationals fan, signaled the official start of the 2020 MLB regular season by throwing out the first pitch before the Nationals took on the Yankees on Thursday evening."

"The 79-year-old Brooklyn native, donning a Nationals jersey, hat and facemask, fired a strong effort to the plate before the Nationals took the field."

Very generous of Topps to call it a "strong effort" ... we're just teasing.

Of course, the Dr. Fauci collectibles have skyrocketed during the pandemic -- from doughnuts to beer to bobbleheads.

The card will be available on Topps' website for just 24 hours ... so all you Fauci fanatics better hop on it!!

The NBA bubble can't stop Winnie Harlow from showing love for her man, Kyle Kuzma, on his 25th birthday ... she just wrote the Lakers forward a mushy message and shared a steamy pic!!

The 25-year-old supermodel posted the shoutout on IG on Friday ... saying, "Happy birthday, (Kyle) ❤️ blessed to know your beautiful heart and soul."

Of course, Harlow and Kuz can't be together to celebrate ... as he's currently stuck on the Disney campus in Orlando.

"Endless hours of quarantine FaceTimes and now I’m hooked," Harlow said.

"Thank you for helping me step out of my comfort zone, then making me comfortable outside of my comfort zone."

"Thank you for making me smile everyday, wiping my tears, and pushing me to be my best," Harlow says, "Thank you for your energy king, it’s only up from here lol💋"

We broke the story ... the two first met at the Harper's Bazaar party during NY Fashion Week back in Sept. ... and things clearly heated up quickly -- they're already dropping L-bombs!!

"I love you babe," Harlow says, "have an amazing day today and kill it at work young lion🦁🔥"

And if that wasn't enough -- Harlow hired a plane to fly across the Disney campus with a special birthday message so Kuz -- and the rest of the NBA -- could see how much she loves him!!

Ciara and Russell Wilson just made sure they will NOT raise a loser ... 'cause their new baby boy's name is literally Win!!!

That's right ... the singer and superstar NFL quarterback hubby announced Friday they welcomed their new baby boy and revealed his name is Win Harrison Wilson. The singer posted a touching video on Instagram as she sang the baby boy happy birthday while cradling him in her arms moments after giving birth. Win, born Thursday, weighed in at 8 lbs., 1 oz.

No doubt the couple was ecstatic about welcoming their second child together -- Ciara's third overall -- but it was an even special moment Russell soaked up considering he feared not being present for his son's birth.

The Seattle Seahawks QB had feared COVID-19 restrictions would keep him out of the delivery room. But, that apparently wasn't the case ... 'cause dude was in there with camera phone in hand enjoying the hell out of a memorable experience.

Rudy Giuliani just went scorched earth on the MLB ... calling the league's anthem kneelers "hypocritical" -- and saying the Black Lives Matter supporters in baseball are "disgraceful."

The former New York City mayor and diehard Yankees fan ripped the league Friday morning ... just hours after several players -- including Dodgers star Mookie Betts -- knelt for not only the national anthem, but in support of BLM as well.

"All those ball players, including the Yankees, taking a knee during the National Anthem of the country that made them millionaires is hypocritical," Donald Trump's attorney said.

"Support for BLM, which is provoking attacks on our law enforcement and innocent people all over America, is disgraceful."

As we previously reported, players on the Dodgers, Giants, Nationals and Yankees joined in support of racial equality prior to their Opening Day games Thursday.

The stadium jumbotrons played pro-BLM messages ... and afterward, the teams grabbed a long piece of black fabric and knelt with it to show unity.

Some players then went on to kneel for the ensuing national anthem.

Of course, Giuliani's disdain for it all echoes Trump's ... the President has repeatedly slammed the kneeling protests throughout the last few months, and recently called the demonstrations "a sign of great disrespect."