TMZ Sports - Page 50

Ya can't have ABCs without AB!!

Antonio Brown is doing his part to help the kids in South Florida ... by leading a school supplies drive in the Miami area -- an event that helped out 500 families in need.

32-year-old Brown wrote some generous checks to help cover the cost for book bags, notebooks and other supplies ... and some kids even got new laptop computers to help with the distanced learning situation during the COVID pandemic.

You can see in the video ... the kids are stoked -- and so is Antonio!!

We spoke with 103.5 FM's Papa Keith -- one of the organizers of the event -- and he raves about the NFLer's involvement.

"AB is from Liberty City which is where the event was held and the fact that he’s coming back to help his hometown even at this point in his career is something we love to see."

It's some good publicity for AB, who is still trying to get back into the NFL after a slew of off-field issues over the past year.

NBA superstar Damian Lillard is paying tribute to Kobe Bryant in the booth ... by dropping a Mamba-inspired track for NBA 2K21 -- and SNOOP DOGG is on it!!!

The Trail Blazers guard teased the song featuring the hip-hop legend and rapper Derrick Milano on Kobe Bryant Day (8/24) ... officially announcing "Kobe" will be released when the game comes out September 4.

The teaser starts off with a post-game interview from 2013 when Kobe was asked about Dame's rookie performance ... and famously said, "that boy's serious, man."

The lyrics are all about the Lakers legend -- including lines like, "ever since a young boy, I been getting buckets ... pull it back, Kobe," and "I don't even gotta look, I take the shot and hear it swish ... I don't even touch the rim, when I pull up it's just swish."

Of course, Lillard is no stranger to rapping under the name Dame D.O.L.L.A. ... and used some pull as being one of the 2K21 cover athletes to get the song on the game's soundtrack.

"When I found out I was gonna be on the @NBA2K cover the same year Kobe was on the legends cover, I decided to use my access to the 2K soundtrack to pay tribute to Kobe through music," Dame said of the track.

Soccer superstar Ronaldinho has been released from house arrest in Paraguay in his fake passport case -- which means he'll soon be able to return home to Brazil.

Ronaldinho -- sporting a black COVID mask -- was in court Monday as the judge made his ruling ... ending a saga that's played out on the global stage for the past 6 months.

As we previously reported, the 40-year-old legend was arrested at an upscale hotel in Paraguay back in March ... after officials say he entered the country using a fake passport.

FYI ... Dinho had reportedly had his Brazilian and Spanish passports confiscated in July 2019 over unpaid taxes -- but continued to travel internationally anyway to promote a new book.

Authorities raided the hotel where Ronaldinho and his bro were staying, seized their passports and threw them both in jail -- but Ronaldinho was eventually moved to house arrest.

Now, a Paraguayan judge has ordered Ronaldinho to be released as part of a deal that's being described as a "conditional suspension" of the charges.

In other words, Ronaldinho will pay $90,000 in costs and fines (some of which will go to charity) and in exchange, the charges will be dropped.

Officials in Paraguay have told the media they do not believe Ronaldinho was aware his passport was fake.

One prosecutor added, "There is no indication that he has any personal characteristics or criminal behaviour that ... would put society at risk."

Unclear when Ronaldinho will actually leave the country ... but our guess is he's probably moving as quickly as possible given he was facing up to five years behind bars.

Arsenal superstar Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and fast cars go together like peanut butter and jelly ... and if you need proof, just look above!!!

The 31-year-old striker decided to flex on the 'gram for his nearly 10 million followers recently ... by posing next to his 5 favorite gold and chrome silver supercars.

Now, anyone who knows Aubameyang understands his passion for fast vehicles is no joke -- he's even got a $2.6 MILLION Ferarri.

Also, part of his carsenal (get it?!) includes FOUR different types of Lambos -- an Aventador, a Huracan Spyder and two Urus.

Now, none of these cars are available for under $200k ... but just by looking at the exterior, we're guessing Aubameyang had a bunch of personal bells and whistles added to these puppies.

Oh, and did we mention he's got a BUNCH of other cars -- from an Aston Martin to an Audi to a Porshe and more?!?

Look out, Floyd Mayweather.

Kap hasn't responded to Goodell yet -- but his good friend Kenny Stills just did ... saying he wants to see more meaningful action from the NFL that leads to "REAL" change.

"Look at the NFL," the Houston Texans WR said Monday ... "We're supposed to be the leaders in our country. We're reactive instead of proactive when it comes to a lot of the issues in our country."

"I hope that we can do a better job moving forward of listening to our players and understanding our issues and doing something about it."

There's more ... it's powerful stuff.

Roger Goodell says he understands the national anthem kneelers are NOT disrespecting the flag or the military -- and wishes he would have listened sooner to Colin Kaepernick.

The NFL commish spells out his position during an interview on "Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man" with ex-NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho -- who asked straight-up what Goodell would say in a public apology to Kaepernick.

"The first thing I'd say is I wish we had listened earlier, Kap, to what you were kneeling about and what you were trying to bring attention to," Goodell said during the interview which dropped Sunday.

The Commish insists he had invited Kaepernick to the NFL offices "to have the dialogue," but they never sat down together.

"I wish we had the benefit of that. We never did. And we would've benefited from that, absolutely."

But, Goodell made a bunch of interesting comments -- including this one, that seems to directly contradict Donald Trump's position on the kneeling.

"It is not about the flag," Goodell said ... "The message here, what are players are doing, is being mischaracterized."

"These are not people who are unpatriotic. They're not disloyal. They're not against our military."

"In fact, many of those guys were in the military, and they're a military family. And what they were trying to do is exercise their right to bring attention to something that needs to get fixed. And that misrepresentation of who they were and what they were doing was the thing that really gnawed at me."

Trump, even recently, has said he finds the kneeling to be disrespectful to the flag and the military -- and has urged fans to boycott sports where players are allowed to take a kneel.

Goodell says he was particularly moved by the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a white police officer in Minnesota.

"It was horrific to see that play out on the screen -- there was a part of me that said, 'I hope people realize that's what the players were protesting. That's what's been going on in our communities. You see it now on TV, but that's been going on for a long, long time."

Goodell says the NFL can't solve all of the problems in the world -- but admits the league should have "listened sooner" when it came to issues of police brutality and social injustice.

Kaepernick began his kneeling demonstration in 2016 -- but hasn't played in the league since that season. He's since accused the league of conspiring to blackball him from the NFL due to the kneeling.

Turn left on Kobe Bryant Blvd?!

That's what your GPS will sound like in the future because Kobe Bryant is getting a street named after him right near Staples Center, where he balled out for almost 20 years.

Herb J. Wesson Jr. -- the president of the L.A. City Council --  made the announcement Monday morning (8/24) ... saying the plan is in the works.

"Figueroa St. will soon be Kobe Bryant Blvd. between Olympic & MLK," Wesson said.

In other words, Kobe Bryant Blvd. will essentially stretch from the L.A. Coliseum through USC and go just past Staples Center.

"Kobe’s legacy is bigger than basketball. Kobe Bryant Blvd will be a reminder to everyone, young and old who drive down it, there is no obstacle too big and that with the #Mambamentality," Wesson added ... "Anything is possible."

Kobe Bryant played every single season of his 20-year NBA career with the L.A. Lakers -- but they didn't move to Staples until 1999.

Kobe is especially beloved in Los Angeles -- and there have been rumbling about honoring Kobe in this way ever since he passed away back in January.

8/24 has already been declared Kobe Bryant Day in Orange County, where he lived with his family for so many years.

MLB superstar Bryce Harper went all out to honor Kobe Bryant on what would have been the Mamba's 42nd birthday ... rockin' cleats, a wristband and even a Lakers jersey for the tribute.

Bryce wore all the KB swag for the Phillies' game against the Braves on Sunday ... and afterward, he showed off up-close images of it all and praised the hell out of the L.A. legend.

"Kobe Bryant was my hero growing up," Harper said of the tribute. "It was him and my pops. If Kobe was playing I was watching."

"The way he went about it was something that nobody else had. He was fiery, smart, clutch, and just better than everybody I believed."

Harper says he always respected the way Kobe played on the court ... but added it was Bryant's off-court demeanor that really touched him as well.

"Thank you so much for the amazing ride you took us all on and sharing your talent and love for the sport with all of us," Harper said. "We are so lucky to have watched such greatness for so long."

Of course, Harper is an Under Armour athlete ... so the Nike-themed tribute is truly a special gesture from the Philly outfielder.

"Kobe Happy Birthday brotha and Happy Mamba Day," Harper said. "You are missed by so many. 8 and 24 will live on forever!!"

Seems the Kobe gear brought the Phils good luck ... while Harper didn't have his best day at the plate -- Philly won the game 5-4 with a thrilling play at the plate.

Drake is paying tribute to Kobe Bryant on 8/24 by showing off his huge Black Mamba shoe collection ... and his closet  legit looks like a real-life Foot Locker!!!

The shoe closet at Drake's Toronto compound is legendary -- it's the same place where he's got an entire basketball court with Kobe's #8 and #24 displayed on the walls.

So, on Kobe Bryant Day, Drake treated his fans to a tour of his Kobe shoe collection -- with appears to include 90 pairs of KB kicks.

Drake's Kobe collection isn't just cool -- it's wildly expensive. His Kobe 5 Preludes alone are fetching around $1,200 on resale sites.

He also has multiple versions of the Kobe 8s ... including the Venice Beach, Python and the WTKs, with the latter currently valued at more than $1,000 a pair.

We noticed there weren't any kicks from Kobe's Adidas days on Drake's shelf. Remember, the Kobe 2 was widely panned by shoe critics back in the day -- and the shoe played a major role in Bryant leaving Adidas for Nike.

Kobe would have turned 42 on Sunday.

The Washington Nationals have fired a team employee after surveillance cameras appeared to catch the man throwing hot coffee on a woman in a disturbing scene in the Dominican Republic.

Footage from the incident is shocking ... according to ESPN, Nats employee Jazhiel Morel, who helped work with the team's academy in Boca Chica, D.R., was at a convenience store recently when he got into an argument with a cashier.

Unclear what prompted the altercation ... but you can see in the clip, the man gets so upset with the woman -- he tosses two cups of coffee straight into her face before leaving the store.

Nats general manager Mike Rizzo said in a statement he fired the man immediately after learning of the video ... adding the actions in the clip were "horrific."

"We do not tolerate this type of behavior in our organization," Rizzo said.

Police in the D.R. say Morel turned himself in on Monday morning ... and say they're questioning the man as part of the initial steps of the investigation.

D.R. cops added the coffee throwing is "a punishable act of violence."

A storage locker treasure hunter hit the JACKPOT -- finding an abandoned unit packed with Kobe Bryant treasures ... and now one of the stars of "Storage Wars" is involved.

Here's the deal ... just like on the show, storage units are auctioned off if the owner stops paying the bills.

In this case, the locker was in the L.A. area -- bidders only got a brief glimpse as to what was inside -- and then the auction began. The person who scored the unit won with a bid of $375.

Here's the breakdown of the score -- 35 pairs of shoes, jerseys, Lakers practice gear, a Lakers all-access badge that says, "Mamba," tax paperwork, and the pièce de résistance ... a mink coat (we're told there are pics of Kobe wearing the coat!).

The stuff -- once properly authenticated -- is likely worth a fortune!

The buyer immediately called "Storage Wars" star Rene Nezhoda -- who has experience finding buyers for high-end storage treasures -- and Rene bought all of the contents for a cool $13,000.

Rene tells us ... the items will NOT end up on "Storage Wars" because they're not filming the show due to the pandemic. Instead, Rene plans on selling the items through a reputable auction house.

It's a timely score for Rene too ... Kobe's birthday was Sunday, and today is Mamba Day -- 8/24.

BTW, there are rumblings the unit belonged to Kobe’s former stylist. But, a rep for the stylist says, "that’s just not the case.”

A Mike Trout rookie card just netted a stunning $3.9 MILLION at auction for Vegas Dave ... and the dude is already spiking the football in his critics' faces, saying, "Cheers haters."

"I just flipped a piece of cardboard for 3.6 million dollars in 24 months which required no manual labor," said Dave Oancea, who initially bought the card for $400K in 2018.

"That’s more money than each of my critics will ever make working a 9-5 for 40 hours a week for 40 years for a boss they don’t like even like."

The figure for the card is staggering ... it's now the most expensive baseball piece EVER -- smashing the $3.1 million record that a Honus Wagner card garnered in 2016.

Vegas Dave initially scooped up the Trout card because of its insane rarity -- it's a 1 of 1 -- and he guaranteed at the time the card would make him SERIOUS bank.

Ken Goldin -- whose Goldin Auctions company facilitated the sale -- told the Washington Post he wasn't exactly surprised to see VD's prediction come true.

"This [Trout] card is the best possible card of the best player today, and there’s only one of them that was produced," Goldin said. "And the whole world knows there’s only one.”

For the Angels' part, Trout's manager, Joe Maddon, was blown away by the sale ... joking with reporters over the weekend, "That puts him right up there with, what did the Mona Lisa sell for?"

Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell apologized to Luka Doncic for calling the Mavs star a "bitch-ass white boy" ... squashing potential beef with a pregame hug and handshake Sunday.

If you missed it ... Harrell went viral Friday for his trash talk of the Dallas point guard -- when cameras caught the L.A. player mouthing the words to Luka after a big first-quarter bucket.

Of course, given the nation's current climate and battle for racial equality ... Montrezl was heavily criticized for the chatter -- with ex-NBA player Jay Williams saying straight-up, "I can only imagine if Luka Doncic had said something like that to you."

Montrezl says he took it upon himself to clear the air with Luka before Game 4 on Sunday ... and in video of their conversation, you can see there was no bad blood at all.

"Nothing but respect for Luka," Harrell said of their pregame embrace. "He understood the heat of the battle and he said it didn’t bother him only RESPECT."

For his part, Luka said he accepted Harrell's apology ... adding, "No worries."

"There’s a lot of emotions on the court, especially this is playoffs," Doncic said. "Sometimes you say things you don’t want to say. He apologized. I respect that, so no problems.”

Clippers coach Doc Rivers says he addressed everything with Harrell in house ... telling reporters over the weekend that Montrezl MUST be more careful with his words.

"I said to him, ‘Hey, I don’t think you meant anything racially by it.’ He said ‘white boy,’ but I don’t think there was anything racial intended," Rivers said. "But we are in a very heightened climate and you have to be careful."

Tobias Harris took a scary fall on the basketball court that could've seriously injured the guy, or possibly even killed him -- but fortunately, it looks like he's going to be okay.

The 76ers star was playing in Sunday's game against the Boston Celtics, when at one point late in the third quarter, he went up for a defensive rebound ... but got his legs clipped by Jayson Tatum midair, which tilted his body and made him land hard on the paint headfirst.

You could see he was in excruciating pain as he writhed on the floor and couldn't get up at first. The refs stopped the game and the Philly's medical staff rushed out to the court to evaluate him. It appeared they signaled for trauma too, which meant it was serious.

It also looks like there might've been some blood spattered on the floor, which the med team was quick to wipe up as well.

The good news is that Tobias was able to get up and walk off the court on his own accord. He's said to have suffered a left eye laceration and was being evaluated for a concussion in the locker room.

It could've been much worse ... thank goodness it wasn't.

Kobe Bryant would have turned 42 Sunday ... and there's literally a worldwide celebration of his life on TV, online and on walls across the world.

Murals honoring Kobe have popped up all over the globe, especially in the hometown of the Lakers ... in downtown L.A. near the Convention Center, as well as the Shoe Palace in the Fairfax District, a super-large mural in the San Fernando Valley ... and on and on.

The way it breaks down ... 331 murals around the world. There are 208 in SoCal, 267 in the U.S. and 64 internationally.

One mural in mid-City pays homage to Kobe, his daughter Gianna and the 7 others who perished in the helicopter crash last January.

Vanessa Bryant posted a loving and sad message about how much she misses Kobe and Gigi and how she wishes she could celebrate his big day.

Natalia, Kobe and Vanessa's 17-year-old daughter, took to Instagram to share a loving message about her favorite memories with her father.

On Saturday Vanessa posted images showing how various people are honoring Kobe on his birthday. She posted photos of flowers, comfort food and messages written in the sand.

Nike has created its own tribute on video, narrated by Kendrick Lamar, and it's both emotional and inspiring. It speaks to the legacy Kobe left behind.

Nike is dubbing this week "Mamba Week," and today is "Mamba Day." Nike is donating $1 million to the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation, along with a promise to support the Mamba League.

As for the Lakers, well they have a playoff game Monday against the Portland Trail Blazers, and they'll wear their "Black Mamba" uniforms.

Meet Rocco -- a 4-year-old budding golfer who can really drive it and even sink a ball in one shot. Take notice, all you Green Jackets ... this little guy is on the come-up.

Rocco's dad, Mario Figaretti, recorded his boy hitting a hole in one on a par-3 course in Wheeling, West Virginia. That type of course is super kid-friendly ... each hole is basically designed to be a 3-hit deal. One to get it on the green, and a couple puts afterward.

Welp, this little tyke didn't even need those additional strokes ... he hit it off the tee and watched it sail to down below, where it eventually landed and rolled right into the flag and sank. His pops took notice of the amazing trick shot before Rocco did with an awesome freak-out.

Just to confirm he had in fact gotten a hole in one, Rocco ran down to the green himself to confirm ... and sure enough, he pulled it out and showed to the camera from afar.

Of the wild moment, Mario writes ... "HOLE IN ONE!!!! Hole #1 at Oglebay’s Par three course. Rocco = 4yrs old." Mario adds, "He practices all the time In the yard. To say I’m proud would be an understatement!"

More legal trouble for the woman accused of stabbing NFL star Terrelle Pryor ...

TMZ Sports has learned Shalaya Briston -- who officials say nearly killed Pryor in a Nov. incident -- was arrested months later in March for allegedly attacking her mom.

According to court docs ... officers responded to a call about a domestic disturbance at a residence in the Munhall, Penn. area at around 1 AM on March 15.

When cops arrived, they say in the docs Briston told them she had been in an argument with her mother.

Cops say when they were able to locate Briston's mom ... she told them Briston had attacked her, hitting her several times in the face.

In the docs, officers say they noticed a small laceration and swelling around the woman's lower lip. They also say the woman complained that her right eye "felt swollen."

Cops eventually arrested Briston ... and prosecutors ended up hitting her with a misdemeanor charge of simple assault.

But, a court official tells us the case was dropped on Aug. 19 ... after the alleged victim did not appear at the scheduled hearing.

Briston, though, still ain't out of the woods yet ... as we previously reported, she's still facing a felony assault charge in the Pryor stabbing case.