TMZ Sports - Page 9

San Jose Sharks star Logan Couture claims he was "sucker punched" in Toronto on Tuesday ... and says it was all because he said he'd vote Republican if he could.

Couture -- who's Canadian -- made the revelation in a series of social media posts Wednesday ... saying, "I spent last night in Toronto Ontario."

"I talked about voting for the Republican Party, and I mentioned Donald Trump by name. I was sucker punched."

Couture didn't say if he suffered any injuries as a result of the alleged attack ... but added, "Is this really what we are coming to? If you vote you are a villain? Man this world is so wrong."

It's unclear exactly what Couture said that led to the alleged punch ... the 31-year-old claims he does NOT support Donald Trump and appeared to say he never voiced a pro-Trump opinion Tuesday.

Rather, Couture says he simply said something along the lines of he'd vote for the Republican party if he had a say in the matter.

"[I was punched for] saying my dad was a police officer and I 'would' if I could vote republican," Couture said.

We're out to the Toronto Police Service for more information.

Couture has been a beast for the Sharks for the past decade ... scoring 256 career goals since he came up with the team in the 2009-10 season.

Dana White says he never had second thoughts about stumping for his pal, Donald Trump, at the Republican National Convention this week ... essentially saying critics can kiss his ass.

In fact, when it comes to criticism about his relationship with Trump, White told reporters Tuesday -- "That sh*t doesn’t bother me."

"I don’t give a sh*t. I don’t care what people think of me or what they think,” White said.

“The people that know me know who I am and know what I’m about."

White is slated to speak at the 2020 RNC on Thursday night. He also gave a speech for Trump at the 2016 RNC.

"Listen, this is America. Everybody has their own opinions and their own choices. I know that sometimes people go after you because of whatever, but everybody knows me. Everybody knows what I’m about."

David Beckham isn't quite ready to pucker up for International Dog Day, but he is ready to show off his newest pooch, which seems more than eager to plant one on its owner.

The soccer star posted a cute photo Wednesday in honor of the holiday, showing off the Beckham family's newest canine addition, Sage, which made its debut this past Christmas.

In his IG post, David can bee seen trying to resist face licks from Sage. He captioned it ... "Happy International dog day 🐶 sage trying her luck with a kiss on the lips 💋." Lips or not, it looks like Sage is getting her share of face time with papa bear.

BTW, Victoria appears to have been the photog here ... she posted a BTS shot that might be just as adorable -- showing Dave cradling Sage, who looks all too pleased with the attention.

Sage is the Beckhams' third dog ... they have two other Cocker Spaniels, Fig and Olive, who've been with the brood for a bit now. As with any incoming family member, though, Sage is the one getting most of the fam's love ... social media-wise, anyway.

Don't worry, you're just as important F&O. It's just Sage's time to shine right now ...

A historic moment nearly turned disastrous for the White Sox on Tuesday ... star OF Eloy Jimenez smashed up his ankle celebrating a no-hitter -- and, for a while, it didn't look good.

Here's the deal ... Chicago ace Lucas Giolito went OFF against the Pittsburgh Pirates -- twirling a sparkling 9 no-hit innings with 13 strikeouts -- and after the final out, his teammates mobbed him to celebrate.

The problem? When Eloy rushed into the mosh pit ... Edwin Encarnacion appeared to step on his foot, twisting his ankle.

Eloy -- who's been a MONSTER for Chicago this season -- crumpled to the diamond in serious pain ... and was down on the ground for nearly the entirety of the Sox's celebration.

Fortunately, Eloy was able to hobble off the field under his own power ... and, for now, the White Sox believe Jimenez avoided serious injury.

"Jumping up and down, he kind of twisted his ankle a little bit," Chicago manager Rick Renteria told reporters after the game.

"But thankfully he walked off the field OK under his own power, and we’ll see how he’s doing tomorrow."

It'd be a huge blow for the Sox if Eloy has to miss any time ... he's batting .306 with NINE home runs this season.

An emotional Doc Rivers choked back tears as he talked about the Jacob Blake police shooting on Tuesday -- explaining why Black people are pissed and railing against republicans.

"It's amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back," Rivers said.

"It's really so sad. Like, I should just be a coach. I'm so often reminded of my color. It's just really sad. We got to do better. But, we got to demand better."

The L.A. Clippers coach had refused to talk about the shooting BEFORE the playoff game against the Dallas Mavericks "because it's so hard to keep watching it."

But, after the game, the emotions poured out of the 58-year-old, who interestingly enough, used to be friends with Donald Trump.

"If you watch that [Jacob Blake] video, you don’t need to be Black to be outraged. You need to be American and outraged."

"All you hear is Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear," Rivers said while referring to the Republican National Convention.

"We're the ones getting killed. We're the ones getting shot. We're the ones that we're denied to live in certain communities. We've been hung. We've been shot. And, all you do is keep hearing about fear."

Doc says he's not anti-cop -- his father was a police officer -- but he demands changes when it comes to training, especially when it comes to policing the Black community.

"The training has to change in the police force. The unions have to be taken down in the police force," Rivers said.

Cincinnati Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow just got himself an amazing welcome-to-the-NFL gift ... a diamond chain of his jersey number!!

TMZ Sports has learned ... the Heisman Trophy winner wanted to do something special after inking his massive, $36 million rookie deal, so he hit up celeb jeweler Leo Frost to whip up the one-of-a-kind piece.

We're told the awesome #9 pendant is made of 18k white gold and VVS diamonds ... sitting on an 18k white gold prong-set Cuban chain with VVS diamonds.

In other words, the rook's got taste!!

For those who paid close attention to our pre-draft jewelry roundup back in February, this should come as no surprise. As Leo told Burrow at the time, "After the draft, I'm thinking we make this a fat ass piece for you, #9? A fat #9."

Leo delivered on his promise ... flying to Cincinnati this week to hand over the final product ... and Joe loved it!!

It's been one crazy year for the Ohio boy -- he won a natty, won the Heisman, helped raise $500k for his hometown food bank, and went #1 overall in the Draft.

Marshal Yanda has gone from All-Pro offensive lineman to absolute SNACK in just a few months ... dude's shaved off a ton of weight since his retirement -- and looks amazing!

Yanda -- one of the best linemen in the NFL for the past decade-plus -- just retired in March ... but it's clear he's got no chance of playing in the gridiron trenches any time soon.

Check out a photo the 6'3" potential future Hall of Famer posted Monday ... he looks NOTHING like the guy who used to crush D-lineman for the Ravens at over 300 pounds!!!

"Family RV Trip Out West," Yanda captioned the pic. "August is looking a lot different this year!!!"

No kidding!!!

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's son has been hit with several felonies stemming from his alleged knife attack on a neighbor in June ... and now he's facing nearly 10 years behind bars.

We broke the story ... cops in San Clemente, Calif. arrested 28-year-old Adam Abdul-Jabbar after they say he attacked his neighbor during an argument.

Adam's neighbor says he complained to the basketball legend's son about helping his grandma with outdoor trash cans ... which the man says set Adam off.

The 60-year-old says Adam stabbed him numerous times ... causing serious injuries, including a fractured skull and brain bleed. The man -- who's since filed a civil lawsuit against Adam -- also claims he nearly died from blood loss due to the incident.

TMZ Sports has learned ... Adam has now been charged with 3 felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one felony count of carrying a dirk or dagger, and three enhancements of inflicting great bodily injury over his alleged role in the incident.

If convicted on all counts, Adam faces up to nine years and eight months in prison.

"A dispute between neighbors should never escalate to violence, much less the ruthless nature of this attack," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said Tuesday.

"Violence of any kind will not be tolerated in Orange County and those who choose to inflict violence on others will be prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office to the fullest extent of the law."

It may be the end of an era with Barcelona, but Lionel Messi is getting serious love from his longtime teammates on Tuesday ... after the international soccer superstar has asked the club to terminate his contract.

The earth-shattering news broke hours ago ... with arguably the greatest player on the planet sending a letter to Barca asking to be released from his contract, citing a clause that could make him available at the end of the season.

It's a HUGE deal -- 33-year-old Messi has been with Barcelona since 2001, winning 10 La Liga titles and 4 Champions League titles.

Messi's also won the Ballon d’Or 6 times with Barca ... the most any player has ever earned in a career.

While Messi is prepped to leave the only pro club he's ever known, his teammates are taking the news in stride ... wishing the forward the best of luck in the future.

"Respect and admiration, Leo," Carles Puyol said on Twitter. "All my support, friend."

Luis Suarez -- Messi's teammate since 2014 -- echoed Puyol's message with a couple clapping emojis.

Messi wanting out isn't all that shocking to some, especially coming off an embarrassing season ... but it's still crazy to think about the guy in a new uniform.

The break-up might be a bit messy, however ... there are reports Messi's clause may have expired back in June ... which would require an $826 MILLION buyout.

The Detroit Lions canceled practice Tuesday at the request of the players -- so they could take action in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake.

Several players -- along with coach Matt Patricia -- instead met with the media outside of the Lions' headquarters in Detroit to give their thoughts on the shooting.

The players made signs -- one reading, "The world can't go on" ... another said, "We won't be silent."

Duron Harmon, a lions safety, gave an emotional speech -- saying, "Some people think were just football players."

"This league, 67%, of its players are African American. Jacob Blake could have been anybody’s brother, cousin, uncle, friend, could have been them. And it wasn’t okay."

Harmon added, "Football is not important today."

Blake was shot multiple times in the back Sunday by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin (about a 5-hour drive from Lions headquarters).

Blake's father has said he sustained 8 shots and is currently paralyzed from the waist down.

QB Matt Stafford also spoke on the issue -- saying, "Football was the last thing on our mind at the moment to be honest with you."

"We're all just trying to figure a way out to help or make a change and help out. The last thing we thought about was playing football."

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has been found GUILTY of a number of charges stemming from a massive brawl in Greece last week.

The 27-year-old superstar defender was vacationing with family in Mykonos late last Thursday when a fight broke out on the beach over allegations his sister was injected with a "rape drug."

Officers in plainclothes tried to break up the scuffle ... but ended up injured in the process, according to law enforcement.

At the time of the arrest, Maguire allegedly told cops, "Do you know who I am? I am the captain of Manchester United. I am very rich, I can give you money, I can pay you, please let us go."

Maguire was held in custody for nearly 2 days before being released on Saturday.

On Tuesday (apparently, the courts move super quick there) Maguire was found guilty of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and repeated attempts of bribery ... resulting in a suspended prison sentence of 21 months and 10 days.

Man. U released a statement ... saying, "Harry Maguire pleaded not guilty to all of the misdemeanour charges made against him and he continues to strongly assert his innocence."

The team added ... "It should be noted that the prosecution confirmed the charges and provided their evidence late on the day before the trial, giving the defence team minimal time to digest them and prepare."

Russell Wilson claims he's got AT LEAST another decade and a half left in his football gas tank ... saying he's trying to play quarterback until he's 46 years old!!!

"I'm right in the beginning of my prime," the Seattle Seahawks superstar told Sports Illustrated. "I got so many more years left."

Of course, Russ is 31 years old right now and has a TON of miles on his body -- dude's already been in the league since 2012 and has played in 128 regular-season games.

But, Wilson says he's feeling better than ever ... and thinks everything he's done up until this point is just the tip of his potential iceberg!!

"For me, I'm just getting started," Russ said. "That's the fun part for me. I'm just getting started. And, so, I want to keep going."

If you're wondering ... only a handful of quarterbacks have ever started past the age of 40 -- with Brett Favre, Vinny Testaverde and, most notably, Tom Brady all accomplishing that feat.

Russ seems confident as hell that he can join that list no problem ... saying straight up it's now "my mission" to make it there.

Great news for Minnesota Vikings LB Cameron Smith ... the team says he had successful open heart surgery Monday -- just a few weeks after COVID testing found a congenital issue.

Smith said earlier this month that after he was diagnosed with coronavirus ... his doctors did further testing and discovered he had an irregular valve in his heart that could have killed him.

"It is really a blessing that we found this," Smith said, "as my heart is severely enlarged and wouldn’t have lasted much longer."

Vikes head coach Mike Zimmer said Tuesday that Smith underwent the operation Monday and is still recovering at the hospital ... but added he's hopeful the 23-year-old can rejoin his teammates later this season.

Of course, Smith is out for the year and his future as a football player is in jeopardy ... but the former USC star has vowed to make every effort to one day get back on the field.

"By no means am I ready to be done playing football," Smith said. "There is still so much more I want to accomplish on the field."

Georgina Rodriguez wants everyone to know ... her boyfriend ain't the only one with a ridiculous body!!!

Check out Cristiano Ronaldo's longtime lady friend swimming around in the Mediterranean in a tiny, white thong bikini and a pair of flippers.

The insanely fit couple has been sailing around on their fancy, new yacht along the French Riviera ... hanging out with their insanely ripped pals -- living the good life.

Earlier this month, Ronaldo's Juventus squad won their 9th straight Series A -- but didn't win the Champions League, after being knocked out by Manchester City in the quarter-final match.

So, how do you blow off some of that steam? BOAT VACATION!

Of course, 35-year-old Ronaldo and 26-year-old Georgina have been together for years -- and she gave birth to their daughter, Alana, back in 2017.

There have long been rumors about the two being secretly engaged -- or even secretly married -- but the couple has denied that several times over the years.