TMZ Sports - Page 50

Donald Trump (45) won't do one ... but Barack Obama (44) is still filling out his March Madness bracket -- and he's picking Michigan State -- a 3 seed -- to win it all!!!

"Just because I have more time to watch games doesn’t mean my picks will be better," Obama wrote ... "but here are my brackets this year."

So, who's he got? There are some upsets in there including Loyola-Chicago (11) over Miami (6).

He also has Texas (10) over Nevada (7).

Obama also has Syracuse (11) beating Arizona State in the playoff game and then beating TCU (6).

His Final Four -- Virginia (1), North Carolina (2), Villanova (1) and Michigan State (3).

The official tournament starts Thursday.

Of course, President Obama went to Harvard ... but they suck at basketball and didn't make the NCAA tourney.

Charles Barkley says whoever picks first in the NBA draft is about to hit THE MOTHER LODE -- 'cause University of Arizona star Deandre Ayton is the best college hoops player he's seen in decades!!!

"The kid from Arizona -- he's a monster. He's the best college player I've seen in the last 20 years. He's unbelievable," Chuck told Adam Glyn out in NYC.

FYI, the guys who played NCAA basketball from 1998 to 2018 include Steph Curry, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul ... so Barkley's making a HUGE statement here.

There's more -- Sir Charles also shaded all the top squads playing in March Madness this year ... and gave the hilarious reason why he's never gonna do politics.

O.J. Simpson was all smiles and snapshots just a couple days after confessing to murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman ... with 2 women ... who didn't seem to care.

Simpson was spotted out Tuesday night at Kona Grill in Summerlin, NV -- a ritzy 'burb within Vegas -- when two older ladies wanted to get their photos taken with The Juice.

Whether they'd seen him give a "hypothetical" blow-by-blow account of slaying his ex-wife and Goldman on national TV a few days earlier is unclear. What is clear, however, is that some people, including these two, still love them some O.J. all these years later.

Shaq says he has the answer to stopping mass school shootings like the one we saw in Parkland -- placing armed police officers on school grounds.

"The quick fix ... the government should give law enforcement more money," Shaq said on WABC Radio's "Curtis and Cosby" show.

"Give more money, you recruit more people, and the guys that are not ready to go on the streets, you put them in front of the schools. You put 'em in front of the schools, you put 'em behind the schools, you put 'em inside the schools."

"I would like to see police officers in schools, inner cities, private schools."

Shaq says he got the idea from growing up on a military base -- where the cops they had on campus were very effective at stopping any violence that broke out.

What Shaq does NOT want the government to do is ban semiautomatic weapons -- like the one Nikolas Cruz used to gun down 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS -- arguing they'll become even more dangerous on the black market.

"There's a lot of those weapons already on the streets. So it's not like, if you say, 'OK, these weapons are banned,' people are gonna go, 'Oh man, let me turn it in.' That's definitely not going to happen."

Here's undefeated boxing champ Oscar Valdez proving even winning hurts in boxing -- showing his totally jacked up fist (and face) following a big win in an absolutely brutal fight this past weekend.

Valdez gutted out a tough victory over Scott Quigg Saturday night in a controversial and dangerous bout -- mostly because Quigg came in overweight for the fight and made it a slugfest.

FYI, Valdez (24-0) and Quigg (34-2-2) were supposed to fight at 126 lbs ... but Quigg missed weight and then ballooned up to 142 lbs on fight night while Valdez DID make weight.

Oscar won on points to keep his featherweight title, but had to have his jaw wired shut after the fight -- and judging by these recovery room pics, dude might have someone opening his sodas for a while.

As for Quigg, he also posted a post-battle photo -- and, although he does look a little like Mr. Magoo, he's not in the hospital. He did suffer a broken nose.

Still wanna be a boxer when you grow up?!

Johnny Manziel can still resurrect his NFL career, so says Tyrann Mathieu -- but he's gotta do one fundamental thing to complete his comeback.

We spoke with Honey Badger on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs weeknights on FS1) ... and since he's got one of football's best redemption stories, we asked him what Johnny should do to follow suit.

Tyrann's main piece of advice -- tune out the haters!!

"We get to certain points and certain stages in our career where we start to take other peoples’ opinions more than our own," Mathieu said.

"We stop believing in ourselves. We start believing in other people and what they’re saying."

And if Manziel gets that self-belief back -- "He’ll be alright."

FYI, we got Johnny out in L.A. over the weekend ... and it looks like he's already on his way!!

A professional baseball team in Pennsylvania has cut outfielder Danry Vasquez after a 2016 video surfaced showing him beating the hell out of his girlfriend IN A STADIUM.

Vasquez was arrested for domestic violence in Texas back in August 2016 -- and despite the fact officials had the video showing him backhanding the woman in the face and continuing to beat her while dragging her down a stairwell ... he basically got off with a slap on the wrist.

FYI, at the time of the incident, Vasquez was playing for the Corpus Christi Hooks -- the AA minor league affiliate of the Houston Astros. The team released him days after the incident.

Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez tells TMZ Sports the victim did NOT want to cooperate with prosecutors and wanted the case dropped.

Prosecutors WANTED to press but felt it was an uphill battle with the victim not wanting to press charges. Ultimately, Vasquez was ordered to complete anger management courses ... and that's basically it.

Gonzalez says Vasquez has now completed the terms of his probation and the case was formally dismissed on March 6.

"At that point, probation checked with us, and he had done everything we asked him to do so I was forced to dismiss the case," Gonzalez told KRIS 6 News.

Vasquez went on to sign a contract with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. They have now released Vasquez in the wake of the video being released ... saying, "Upon being made aware of the nature of the incident, the Barnstormers made a prompt decision to cut ties with the 24-year old."

Manager Ross Peeples added, "There is no choice but to sever the relationship. Neither I, nor the Barnstormers' organization as a whole, can condone or associate with that behavior."

U.K. prime minister Theresa May just laid down the gauntlet to Russia -- saying NO members of the British government OR the royal family will attend the World Cup over a chemical attack on a double agent living in England.

May is FURIOUS over the attack on Sergei Skripal -- a former Russian spy who was jailed in Russia in 2006 for selling state secrets to British intelligence officers.

He was released in 2010 as part of a spy swap -- and was living in England. He was being visited by his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, when they were both poisoned in an attack British officials are blaming on Russia.

May has already expelled 23 Russian diplomats from the country -- and has blocked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov from his upcoming planned visit to Britain.

But, May REALLY let the Russians know she's pissed when she called off plans for high-ranking British officials and Royals to attend the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

"There will be no attendance by ministers or indeed members of the royal family at this summer's World Cup in Russia," May proclaimed in a speech to Parliament.

"Don't sleep on Floyd Mayweather" when it comes to MMA ... because the guy can REALLY wrestle -- so says Floyd's hired muscle.

We spoke with Floyd's personal private security force -- Jizzy Mack and Greg La Rosa -- and asked them how their boss is prepping for his MMA debut.

The guys say they haven't seen Floyd training with UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley yet -- but acknowledge "he's a beast" and would definitely be the man to get Floyd UFC-ready.

But, the most interesting part ... both guys claim Floyd has legit ground skills.

"Floyd's tough all around ... he can wrestle."

These guys spend MOST of their lives right by Floyd's side -- from traveling to the gym -- and they would know how Floyd's been training for his rumored transition into MMA.

As for Tyron, he says he's spoken with Floyd and agreed to train him -- and even spelled out how his training camp would go on "The Hollywood Beatdown."

The Miz has had a change of heart about CM Punk's UFC career -- now, he's SUPPORTING the guy ... despite mocking Punk after his brutal debut loss back in 2016.

Remember, the DAY after Punk lost to Mickey Gall at UFC 203 ... Miz and Dolph Ziggler spoofed the fight on "WWE Backlash."

But now with Punk returning to the Octagon at UFC 225 in June, Miz says he won't make fun of Punk anymore.

Instead, Miz says Punk should be APPLAUDED for chasing his dream ... adding, "I hope he does well."

He also says Punk doesn't give a crap about all the haters because, "if you come from WWE, you have a thick skin because you're hated on all day, every day."

The big question ... will Miz ever follow Punk's footsteps and take a real MMA fight, too?

Trump's White House ain't playin' when it comes to March Madness -- so says Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah, who tells TMZ Sports a "very high stakes" pool is ON for the tourney.

You might remember -- Donald caused quite a stir last year when he broke Obama's tradition and didn't fill out a bracket.

So ... does this Oval Office pool signal a change of heart for POTUS??

Raj wouldn't say ... but he did reveal his pick -- and told us D.C.'s other power players are split on who's going all the way.

"Basketball Wives" star Evelyn Lozada says if her life were on the line and she could only call one of her exes to save her ... she'd call Chad Johnson in a heartbeat.

Shaunie O'Neal and Evelyn were on "Van Lathan's The Red Pill Podcast" when Lathan asked each lady which one of their famous exes they'd call if they were in a life-threatening situation and could only call one.

Shaunie went with Shaq (duh, they have a perfect post-marriage life) while Evelyn chose the Ex-NFL star.

"Chad. And not that I don't have faith in Carl, Carl would be there, but we're talking about if my life is on the line."

The Carl she's referring to is ex-MLB star Carl Crawford, who Lozada was engaged to and had a son with before they broke up last year.

As for Lozada, she was married to Ochocinco for a little over a month in 2012 before a highly publicized domestic violence incident led to divorce.

Evelyn said she's not at all overlooking that or saying it's not a big deal, but based on the question, it's Chad over Crawford and former NBA star Antoine Walker ... her other famous ex.

Don't laugh off Conor McGregor hitting the campaign trail -- 'cause one of the most powerful members of Ireland's government says the Notorious could totally run for office!

We got Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar out at SXSW in Austin ... and he told TMZ Sports it'd be crazy to rule out the UFC megastar parlaying his popularity into a political career -- something McGregor hinted at recently.

Varadkar knows about defying the odds -- dude was Ireland's first openly gay and ethnic minority PM when he was elected in 2017, not to mention the youngest one in the country's history.

Leo also just met Arnold Schwarzenegger (which we got on video) -- and said if The Governator could do it, why not Conor??

Get ready to throw away your Girl Scout cookies, normies ... 'cause Sylvester Stallone's out here muscling 100-POUND WEIGHTS in his private gym -- and crushin' it like Rocky in his prime!!

Hard to believe, but Sly's already 71 years old ... but that hasn't slowed down his workout routine, clearly.

Regular pull-ups (or chin-ups if you're a workout nut) ain't enough for the senior Italian Stallion ... so, he strapped the weight of a small human around his waist and LETARIP!!!

What's even more shocking ... Sly captioned the vid -- "Another easy workout! You’re only as old as you and your joints feel!"

Not as savage as the 1-armed pull-ups ... but pretty damn impressive.

1-handed MMA star Nick Newell says his uphill battle to make the UFC ain't unlike the one Ronda Rousey and other female badasses faced back in the day ... and he's making his case for the same outcome.

We spoke to Nick after his dominant comeback fight at LFA 35 over the weekend, and he doubled down on his pitch for a UFC fight -- telling us he's done more than enough to scrap inside the Octagon.

"I'm gonna win fights there," Newell told TMZ Sports. "I'm ready to start snappin' some necks and cashin' some checks."

But Nick, who's 14-1 after his latest win, didn't sound too confident he'd get the call -- comparing his situation to the era of women's MMA before Rousey broke through.

Of course, women are now bigger in the UFC than arguably any major pro sports org. -- so "Notorious" is hoping Dana White changes his tune.

Donald Trump will be rubbing elbows with his supporters in one of the ritziest gated communities in Southern California.

TMZ has learned the fundraiser will go down at the home of Ed Glazer, the owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He lives in the super exclusive Beverly Park community in Beverly Hills.

Our sources say it was first billed as a "victory party" but later changed to a fundraiser.

Glazer has commissioned a company to install tents for the occasion -- a 40x50, a 40x40 and a 10x15. There are 64 guests who are invited for the event which will be held sometime between 5 and 10 PM.

The price of admission ... minimum $35,000 per person, with a top price of $250,000.