TMZ Sports - Page 50

The 26th annual ESPYs brought the feels early with an intense recap of the year's most exciting and touching sports moments ... then Danica Patrick lightened the mood.

Danica -- the show's first ever female host -- came out hard with jokes ... about Cleveland sports, J.R. Smith's Finals blunder, LeBron's hair, Ben Simmons joining the Kardashians -- and even the National Anthem controversy.

As you can see, some went over better than others.

Then it was on to the awards, with Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell kicking things off with an ESPY win for Best Breakthrough Athlete. Other winners included the U.S. Women's Hockey Team for Best Game, Baker Mayfield for Best College Athlete, and Nick Foles for Best Championship Performance.

Chloe Kim took home the ESPY for Best Female Athlete, Alex Ovechkin nabbed Best Male ... and the Houston Astros won Best Team.

The evening also included powerful tributes to Bills QB legend Jim Kelly, who received the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance, Best Coach going to the 3 coaches killed in the Parkland shooting ... and the sister survivors of sexual abuse by Larry Nassar being honored with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

What rivalry?

LeBron James and Kevin Durant left a Hollywood bar together on Wednesday night with Draymond Green ... and TMZ Sports has the footage.

The NBA superstars -- along with a ton of other athletes -- were leaving The Highlight Room rooftop lounge ... and when LeBron got to the street, a ton of fans were there to greet him.

Check out the top of the video -- the guy in the white hoodie who's talking with Bron looks a lot like Draymond.

The Lakers star thanked some of the people who welcomed him to L.A. -- and then walked to his waiting car ... followed by Kevin Durant.

We tried to talk with KD -- and a guy asked for the Golden State Warrior star's autograph -- but Durant made it clear he wasn't in the mood to talk with normies.

Turns out, the guys were all hanging out at a post-ESPY's party thrown by LeBron's Uninterrupted media platform -- with huge stars like Floyd Mayweather, Jamie Foxx, Drake, Future and Kevin Hart in attendance.

A very powerful moment just went down at the 2018 ESPY Awards, as well over 100 sister survivors of sexual abuse by Larry Nassar joined hands on stage to receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

On behalf of their fellow "army of survivors," Sarah Klein, Tiffany Thomas Lopez and USA gymnastics star Aly Raisman accepted the award. Each delivered a moving speech about the suffering caused by 30 years of abuse by the disgraced Team USA and Michigan State doctor ... and the courage it took -- by hundreds of women -- to finally bring him down.

As we reported ... Nassar was essentially sentenced to life in prison -- twice -- for sexual assault crimes, along with getting 60 years in his child porn case.

None of it would have been possible without these brave women standing up and speaking out, though ... and now they're leading the fight against abuse.

Terrell Owens says if he was voted into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, he would have had his ceremony in Canton with the rest of the class ... but since he wasn't, he won't.

Simple as that.

We got T.O. out at Century City Mall when he revealed to us the real reason he's doing his own thing at UT Chattanooga rather than in Ohio ... saying he doesn't feel it was right he was kept outta the Hall the past two years.

"In terms of the criteria, the bylaws and what it takes for a guy to get in -- when it came to me, other things came into play," Owens says.

"And for me, that doesn't bode well for me."

Owens tell us that reporters lied about his character throughout his career ... which he feels led to him being unfairly locked out of the HOF on his first two attempts.

Because of that ... he's giving a big middle finger to the Hall, and he doesn't care what you think about it.

The Golden Knights have proven ... just because you play in Vegas doesn't mean you'll be consumed by hookers and blow!

In fact, the Knights did damn well in 2018 (with really no major off-the-ice issues) ... so, when we saw star defenseman Nate Schmidt at the ESPYs, we asked if he had any essential advice for the Raiders.

Of course, the Silver and Black are moving to Sin City in the near future -- and even team owner Mark Davis knows there's potential for trouble there.

Chloe Kim tore up PyeongChang's icy half pipes for the 2018 Olympics, and now she's iced out again for the ESPYs ... rocking a new chain that's worth its weight in gold.

The U.S. Olympic gold medalist recently hit up celeb jeweler Ben Baller for some new bling to wear to the sports award show ... where she's got 3 nominations, including Best Female Athlete.

Ben whipped up something special for Chloe -- an 18k gold diamond Cuban choker, with 24 carats in diamonds and weighing 300 grams in gold. Oh, and we're told it's valued at $40,000.

Fun Fact: Chloe Kim and Tom are among the athletes with the most nominations at the ESPYs on Wednesday night.

As far as Best Female Athlete is concerned -- she's up against Sylvia Fowles (WNBA player) and Julie Ertz (soccer).

It's that time of the year -- when the biggest ballers in the world show off their awesome (and not so awesome) fashion tastes at the ESPYs ... and we've got all the pics!!

Adam Rippon -- to no one's surprise -- showed up and slayed in his eye-popping fit ... and NFL brothers Shaquem and Shaquill Griffin took twinning to a whole 'nother level with their matching custom suit lining!!

JaVale McGee was all Gucci'd out ... rockin' a red fanny pack with his custom suit for quite the unique look!!

As for JuJu Smith-Schuster ... we really don't know what to say.

While the Gisele's away, the Bradys will play ... beach soccer, and superdad Tom Brady clearly doesn't care what you say about his dad bod.

Tom and fam are still down in Costa Rica for their annual offseason vacay, but Gisele's actually getting some work done too. While she was doing a photo shoot, Tom was at the beach with his 3 kids.

There was a little ocean swimming, a little futbol and Tom swinging little Vivian around -- y'know, typical OTA-type stuff for the Patriots G.O.A.T.

Don't feel bad for Gisele ... she seemed to be having fun splashing around at her modeling shoot -- and Tom eventually showed up for moral support.

BTW, Pats camp kicks off next Thursday -- so, just a few summer days left before TB12's bod gets NFL-ready.

DeMar DeRozan is getting a touching goodbye message from his good friend, Drake ... with the Toronto Raptors ambassador pouring his heart out for the freshly traded NBA star.

The 6 God weighed in on the face of the franchise getting shipped to San Antonio in exchange for Kawhi Leonard on Thursday ... saying, "To my brother @demar_derozan I want to say 10 million thank you’s on behalf of YOUR city. You are a fixture in Toronto forever and you gave everything you had."

"Through your leadership we had the most exciting years in franchise history. I am grateful to have witnessed your combination of skill, persistence, and loyalty from the same seats every night. Thank you for being an incredible captain and an even better friend."

It's a nice gesture from Drake ... but, DeRozan is reportedly super pissed about the deal ... and feels the team lied to him about their plans for the future.

Lionel Messi has found a pretty good way to get over Argentina's disastrous World Cup exit ... load up your smokeshow wife on a yacht and float on over to Ibiza.

Messi rounded up his fam -- including Antonella Roccuzzo -- for an expensive and relaxing boat trip.

Of course, Messi's Argentina squad got bounced from the World Cup in late June after a pretty pathetic performance ... though he did score one of the most impressive goals of the tourney.

So, what next?

Kenny Smith is siding with DeMar DeRozan -- telling TMZ Sports the Toronto Raptors screwed over their star player by not telling him he was going to be traded to the San Antonio Spurs.

Little backstory ... DeRozan sounded off on Instagram hours before the trade was announced -- saying, "Be told one thing & the outcome another. Can't trust em. Ain't no loyalty in this game. Sell you out quick for a little bit of nothing..."

Smith says if that's really the way it went down -- that's bad business on the part of the Raptors ... especially since DeRozan is "the reason people even watch Toronto basketball."

"No one watched Toronto basketball," he added ... "Between him and Vince Carter, they put Toronto on the map."

Floyd Mayweather learned the hard way ... you drive on Brittney Elena, and you WILL get blocked!!

The boxer was playing The $50k Charity Challenge celebrity basketball game at UCLA on Tuesday -- when he got posted up by the smokin' hot "Wild 'N Out" model.

Turns out, Elena has SERIOUS game ... and when Floyd when up for a shot, she packed him up good.

Floyd wanted a foul call -- he didn't get it.

Mayweather played pretty well for the most part -- aside from being CROSSED UP by R&B singer Tank.

By the way, props to all the people who played in the game and raised money for charity.

As for Elena, she's got a ton of modeling credits to her name -- but when we tried to find out if played college basketball, we couldn't seem to find any evidence confirming it.

If not ... some big school REALLY missed out.

Jay Glazer just sounded off about Terrell Owens' decision to not have his Hall of Fame ceremony in Canton ... telling TMZ Sports the move is kinda selfish.

We got Jay leaving Craig's on Tuesday night and when the topic of T.O. came up ... Glazer had a message for the ex-NFL star.

"It's not just about you, whatever your issues are, it's about everybody else around you!" he says.

Jay, an NFL Insider for Fox Sports, was Michael Strahan's HOF presenter back in 2014 ... and he says that weekend was about so much more than just the Giants star.

"Look, whatever you want to do as your own man," he says.

"But it's allowing people to have this opportunity that have walked this walk with you your entire career, let them celebrate it with you -- in Canton, Ohio."

As for Owens' speech that he'll give just hours before the official induction ceremony in Ohio ... Glazer ain't interested in hearing the potential digs that could come out of the ex-receiver's mouth.

The man who attacked Pacman Jones appeared in a Georgia courtroom on Tuesday -- in a wheelchair with a busted leg -- and Pacman thought it was HILARIOUS!!!!

Remember, the attacker -- Frank Ragin -- went after the NFL star at the Atlanta International Airport on July 10 and GOT HIS ASS BEAT by Jones ... and it was all captured on video.

Cops said Pacman did nothing wrong -- and properly defended himself -- but they arrested Ragin on 2 counts of battery.

During his court appearance, Ragin was emotional -- burying his head in his hands -- and looked to be in pain.

Afterward, Pacman posted a pic of the guy and wrote, "When you lost the fight ... your job ... your leg and getting found guilty. And that moment you realize you started it all."

The '72 Dolphins ... the 2007 Patriots ... and now the 2018 Jacksonville Jaguars??

Star defensive lineman Malik Jackson says book it ... 'cause his Jags are joining those two legendary teams as the only squads in NFL history to go unbeaten in the regular season this year.

"I think we're going 16-0," Jackson tells TMZ Sports.

"I'm callin' it, 16-0. I don't think anybody can beat us as long as we stay healthy and do what we're supposed to do."

Jackson says his confidence stems from last season ... when the Jags BARELY missed out on a Super Bowl appearance because of a loss to the Patriots.

Speaking of which ... we showed Malik Tom Brady's recent dad-bod photos -- and Jackson was lickin' his chops at seeing a doughy Brady just a week before training camps begin.

"Hopefully Week 2, man, he's looking like that," Jackson says. "He's a little sluggish."

Eric Dickerson's got the perfect fit for Le'Veon Bell when he inevitably bolts from the Steelers after this season ... and it's going to make Tom Brady VERY happy.

"The Patriots would be a good team," the NFL legend tells us.

Bell and the Steelers missed the deadline (again) on Tuesday to sign a long-term deal ... and all signs are pointing toward the running back leaving Pittsburgh in 2019 for a team that WILL pay him.

Sooo ... Dickerson says the Steelers' loss should be Bill Belichick's gain!