TMZ Sports - Page 35

It appears LeBron James found somewhere other than the team hotel to watch his Lakers play Tuesday -- 'cause the suspended superstar was spotted slinking away from the swanky NYC venue just before L.A.'s tip-off.

The NBA great -- who was banned one game for his role in a wild altercation with Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart on Sunday -- walked quickly and sported a hood over his head while he got into a van to try to find somewhere to catch the Lakers vs. Knicks matchup.

Unclear where the 36-year-old was headed ... but it's apparent the dude did not want to be seen by cameras.

Check out video of him leaving the Four Seasons, his oversized coat, hoodie and brisk walk show he wasn't in any mood to stop and talk.

Of course, Bron was not allowed at Madison Square Garden after the NBA barred him from the contest following his incident with Stewart.

You'll recall, LeBron kick-started a near-melee by hitting Stewart in the face ... and just 24 hours after the fracas, the NBA handed down its punishment to the Lakers player, suspending him for the first time in his 19-year career.

As for how the Lakers fared without the star -- they lost yet again, dropping their game to the Knicks, 106-100.

Bring some baby wipes to tomorrow's Triller media event ... 'cause Shannon Briggs tells TMZ Sports Rampage Jackson will literally poop his pants when he lays eyes on Cannon.

We talked to the 49-year-old former heavyweight champ, acting as the captain (across from Quinton) for Triller's upcoming Triad Combat event on Nov. 27 ... and asked Briggs about coming face-to-face with his rival.

"We're gonna see each other, there's a press conference Wednesday, the weigh-ins Friday and the fights Saturday. I'm looking forward to it champ. When I look at him in his face and I tell him 'lets go champ', we're gonna see. I think personally he gonna defecate on himself. I think he gonna defecate, but he might not," Shannon says.

"If he don't defecate or urinate, he might be tougher than I thought."

🤢🤢🤢💩💩💩

Shannon and Rampage's beef ain't new ... the combat sports legends have been going back-and-forth on social media for months.

We also talked to Shannon about the concept -- fighting in a triangle -- an idea Briggs believes will lead to almost nonstop action.

"It's definitely gonna bring a lot of anxiety, pressure to someone who's never done it before. How do you train for something like that? You're used to training whether it's an Octagon or a ring, now you're fighting in a triangle."

Briggs continued ... "It's gonna be amazing. I'm looking forward to it. I think it's gonna lead to a lot more toe-to-toe slugging."

FYI, Matt Mitrione, Kubrat Pulev, Frank Mir and Mike Perry are among the fighters on the inaugural card.

For now, Briggs (2x heavyweight champion) and Jackson (former UFC light heavyweight and PRIDE middleweight champ) are just captains ... but if the 2 former champs scrapped, it'd be a hot ticket.

WWE Superstar Seth Rollins is opening up about the out-of-control fan who speared him during a taping of 'Raw,' saying he was shocked and terrified and believes the attacker should be banned -- at least for now.

The 35-year-old wrestler just touched down in Los Angeles, less than 24 hours after he was on the receiving end of the attempted assault, and he admitted he was shook by the whole thing.

"It's terrifying, brother," Rollins said, providing a play-by-play of the incident.

"It happened very quickly. I was mostly just reacting and hoping that our security would come and do their job. Which they did very quickly. And then was just trying to detach and move on. Hope that everybody is okay."

After the attack there was confusion about whether the whole melee was part of the show ... something Rollins shot down, saying, "once the tackle happened I knew what was going on. The guy was barreling around the corner."

Luckily, Seth says he was not injured during the attack.

"No, no serious injuries. Nothing like that. I was safe, we were safe. Everything was okay."

As we previously reported, the 24-year-old fan has been hit with 2 charges in NYC ... but Rollins was tight-lipped on whether he wants the guy to be punished criminally.

However, Seth is sure he doesn't want to see the fan sitting ringside at a WWE event anytime soon.

WNBA players Courtney Williams and Crystal Bradford have been punished over their involvement in a wild brawl in Atlanta back in May ... with both players getting hit with suspensions.

As we previously reported, Williams and Bradford -- who played for the Atlanta Dream at the time -- got in a violent altercation in front of a local food truck.

In the video, you can see CW squaring up and going after several women throughout the scuffle, with Bradford seemingly kicking and throwing punches at the same time.

Williams -- who posted a YouTube vid making light of the situation -- will miss the first 2 games of the upcoming WNBA season as a result of the brawl ... and apologized again for her actions Tuesday.

"It was a terribly unfortunate incident, I know that and I sincerely regret my part in it," the All-Star said in a tweet.

"Definitely was a learning life lesson! As I said before, I have a-lot more growing to do, and I’m committed to doing just that!"

Bradford was suspended one game.

Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon has an idea of how folks across the world can have a much better Thanksgiving -- take the mac and cheese and throw it in the trash can!!

Judon was speaking with reporters ahead of the annual turkey holiday ... when he was asked what his favorite side was ... and well, he was very emphatic about his disdain for one famous holiday dish.

"We gotta get macaroni and cheese off the table," Judon said. "It's just cheese and noodles and it's not that good."

There's more ... Judon added "Let's be honest, guys. Everybody probably here is a little lactose. So, it messes up our stomachs."

"We gotta get it off the table. It's probably one of the most overrated dishes," he continued.

Sheesh, man!!

Of course, Judon's statements aren't going to go over well with the masses ... as many people tend to enjoy mac and cheese as a side dish all the time -- not just at Thanksgiving.

He did, however, tell the reporters that his favorite dish was dressing ... before making sure to add one more time for good measure that mac and cheese has to be eliminated from the mix.

Judon ain't the only Pat with a controversial take -- rookie QB Mac Jones ruffled a few feathers when he shared what he likes to eat on Turkey Day ... 'cause he admitted that he doesn't like any kind of pie -- no pecan, no apple, nothing!!

Johnny Manziel is officially a single man -- the ex-NFL quarterback's divorce from Bre Tiesi has been finalized, TMZ Sports has learned.

Court records show the judge signed off on the divorce earlier this month ... which means both Johnny and Bre are solo-dolo in the eyes of the state of California.

We spoke with Bre, who said the two are "still cool" with each other and speak often ... and she wishes him nothing but the best.

Of course, both sides had already moved on to other people -- in fact, Bre recently dated Jennifer Lopez's ex, Casper Smart.

Johnny credited Bre with saving his life in the past ... and later said his marriage -- and divorce -- helped him grow as a person.

"I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for my relationship and getting married," Manziel said at the time.

"I wouldn't have the same attitude towards everything else if I wouldn't have gone through the divorce and stuff, too, if I wouldn't have gone through that with Bre. 100% there's no chance."

We broke the story -- Bre and Johnny first started dating in 2016 ... and Johnny proposed in March 2017. The couple got hitched in 2018 before breaking things off a year later.

Tiesi had previously called Manziel out for allegedly cheating on her ... saying, "vows were broken."

Marshon Lattimore has cut a deal with prosecutors to close out his gun case -- with the New Orleans Saints star agreeing to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, TMZ Sports has confirmed.

The 25-year-old showed up in court last Wednesday and pled guilty to carrying a concealed weapon ... and he was sentenced to 180 days in jail but it was suspended, meaning he won't have to serve any of it behind bars as long as he successfully completes a year of probation, court records show.

He was also ordered to pay fines and fees.

Of course, it's all a solid deal for Lattimore -- as the cornerback was previously facing a felony gun charge that carried up to 18 months in prison if he was convicted.

Lattimore was hit with the charge after cops say he had a stolen gun in his possession in late March.

As we previously reported, Lattimore and three others were pulled over on March 26 in Cleveland after cops say the driver of the vehicle had committed multiple traffic violations.

Cops said Lattimore revealed to officers during the stop that he had a gun on his person ... and the weapon ultimately showed up in the system as stolen.

Lattimore was arrested and posed for a mug shot -- and body cam video eventually showed cops chastised him for putting himself in the situation during the stop.

Lattimore -- who grew up in the Cleveland area and was a star at Ohio State -- has had a solid 2021 season despite having the case hanging over his head ... starting 9 games and recording 1 interception and 37 tackles.

Jason Garrett is jobless once again ... the New York Giants just fired him -- only two years after the Dallas Cowboys let him go.

The team announced the move Tuesday, saying they've canned their offensive coordinator after a disheartening 30-10 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Of course, the move is far from surprising ... NY's offense under Garrett has been underwhelming since head coach Joe Judge brought him in before the 2020 season.

Garrett's offense finished 31st in points scored out of 32 teams last year ... and ranked just 25th in that category this year.

Perhaps most alarming was the play of franchise quarterback Daniel Jones, who has appeared to regress this season.

Jones has thrown seven INTs this season to just nine touchdowns -- and he's also fumbled seven times as well.

It's unclear where Garrett -- who was famously the Dallas Cowboys' head coach from 2010 to 2019 -- will end up next.

An Illinois high school has just apologized to Matt Nagy ... after its football team's fans aimed a "Fire Nagy" chant at the Bears coach during its game on Saturday.

The Chicago headman was watching his son play for Lake Forest in its game against Cary Grove ... when in the second quarter, a "Fire Nagy" chant broke out from Cary-Grove's section.

Video from the scene shows the synchronized shouts were loud -- and frequent -- and Nagy no doubt heard them all.

On Monday, Cary-Grove principal Dr. Neil Lesinski said he was sorry for it all ... calling the chants unacceptable and inappropriate.

"As the school principal," Lesinski said, "I want to apologize to the Lake Forest student-athlete and his family for the disrespectful chant."

"We hope to learn from this situation," Lesinski added, "and we have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again."

Of course, Nagy -- whose Bears are just 3-7 this season -- is no doubt used to the chant by now. After all, he's heard it at nearly every game at Soldier Field this season ... and, in fact, a "Fire Nagy" chant even broke out during the Bulls game on Monday night.

Duke basketball star Paolo Banchero is finally addressing his run-in with police near the Durham, NC campus ... vowing to learn a lesson after getting jammed up by the police.

As we previously reported, 19-year-old Banchero -- who many believe could be the #1 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft -- was cited for aiding and abetting his Duke teammate, Michael Savarino, who was busted for DWI last week.

20-year-old Savarino, who happens to be Coach K's grandson, was pulled over by North Carolina Highway Patrol after they allege he blew a stop sign.

Banchero was a passenger in the car at the time of the stop ... which ultimately led to his citation.

On Monday, Paolo finally broke his silence, telling the media he wasn't able to speak in specifics but made it clear he wants to move on past the incident.

"You can't really say much about it, but we learned from it and handled it as a team. We moved on and we want to get on with our season."

Banchero said he didn't regret the incident, adding, "My teammates had my back, so it wasn't too hard for me."

The freshman had his best performance of the season during Duke's 107-81 win over Citadel Monday night, dropping 28 points, and admitting the situation's been weighing on him the past week.

"I'm not going to say it wasn't on my mind the past two games. It was. I feel like today was a bounce-back game for me and I felt good out there.''

The likely future NBA star says he's ready to learn his lesson and move on with the season ... one Duke hopes will end in an NCAA championship.

"Got a big trip coming up. Two big games Gonzaga and Ohio State next Tuesday."

Horrifying moment during the Citadel vs. Duke game on Monday ... Bulldogs head coach Duggar Baucom collapsed on the sideline and needed to be taken to the hospital.

It all went down at Cameron Indoor Stadium ... when just a few minutes into the first half, Baucom terrifyingly crashed to the floor.

You can see in video from the arena, trainers and players rushed to the 61-year-old, who was eventually helped off the court and taken to Duke University hospital, where he stayed overnight for further evaluation.

Fortunately, Bulldogs assistant coach Jack Castleberry -- who took over for Baucom during the game -- said after the contest that Baucom was "coherent" and was "as good as he can be" considering the circumstances.

"He just said he was in pain," Castleberry said. "You can tell with the look in his eyes that it was very, very genuine."

After the 107-81 loss, the team said that Baucom -- who is in his 7th season with the Bulldogs -- is expected to be fine and is scheduled to travel back with the team Tuesday.

"The Citadel Head Coach Duggar Baucom is alert and in good spirits," the team said in a statement.

"He is scheduled to return back to Charleston with the team Tuesday morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with Coach B and his family at this time."

Ex-NFL safety and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark was on the receiving end of disgustingly racist and homophobic slurs on Instagram this week ... and instead of firing back, he killed with kindness.

42-year-old Clark -- who played for the Giants, Washington Football Team and Steelers from 2002-2014 -- shared the awful Instagram DM on Tuesday ... showing an avatar-less troll spewing some of the worst words in the book.

The person also mentioned Clark's 2011 Super Bowl loss against the Green Bay Packers in the most NSFW way possible.

But, instead of stooping to the person's level, Clark responded with the nicest comeback possible -- "God bless you and yours. I hope you live forever."

The Super Bowl champ also spoke about the DM on Twitter minutes ago ... saying, "Y’all at least go to put a picture up Green Bay fans!! This isn’t even fun. Sheesh!!"

"Man good thing racism doesn’t exist huh?"

It's not the first time Clark has spoken out against racism -- back in 2020, he broke down in tears addressing an incident when his son and 2 other Arizona State football players were called the n-word by a customer at a local Whataburger ... and instead of de-escalating, the restaurant manager threatened to call the police on the players.

Scary moment in the WWE on Monday night ... Seth Rollins was attacked by a fan during "RAW" -- and the wrestler needed droves of security to help get the guy off of him.

It all went down just seconds after the superstar had beaten Finn Balor in the ring at Barclays Center in New York ... when a man left his seat, jumped some railing, and speared Rollins while the 35-year-old was on his way back to the locker room.

Video shot by fans standing next to the altercation is WILD -- the man absolutely rocked Rollins ... taking him to the ground in violent fashion.

Rollins was able to fight back long enough for WWE refs and security to help him -- and fortunately, Seth was able to wriggle free and avoid any serious injury.

WWE officials confirmed the attack was not fake at all ... and said they were working with law enforcement to make sure the man "will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

"WWE takes the safety of its performers very seriously," WWE officials said.

TMZ Sports has learned the NYPD did arrest the fan ... and the man has since been hit with 2 criminal charges -- attempted assault, attempted violation of arts and cultural affairs -- disrupting live sporting event.

Michael Strahan is the new Rocket Man!!!

The 'GMA' host just revealed a secret ... that one Jeff Bezos gave him a ring not too long ago and invited him to hitch a ride into space on the Amazon founder's Blue Origin rocket.

Michael says it took about a nanosecond to say yes ... after being super inspired having been on hand for a previous launch.

Here's the thing about Bezos -- he's like one of the best PR guys in PR even though he's not really in PR. He's using every trick in the book to grab attention away from Elon Musk and Richard Branson. This time ... Bezos' rocket is flying the daughter of Alan Shepard -- the first American who ventured into space -- and a father/son duo. And, of course, there's Michael.

Strahan will blast off on December 9 and there's lots of training to do. He says he's headed to the Blue Origin facility for a week-and-a-half of training. So far, he's only met his crewmates via Zoom.

Didn't know this, but apparently, astronauts on Blue Origin get some sort of stipend. Strahan's donating his to The Boys & Girls Club.

Speaking of $$$ ... MS didn't say, but we're guessing he's getting a free ride.

Kanye West got a little QT with his son, Saint, and also got in a round of catch with the old pigskin -- but it wasn't Ye tossing the ball ... it was Tom Freakin' Brady!

The rapper-producer brought his 5-year-old to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game Monday at Raymond James Stadium, where they hung out one-on-one with none other than the G.O.A.T himself inside their luxury suite before kickoff.

Check out the video ... looks like Saint helped TB warm up by throwing a ball back and forth, while papa bear filmed. Not just that, but Tom chopped it up a bit with the kid, too.

Super cute moment, no doubt -- and you can tell the Bucs QB knows a thing or 2 about talking to kids. He does have 3 of his own, one of whom he references here.

According to Tom, Saint is just like his middle son, Ben, who's apparently pretty creative. Ye makes a suggestion that gets a chuckle out of TB ... who knows, they may schedule a follow-up play date after this!

All in all, a very cool daddy's day out with at least one of his brood -- and peep the music Ye put on this video. It's the Sunday Service version of "God's Plan" ... another sign he and Drake are totally cool now.

No sign of Ye's other kids here, who might have been back on the West Coast with Mom ... even though she was a little busy herself.

As you know ... Kim went out to dinner Sunday night with Pete Davidson, where they had their own little booth ... and where PD was flashing some bruised skin.

Shaquille O'Neal says his former weed business partners stiffed him out of a ton of cash -- and now he's suing them for more than $1 MILLION.

The Big Diesel spelled it all out in a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports, in which the NBA legend claims he and his fellow plaintiff, Jerome Crawford, invested $150k into a new marijuana biz way back in December 2016.

In the suit, Shaq says their investment was supposed to help the company "pursue opportunities in the field of legal cannabis."

O'Neal, though, claims that by late 2017 ... the company "seemingly had no licenses, no revenue, and no operations."

Shaq says when he and his attorneys pressed for details on how their money was being used, the company initially didn't respond.

In 2018, Shaq says after he threatened litigation, the company agreed to pay him and Crawford back in installments of $10,000 each.

The problem ... Shaq claims the company only paid the first installment of $20k -- and now, he is suing to get his initial investment back with interest ... plus a lot more for allegedly mismanaging the company.