TMZ Sports - Page 17

Germany's famous Bundesliga -- one of the top soccer leagues in the world -- will resume play before the end of the month, officials say.

League officials reportedly met with top German government leaders -- including German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- to ask for the play to resume and their request was granted.

Bundesliga -- which features top players like Thomas Muller and Mario Gotze -- has been cleared to restart as early as May 15. The league is expected to announce an official restart date on Thursday.

The league -- comprised of 36 teams -- had shut down in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still unclear what kind kind of medical screening will be instituted when the league gets up and running ... but fans will NOT be allowed to attend the games.

Most teams in the league -- including world-famous teams like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund -- only have around 9 matches left on their regular season schedule.

Germany has been praised for its handling of coronavirus. So far, there have been about 150,000 recorded cases and around 6,300 deaths.

"Frankly, I think the Olympics are in doubt next year."

That's U.S. soccer superstar Megan Rapinoe getting very real about the postponed summer games ... saying she's having a hard time seeing how the event goes on even in 2021.

"The more I think about it logistically," Rapinoe says, "just bringing everybody together like that with the absence of drug therapies or anything like that just seems difficult."

Of course, the Olympics were previously set to kick off in just a few weeks ... but the coronavirus pandemic forced officials to bump the competition to next summer.

International Olympics Committee spokespeople seem confident the event will go on then without a hitch ... but Rapinoe told CNN's David Axelrod on "The Axe Files" podcast this week she's skeptical.

"I guess we'll see," Rapinoe says. "I don't want to be in the prediction business, but we'll see."

A cancellation or even another postponement of the Olympics would likely spell the end of Rapinoe's time as an Olympian ... she's 34 years old now and retirement is on the horizon.

If it is ultimately the end ... Megan had a hell of a run, winning a gold medal for the U.S. back in 2012.

Tennis superstar Roger Federer is helping families in Africa affected by COVID-19 ... with his Foundation using $1 MIL to buy food for kids who can't get to school.

"As a humanitarian response, the Roger Federer Foundation has granted [$1 million] to provide nutritious meals for 64,000 vulnerable young children and their families through our partners in Africa while schools are closed."

Just like in the U.S., there are families who count on the schools to provide breakfast and lunch for kids on a daily basis. With coronavirus forcing schools to close, Federer wants to make sure no kids go hungry during the pandemic.

Federer launched his foundation back in 2004 to help underprivileged families in Africa and Switzerland (where his parents are from) get access to quality education.

According to the RFF website, "the foundation has provided $52 million to education initiatives in more than 7,000 primary schools and pre-schools."

"This has benefited around 1.5 million children with a better education."

Federer has said he's motivated to help in Africa because he used the visit his mother's home country as a child and witnessed the poverty firsthand.

"He wanted to use his success as a way to give back."

UFC star Justin Gaethje says he's PRAYING for a bloodbath main event with Tony Ferguson ... claiming he wants Tony to break his nose because he needs it fixed anyway!

Yo, Gaethje is a SAVAGE!!

Of course, Justin and Tony will throw down at UFC 249 on Saturday -- in what Justin calls "the biggest fight of my life."

And, man -- Justin is ready for war!!!!

"Tony’s used to people being scared of him. I’m not scared," Gaethje tells TMZ Sports.

"I hope he breaks my nose. I’ve been waiting to get it fixed. It hasn’t been right for like 12 years, so I’ve been waiting for a long time for someone to break my nose, so maybe he’ll plant an elbow on there."

"I might regret asking for that 'cause it’s a painful injury, but I do need to get it fixed."

Justin says when it comes to engaging with Ferguson, "I’m not scared to get hit. I’m not scared to get sliced up, knocked out, that comes with the territory and I’m content with all those situations."

So, how does Justin see the fight going?

"I’m 100% confident in my ability to put him to sleep."

"Tony has a brain. I just got to make it shake and then the natural course of the body takes place and he goes to sleep."

Patrick Ewing says some scumbag actually broke into his home and STOLE his 1992 Olympic gold medal -- the one from the Dream Team -- but he never talked the burglary ... until now!!

“My house got broken into in New York at one point and they stole my medals," Ewing said Tuesday on "The Dan Patrick Show."

FYI, Ewing won TWO gold medals in his career -- representing Team USA in 1984 and 1992.

Patrick didn't reveal the date of the burglary -- but says the crooks made out with both gold medals AND the 1984 NCAA Championship ring he won during his run at Georgetown.

But, don't worry ...  this story has a happy ending on two fronts.

First, Ewing said sometime after the break-in, he placed a call to Jerry Colangelo -- who runs USA Basketball -- and he was able to get replacement medals!

And, as for the college championship ring ... "somebody tried to sell it on eBay and I was able to get that back."

So, someone out there has an original gold medal from the greatest Olympic basketball team ever assembled.

Yeah, it's probably worth a fortune -- but it's STOLEN PROPERTY!

Fired NASCAR driver Kyle Larson is returning to the racetrack in a World of Outlaws event on Friday ... 3 weeks after getting the boot for saying the n-word.

27-year-old Larson was kicked off the Chip Ganassi Racing team and lost a bunch of sponsors -- including McDonald's and Credit One Bank -- after using the racial slur during an iRacing event last month.

NASCAR suspended Larson and required him to take sensitivity training before returning to competition ... and in the meantime, he's getting his fix by racing in the W.O.O. event at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa.

According to Racer reporter Kelly Crandall, Larson DID complete a sensitivity course to be able to compete in the dirt track race ... which will also feature ex-NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne.

FYI, World of Outlaws is NOT affiliated with NASCAR.

Larson has apologized for using the word .. saying, "I made a mistake and said the word that should never ever be said and there's no excuse for that."

"I wasn't raised that way and it's just an awful thing to say. I feel very sorry for my family, my friends, my partners, the NASCAR community and especially the African-American community."

Larsen is half-Japanese and has talked about how the NASCAR Driver for Diversity program helped him get to the big show.

Vanessa Bryant was able to open one last letter from Kobe on her birthday ... revealing she waited until her special day to read an unopened envelope from her late husband.

"Yesterday I found an envelope labeled To: The Love of my Life. From, Tu Papi," Vanessa said. I waited to open one more letter on my birthday."

"It gave me something to look forward to today.❤️"

It's Vanessa's first birthday without the Lakers legend and their daughter, Gigi ... whose 14th birthday would have been May 1.

Vanessa's friends were quick to comment messages of support, including Lala Anthony who said:

"That's beautiful V. Today is your day. We celebrate you. We love you. We got your back forever. Happy happy birthday."

Michelle Williams from Destiny's Child added, "Sending you love today!! Happy birthday Vanessa."

Just a few days ago, Bryant asked friends, family and fans to show support for her daughter's birthday last week by wearing Gigi's favorite color, red.

Kobe and Gigi -- along with John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah and Payton Chester, Christina Mauser and Ara Zobayan -- were killed in a helicopter crash on January 26.

In her IG caption, Vanessa added, "Missing the Love of my Life and my sweet little Mamacita- my fellow Taurus. Grateful to wake up to my 3 sweet girls today. Wish we were all together."

Metta World Peace is no more ... the former NBA superstar says he's changed his name again -- this time to Metta Sandiford-Artest.

The ex-Lakers forward, formerly known as Ron Artest, revealed the latest moniker swap on "Inside the Green Room with Danny Green" this week ... saying the newest change was to honor his wife, Maya Sandiford.

"I actually took my wife's last name and ended it in my last name," Metta said.

Of course, Metta gained GLOBAL fame back in 2011 when he changed his name to Metta World Peace ... explaining at the time he wanted "to inspire and bring youth together all around the world."

But, Metta revealed to Danny Green on the show that he actually was initially embarrassed by it ... saying he thought to himself early on at NBA games, "This is the dumbest thing ever."

In fact, Metta even said there was a time when he was debating changing it all to "Queensbridge" or "So Hood."

But, Metta told Green he eventually got used to "World Peace" ... and didn't feel the need to change it again until this year.

"What's funny is I got married," Metta said, "and my name now is Metta Sandiford-Artest."

By the way ... when it comes to those reports that Metta had changed his name to "Panda Friend" when he moved to play ball in China in '14 -- he said those were just not true.

"People said, 'Metta's changing his name to 'Panda Friend!'" Metta explained. "So I just rode with it!"

If Mike Tyson is serious about a comeback -- and wants an exhibition fight -- HOW ABOUT A REMATCH WITH EVANDER HOLYFIELD!!

That's what boxing star Shawn Porter wants to see ... telling TMZ Sports, "To see him in the ring in an exhibition against Holyfield would be amazing."

53-year-old Iron Mike set the boxing world on fire this week after posting new training footage ... and even though the clip is short, he looks as explosive as ever.

"Just to see that small combination that he threw with the velocity he was throwing it at, and again the integrity that came along with it was very special for me," Porter explained.

"His technique looked phenomenal."

Of course, Tyson fought Holyfield twice -- losing by TKO in '96 and losing by DQ for biting off Evander's ear in '97.

But, Tyson says he's a changed man now -- and he's actually become friendly with Holyfield over the years, even joking about the ear.

So, with Evander now doing exhibition fights all over the world ... it's possible they could strike a deal for a 3rd fight -- and Porter says he'd absolutely be down to watch!

There's more ...

32-year-old Porter -- a 2-time welterweight champ -- also tells us how he's staying in shape during the COVID-19 pandemic and why he's still hoping to fight before the end of the year.

"As far as I know, boxing will hopefully be back before the end of the year and I think I want to be one of the first guys to get back in there and do it."

Ketchup on tacos ... psycho move or delicious topping?!?!

Former MLB star Adam Jones is clearly all for it ... 'cause the dude loaded up his Cinco De Mayo tacos with the red stuff -- and had no shame about it!!!

Jones posted the pic Tuesday ... showing off some soft shell delight smothered in Heinz magic.

The problem??? Some people think that's a borderline criminal offense ... and the 34-year-old even got hate in the comments over it!!

"I know that’s not ketchup on your taco...." one fan wrote. "Your SD card’s gonna get pulled if so...."

But Jones, a San Diego native, was having none of the ketchup slanders ... firing back at the haters, saying, "you can’t ever pull my SD card. It’s my plate. I eat them how I want to. Ain’t a specific way. So gracias."

It all begs the question ... is ketchup on a taco fair or foul!?

The facts: There's ground beef, lettuce and cheese on a taco -- coincidentally, all the same ingredients on a burger that no one would have an issue putting ketchup on!!

"I would honestly say this is probably going to be one of my best seasons. Bigger, stronger, faster ... this is my time."

The Dawg Pound's gotta be salivating after hearing Odell Beckham's prediction for the upcoming season ... with the Cleveland Browns superstar WR saying he'll be more than ready to bounce back after a disappointing 2019.

Remember, OBJ says he played all of last season with a sports hernia injury he suffered during training camp ... which ultimately led to a lackluster start to his career in Orange and Brown.

The injury ultimately required surgery ... which Beckham had after the season.

"So pretty much, I was just f***ed up the whole year," Odell says. "I really didn't try and say anything about it. Probably one of the worst surgeries I've ever had."

Beckham gave an update on his status in a vlog posted on Monday ... saying he's putting in the work during rehab to get back to 100% during quarantine.

"Recovery's going well. Guess I'm really just trying to put my body back together. I've been playing for 23 years, so for me, I'm trying to put it all back together in seven months."

Beckham had just 4 TDs in 2019 as the Browns went 6-10 ... but this talk has to get fans fired up for 2020.