TMZ Sports - Page 50

Paulina Gretzky's engagement is great news ... for one man -- that golfer dude who snagged the Great One. Sorry, we mean ... the Great One's daughter.

The rest of us are stuck with the Internet ... which, luckily, is laced with absurdly hot Paulina pics.

Santonio Holmes made a triumphant return to NY Jets practice after his devastating foot injury, and let's just say ... dude's got a way to go before he's game ready.

The Jets' star receiver (aka Mark Sanchez's best chance to keep his starting QB job) was practicing today at MetLife Stadium -- coming off a foot injury that benched him for almost all of last season.

In the vid, Santonio runs a pretty tight pass pattern -- but you gotta watch to see how the play ends.

The Miami-Dade Police Department tells TMZ, its officers BROKE PROTOCOL to give LeBron James special treatment ... by helping the NBA star skip traffic in order to get to a Jay Z concert.

As we reported, Miami-Dade PD initially denied involvement in the police escort -- blatant favoritism -- but a rep for the department now tells us its officers were the ones who accompanied LeBron to the Jay Z show.

The rep says LeBron was stuck in standstill traffic at 191st street Friday night and its officers escorted him to the Sun Life Stadium on 199th street ... a total of 8 blocks. You can see the route they took below.

The rep tells us, "This should not have happened." The rep says the department is still looking into which officers were involved and will determine what punishment, if any, is appropriate.

Dear NBA,

Kobe Bryant is running again ... just 4 months after tearing his Achilles tendon.

LeBron James has police departments all over South Florida throwing up their hands ... disavowing any involvement with the police escort LBJ got to a concert -- but TMZ has learned Miami-Dade PD is now officially investigating the matter.

TMZ spoke with four police agencies -- Miami City PD, Miami Gardens PD, Florida Highway Patrol, and Miami-Dade PD -- and all stated on the record that it was not one of their cruisers leading LBJ to the Jay Z/Justin Timberlake show on Friday night.

LeBron posted an Instagram video of himself riding behind the police car with its strobe lights flashing as they drove down the wrong side of the road.

However, several law enforcement sources kept pointing us back to Miami-Dade PD, claiming that would be the agency with jurisdiction at Sun Life Stadium, where the concert was held.

While Miami-Dade initially denied involvement ... an officer with the agency now tells us they are "investigating" because LBJ's escort would've been a break from protocol.

Joey Chestnut -- perhaps the greatest competitive eater in the history of food -- had a giant helping of DEFEAT at the World Gyoza Eating Championships this weekend ... and TMZ was there for the whole thing.

Chestnut -- the reigning Gyoza eating champion (266 in 2012) -- was chewed up and spit out by 21-year-old eating prodigy Matt Stonie ... the #4-ranked eater on Planet Earth.

It all went down at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in L.A. ... where Chestnut stomached 251 gyozas and Stonie threw down 268!!!!

After the competition, Stonie told TMZ he plans to fart a lot this week -- "It's competitive eating. What do you expect?"

As for Chestnut -- who still holds titles in hot dogs and chicken wings -- he said, "I just didn't find my rhythm and Stonie came out hungry."

Never one to lack confidence, Chestnut added -- "I'll be back next year. I'll win it."

Didn't take long for the L.A. Dodgers to shake off the sting of defeat after finally losing a game in Philly yesterday ... 'cause hours later, the biggest stars on the team flew into Miami AND WENT CLUBBIN' with LeBron James, TMZ has learned.

Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford all rolled into LIV Nightclub in Miami around 1AM Monday morning ... where they were greeted by LBJ ... and proceeded to party their faces off.

Sources inside the club tell TMZ ... the 4-some dropped more than $20,000 on Ciroc, Moet, Patron, Belvedere, and fancy champagne.

FYI -- The Dodgers (which had won 10 games in a row before losing to the Phillies) are in Miami to play the Marlins.

We're told Kemp was partying particularly hard ... but it's not like he's gotta work today anyway (injury) so, good for him.

It's good to be a pro athlete.

MMA legend Tito Ortiz is no stranger to bad breakups ... and tells TMZ he's moved on from the UFC because he knows Dana White ain't lookin' to bury the hatchet anytime soon.

Dana and Tito famously trashed each other following Tito's last UFC fight back in 2012 ... and Ortiz has since struck a deal with Bellator, a rival MMA organization.

In fact, Ortiz is set to fight fellow UFC-defector Rampage Jackson under the Bellator banner in November.

But, when we asked Tito if there was any chance at patching things up with his former boss and returning to the UFC ... Tito simply explained, "Nah, Dana holds grudges."

It ain't the first time Tito and Dana have gone after each other -- they also tore each other apart back in 2008 ... and Tito left the UFC ... only to return one year later.

WWE legend Shawn Michaels is not impressed with the hoopla triggered by the coming out of the WWE superstar Darren Young this week … Michaels says for wrestling it’s very eighties.

As if the world wasn't bad enough ... smokin' hot Paulina Gretzky has dashed the hopes and dreams of men worldwide ... by getting ENGAGED to pro-golfer Dustin Johnson.

Paulina announced the terrible news on Instagram Saturday -- posting a pic of the giant diamond rock on her ring finger, captioned "Never been happier."

The couple has only been dating since early 2013 -- but, really, who wouldn't lock that down?

Now, a final farewell, to Paulina's almost-hitched assets ...

LeBron James is too damn famous to sit in traffic like a regular person ... so he used a police escort to get him where he needed to go -- which happened to be a Jay Z / Justin Timberlake concert.

The Miami Heat star posted a video of the detour on Instagram Friday night. As it plays you can see LeBron following a cop car with blinking lights down the wrong side of a street in Miami ... successfully bypassing the massive traffic jam to his right.

He added the caption "They treat us so well. Needed it cause traffic was nuts!!"

You saw the injury ... you saw the tears ... but Cincinnati Bengals lineman Larry Black tells TMZ he is DETERMINED to get back into the NFL after mangling his leg in a freak accident captured on "Hard Knocks."

Millions watched as Black's promising rookie campaign came to a heart wrenching end last week when he suffered a dislocated ankle and broken fibula during a routine practice drill.

The big man's tearful phone call to his parents to pick him up from the hospital was... gulp, tissue... was the most poignant scene in the gritty behind the scenes show's history.

"The outpouring of support has been crazy ... thousands of tweets and letters coming from all over the world."

Black says doctors estimate his recovery will take between 6 and 12 months ... but he's confident, the injury won't stop him from pursuing his NFL dreams.

"If for some reason I don’t make it back – I've got a degree in Sports Management from Indiana and I’ll try to get a job with either a college or pro team helping to work with the athletes."

"But honestly I’m not even thinking about that right now. I’m just focused on getting back as quickly as possible. I’ll definitely be back."

There's a silver lining for the big man, who was an undrafted free agent ... because the injury was sustained on the field, he'll still get paid for the season -- and will pull in a figure just north of $200k ... in addition to his medical care.

In the meantime, Black says he's still rooting hard for the orange and black -- telling us he expects nothing less than a Super Bowl season.

NBA star Ryan Anderson is going through HELL right now following the suicide of GF Gia Allemand ... so says his ex-teammate Greivis Vasquez, telling our camera guy, Ryan needs his team more than ever right now.

The Sacramento Kings star knows Ryan from their days on the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) -- and knew Gia very well from the 2 years she and Ryan dated. Of her death he says, "It's really tough. There are no words."

Vasquez says the toll it's taking on Ryan (who found her body) is painful to see. He explains, "It's just hard. I know he's feeling guilty." Adding, "We gotta support him. We gotta be there for him." He goes on.

Justin Bieber ditched Lil Za and Lil Twist for NBA stars Kevin Durant and Tyson Chandler ... who both mysteriously popped by his house for a sit down.

Must've been one helluva get together -- 'cause JB's shirt went missing ... again!

Let's have some fun with math -- if Kevin Hart is 5'4" ... without heels ... how tall is LeBron James when he's slouching?

For some perspective: here's a short list of other celebs who are 5'4" ... Britney Spears, Björk, Tina Turner, Drew Barrymore, Winona Ryder, Pink, Fergie, Shania Twain, and Harvey Levin (standing on a box).