TMZ Sports - Page 50

Jonathan Martin finally broke his silence and addressed the media for the FIRST TIME since leaving the Miami Dolphins ... and says he plans to RETURN to the NFL as soon as possible.

Martin had a meeting in NYC with the special counsel hired by the NFL ... to talk about his treatment by Dolphins teammates, including Richie Incognito -- who's been suspended for allegedly bullying Martin.

The lawyer -- who also conducted the special investigation of the Syracuse University basketball team sexual harassment case -- will try to find out if some of the Dolphins' locker room antics crossed the legal line.

After the meeting, Martin read a statement ... saying he plans to resume his NFL career, though he didn't specify if he meant the Dolphins or another pro squad.

The 26-year old wrestler fainted in the ring Friday while wrestling Brie Bella in London, and dehydration was to blame.

According to reports AJ -- real name April Mendez -- was tended to at ringside after the scary fall ... and walked to the back on her own power.

We're told WWE medical staff continues to monitor her ... just to be on the safe side -- and also because she's really hot.

12:09 PM PT -- A rep for Oakland University tells TMZ Sports ... "Local California authorities have informed us that they will not proceed with formal criminal charges. However, both players have been placed on interim suspension from the team pending an internal review."

TMZ Sports has independently confirmed the L.A. County D.A. will NOT be moving forward with the case.

Two Oakland University basketball players -- including one NBA prospect -- were arrested Thursday morning after allegedly raping a woman in L.A., TMZ Sports has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us, 23-year-old starting guard Duke Mondy and 20-year-old Dante Williams were arrested inside a Culver City hotel following an SVU investigation, and subsequently booked for rape. They are each currently being held on $100,000 bail.

We're told the alleged victim -- a female in her early 20s -- called 911 around 5AM Thursday morning to report she had just been raped inside the hotel. Details surrounding the incident are unclear.

Mondy -- who led D1 in steals last year -- and Williams were in town to play UCLA Tuesday night (Oakland U. lost 91-60).

The arrests are sure to throw a monkey wrench into Oakland U's performance in the Maui Invitational, which begins tonight. The team is scheduled to play Cal at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, CA -- and Mondy and Williams have yet to bail out.

Brett Favre just delivered a HUGE blow to the NFL -- saying if he had a son, he would NOT let the kid play football.

Favre made the statement to Matt Lauer in an interview that will air on "Today" next week -- saying, "In some respects, I'm almost glad I don't have a son because of the pressures he would face. Also the physical toll that it could possibly take on him, not to mention if he never made it, he's gonna be a failure in everyone's eyes. But more the physical toll that it could take."

Call him Santa Bryant ... 'cause last night, the Cowboys wide receiver hit up a Dallas Walmart and picked up the tab for several gamers who were waiting in line for a PS4.

According to people in the store, Dez showed up unexpectedly and hooked up at least 6 people who had been anxiously waiting for the console to go on sale at midnight.

We spoke to the manager who tells us ... the store only had 9 systems for sale, and DB bought every single one of them for the people in line.

We're told staffers had no idea Dez was coming -- they were shocked -- telling TMZ, "It was a random act of kindness."

It's unclear if he bought one for himself -- but the gamers were pretty stoked ... some even went to Twitter to sing Dez's praises.

Of course, today is the big day ... PS4 has officially been released to the public.

As we previously reported, Miguel Cabrera got his a day before the normies -- he'll need the head start if he thinks he's gonna stand a chance in the new "Call of Duty" game.

The Massachusetts home where Babe Ruth lived for 5 years – dubbed ‘Home Plate Farm’ – has a brand new owner ... who just bought the place for a cool $1.225 million, TMZ Sports has learned.

The Bambino lived in the 5,200 sq. ft., 5 bed, 3.5 bath, Sudbury, Massachusetts home from 1922-1926 -- while he was playing for the Yanks. Rumor has it ... Babe bought the home to lose weight (his wife thought he was putting on too many pounds while partying in NYC).

The home is loaded with history -- in fact, we spoke with the guy who just sold the place, Dennis Gavin (he lived in The Farm for 29 years) ... who says Babe's daughter once visited to share memories.

Gavin says Dorothy Ruth swung by in 1984 (5 years before her death) ... and personally pointed out a cigar stain on the floor left by the Sultan of Swat himself.

Dorothy also told Gavin that Henry Ford was their neighbor back in the day ... and he once came banging on their door ... furious that the Bambino's pit bulls went after his chickens.

Gavin initially put the home on the market back in 2012, asking $1.65 mil -- but eventually decided to let it go for the reduced $1.225 price tag in October.

As for the new owner -- Gavin wouldn't say who bought it ... but he did say the guy is a baseball fan.

L.A. Galaxy stud Robbie Rogers -- the first active openly gay male athlete in major U.S. team sports -- has got himself a boyfriend ... and the guy is a pretty powerful Hollywood producer.

TMZ Sports has learned ... Robbie is dating Greg Berlanti -- the guy who created "Arrow," "Everwood" and "No Ordinary Family." He also wrote and produced the Ryan Reynolds disaster "The Green Lantern," but hey, no one's perfect.

Sources tell us Robbie and Greg began dating sometime around May ... roughly 3 months after Robbie went public with his sexuality for the first time.

The two haven't exactly tried to keep their relationship a secret -- they've been spotted at several major events together over the past few months.

The question everyone's been asking: Why did the Jameis Winston sexual assault investigation drag on for almost ONE YEAR?? Now there are strong signs cops tried to cover it up. Do you think they were protecting FSU football?

Plus, Rob Gronkowski's racist joke about an Asian fan ... wasn't perceived as racist by the fan himself. Why not? The butt of Gronk's "fried rice" crack joined us to defend the Patriots star and reveal who's really to blame.

And has Notre Dame officially forgiven Manti Te'o for that whole catfishing disaster? Time for confession with Father John Jenkins ... ND's prez, if ya didn't know.

Here's another reason it's awesome to be Detroit Tigers superstar Miguel Cabrera -- HE GOT A PS4 AN ENTIRE DAY BEFORE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO COME OUT!!!!

The 3rd baseman just tweeted a photo of the super-highly anticipated video game console Thursday along with the caption, "Look what came in the mail – I know what I'll be doing today. #PS4."

But it's not your average PS4 package -- it appears Miguel got some kind of suped-up custom Playstation case that came with a DualShock 4 controller and 2 games -- "Killzone: Shadow Fall" and "Knack."

It also looks like the case comes with a built-in screen.

So how did Miguel get a special set before everyone else? We're guessing it has something to do with the fact he's going to be on the cover of the upcoming PS4 game, "MLB The Show 14."

Joel Silver -- producer of bad-ass action flicks like "Die Hard," "Lethal Weapon," and "The Matrix" – tells TMZ the rumors are true ... he really did invent Ultimate Frisbee … and he’s damn proud of it.

Silver was leaving Matsuhisa Restaurant in Beverly Hills … and we asked the obscure sports innovator about his greatest non-movie production.

Joel says he created “Ultimate” at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey … and went on to form the first collegiate team at Lafayette College … paving the way for hippies to finally have a sport of their own.

New England Patriots star Rob Gronkowski did NOT offend an Asian fan with his fried rice joke earlier this week ... so says the Asian fan himself, who tells TMZ Sports, he laughed along with the rest of the crowd.

The 41-year-old (who wished to be identified only by his first name Joe) tells us, when Gronk poked fun at him at Sunday's Q&A event in Foxborough, MA -- saying, "They told me he could only cook fried rice!" -- he wasn't bothered by it ... in fact, he thought it was funny.

Joe says he's been buddies with Gronk for more than a year and a fan for more than 15, so a little teasing here and there is all in good fun.

He says he knows Gronk meant no harm by the jokes, which also included calling Joe "Leslie Chow" ... aka Ken Jeong's character from "The Hangover."

Joe tells us, he feels partly responsible for the firestorm around the fried rice joke because he hammed up his dance moves for the camera, and generally acted silly when he probably shouldn't have.

There's evidence Tallahassee cops tried to sweep the sexual assault investigation targeting Florida State University QB Jameis Winston under the rug to protect the team and its star player ... and ONLY took aggressive steps after TMZ Sports started asking questions.

Sources in the State Attorney's Office tell us they never even knew about the investigation until Tuesday ... JUST ONE DAY AFTER TMZ Sports began making calls to cops about the alleged assault.

Our sources in the State Attorney's Office say ... it was highly unusual cops wouldn't have filled them in about the case until this week. The sources say cops would have typically notified them when the investigation was completed, and Winston's lawyer reportedly says cops told him it was completed in February.

Now get this ... TMZ Sports started calling police about the case on Monday. We were told someone would get back to us later that day, but there was radio silence for 2 days ... we made repeated calls Tuesday and Wednesday and no one got back to us until late Wednesday afternoon.

Sources in the State Attorney's Office tell us ... the timing -- getting notified about the case months after it supposedly was closed and just a day after TMZ started calling -- is suspicious.

The State Attorney has now re-activated the case and sent it back to cops for further investigation.

And there's a twist -- guess what would happen if Winston was even CHARGED with felony sexual assault -- under FSU's rules ... he would be AUTOMATICALLY BENCHED ... killing the team's national championship hopes and his Heisman Trophy chances.

Harlem Globetrotter rookie Corey “Thunder" Law just broke the world record for longest basketball shot in history … draining a RIDICULOUS bucket from wayyy off the other side of the court.

It all went down at US Airways Center in Phoenix today … Thunder SWOOSHED a heave from 109 ft. 9 in. like it was nothing … and a rep from Guinness was there to make it official.

Law smashed the old record – 104 ft. 7 in. – set almost three years ago by Elan Buller outside the Campbell Hall Elementary School in North Hollywood, where he works as a teacher.

We spoke to Buller ... who tells TMZ, he's 100% confident he'll reclaim the record ... and says he purposefully left room on his shot, knowing one day the record would be broken.

Buller -- a former basketball player at Pepperdine -- says his students persuaded him to attempt the original shot ... and he has NO DOUBT he can break it again ... if his students ask him to.

The ex-NFL cheerleader who allegedly tried to perform oral sex on a 12-year-old boy back in February was finally sentenced ... and TMZ Sports has learned she's NOT going to prison.

Elizabeth Garner -- who cheered for the Tennessee Titans until 2009 -- was arrested in Tennessee back in March for allegedly following the 12-year-old to a bathroom during a party in February hosted by the boy's mother.

Garner allegedly then grabbed the boy's penis over his shorts ... and attempted to remove them in order to perform oral sex on him. According to police, the boy said Garner asked if he'd ever been with a woman. Garner later told police she thought the boy was someone else (a grown man).

Garner -- who is married -- was subsequently charged with aggravated sexual battery and solicitation of a minor for rape of a child, but those charges were reduced to a single felony charge of reckless endangerment.

Now, TMZ Sports has learned Garner pled no contest back in October and was sentenced to 18 months probation, during which she must stay away from the boy and his family. She also has to submit to drug testing and attend AA sessions twice a week.

If Garner keeps her nose clean, the D.A. tells us her case will be expunged.

It doesn't matter that his phoney, dead (but not really dead) girlfriend embarrassed his school on a national level, Notre Dame still loves Manti Te'o ... so says the guy who runs the joint.

Father John I Jenkins -- the President of the University -- was strolling through Washington D.C. yesterday when we asked him if he was still proud of the former ND football captain ... even after the infamous catfishing scandal.

"He's a fine young man," Jenkins said ... "He'll do well and I'm proud of him. Not for his football playing but for the kind of person he is."

Of course, Te'o's reputation took a massive hit when it was revealed that his longtime girlfriend Lennay Kekua (who Manti had told the media had died following a car accident) ... was really a fat male imposter named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.

But despite the public humiliation, Jenkins is making it clear ... ND and Touchdown Jesus will always have Manti's back.

Hollywood celebrities are abandoning the Lakers in droves ... and they're defecting to the rival L.A. Clippers ... so says MTV star Chris "Drama" Pfaff.

Pfaff -- who stars on a slew of MTV shows including "Fantasy Factory" and "Ridiculousness" -- was out in NYC yesterday when he admitted he's hitching a ride on the Clippers bandwagon.

"Clippers games used to be empty," Drama said ... but that was before Blake Griffin, CP3 and company began dominating.

Now, according to Pfaff, Lob City games are packed with celebrities and floor seats are nearly impossible to lock up.