TMZ Sports - Page 50

Former L.A. Kings hockey player Pavol Demitra -- a 3x NHL All-Star -- was one of 43 people killed when a plane carrying a Russian hockey team crashed outside of Moscow this morning.

Russian officials say TWO people on board survived the crash -- a crew member and a player named Alexander Galimov.

The plane was carrying a team called the "Lokomotiv Yaroslavl" -- which was en route to Belarus for the season opener -- when it crashed shortly after departing from an airport 150 miles outside of Moscow.

Several former NHL players are believed to have died in the crash along with 36-year-old Demitra -- including Karel Rachunek, Josef Vasicek, Brad McCrimmon, Igor Korolev and Alexander Karpovtsev.

NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin knows what it takes to win a Super Bowl ... or three ... and last night, he spoke out AGAINST Al Michaels ... saying the Oakland Raiders CAN win a championship during Al Davis' lifetime.

Irvin told TMZ ... it doesn't matter who's running the front office -- insisting the PLAYERS ultimately determine the success of an NFL franchise.

It's great logic in theory ... but Davis is the man who puts the players on the field -- and over the years, he's picked guys like JaMarcus Russell and Andrew Walter.

So, we gotta ask ...

Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis believes Al Michaels secretly blames him for planting a FALSE news report about Michaels cheating on his wife a while back ... and suggests that's the REAL reason Michaels blasted him on TMZ over the weekend.

After the NFL announcer RIPPED Davis ... calling him a terrible owner who's probably gonna die soon ... Oakland Raiders P.R. Director Mike Taylor gave the following statement to TMZ:

"We have no idea what Michaels was blathering about. I do remember Michaels being associated with an ultimately bogus report about adultery and other misdeeds and he thought Al Davis had something to do with it. Al Davis had nothing to do with it."

"During the recent Raiders/Saints broadcast, Chris Collinsworth put Michaels in his place when Michaels was speaking about the Raiders. John Madden did the same thing when he was in the booth with Michaels."

"We do not know what started this."

With his 40th birthday less than two weeks away, Lance Armstrong showed off his smooth, ageless buff body on the beach in Maui on Tuesday.

The Oakland Raiders will never EVER win another Super Bowl as long as the owner Al Davis is alive and breathing ... so says legendary "Sunday Night Football" announcer Al Michaels.

Al was leaving Boa Restaurant in Hollywood last night, when our photog -- a HUGE Raiders fan -- asked point blank, "Are we ever going to win a Super Bowl while Al Davis is still alive."

Michaels' response -- "NO."

FYI -- Davis is an NFL Hall of Famer who is largely credited with merging the AFL with the NFL ... and transforming the league into the POWERHOUSE it is today. But in the past decade, he's come under some serious fire ... because the Raiders are terrible.

Still, when we asked Michaels if he considered Davis a genius, he told us, "If you had a team that lost 11 or more games in SEVEN consecutive years, would you say a genius ran the team?"

Wrestling superstar Kurt Angle says his blood alcohol level was WAY under the legal limit when he was arrested for drunk driving this weekend ... and now TMZ has a police document that seems to back up his story.

We've obtained the Certificate of Blood Alcohol Analysis ... issued by the State of Virginia ... which shows Kurt's B.A.C. was .06 at the time of his arrest. The legal limit in VA is .08.

The TNA Wrestling champ has released a statement on the matter ... saying, "I did not believe my driving behavior was reckless or otherwise improper."

He adds, "I fully cooperated with the officer who clearly recognized me while performing his standard procedures. Subsequent to the stop, I was asked to submit to a breathalyzer test and passed. I do not believe that I broke any laws and will be entering a plea of not guilty in response to any pending charges."

As TMZ previously reported, troopers pulled over Angle's car after receiving a tip from another motorist ... who claimed the wrestler was driving erratically.

Angle explains, "I was returning from an iMPACT Wrestling show in an unfamiliar place, late at night and was trying to find the exit for my hotel."

While holding his adorable son, Dwyane Wade and his girlfriend Gabrielle Union cooled off their toned, ripped physiques at the beach in Miami this weekend.

The sexy couple bring on the Miami heat.

Former WWE superstar Kurt Angle was pretty damn calm for a guy who claims he was wrongly arrested for drunk driving over the weekend -- telling photogs at LAX, "Of course" he'll fight the case.

It doesn't pay to play matchmaker for Jose Canseco ... at least according to a Hollywood manager who claims she set the former baseball star up on a date, only to get screwed herself.

Gina Rodriguez has prepared legal docs targeting Canseco, claiming she booked him on a TV show called, "Celebridate" back in June -- where famous people are set up on a date with regular people. But Gina claims Jose never forked over the commission check for her work.

Gina claims Jose was paid $3,500 to appear on the show and she's entitled to her 10% -- $350.

Pour some liquor out for the oak tree that bravely stopped Tiger Woods' Escalade the night his scandal exploded -- because it has died. And no ... Elin did not chop it down with a 9-iron.

Tiger Woods wasn't the only living creature whose life was ruined on that fateful night in November 2009 -- the tree he crashed his Escalade into has been murdered ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to the tree tell us ... new neighbors moved in recently and began remodeling -- and one of the first things they did was tear down the infamous oak tree.

The construction company that did the job tells us the tree was in bad shape ever since the crash -- and even though the new neighbors knew full well the tree's place in history, they decided to get rid of it anyway.

And don't think the tree will be showing up on eBay anytime soon -- it was NOT saved, it was simply trashed.

We're told a new tree will be planted soon, but in the meantime ... there's a Porta-Potty in its place.

Kurt Angle apparently believes he's been FRAMED in connection with his drunk driving arrest Sunday morning ... this according to sources connected with the famous wrestler.

As TMZ first reported, Angle was popped in Virginia after he was allegedly seen driving erratically on I-66.

But Angle's lawyer tells TMZ ... his client passed a breathalyzer test. The lawyer tells us, "We understand Kurt will be entering a plea of not guilty in response to any infractions and/or offenses."

Sources connected with Kurt tell TMZ ... cops are just trying to make an example of him.

The cops are mum, saying the case will be tried in court.

A man was found dead at the home of Houston Texans defensive end Antonio Smith -- the victim of an apparent drowning.

The fully-clothed body of 37-year-old Engram Lamar Crenshaw was found at the bottom of Smith's pool at 9:30 AM Sunday. He was last seen at around 2 AM.

Crenshaw was a friend of Smith's and at his home for a party, in which about 100 people attended, including 4 or 5 other Houston Texans players.

Apparently no one noticed Crenshaw was missing until people in the house woke up just after 9 AM.

Wrestling legend Kurt Angle was arrested early this morning on charges of driving under the influence ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement tells TMZ ... Angle's car was spotted by another driver ... swerving between lanes on I-66. Angle was busted by Virginia State Troopers, who responded to the call, and taken to Warren County Jail.

He posted $2,000 bond and was released at 3:31 AM.

Former Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels -- the guy who drafted Tim Tebow last year and later got fired -- has taken ANOTHER major hit in Colorado ... losing $500k on a bad real estate deal.

McDaniels just sold his 5,685 sqft Greenwood Village mansion for $1.95 mil ... HORRIBLE for Josh considering he bought the place for $2.5 mil back in 2009 just after he reportedly signed a 4-year, $8 mil contract with the Broncos.

Former New York Yankees pitcher David Wells is so obsessed with the great Babe Ruth, he got himself a tattoo of the Bambino across his pitching arm.

Wells' infatuation with the Babe is famous -- he once wore a $35,000 Babe Ruth hat while pitching in an MLB game -- and last night outside of Boa, we got a peek at the art ... a depiction of Wells pitching to The Babe.