TMZ Sports - Page 50

Fear not NY Giants fans ... Tiki Barber is convinced that Jason Pierre-Paul is gonna be back dominating very soon ... saying even a one handed version of the stud is enough to punish the league.

Tiki was out in NYC when we asked what he thought about Paul resigning with the Giants ... coming back after the horrific fireworks accident that mangled his right hand.

Basically we wanted to know ... can this dude still kick ass out there or what?

Barber seems to think so ... and told our guy he thinks JPP might actually be what the Giants are missing to take their team to the next level ... even if he is missing a few digits.

Tiki also talks about some of the most graphic injuries he's seen ... and JPP's isn't the worse.

Check it out.

The Los Angeles Lakers will have a moment of silence before tonight's home opener to honor Flip Saunders ... the Minnesota Timberwolves coach who passed away this past weekend.

It just so happens that the Lakers play Minnesota tonight -- and a rep for the team tells us, "Our players will be wearing a special t-shirt during pre-game warmups and also we will do a brief moment of silence for Flip just before the national anthem."

TMZ Sports has obtained the dramatic 911 call made after Glen Rice Jr. was shot Sunday -- in which the caller says he personally witnessed Rice try to ditch a handgun while "leaking" blood.

The caller is VERY descriptive -- saying he definitely heard gunfire and then saw the ex-NBA player frantically try to flag down a friend while screaming, "They just shot me."

As we previously reported, Rice was shot outside T.I.'s restaurant in Atlanta -- and according to the caller, he was "soaked" in blood which was spewing from his upper left thigh.

At one point, the caller becomes afraid for his own safety -- and finally decides to leave the scene.

A short time later, cops pulled over the Porsche that picked up Rice -- and he was arrested for weed possession and reckless conduct.

If a fight breaks out on video, and it's on the Internet, then you probably heard someone yell, "Worldstar!!" -- but the guy behind that craze has a warning ... this ain't kid stuff!

We got WorldStarHipHop founder Lee "Q" O'Denat at Il Pastaio in Bev Hills -- don't worry, no punches were thrown -- and even though his biz is synonymous with crazy fights, he says there should be an age limit on the brawls people submit.

"Q" also revealed his all-time favorite "WorldStar!" shout outs tend to be sports related.

Hint: One of 'em is a Big Papi classic!

The Warriors NBA championship ring has 240 flawless diamonds and almost 1/4 lb. in gold ... but the ring's most badass feature? DIAMONDS that GLOW under black light!!

Jason of Beverly Hills -- jeweler to 250 current NBA players -- tells TMZ Sports the "minimalist" ring has 10 hidden design features ("the inside of the ring is engraved to look like the Oracle Arena rafters") ... but the fluorescent diamonds are most impressive.

"Every diamond fluoresces," Jason told us, "We had to sort each diamond and pick flawless stones that barely fluoresced, with the exception of 4 that fluoresced bright white, almost blue."

Jason says examining the diamonds took 10 to 12 hours per ring. "We literally had guys in our factory in sleeping bags, sorting diamonds."

The glowing diamonds were strategically set at the bottom of the ring ... representing the organizations 4 NBA titles.

The finished product is awesome ... but Jason says he can't take all the credit for the ring ... "I got a good amount of input from the players, especially Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala."

#GlowingDiamonds #Swag

Tennis star James Blake says he won't hold a grudge against the entire NYPD after he was body-slammed by a cop last month ... but he's still scared of the dude who roughed him up.

Blake was back out in NYC Wednesday -- where he's gearing up to run the marathon -- and told us he strongly believes 95% of the cops in the NYPD are great ... it's that other 5% he's worried about.

As we previously reported, Blake was tackled down to the ground when cops mistook him for a suspect in a credit card fraud investigation.

Blake tells TMZ Sports he is NOT planning a lawsuit against the force ... but does have one request to help make things right.

Since Blake knows a thing or two about police brutality, we asked him how he felt about the situation at Spring Valley High, where a deputy was fired for attacking a student.

Check out the clip.

It was good to be a stripper in Miami on Monday night ... when Floyd Mayweather rolled into King of Diamonds and lit the place up with a $50,000 thunderstorm ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Sources connected to Floyd tell us ... after he got his brand new $3.5 million Bugatti supercar, Floyd was still itchin' to spend more dough -- so he organized a TMT outing to K.O.D ... 45 PEOPLE DEEP!!

Besides busting out the stacks of cash, we're told Floyd ordered 30 bottles of champagne!!

BTW, one source who was there tells us there was so much cash being thrown around, you couldn't see the floor ... and staffers busted out brooms to sweep up all the bills.

Jerry Rice has a solution for the 49ers' woes this season ... BENCHING COLIN KAEPERNICK ... saying giving the QB some temporary pine time might be just the wake up call he needs.

Look, it's no secret Kaep isn't playing his best ball -- and with the 49ers nursing a 2-5 record, something needs to be done to get the team back on track.

Jerry made it crystal clear he SUPPORTS Colin and still thinks he's incredibly talented -- but says something drastic needs to happen if there's any hope of saving the season.

"I am a true Kaepernick fan. 100%. I'm not saying bench him for the season, but sometimes you gotta shake things up. It could energize the team, and provide Colin the spark he needs."

Rice says he knows from experience that Kaep needs support from the vets to break out of his funk.

"Look, when I came in, I struggled. I dropped balls. And I wasn't used to that. But I had great people around me, and I got through it."

Overall, Rice says ... you can't just point the finger at #7, everyone needs to step up their game.

"The 9'ers aren't a cohesive group right now. They're making way too many mistakes. It's not only Kaepernick, there's plenty of blame to go around."

TMZ Sports has obtained photos showing ex-NBA player Glen Rice Jr. moments after he was shot in the leg during a dispute at T.I.'s Atlanta restaurant... as Rice was trying to flee the scene.

You can see the blood streaming down Rice's left leg -- staining his shorts -- as he ran toward a waiting black Porsche ... which was later pulled over by police.

As we previously reported, cops believe Rice ditched a gun on a stairwell on his way to the Porsche. The Porsche was pulled over soon after Glen got inside -- and he was arrested for weed possession and reckless conduct.

Lenny Dykstra was lying through his teeth when he claimed he would blackmail MLB umpires into giving him favorable calls during his playing days ... this according to SEVERAL umps.

The drama unfolded Tuesday, when Dykstra went on "The Herd" and claimed he spent $500k on private investigators to spy on umps -- and used their secrets (including gay sex romps) as leverage to get calls during games, especially during the 1993 season.

But we spoke to 4 of the top umpires who worked in the Majors during that period who all say Lenny is out of his mind, period.

-- Greg Bonin (MLB umpire 1984 to 2001)
"He's smoking something. He's full of sh*t. He always was, but now more than ever. I've never heard anything like that from an umpire. Never.

"I've heard a lot of funny stuff, but that's gotta be the funniest. Those drugs must've really messed his head up."

-- Larry Barnett (MLB umpire 1969 to 1999)
"It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. He should've saved the money, he probably could've used it now. I was in professional baseball for a long time and I never heard something so stupid. It's ludicrous."

-- Jerry Layne (MLB umpire 1989 to present)
"Lenny Dykstra is out of his mind. "If you go back and look at every Lenny Dykstra at-bat something like that would stick out like a sore thumb."

"Think about it, how many times does a specific umpire come across Lenny Dykstra at the plate in a season? Put the math to it."

-- Paul Runge (MLB umpire 1973 to 1997)
"As much as baseball keeps an eye on the umpires, something like this couldn't happen. And if someone came to an ump and said, 'if you don't shrink the strike zone, I'm gonna expose you.' I think they'd go right to MLB, and that player would be out of baseball in a flash."

AZ Cardinals running back Chris Johnson was so determined to revive his NFL career -- he hit the gym like a maniac this off-season ... even with a bullet still lodged in his shoulder.

We spoke with Jay Glazer -- who trained CJ2K's at his Unbreakable Performance Center in L.A. over the summer ... and says he was SHOCKED when Johnson approached him to work out after being hit in a drive-by shooting back in March.

As we previously reported, Johnson was struck in the arm in the attack -- and the driver of the car was killed.

But even with the injury, Glazer says Johnson refused to give up -- pushing himself harder than most professional athletes who walk through the door.

The accuser in the Derrick Rose rape lawsuit has finally named her price -- $21.5 MILLION -- this according to court docs obtained by TMZ Sports.

Taylor Swift ballyhooed her star power Tuesday night by calling up onstage most of the iconic stars in Miami.

Pitbull, Ricky Martin and Dwayne Wade joined Taylor and Wade paid the appropriate homage by presenting Swifty with her own lucky-numbered Heat jersey.

Back to Gloria Estefan ... what the ****?

Ronda Rousey says Vin Diesel's 7-year-old daughter Hania really does have what it takes to dominate in the UFC (when she's older) ... telling TMZ Sports, "We could really make it happen!"

NFL great Peter Boulware says he can help ease tensions at a South Carolina high school where a cop is under fire for his treatment of an unarmed black student ... because he went there.

A 15 second clip of sheriff's deputy Ben Fields getting physical with a black female student at Spring Valley High School in SC went viral Monday ... sparking outrage from some who call it police brutality.

Boulware -- a Columbia native -- was a star at SVHS back in the '90s ... and says he's willing to bring all the parties together to discuss the issue ... so that Twitter tensions don't turn into civil unrest.

"I'd like to reach out to both parties, the cop and the girl to figure out why it happened. Once we get an understanding of it we can solve issues like it. We just have to be patient."

Peter adds that while he completely supports law enforcement and the tough job cops have to do every day, it's hard not to watch the video and NOT think that the officer went too far.

"Just from what I see on the video ... with the amount of information I have, there could've been a better way where less force was used."

Peter adds, "With the young lady sitting at her desk like that, I just think it could have been done in a better way then kinda throwing her across the room."

Tim Tebow is on the verge of picking up a pretty sweet side gig in the fashion world -- a huge offer to endorse socks.

TMZ Sports has learned Inspyr Socks reached out to the former NFL QB to peddle their sock line and the deal comes with a nice six-figure paycheck. The company even eludes to TT's NFL struggles in their offer letter praising the way Tebow "handled yourself in the face of so much adversity and pressure."

We're told Tebow has yet to accept the offer, but if he does, Inspyr will be darn pumped.