TMZ Sports - Page 50

NY Yankees star CC Sabathia says he desperately tried to cover up his alcoholism for years -- boozing hard in secret hotel binges -- until finally realizing he needed to address the problem.

"In 2012, I kind of came to the realization I was an alcoholic," Sabathia said on ABC's "Good Morning America" ... "and I was kind of battling it without any help."

"I would go a couple, you know, two, three months at a time sober, and then I would just relapse, and, you know, go on these weekends when I thought nobody was paying attention, and I would get in a hotel room and drink out of the minibar, pretty much everything."

Sabathia says he feels relief now that everyone knows about his issue -- "I can just, you know, start the healing process and take steps forward to get myself better."

The 35-year-old recently completed a stint in rehab -- and says he's proud of the support he's received from Yankees stars like Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez ... as well as stars from other teams.

"Torii Hunter, Dave ... 'Big Papi's' been calling me a lot. And, you know, I got to thank those guys. I'm truly blessed to be able to have friends like that."

Finally, someone is coming to the defense of Lions QB Matt Stafford ... his wife ... who claims her husband IS SMART, DAMMIT ... despite what some former coaches think.

After the bloodbath in Detroit this week, in which a bunch of coaches got fired after their 1-7 start, Kelly Stafford said, "Heard that one of the coaches, who got fired, came after matthew's intelligence. That is seriously comical."

"Come after the way he plays all you want, but the second you come after his intelligence is when you look far too desperate."

She then dropped that he scored a 38 on the Wonderlic test, an aptitude test NFL rookies take before the draft. 38 is a pretty good score.

BTW, great Wonderlic scores don't always equal great NFL success ... Blaine Gabbert reportedly scored a 42 ... and we all know how that situation's going.

TMZ Sports has obtained footage of Lakers guard Lou Williams handcuffed by police and slammed up against a cop car in front of a casino in Vegas ... but the NBA player insists he did NOTHING wrong.

We've learned ... Williams was detained in front of The Cromwell hotel and casino on the Vegas strip in the early hours of September 13th ... after the Mayweather vs. Berto fight.

Witnesses at the scene tell us, Williams was involved in an altercation with "a large man" -- and cops rushed in to break it up. We're told Williams adamantly denies being involved in a fight.

Williams was handcuffed and slammed up against a police car -- but the Las Vegas Metro Police Department tell us they have NO RECORD showing Williams was formally arrested that night.

We spoke with Lou's agent Wallace Prather III who tells us, "Apparently there was an issue that [Lou] wasn't involved in, which is why they didn't arrest him."

"If Lou was fighting in public in Las Vegas they would have arrested his ass ... he wasn't fighting anyone."

Eventually, cops released the cuffs and Williams was sent on his way.

Marlon Wayans has a perfectly good explanation as to why his 12-year-old son is such a terror on the b-ball court ... the kid's actually father could be NBA star Steph Curry!!

Remember people ... Marlon is a comedian.

We got Wayans leaving Equinox in L.A. when we asked about his son Shawn ... who's freakin' dominating the middle school hoops circuit these days.

Check out the clip -- Marlon says he has absolutely ZERO hoops talent ... so there's only one way the kid could be so deadly on the court ... the DNA of the best player in the league.

Now that we look ... there is a slight ... naw.

Talk about revisionist history ... the Cal Golden Bears posted a little #TBT Thursday -- reminiscing about the time Marshawn Lynch led Cal over Oregon in overtime back in 2005.

Problem is ... it didn't really happen that way.

Fact is ... #23 Cal LOST to #15 Oregon 27-20 thanks to a 4-yard TD pass from Brady Leaf in OT.

Lynch had 2 touchdowns of his own that game ... but definitely no game winning heroics.

Bill Goldberg says he lost all respect for Donald Trump back in 2010 -- saying he's still pissed about the way he was fired from "The Celebrity Apprentice."

The firing was especially nasty ... but at the time, most people just chalked it up to reality show editing. Turns out, the anger was REAL.

"I respected him a lot before he fired me," Goldberg told TMZ Sports.

There's more ... Bill says Trump is basically the same person as WWE honcho Vince McMahon -- "They're both kind of off their rocker."

FYI -- Bill doesn't like Vince either.

Ex-Oakland Raiders defensive end Anthony Smith -- a 1st round pick in the '90 NFL Draft -- was just convicted of killing 3 men ... and now faces life in prison.

Smith -- who played for the Raiders from '91 to '97 -- was in a Lancaster, CA courtroom when the jury announced that he was guilty of killing 2 men in 1999 and another in 2001.

Cops say Smith kidnapped two brothers -- Kevin and Ricky Nettles -- from a car wash in 1999 and then shot them to death. Their bodies were dumped roughly 8 miles apart.

In 2001, cops say Smith was part of a group that kidnapped Dennis Henderson and then stabbed him to death.

Kobe Bryant is getting flak from some NBA fans who noticed he was the only Lakers player on the court Tuesday who WASN'T wearing special socks to honor U.S. troops ... and now, we know why.

The NBA is allowing players to wear special designed red, white and blue socks as part of Hoops for Troops week ... which runs from Nov. 3rd to the 11th.

The socks are optional for players ... but it seems only two players in the Lakers vs. Nuggets game opted out ... Kobe and Jameer Nelson.

But our NBA sources tell us ... Kobe wasn't trying to make a political statement -- he simply prefers to wear quarter-length socks and the Hoops for Troops socks were only available in crew length.

So, don't worry ... Kobe doesn't hate America -- he just likes to be comfortable.

Tiger Woods' caddy is a complete MORON for comparing his job to slavery ... because, "For the money [Tiger] was paying this guy, he should've bent over and let Tiger shove the clubs into his ... "

Well, you get the point.

These are the thoughts of Jim Norton -- a huge comic who's been in movies like "Trainwreck" and "Cop Out."

The caddy under fire is Steve Williams -- who just wrote a book about his time as Tiger's right-hand man in which he claimed the working conditions were so bad, "It was like I was his slave."

So, when we saw Norton out in NYC Wednesday, he didn't take kindly to Steve's comments ... saying, "He makes me sick to my stomach. ... [he] could have just quit the job if [he] didn't like it."

Things appear to be A-OKAY between Johnny Manziel and GF Colleen Crowley -- 'cause nearly one month after their roadside domestic incident, they're back in the car ... peaceful ... and with a puppy.

With Johnny set to start at QB for the Cleveland Browns Thursday night, Johnny and Colleen had a vehicular dance party ... along with their brand new pet.

Crowley says, "It's game day & the squads excited."

The couple just got the dog a couple of weeks ago -- after the two were involved in a spat on the side of a highway in Ohio.

Miami Heat guard Gerald Green was unconscious and bleeding when someone at his condo complex called 911 ... TMZ Sports has learned.

We obtained the call ... made Wednesday morning ... in which the caller tells 911, "I have a resident that just passed out. He’s bleeding. He just passed out right now."

The operator informs the caller that help is on the way -- and gives instructions on how to treat Green until emergency personnel arrives.

The nature of Green's illness is still unclear -- but as we previously reported, multiple people at the complex tell us they saw him acting strange in the lobby and screaming from the top of his lungs.

Once Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue arrived to the scene, they requested assistance because of a “combative patient” ... so says the Miami Herald.

With NFL running backs going down like dominoes, Ray Rice is still training hard -- "staying ready" -- hoping that he'll get the call to come back to the league ... sources close to the RB tell TMZ Sports.

Rice hasn't played a single down since the 2013 season ... right before he was suspended and then cut from the Baltimore Ravens over the infamous domestic violence incident in February '14.

Now, with so many teams desperate to jump-start their running games due to injuries and lack of productivity -- sources close to Rice tell us he's preparing for a comeback.

"He still keeps in shape and is working out every day ... staying ready," one source close to Rice tells us ... while reminding us Rice is only 28 years old.

Rice has not only stayed out of trouble since the incident -- but has been on a goodwill blitzkrieg ever since ... most recently donating uniforms to a Baltimore rec center in an effort to revitalize a park.

The pro boxer who starred in a gay porno movie is now admitting ... he lied about being drugged and forced to participate ... and says the truth of the matter is he's gay.

"I'm gay. I'm tired of holding it in," Yusaf Mack told FOX 29. "It is what it is. I live my life. I'm gay."

As for the drugging allegations -- Mack says, "It was all a lie to try to cover myself up."

Mack says he was so ashamed when the video came out that he considered suicide -- thinking, "How am I gonna explain this to my children?"

In fact, Mack says after he came out one family member told him to kill himself because he was an embarrassment.

Talk about bein' a menace ...

Marlon Wayans' 12-year-old son is DOMINATING the youth basketball leagues -- tearing teams apart with his insane play ... and it's all on video.

Shawn Wayans (yes, he's named after his uncle) was doing it all during a recent tournament -- driving, shooting, passing ... and even crushing it on defense.

Nice rock.

Here's Hannah Davis at the CMAs Wednesday night ... showing off the insane diamond engagement ring she got from her fiance Derek Jeter.

Things have gone from bad to worse for soccer superstar Karim Benzema ... who has now been hit with formal charges for allegedly conspiring to extort a teammate over a sex tape.

The 27-year-old Real Madrid star was arrested Wednesday in France -- with investigators claiming he had a role in trying to extort his French national teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

Benzema spent the night in a cell in Versailles ... and now, he's been formally charged with complicity in an attempt to blackmail and conspiring to commit a criminal act.

The sex tape in question was reportedly shot on a cell phone -- officials say Benzema was part of a plot to extort money out of Valbuena and in exchange they wouldn't publish the tape.

If Benzema is convicted, he faces up to 5 years in prison.