TMZ Sports - Page 50

Lawrence Phillips' biological mother -- and the people closest to him -- do not believe the ex-NFL star committed suicide in his prison cell ... with his next of kin telling TMZ Sports, "I know for a fact he wouldn't do that."

We spoke with Tonissa Murdock -- who was listed as Phillips' next of kin with Kern Valley State Prison due to their close relationship for more than 20 years.

Pretty funny.

The wife of Miami Dolphins CB Brent Grimes says her September arrest was an act of revenge ... claiming she was set up and assaulted by dirty cops as retaliation for supporting the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

Miko Grimes made an appearance on the "Tax Season" podcast and opened up about the incident that went down outside Sun Life Stadium ... in which cops have said she flipped out and headbutted an officer when asked to leave a restricted area.

Miko tells a different story ... saying she was ambushed and "choked slammed" by law enforcement who warned her to "stop talking that sh*t on Twitter about Black Lives Matter."

Weird theory considering the cop who was making the arrest is black.

Check out the audio ... it's pretty explosive.

Ex-NFL star Lawrence Phillips is dead -- and officials are investigating his death as a suicide after he was found in his prison cell.

Bad news for Conor McGregor ... his face won't be on money -- but the Irish government is already mulling OTHER IDEAS to honor the UFC star.

As we previously reported, a petition made its way all the way up to Irish parliament to put Conor's mug on the euro coin -- but it was killed because the guy who proposed the idea went M.I.A.

But get this ... during the hearing, politician Richard Boyd Barrett addressed the committee -- and said there's a strong public demand to honor Irish stars who do great things on the international stage ... like Conor!

"Certainly, Conor McGregor is a phenomenon at the moment, particularly after his demolition of Jose Aldo ... his very short demolition."

So, how will they honor Conor? Lawmakers kicked around the idea of a commemorative coin ... but Conor says he wants to be on the 500 EURO note!

Ex-NFL linebacker Keith Mitchell -- a former Pro Bowler -- was arrested in L.A. Tuesday after cops say he assaulted his pregnant girlfriend in the face during an argument ... TMZ Sports has learned.

We're told cops responded to the 41-year-old's West Hollywood home after receiving a 911 call -- and when they got there, officers noticed a mark on the woman's face.

The alleged victim was taken to a nearby hospital.

Mitchell -- who's now a famous yoga instructor -- was hauled to a nearby jail where he was booked for felony domestic violence. He was later released on $50k bail.

According to his booking sheet, Mitchell -- who played for the Saints, Texans and Jaguars -- is 6'3" and 230 pounds.

IT'S GOOD TO BE AN O'NEAL ... just ask Shaq's son who had a CRAZY 16th birthday party in L.A. Saturday night ... complete with exotic cars, famous rappers and an unreal dessert spread.

L.A. Lakers star Metta World Peace says he's HAPPY to be sharing the city with a NFL team -- but says there's only ONE WAY he would ever root for the Rams.

Khloe Kardashian laid into Lamar Odom after he nearly died -- not just for the drug abuse, but for doing it in a brothel.

Khloe got into the whole ordeal with Lamar during her appearance on 'Howard Stern' Wednesday morning, and when Howard asked about why an ex-NBA star would have to pay for sex ... she went OFF.

Listen to her reaction -- ranting about herbal viagra and the hookers, and says she also made Lamar promise her something.

While she was in NY, Khloe also hit up 'GMA' ... where she admitted she and Lamar are only technically married. Even though she yanked divorce docs, there's nothing romantic between them anymore.

The Irish government has a VERY interesting topic on the docket today -- politicians are set to discuss a real proposal to put Conor McGregor's face on the EURO COIN!!!

A fan submitted the proposal back in December, after McGregor's 13-second destruction of Jose Aldo at UFC 194 ... and it got so much momentum, that it has been scheduled for discussion in parliament.

TMZ Sports spoke with a rep for the House of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature) who confirmed the committee is meeting Wednesday about the UFC star ... but says getting Conor's face on the coin is definitely an uphill battle.

"There are some European-wide stipulations that would need to be met for a petition like this to actually be enforced, so it's a longshot."

Basically ... even if Ireland approved the move, the remaining countries that use the Euro would also have to approve the change in order to get McGregor's face on money.

As for Conor, he's pushing for it -- saying, "It would be a true honour for me to be immortalised on the €1 coin! Thank you to my fans for the petition!Let's go Oireachtas! Vote YES :-)"

When Eddie George made his BROADWAY DEBUT Tuesday night as the star of "Chicago" ... he got support in the crowd from another NFL legend ... THE BUS!!!

FYI, George became a serious actor after his NFL career and recently locked up the role of Billy Flynn in the Tony Award winning play.

Tuesday was Eddie's DEBUT -- and the first time he's ever had to sing in front of an audience -- and his old pal Jerome Bettis was right there in the crowd to cheer him on.

Eddie's wife was also in the crowd -- ex-SWV singer, Taj George.

So far, we're hearing good things about Eddie's performance.

We're workin' on video ...

Barack Obama just got a big Maize and Blue stamp of approval for his State of the Union speech -- with Jim Harbaugh telling TMZ Sports, "The President hit it out of the park!"

Harbaugh and his wife were sitting inside the House of Representatives chamber when Obama gave his speech Tuesday night -- as special guests of Congressman Justin Amash (R-Mich).

After the speech, we asked Coach H for his take -- it's clear, he's a HUGE fan!

It's time to play "Keeping Up with the Mannings" ... with Peyton and Eli's older brother, Cooper Manning!!

Cooper -- who's a pretty successful oil and gas trader (safer than the NFL) -- was at LAX when we asked him a pretty great question ... if the Mannings were the Kardashians, who's Kim, Khloe & Kourtney??

Tammy Sytch is giving fans a chance to get a piece of her WWE Diva alter ego, Sunny, by hawking a totally unique piece of memorabilia ... her Hall of Fame ring!

Sunny got the ring in 2011 when she was inducted, but says she's ready to turn the page on her pro wrestling days. She's unloading the ring on eBay with an opening bid of $3,000.

Sytch says the sale has nothing to do with her legal troubles last year, she's just wiping the slate clean. She told us, "It's time to let go of the past and selling my ring is the right way to get back on track!"

It's a homecoming for the St. Louis Rams -- NFL owners just approved the franchise returning to Los Angeles, and the vote wasn't even close.

The owners met in Houston on Tuesday to decided which teams if any would be moving. The Rams, Raiders, and Chargers all applied to make the jump to L.A.

The vote was 30-2 in favor of the Rams getting the nod. The Chargers were a sort of runner-up ... they got first option to go to L.A. later, and would share the stadium the Rams are building in Inglewood ... next to the Fabulous Forum where the Lakers used to play.

Huge weekend for Kirk Cousins (besides that whole playoff loss thing) ... 'cause the Washington Redskins QB helped raise nearly $60k for charity ... all thanks to his famous "You Like That" quote.

Long story short ... the team asked Cousins if they could print the phrase on towels for fans to wave in the stadium during Sunday's game. He agreed with one condition -- put my charity's logo on it.

FYI, Cousins' cause is the International Justice Mission -- a global organization that protects the poor from violence in the developing world.

The good news ... thanks to the exposure on the towels, IJM raked in close to $30k in donations from fans on Sunday ... a rep for the organization tells us.

And it gets better -- 'cause the org. says a local wealthy couple has agreed to MATCH the number!

In total, the group raised $59,442 over the weekend ... plus, IJM says it's taken in another $50k overall from shirt sales and other fundraisers connected from the "You Like That?!" phrase.

Yeah, we like that.