TMZ Sports - Page 50

Shannon Sharpe says Johnny Manziel's attempt to change his image is a bunch of BS -- claiming he's sick of people believing all of the crap Manziel has been trying to feed the public for years.

The NFL Hall of Famer was out in L.A. when we asked about the statement Manziel issued Tuesday night ... in which he finally acknowledged he has "issues" and vowed to get back in the NFL.

Long story short ... Sharpe ain't buyin' it.

"How long are you gonna buy his story?" Sharpe asked ... "He's shown no remorse, he's shown no willingness to change his behavior ... but you believe it and that's the problem."

Even Serena Williams couldn't contain herself during a face-to-beautiful-face with Tom Brady today ... telling the QB he's her favorite EVER ... and she was so pumped, she needed a moment to recover.

The two met up during a quick photo shoot in NYC Wednesday -- no word on what it was for ... but clearly, Serena was smitten by the QB ... especially after Tom reciprocated the love.

Kelly Ripa did not show up for her TV show Wednesday ... and our ABC sources say this may just be the first in a string of absences.

Our sources tell us Kelly made the decision shortly after she was informed Strahan was bailing on her show to co-host "Good Morning America." We broke the story Kelly was told at 10:30 AM Tuesday, just as the announcement was being blasted out to the media ... and she was outraged.

We're told Kelly feels disrespected and humiliated that she wasn't given the courtesy of a heads-up. Our sources say she may not show for the foreseeable future.

Michael walked onstage Wednesday with Ana Gasteyer, and he made light of the move.

The 'Live' staff is furious at Disney and CEO Bob Iger's decision to keep them in the dark.

Stephen Hawking -- the most wicked smaht guy on the planet -- is now an official fan of the New England Patriots ... and he's got the custom jersey to prove it.

Conor McGregor's not just out of UFC 200 -- he's also out of Vin Diesel's new 'xXx' movie ... and according to UFC star Michael Bisping, his part's already been written out.

McGregor pulled out of the flick last month to focus on his rematch with Nate Diaz in July -- but now that Dana White yanked him from UFC 200 for refusing to participate in the promotional campaign, we were wondering if Conor would shift his focus back to Hollywood.

But according to Bisping -- who has a role in the movie -- it's too little, too late.

"His part got written out," Bisping said as he was leaving the set in Toronto.

It's too bad for Conor ... Bisping says he's having a blast shooting the film -- and if it's any good, it could be a huge career booster for him.

Racing legend Mario Andretti tells TMZ Sports ... he kinda agrees with Bernie Ecclestone when it comes to women in F1 racing -- "it's clearly more of a men's sport."

Ecclestone -- widely considered the most powerful man in racing -- made headlines this week when he said women are too weak to be successful F1 drivers ... and "wouldn't be taken seriously."

So, we called up Andretti -- one of the greatest drivers who's ever lived -- to get his take on the situation. Here's what he told us:

"Bernie doesn’t mince words. He says what he thinks. You could be more delicate about it, but Formula 1 has been in existence for what, 66 years, and we've only seen 5 women try and compete and none have really been successful."

"The bottom line is you can make assertions until the cows come home. Saying women can do it. Bottom line, they have to prove it. You can’t just come out of the woodwork and say ‘I want to be a F1 driver.’ You need to earn your way there."

"Will it happen one day? It’s impossible to predict, but I’d say probably yes. At the same time, someone else might say, if it was going to happen, why hasn’t it happened in 66 years?"

"I think it’s clearly more of a men’s sport. Could there be some women who are competitive? Like with tennis … could Serena Williams compete with men? I think yes, but could she win a major, I don’t know."

Nick Young came home to Iggy Azalea -- baggage and all.

The Lakers star returned to their pad Tuesday after a boys trip to Vegas ... so it looks like he's still living with Iggy at this point. After Iggy checked the mail, we're guessing there were at least 20 questions about his weekend.

Bad news love fans ... Usain Bolt didn't get his "Sleepless in Seattle" ending with Rihanna ... 'cause according to Bolt himself he got "no love" from the pop star after publicly laying his mack down.

Dana White says he's yanked Conor McGregor from UFC 200 -- claiming the Irish superstar refused to fly to Vegas to promote the event.

Johnny Manziel has finally acknowledged what we all know ... dude's got "issues" -- and says he's hoping to "take care" of them so he can play in the NFL in 2016.

After being dropped by his agent Drew Rosenhaus, Manziel issued a statement to USA Today Sports ... saying, "I’m hoping to take care of the issues in front of me right now so I can focus on what I have to do if I want to play in 2016."

He added, "I also continue to be thankful to those who really know me and support me."

Manziel's rep, Denise Michaels, also issued a statement saying, "So many people only have one image of Jonathan but, believe it or not, he takes all this very seriously."

Joe Rogan ain't buyin' Conor McGregor's retirement tweet ... saying there's no way McGregor will hang 'em up "unless he got f*cking head kicked today and knocked into oblivion."

Rogan -- who's been the color commentator for the UFC for nearly 20 years -- was on his "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast Tuesday when the news broke about Conor's tweet and Joe's reaction was about as honest as it gets.

Rogan made a couple of interesting points ... noting McGregor was ringside at an MMA fight in Dublin earlier this month, in which a fighter was beaten so badly, he died from his injuries ... and Conor may have been affected by what he saw.

He also noted McGregor came thiiiiis close to retiring from MMA right before he got his first deal with the UFC -- because some of his close friends were having health issues.

But all that aside, Rogan says he just doesn't believe the announcement is legit -- saying, "There's no way, he'd do it like this."

Well, UFC 200 has some problems ... as both headliners have apparently retired ... with Nate Diaz joining Conor McGregor on the beach.

Nate just tweeted, "I guess my work here is done I'm retiring too."

There's clearly some kind of a dispute going on ... but we're hoping it's nothing that can't be resolved.

Rex Ryan's outspoken support for Donald Trump has NOT created a divide in his locker room ... so say multiple Buffalo Bills players.

Of course, Ryan introduced Trump at a rally in NY Monday night -- praising him as a guy who has the courage to say what everyone's thinking.

Some of Trump's comments have been extremely controversial ... so, we called up some Bills players to see if Ryan's strong public support would be a problem with the team.

But the guys we spoke with tell us ... they may not see eye to eye with Ryan politically, but that will NOT affect what goes on at work.

Defensive end Jarius Wynn told us, "[Coach] is a grown man. If he wants to go see him and speak at his rally, that’s fine with me. I don’t see a problem with that. It’s no big deal.”

"[Ryan is] a great man and we respect him no matter what he does outside of football. At the end of the day, he’s here to help us win games, so his views and who he votes for doesn’t matter. We’re here to play football."

We also spoke with cornerback Corey White who joked that Ryan's speech will be "entertainment to us for a couple days and then it’ll be over. We’ve all got our strong views. It’s just fun locker room talk.”

"Honestly, we’re just focused on beating the Patriots. We’ve still got coach’s back 100%."

Michael Strahan dropped a bomb on co-host Kelly Ripa after their show Tuesday ... telling her for the first time he was leaving their show.

Sources connected with the production tell TMZ, Michael sat down with Kelly and Executive Producer Michael Gelman at 10:30 AM and let them know he was leaving 'Live' for 'GMA.'

We're told Kelly and Gelman were "stunned and upset" at the news. And, we're told, since no one on the show had advance warning, there is absolutely no plan on replacing Michael.

In Michael's defense, this was a top secret move on Disney's part, orchestrated by CEO Bob Iger. Sources connected to the deal tell us Gelman might not be aware of the replacement plan, but Disney absolutely has one ... and it assured Strahan of that.

Conor McGregor is either messing with his fans ... or just made one of the most shocking announcements of all time ... implying he's RETIRING.

McGregor went to Twitter and wrote, "I have decided to retire young. Thanks for the cheese. Catch ya's later."

We've reached out to Conor's camp -- so far, it's radio silence.

We've also spoken with a handful of plugged in UFC people -- and so far, no one seems to know if it's a joke or if Conor is seriously hanging it up.

Meantime, Conor is scheduled to fight Nate Diaz at UFC 200 on July 9th.