TMZ Sports - Page 50

Kevin Durant leaving Oklahoma would be a "tragedy beyond belief" ... this according to Oklahoma congressman Tom Cole who has a message for Jay Z -- DON'T LET HIM GO!!!

Rep. Cole praises Durant as a hero in the state -- especially after KD cut a $1 MILLION check to help the tornado recovery effort in 2013.

You gotta watch the clip ... clearly, OKC loves Durant -- question is, will Cole's plea be enough to keep him around?

Producers weren't taking any chances ... they played Michael Strahan off as he was saying his goodbyes on 'Live' ... just like the Oscars.

As Michael and Kelly sipped champagne ... Strahan thanks the fans and the staff, but not Kelly.

In the end, he told her he loved her and gave her a smooch.

They are good ... Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan were all over each other, holding hands, hugging, and even being mutually chivalrous for Michael's last stand.

You just gotta watch ... 2 people who now have unbridled contempt for each other ... you would never, ever know.

There's one shiny part of Johnny Manziel's nightmare spring ... his face ... 'cause the Hollywood bad boy has officially followed the lead of his old teammate Von Miller ... and copped a custom grill.

We noticed the ice when we got Johnny leaving Warwick nightclub in Hollywood ... sporting a twinkle in his smile we hadn't seen before.

That caused us to do a little digging ... and it turns out Manziel hit up celebrity grillsmith Johnny Dang and commissioned some custom swag for his chompers.

Dang was mum on how much Manziel's 18 karat white gold, diamond encrusted creation actually cost ... but said similar pieces he's done in the past would set you back around $20k.

Keep swaggin' Johnny ... it's your job now.

Sorry Dwight Howard, Kenny Smith doesn't believe you.

The Jet had a front row seat when Howard appeared on "Inside the NBA" and claimed Magic Johnson told him he'd NEVER make it to the NBA back when he was in 10th grade.

Magic completely denied the allegation ... and Kenny says it's not hard to pick a side.

"I think that as a 10th grader, he probably THOUGHT he heard something," Smith said ... saying there's NO WAY Johnson would ever dash a kid's NBA dreams.

But Smith says it's possible that someone planted the idea that Magic was against him as a way to motivate Dwight back in the day.

BTW, Smith also told us about his meeting with the Rockets about a potential head coaching gig.

Could Odell Beckham take over for Von Miller on "Dancing with the Stars" next year?

Von's partner sure hopes so ... with Lindsay Arnold saying the guy would CRUSH it on the show.

Everyone knows Odell is a dance-aholic ... the guy breaks out moves in clubs, on the street, at Drake's house ... everywhere.

In fact, he even crashed Lindsay and Von's rehearsal earlier this season -- and impressed her so much, she wants to partner up with the guy!!

Check out the clip ... seems like a no-brainer for both Odell and the show.

This is the video cops say could prove Adrien Broner beat up and robbed a man outside of a Cincinnati bowling alley back in January.

The footage, obtained by TMZ Sports, was shot outside of Madison Bowl on January 21st ... while the boxer allegedly demanded thousands of dollars back from a man he was gambling with inside the alley.

We broke the story ... Broner's accuser claims they had been wagering thousands of dollars in high stakes bowling matches ... with Broner losing a fortune. Broner allegedly demanded the money back outside the alley, and when the man refused, Adrien got violent ... knocking the man out cold.

In the video, which was submitted as evidence in the case, you can hear a voice which sounds like Broner demanding his money back ... but it's dark and blurry -- so, not exactly a smoking gun.

You can, however, hear people imploring Broner -- "A.B. chill ... A.B. c'mon!"

Broner has been charged with felonious assault and robbery -- and faces serious prison time if convicted.

Charlamagne Tha God let former boxing champ Shawn Porter do something rappers have wanted to do to Charlamagne for years ... punch him in the face ... in a live sparring match in NYC yesterday.

It all went down at Gleason's boxing gym on Wednesday afternoon ... and we're told the whole thing was the idea of Shawn's dad and trainer, Kenny, who's pretty good friends with Mr. Tha God.

Check out the clip -- Charlamagne isn't exactly Sugar Ray Robinson in there, but gets in enough good shots to not look like a newbie.

BTW -- Porter is training for a huge title fight against Keith Thurman later this month ... by fighting a guy who sits down for a living.

Ex-UFC fighter Diego Brandao has admitted to pulling a gun during an altercation with bouncers at an Albuquerque strip club ... but the former "Ultimate Fighter" champ insists it was only in self-defense.

TMZ Sports obtained video of Brandao being grilled by cops following his arrest on April 15th -- during an incident in which cops say the fighter pistol-whipped a bouncer at Knockouts bar after he was denied entry. The bouncers told cops Brandao was too drunk to get in.

During the interrogation, the 28-year-old Brazilian fighter begins by adamantly denying he ever had a weapon -- but the cops pressed him hard and warned there would be consequences if he was lying.

"Listen, you just said you don't wanna f*** your life," one of the cops told Brandao ... "If anybody comes up with video showing that you had a gun, you're life is gonna be f***ed."

Brandao immediately changed his story and admitted to having the gun -- but says he only pulled it out because one the bouncers had a gun. Plus, Brandao says he was being choked out and wanted to put a stop to it.

When cops asked Brandao what happened to his gun, the UFC fighter said he broke it into several pieces and scattered them away from the bar.

During the interrogation, cops suggest there may be video of the entire incident -- and it could hold the key to Brandao's case.

The end of an era could be near ... 'cause legendary boxing ring announcer Michael Buffer says he's considering SELLING the rights to his insanely famous "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" catchphrase!

This is a HUUUGE deal ... 71-year-old Buffer has been ferociously protective of the phrase, which he famously trademarked in 1992 -- and the rights to it could be worth a FORTUNE!!!

So, it was shocking when he told us Wednesday night that he's thinking about retiring -- and selling the rights once and for all.

9:23 AM PT -- We asked GQ if Gronk was really fully naked for the shoot.

The answer -- "Yes, he was naked."

Boom.

So, here's a pic from Gronk's highly anticipated GQ article ... in which the photo shoot motivation was apparently, "Surprise! Here's my dong!"

The flashee in the shot is supermodel Hailey Clauson -- who teamed up with the Pats tight end for the cover of the upcoming June issue of the magazine.

The guy who wrote the article about Gronk spent some time embedded with the NFL star and described his life the following way:

"Gronkowski seems to exist in a permanent shower of champagne spray and nightclub-foam-party foam ... all without ever seeming like a creepy douchebag.”

#GronkJustBeingGronk

Bruce is gone and he's not coming back -- 'cause Caitlyn Jenner is NOT transitioning back into a man ... despite reports to the contrary.

The rumors stem from famous biographer Ian Halperin -- who claimed that while researching Caitlyn for a book, was told by a source that she was experiencing "sex change regret" and was considering de-transitioning back to a man.

Halperin says multiple sources close to the Kardashian family said the move wouldn't surprise them.

But Caitlyn's rep is calling full BS on the report -- telling the NY Daily News, "Of course it's not true."

The rep also called the story "idiotic."

Shackled and sporting an orange jail jumpsuit, WWE superstar Adam Rose appeared in Florida court Thursday in his domestic violence case ... where his wife begged the judge to cut the guy a break.

Michael Strahan doesn't want fanfare Friday as he exits 'Live' for 'GMA' ... we've learned the show will be a look back at the last 4 years, minus some hard feelings by his co-host over the last 2 weeks.

Sources on the show tell us ... Friday's 'Live' will be laced with clips from shows past, highlighting Michael's ascendancy ... ironically the very thing that caused Kelly Ripa to intensely dislike him.

We're told there will be 2 guests ... Carmelo Anthony and Matt Bomer.

Michael will likely end the show thanking the staff and his fans for their support.

His exit isn't coming a day too soon. We're told Kelly barely says a word to him off camera. He has a habit of knocking on her door when it's time to go out onstage, and she now walks out without even acknowledging him. As we reported, her makeup door used to be open and he'd say hi. It's now shut.

And our sources say there's a lot of acrimony on the staff, because when Kelly came back after her boycott she talked about how they were all family, and how important it was to keep the lines of communications open. We're told the day she came back she hardly said a word to anyone on the staff or to Michael ... she only spoke to her husband and her agent.

There's also lots of support for Michael, because many on the staff say he did nothing wrong. All he did was agree to be a good soldier and go to another show on the same network ... per bosses orders.

You don't CUSS SOMEONE OUT for congratulating the person that beat you ... so says UFC legend Randy Couture, who says Ronda Rousey was straight up wrong for going ballistic on Paige VanZant.

As we previously reported, Ronda sought out Paige at a VIP event last month -- and ripped her a new one for having the audacity to give Holly Holm props for beating Ronda at UFC 193.

"You shouldn't take that sort of thing personally," Randy told us.

"If you lose, then you congratulate the guy who just beat you, so why would it be an issue?"

So far, Ronda has yet to speak publicly about the incident ... but so far, she hasn't exactly denied it.

Adrien Broner is in crisis mode -- BEGGING his fiancee to take him back after reportedly cheating on her.

The boxer and his fiancee -- aka Miss Louiebags -- just had a baby together earlier this year ... but she hit the road after Broner's reported trickiness.

Clearly, the split is driving him crazy ... and he's making all sorts of videos begging her for another chance.

"Baby, I miss you. I hope you see this. Call me, I'm hurting."

Broner says he's been so distracted, he recently got pulled over by the cops because he couldn't think straight.