TMZ Sports - Page 50

We’ve matched up elite athletes from around the world in a battle of Olympic hotties ... check out the gallery and vote for which 2016 Rio Olympians win your gold!

Jim Leyritz -- the guy who blasted one of the most famous home runs in Yankees World Series History -- says if he was running his ex-team ... he'd let A-Rod play as long as he wanted to.

A-Rod had said publicly that he wanted to play 3rd base during his final game Friday night -- but Yanks skipper Joe Girardi nixed the idea ... only allowing him to be a DH instead.

Some people are upset saying A-Rod deserved to go out on his own terms -- others say screw him, he's a cheater and doesn't deserve anything.

So, we put it up to Leyritz -- who played with Joe G. back in the day -- and he says in this situation, he disagrees with his old teammate.

"The guy's one of the greatest 5 players to ever play ... I would've played him until he wanted to stop."

2:13 PM PT -- A rep for Antonio tells TMZ Sports ... "His mother has been paying the mortgage on the house since 2011. That's the deal they have in place."

"It wasn't until June that she refused to make any payments."

The rep says Antonio's children are his priority financially -- and he adamantly believes his mother and her husband have the funds to support themselves.

The mother of NFL star Antonio Cromartie claims her son is trying to evict her from the Florida home he bought for her back in 2007 ... and it's all over money.

Hope Solo just went off on the Swedish soccer team ... reportedly calling them "a bunch of cowards" after Team USA lost in a penalty shootout.

An obviously pissed off Solo spoke with reporters directly after the game ... and said, "I’m very proud of this team. But I also think we played a bunch of cowards."

"The best team did not win today. I strongly believe that. I think you saw American heart. You saw us give everything we had today," reports SI.com's Grant Wahl.

When asked why she called Sweden "cowards" -- Solo explained said she wasn't impressed with their style of play ... especially the lack of passing.

"They dropped into a 50. They didn’t try and press. They didn’t want to open the game. And they tried to counter with longballs. We had that style of play when Pia was our coach. I don’t think they’re going to make it far in the tournament. I think it was very cowardly. But they won. They’re moving on, and we’re going home."

Ray Lewis says the 15 days he spent behind bars were some of the worst in his life -- and claims he was forced to smuggle in food ... to avoid eating the moldy-ass jail bologna.

Lewis was locked up in 2000 -- when he was charged with murder following an incident after a Super Bowl party in Atlanta. The murder charges were dismissed and he later pled guilty to obstruction of justice.

But now, Lewis is opening up about his jail experience to Cigar Aficionado -- saying the food was so bad behind bars he had to find his very own Red from 'Shawshank' to get him some decent eats.

"For like the first seven, eight days I never ate anything outside of orange halves. If you saw the moldy bologna and things that they were trying to … I was not an animal. And I was not going to succumb to that."

"So every day [my friend] would bring me a bunch of orange halves. He snuck them in for me."

Lewis has previously called his jail sting "evil" -- and adds, "What happened to me, those 15 days, I will live for the rest of my life. And I’m OK with that."

Huge news for Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan ... who's just been named the PRESIDENT of a major pro wrestling organization.

IMPACT Ventures -- which oversees Impact and TNA pro wrestling -- just announced that Corgan has been appointed President ... and will lead day-to-day operations.

"Billy is a visionary, an iconic artist and savvy businessman with an incredibly gifted creative mind," IMPACT chairman Dixie Carter said.

"In working with Billy over the last 16 months, he has impressed me to the point that I’ve been in discussions with him to take an elevated strategic leadership role within the company."

49-year-old Corgan joined the company as a senior producer back in 2015 -- and has flourished in his role.

"I believe in this company, its passionate fans, the talented roster and the dedicated staff and crew."

Eddie George says he COMMENDS fellow Ohio State alum Joey Bosa for holding out from Chargers training camp ... saying the NFL is a business and he MUST look out for numero uno.

Bosa -- the #3 overall pick in the draft -- has been getting serious heat for holding out (some of it from teammates) ... so much so that his mom took to Twitter to stick up for her kid.

But George LIKES that Bosa is taking such a strong stand -- saying some NFL teams will "screw" players if they don't have a strong team in place to fight for them.

As for criticism that Bosa's game will suffer as a result of missing practice, George calls BS -- saying he's a "natural freak" who's got plenty of time to get in football shape.

The International Olympic Committee tells TMZ Sports ... they are officially investigating Egyptian judo fighter Islam El Shehaby to find out why he refused to shake the hand of his Israeli opponent.

"The IOC has set up a Disciplinary Commission to look into this matter," a rep for the IOC tells us.

As we previously reported, Israeli fighter Or Sasson defeated El Shehaby in a 100kg judo match in Rio on Friday -- and in customary judo fashion, extended his hand for a handshake.

El Shehaby refused ... though when the ref called both men back to the mat, the Egyptian gave a quick head bow.

The Dallas Cowboys are making it clear ... they will NOT sign Johnny Manziel to backup Tony Romo this year, no matter how desperate they get.

Johnny claims he's laser-focused on an NFL comeback -- and recently told TMZ Sports he wants to play for the Cowboys.

But Cowboys Executive Vice President Stephen Jones -- Jerry's son -- called into the Tiki and Tierney Show on CBS Radio and said there's "no chance" they make a move for Johnny.

"Obviously Johnny needs to get his hands around his life," Jones said.

"He needs to do the things that make him a good person off the field, I think, before he can ever have any chance of being successful in our league."

"He's a guy obviously from Texas that we've all followed and had an amazing career there at A&M. Unfortunately, he has some things that are holding him back not only as a football player, but as a person in life."

"I hope he is able to get his hands around his life, and at some point if he does, I'm sure he'll get another chance. But at the moment, it certainly won't be in Dallas."

An Egyptian judo fighter refused to shake the hand of his Israeli opponent after losing a 100kg match Friday at the Olympics in Rio.

The Egyptian is Islam El Shehaby -- who was defeated with about 90 seconds left in the match when his opponent Or Sasson completed a dominating 2nd takedown.

After the match, Sasson approached El Shehaby to shake his hand -- customary in Judo matches -- but El Shehaby refused.

People in the crowd reportedly booed.

It's unclear why El Shehaby refused the handshake -- he could have been pissed from losing -- but there are reports that it was more politically motivated.

Some powerful Egyptians had called for El Shehaby to withdraw from the fight in the first place to avoid having to compete with an Israeli opponent.

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw got served at his own charity ping-pong event Thursday night ... courtesy of Will Ferrell.

Will hosted Clayton's Ping Pong 4 Purpose event at Dodger Stadium -- which raises money for people in need all over the world.

After jokingly warning the guests about a man vs. coyote "danger round," Ferrell decided to clown Kershaw a little bit.

"How lucky are we to have the best pitcher in baseball on the Dodgers?" Ferrell said while standing next to the injured superstar.

"He couldn't be here tonight, but we got this guy who's supposedly on the DL!"

What do you show off on Instagram when you're a hot cheating Russian swimmer who doesn't have a gold medal??

Easy ... your ass.

That's the case for Yuliya Efimova's -- the 2-time convicted cheater who just won the silver medal in the 100m breaststroke in Rio.

Yuliya's page is packed with hot bikini shots from over the years -- but thanks to Team USA bad ass Lilly King, it's missing that golden photo.

King famously wagged her finger at Yuliya after beating her down in the 100m semi-final race over the weekend.

Oh, and if you're still looking for that gold medal shot ... that's over on King's page.

#GoUSA

The model who claims she's pregnant with Julian Edelman's baby just set up a sexy photo shoot ... and damn, 6 months preggo never looked so good!!!

NHL legend Jeremy Roenick says he wants to personally mentor Justin Bieber on the ice -- telling TMZ Sports he GUARANTEES he can take JB's skills to the next level.

Roenick says he saw the new hockey footage Bieber posted online this week -- and was genuinely impressed ... but says the guy has serious room to grow.

"He's pretty tough up top, I don't know about the calves and the thighs though ... it's a little weak."

So, what's the plan?

Jeremy says he'll put together a REAL comprehensive hockey-based workout plan for Bieber -- noting, "I will make you a WAY better hockey player."

Dallas Cowboys star Orlando Scandrick just got himself a sick new L.A. crib ... for his kid's crib ... locking down a 5 bedroom monster for a cool $2.8 mil.