TMZ Sports - Page 50

Accused child abuser Adrian Peterson wants to remind you -- he's still one of the faces of Nike ... emerging from his home today decked out in Swoosh gear.

The embattled Vikings running back was leaving his pad in Minnesota Tuesday morning -- where he's expected to rejoin the team for practice this week ... and ya gotta think, he's clearly testing his relationship with his sponsor.

It was just yesterday that the Radisson hotel chain suspended its relationship with the Vikings following a news conference in which a team rep announced Peterson's reinstatement in front of a banner featuring the hotel's logo.

So now, with AP so proudly sporting the swoosh -- while legal proceedings continue in the child abuse case from May -- it'll be interesting to see if Nike stays with him or follows Radisson's lead.

Just a few days ago, Nike issued a statement saying it's "aware of the allegations" and will "closely monitor the situation."

24 hours after a dominant TWO touchdown performance, Washington Redskins running back Alfred Morris was already back to work ... as a waiter a fancy steak restaurant.

Morris -- and several of his teammates strapped on some aprons for "Celebrity Waiter Night" at Ruth's Chris in Arlington, VA ... where the guys served up appetizers to raise money for charity.

On his way into the steak joint, Morris told us being a waiter is CAKE compared to his job on the gridiron ... saying, "All you do is smile and be polite!"

The gang raised money for the Blitz for the Better foundation -- which helps out families in need in the D.C. area ... especially families with children who are ill, have special needs or are physically challenged.

Tickets went for $350-a-pop ... hopefully, the guy (who's one of the most underpaid players in the NFL) made out with a few tips.

Dwight Howard might be color blind -- 'cause officials in Florida say he ran 10 RED LIGHTS in 2-and-a-half years -- and now his license has been suspended ... TMZ Sports has learned.

According to official records, the NBA superstar was captured by those red light cameras in Orange County, FL over and over again ... starting in 2012, when he was busted 9 times in 10 months.

Then, after a year-and-a-half without a violation, Howard struck again in 2014 -- blowing through another red light on July 1st ... his 10th overall infraction.

Officials from the Orange County Clerk of Courts tell us ... Howard's license can be reinstated if he pays a $285 fine.

We're guessing he can afford it.

Boxing phenom Gerald Washington was arrested in Burbank, CA late Monday night ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Washington -- a former tight end at USC -- is 14-0 in the ring ... but last night, the 32-year-old found himself in handcuffs after a routine traffic stop went south.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... cops noticed Washington's Chevy truck was "straddling the lines" just before midnight ... plus, he had expired tags ... so they pulled him over.

During the stop, cops determined Washington was NOT under the influence -- but officers noticed a warrant out for his arrest stemming for a previous driving without a license incident.

He was taken into custody and bail was set at $5k.

NBA star Andrei Kirilenko says he's shocked that burglars broke into his Salt Lake City home and jacked a bunch of his stuff last week -- telling TMZ Sports they took a few special items that made him really upset.

The Brooklyn Nets player was heading to the Celebrity Dodge Barrage charity event at Basketball City in NYC -- when he opened up about the incident ... saying, "I know Utah is the safest place in the world and I'm very surprised it happened there."

Overall, AK47 (who played for the Jazz for 10 years) says he's staying positive about the incident -- even though cops have yet to make an arrest -- but it's clear he's bummed out that he'll probably never see some of his most treasured possessions ever again.

7:53 AM PT -- CBS released a statement saying they will NOT use Rihanna's performance going forward, saying, "Beginning this Thursday, we will be moving in a different direction with some elements of our Thursday Night Football open. We will be using our newly created Thursday Night Football theme music to open our game broadcast."

It took a few days, but Rihanna is finally lashing out about CBS' decision to yank her musical opening from "Thursday Night Football" last week and air it this week instead ... and let's just say she's not happy.

With the Ray Rice scandal still fresh, and the Ravens set to play the Steelers, CBS opted not to run a taped musical segment featuring Rihanna ... seeing as she had been the victim of high-profile domestic violence.

But with the segment now set to air this week, Rihanna took to Twitter to blast CBS, writing, "CBS you pulled my song last week, now you wanna slide it back in this Thursday? NO, F*** you! Y'all are sad for penalizing me for this."

As for what she means by "penalizing" ... it's pretty clear she feels CBS will not allow her to move on from getting beaten by Chris Brown 5 years ago.

She followed that up by writing, "The audacity ..."

Rihanna was in Barbados Monday ... looking extremely good.

Floyd Mayweather was snubbed by Warren Buffett before his championship fight Saturday night, because the billionaire and his company had issues with the champ, weed and women.

Sources connected to both Mayweather and Buffett tell TMZ ... the mogul had agreed to walk Floyd into the ring ... accompanied by Justin Bieber and Wiz Khalifa. In fact, we're told Buffett was excited to be part of Team Money.

But our sources say Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, had problems with the spectacle, primarily because of a Mayweather documentary -- "All Access." Buffett is featured in the flick with Floyd ... and the very next scene shows Money carousing with women while his posse rolls joints.

The documentary didn't sit well with Buffett's people -- they felt it reflected badly on their boss. We're told at around 10 A.M. Saturday ... Warren agreed and 86'd his plan to walk Floyd into the ring.

After Floyd found out Buffett bailed ... he decided to walk out alone.

Buffett still went to the fight and was with Floyd in his dressing room before the bout.

Deion Sanders is completely underwater after his pool emptied into his Dallas penthouse apartment ... and now he wants millions from the company he blames for drenching him.

The NFL Hall of Famer had been trying to sell his $6.5 million Dallas pad in the ritzy Azure tower -- where Terrell Owens and Jason Kidd have also lived -- when he hired WWPS, Inc. to work on the pool back in 2012. Mind you, the pool is INSIDE Deion's home. Baller style.

According to the docs ... 2 days after the work was done, Deion's realtor stopped by and found the place flooded. This all went down while he was in the middle of a nasty divorce ... so the cash flow would've come in handy.

5:05 PM PT -- Sources close to the investigation tell TMZ the reason the case went nowhere is because Adrian did NOT strike the boy in the forehead -- but instead the child accidentally hit his head on a carseat while Adrian was punishing him.

We're also told the form of discipline was "not impermissible." Under Texas law parents are allowed to administer reasonable punishment.

Peterson's attorney tells us an adult witness backed him up, saying Adrian "did nothing inappropriate with his son."

Adrian Peterson is under investigation for a SECOND child abuse case involving one of his other children.

This new investigation involves an incident that allegedly went down in June 2013 ... and the probe was launched after the then 4-year-old boy went home to his mother with a scar on his forehead.

The station says Adrian sent the mother a text message saying the child hit his head on a carseat -- but when the mother questioned him further ... Peterson eventually admitted hitting the child.

The mother reported the incident to Child Protective Services, but no charges were ever filed against Peterson.

Earlier today ... Peterson issued a public apology for the other case -- for which he's been indicted -- saying he was sorry for hurting the child during a visit in May.

Vince Young is firing back at allegations he took out -- and never repaid -- a $700k loan ... telling TMZ Sports his crooked ex-financial advisor signed the papers behind his back -- and Vince never saw one single dime.

We broke the story ... Vince is being sued by Triton Financial ... which claims VY took the loan out in 2011 and never paid it back.

But Vince tells TMZ Sports ... he's the "real victim" of a scheme concocted by his former financial advisor Ron Peoples.

"He was doing things without my approval -- getting big loans out," Vince says ... "He never had my authority."

Vince notes that when the loan was taken out, he was still on the Tennessee Titans and rollin' in NFL dough -- "Why do I need the loan? I'm out playing ball, making money at the time."

Young admits he does have financial problems because he "trusted the wrong people" -- but says he's working his ass off to "clean up the mess."

Besides working with the students through the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at the University of Texas, Young has also started his own management company.

"It's called Access Brand Management ... we go in and help athletes who get in trouble and work with them to get them back on the right track."

Floyd "Money" Mayweather did not share A PENNY of the $32 MILLION he earned Saturday night with the waitress who served him $25,000 worth of booze and chicken wings ... TMZ has learned.

Nik Nguyen tells TMZ ... she thought she'd hit the jackpot when Floyd walked into Rehab at the Hard Rock Sunday afternoon with around 150 people. Floyd and crew ordered:

5 bottles of Patron - $2,375
3 Grey Goose - $1,425
6 bottles of Ciroc - $2,850
20 bottles of Luc Belaire Rose champagne - $11,500
1 6-liter bottle of Luc Belaire Rose - $6,500
200 chicken wings - $600
1 fruit platter - $55

TOTAL BILL: $25,305.

Nguyen tells us ... she went the extra mile to provide Floyd and company with excellent service. Not surprisingly ... the Hard Rock ended up comping Floyd, and he showed his gratitude by leaving Nguyen ... chicken bones, empty bottles and that's it.

She says it's especially maddening because some of the people in Floyd's entourage -- including Jamie Foxx -- were throwing money at random girls who were twerking on stage.

Nguyen says she's been struggling with 2 jobs and the recent death of her father ... but she didn't walk walk away empty-handed. She says security guards felt so sorry for her they scooped up a few bucks the twerkers left behind and gave it to her.

We've called Floyd's team ... so far, no comment.

Adrian Peterson has just released the following statement ... asking everyone to "understand how sorry I feel about the hurt I have brought to my child."

Peterson also says he has met with a psychologist and is learning there are other ways to discipline a child other than with a "switch."

The statement reads:

"My attorney has asked me not to discuss the facts of my pending case. I hope you can respect that request and help me honor it. I very much want the public to hear from me but I understand that it is not appropriate to talk about the facts in detail at this time. Nevertheless, I want everyone to understand how sorry I feel about the hurt I have brought to my child.

The NFL contacted Texas prosecutors Monday ... asking for all available information on the Adrian Peterson child abuse case ... TMZ Sports has learned.

An official from the Montgomery County D.A.'s Office tells us ... prosecutors only turned over what they have already made public. We're told the NFL is not entitled to the case file since it is not a law enforcement agency.

The D.A. official tells us the Minnesota Vikings organization has NOT made contact with prosecutors.

Adrian Peterson will RETURN to the Minnesota Vikings this week -- and will play against the New Orleans Saints Sunday ... the team has announced.

The Vikings deactivated Peterson in the wake of allegations he abused his 4-year-old son by beating him with a "switch." Peterson had been indicted for felony child abuse.

But now, the team says it will allow Peterson to come back to work while the "judicial process" moves forward.

Team owner Zygi Wilf issued a statement explaining his decision ... saying, "On Friday, we felt it was in the best interests of the organization to step back, evaluate the situation, and not rush to judgment given the seriousness of this matter. At that time, we made the decision that we felt was best for the Vikings and all parties involved."

"To be clear, we take very seriously any matter that involves the welfare of a child. At this time, however, we believe this is a matter of due process and we should allow the legal system to proceed so we can come to the most effective conclusions and then determine the appropriate course of action."

"This is a difficult path to navigate, and our focus is on doing the right thing. Currently we believe we are at a juncture where the most appropriate next step is to allow the judicial process to move forward."

"We will continue to monitor the situation closely and support Adrian’s fulfillment of his legal responsibilities throughout this process."

Roger Goodell has reportedly just hired 3 women as "senior advisers" ... in an effort to shape the NFL's domestic violence and sexual assault policies.

The women -- Lisa Friel, Jane Randel and Rita Smith -- will be tasked with "making a real difference on these and other issues" ... so says the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

Friel was the head of the Manhattan D.A.'s sex crimes unit for almost a decade ... but was reportedly asked to step down in 2011 after appearing in an HBO documentary and discussing details about a pending case.

More financial problems for Vince Young ... TMZ Sports has learned the ex-NFL star has been sued for allegedly borrowing $700k back in 2011 and never paying it back.

The allegations are pretty cut and dry -- Young and his former financial adviser Ron Peoples are being sued by Triton Financial ... which claims Young took out the loan in April 2011 (when he was still with the Tennessee Titans) and agreed to pay the WHOLE THING BACK in 5 short months.

Young also agreed to pay a $21k "origination fee."

Problem is, according to Titan, Young never forked over the money ... and now his debt (with interest) has grown to a whopping $1,163,194.58.

It's just another HUGE money issue for Young -- who sued Peoples back 2012 claiming the guy cheated him out of millions. The two reportedly reached a settlement.

Young filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year ... and according official docs, he owes between $1 mil and $10 mil in various debts.