TMZ Sports - Page 50

Nike will no longer pay Adrian Peterson to "just do it" -- the company has fired him on the heels of the plea deal in his child abuse case.

Nike had suspended its contract with Peterson in September, right after he was arrested for hitting his son with a switch -- but today the company fully cut ties with the Vikings running back.

Nike has not said why it finally decided to 86 him altogether -- but it comes just 2 days after he entered a no contest plea to one count of misdemeanor reckless assault. So, it certainly seems tied to the conviction.

His NBA career is likely over ... but Lamar Odom is still working out hard -- possibly preparing his body to reenter the dating pool.

With his estranged wife Khloe Kardashian having moved on to French Montana ... Odom has been spotted working out at an L.A. gym and running along the beach in the last few weeks.

As we previously reported, Lamar has been putting off finalizing the divorce ... but maybe the fact he's tuning up his body is a sign that he's finally ready to rebound.

Fun Fact -- today's Lamar's birthday. Happy 35th!

Kevin Durant will be a free agent in 2016 ... and Mark Wahlberg is already lobbying to get him into a Celtics jersey.

We were talkin' to Mark about his custom Celtics basketball court at his new L.A. mansion and asked if any Celtics players had actually played there.

Wahlberg revealed that K.D. shot some hoops on the court recently -- and then made his pitch for the MVP to come to Beantown when his contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder is after next season.

It's probably an uphill battle for Celtic Nation ... Durant is reportedly leaning toward re-signing with OKC or heading to Washington D.C. ... where he grew up.

Still, good luck.

Did you know ... Sylvester Stallone sparred with REAL championship boxer Roberto Duran when he shot "Rocky II?"

Well, he did ... and according to Sly -- Duran took him to school.

Sly brought up the memory while talking about Bernard Hopkins out in Beverly Hills yesterday -- explaining why B-Hop is the "real" Rocky Balboa.

But when we asked Stallone if he thinks he could spar with the 49-year-old champ, Sly told us he already learned his lesson about trading blows with the pros ... thanks to Duran.

Stallone has been open about the reality check in the past ... and there are reports that he asked Duran to pull back on the punches during shooting because he was hitting too damn hard.

"Professionals and [acting] are two different things," Stallone says ... "I kind of interpreted it. They're the real deal."

His GF claims Floyd Mayweather pulled a gun on her ... and repeatedly beat her up ... but Nelly says HE'S not going to bury the hatchet with the boxer because "I ain't got no hatchet to bury."

It's an interesting statement ... considering Nelly's girlfriend Shantel Jackson filed a bombshell lawsuit against Mayweather earlier this year ... essentially saying Floyd terrorized her during their 2-year relationship.

Floyd and Nelly have also exchanged barbs in the media -- but last night, when Nelly was leaving Pinz bowling alley in L.A., the rapper insisted he's not the one holding the grudge.

Tom Brady's got TWO big movies in the works ... so says Mark Wahlberg who revealed that Brady will appear in "Ted 2" and the upcoming "Entourage" flick.

Wahlberg was talking to ESPN's Bill Simmons on "The B.S. Report" this week when he dropped the details about Brady's role in the Ted sequel.

"Tom’s in the movie. He plays himself, but he does an amazing job. Funny, funny moment."

Mark says he plays a Boston repair man guy who gets a call to service Tom's house -- and hilarity ensues when he tries to play it off like he doesn't recognize the QB.

"I'm playing an air conditioning guy, so I'm asking [Tom] to sign the paper ... and then I say, 'Can you sign that to me and Ted' ... and, you know, 'Put #12 there' ... and 'Can you put Eli Manning Sucks?' and 'Can you put Wes Welker's a traitor?'"

He was Frank the Tank ... Ron Burgundy ... and Jackie Moon ... but now Will Ferrell could have his next role lined up -- Kobe Bryant.

The NBA legend hit up the Hublot shop in Beverly Hills Wednesday night to debut the new King Power Los Angeles Lakers watch ... when we asked him if he's ever thought about Hollywood making a movie based on his life.

Ya gotta watch the clip ... Kobe suggests the perfect title for his biopic ... then suggests that Will play the lead. He's even got a backup plan in case Will can't do it.

Will Smith's 1st wife is punching her 2nd ticket for the divorce train ... Sheree Fletcher has filed court docs to end her marriage to ex-NFL star Terrell Fletcher ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Sheree -- who was married to Will from 1992-95 (their son Trey appeared in the "Just the Two of Us" video") -- has been married to Fletcher since 2007 ... but they separated back in July.

Now, according to court docs filed in L.A. County Superior Court ... Sheree wants to pull the plug on the marriage for good, citing irreconcilable differences.

Sheree is gunning for spousal support ... though she doesn't specify how much she wants.

As for Terrell -- he spent 7 years as a running back with the San Diego Chargers ... and now he's a pastor, though he sometimes appears on "Hollywood Exes" with Sheree ... who is one of the stars of the VH1 reality show.

Artie Lange is persona non grata at ESPN after tweeting a slew of sexual and racially charged jokes about a female African-American ESPN host ... TMZ has learned.

Lange sparked outrage across the Internet Wednesday when he tweeted his graphic sexual fantasy about Cari Champion from "First Take" -- which involved her being a slave owned by Thomas Jefferson. Lange envisioned himself as Jefferson.

ESPN initially called Lange's tweets "reprehensible," but now a spokesperson for the network tells TMZ they've flat out banned him. We're told ... "there will be no future bookings" for the comedian.

Late Wednesday evening Lange tweeted an apology directly to Champion -- but oddly added that he stood by the "joke" as a comedian.

Lange was also cut from a Comedy Central gig because of the slavery tweets.

President Obama finally fired back at Michael Jordan for calling him a “sh**ty golfer."

Based on the President's awesome comeback -- we feel safe to say Barack won the back 9.

It was a hard knock life for Roc-A-Fella records co-founder Damon Dash on Wednesday when he stepped into a boxing ring with 2-time welterweight champ Andre Berto ... and got socked up.

Dash and Berto were training at the famous Ten Goose Boxing gym in L.A. with Ricky Funez ... when they decided to turn things up a notch and spar against each other.

Props to Dash for having the stones to test his mettle against one of the BEST fighters alive ... and he got a few good shots off ... but in the end, it was all Berto.

Side note ... Dame had a celebrity audience watching the fight -- with Cam'ron and Lil Za ringside when the whole thing went down.

Starlin Castro is gonna have some seriously filthy fun before baseball starts up again -- the Chicago Cubs shortstop just scooped up a new off-road toy, and turned it into a rolling nightclub.

TMZ Sports has learned the 3-time All-Star bought a 2015 Polaris 1000 -- a serious all-terrain vehicle -- which he pimped out with 4 custom 24-inch waterproof speakers.

The Auto Firm in Miami did the tricking out, and owner Alex Vega tells us Starlin shelled out $25K for the customizing, on top of the $20K for the ATV.

Maybe the pimpest addition -- the speakers AND custom wheels light up in different colors! They'll see and hear Starlin coming from blocks away ... when he ships the rave-on-wheels down to his native Dominican Republic.

Derek Jeter fans can literally buy the DIRT he walked on -- because a sports memorabilia company is selling a collage of "dirt capsules" obtained from the 30 ballparks where #2 racked up his 3,465 hits.

We spoke to Brandon Steiner from Steiner Sports, who tells us ... his people went from stadium to stadium collecting the dirt -- which was all authenticated by Major League Baseball.

And the price ... $359.99 per collage.

President Barack Obama is lashing back at Michael Jordan -- telling His Airness to stop focusing on golf ... and FIX YOUR CRAPPY NBA FRANCHISE!!

Obama was talking with Wisconsin radio station WJMR -- when he was asked about the shots MJ took during an interview with Ahmad Rashad ... when he called B.O. a "sh**ty golfer."

"Mike and I, we know each other, but I've never played golf with him," Obama said ... "Michael wasn't very well informed about this. I think he might've just been trying to give Ahmad an extra ratings boost on his show."

"He might want to spend more time thinking about the Bobcats ... or the Hornets."

FYI -- MJ's Hornets are 1-3.

Your move, MJ.

Warren Sapp was test driving a $300K Rolls-Royce Wraith this morning ... but don't worry, the ex-bankrupt, ex-NFL star did NOT drive it off the lot.

Everyone knows Sapp had major financial problems -- in fact, his money problems were so bad, his SHOE COLLECTION was auctioned off to pay off his multi-million dollar debt.

That's why it was so shocking to see Sapp flirting with a Rolls-Royce today -- especially after completing a court-ordered financial management class just 2 years ago ... where he was taught about reckless spending.

So why was he there? We're told Warren was personally invited to the Rolls-Royce driving event in Palm Beach, FL because he was a past client.

We're told attendees were welcome to purchase a car at the event -- but Warren wisely passed on the offer.

Molly Shattuck -- the 47-year-old former cheerleader accused of raping a 15-year-old boy -- has been barred from the alleged victim's school ... which is the same school her 3 kids attend.

McDonogh School Headmaster Charles W. Britton addressed the scandal in a letter to parents, saying he reported the allegation to the Baltimore County Police Department as soon as it was brought to his attention.

Britton sent the letter to inform parents Shattuck -- a former Baltimore Ravens cheerleader -- had been barred from the school, and additional security measures were now in place.