TMZ Sports - Page 50

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred doesn't seem to think there will be any issues with the World Series champs visiting Trump's White House after the season ... despite all sorts of evidence to the contrary.

Here's what Manfred told the media before Game 2 of the World Series on Wednesday.

"I think as an institution, Major League Baseball has always had the greatest respect for the office of the presidency. That doesn’t change, no matter who’s there."

He continued, "Often we’ve had situations where individuals, players, whatever, don’t agree with all of the policies of the individual that occupies the office. I think the important thing is respect for the office.”

Wishful thinking but probably not realistic ... as Red Sox manager Alex Cora has expressed displeasure with Trump just last month for "disrespecting" his native Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

"To be tweeting about 3,000 people [dying] and being efficient, it's actually disrespectful for my country," Cora said. "We see it that way. I know he probably doesn't feel that way."

On the Dodgers side, Magic Johnson HATES Trump -- and has previously compared him to a "dictator."

So, no drama? Yeah right ...

Zlatan can run ... Zlatan can score ... Zlatan CAN DANCE!!!

The soccer legend went on "The Late Late Show With James Corden" and proved there's a lot of walk behind all his talk -- nailing a perfect floss dance right on cue.

In fact ... Corden was so impressed -- he wanted some lessons!!!

So, what was the reason for the night-time dance party?? James needed to figure out if Zlatan really CAN do anything.

The first test? Name three Kardashians.

The second test? Open a jar of pickles.

The third test? Hit the floss.

Done, done and BIG-TIME done.

Then, for good measure, he pronounced his full name with a mouth full of marshmallows. Impressive.

Charlamagne Tha God says he's still a Dallas Cowboys fan -- despite calling Jerry Jones the "most racist owner in the whole league."

Charlamagne was out in NYC promoting his book "Shook One" where he told us he's still trying to maintain his NFL boycott -- but it's hard ... and sometimes he cheats.

"I'm cheating, I'm not gonna lie," Char says ... "Eric Reid is back there. He's giving them white folks hell. He keeping his foot in their ass. So, I'm watching for Eric Reid."

Of course, Eric participated in the national anthem kneeling demonstration with Colin Kaepernick a few years ago -- and then couldn't get a job earlier this year.

He sued the NFL -- but earlier this month, the Carolina Panthers picked him up ... so "The Breakfast Club" host says he's been trying to keep up with Reid's career.

As for the Cowboys, Char has been a lifelong Cowboys fan -- and even though he hates the owner, he's still sticking by his team.

We asked Charlamagne how he felt about Jerry Jones going to the African American History Museum in D.C. this week -- and he had strong feelings about that too.

Ridiculously gorgeous hoops playing sisters, the Gonzalez twins, are jumping out of the music biz to focus making it into the WNBA, TMZ Sports has learned.

Dylan & Dakota were both stars at UNLV -- and even Drake came to their games to show the love. But, they left school early to pursue music careers, mainly because of NCAA made it tough for them to play and release songs.

But, now sources tell TMZ Sports the IG superstars (over 1 million followers each) have decided to jump back into basketball, training full-time to knock the rust off and get back into form.

We're told they even have a team in mind ... hoping to get roster spots on the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces by the time the 2019 season tips off next May.

If you think it's a pipe dream you're wrong, when the 6'0" twins were at UNLV they were HUGE contributors ... with Dakota actually leading the team in scoring.

We wish the girls luck, but if basketball doesn't work out (which it probably will, they're great) the gallery below proves they have plenty to fall back on.

The Toronto Overwatch squad finally has an official team name -- TORONTO DEFIANT!!!

It's a big deal in the eSports world -- there are 20 teams from cities all over the world competing in the official Overwatch league.

Toronto was 1 of the 8 expansion franchises that joined the league for the 2019 season -- and now they're debuting their official team name and colors.

Check out the logo ... featuring red and black colors next to some bad-ass looking heroes.

The team will compete in the Atlantic Division when the league kicks off in February -- taking on squads from Boston, London, Houston and New York.

FYI, it's a tough division considering London won the Overwatch League championship in 2018.

TMZ Sports spoke with Toronto's team president, Chris Overholt, who tells us since Drake is becoming a big eSports fan, they're hoping he'll come out and support the hometown squad.

And, since team players make a real-life salary in the Overwatch league, we asked if anyone would crack 7 figures this year ... but it doesn't seem we're at that point quite yet.

The highest player in the league right now is a 17-year-old who goes by the name Sinatraa -- he's making $150k per year (and his mom had to sign his contract).

Bottom line -- eSports is exploding, so get your kids some sticks already.

All the hand-wringing over CTE and its link to football needs to SLOW THE HELL DOWN ... so says Merril Hoge -- who tells TMZ Sports he's getting support from NFL stars like Ben Roethlisberger.

Merril -- an ex-Steelers RB and former ESPN analyst -- makes the argument in his new book, "Brainwashed: The Bad Science Behind CTE and the Plot to Destroy Football," that football does NOT necessarily lead to CTE, as some reports have strongly suggested.

In fact ... Merril tells us it was those articles that made him want to write the book in the first place.

"You look at a headline and all of this fear that is driven from CTE, I wanted to understand the science."

Merril's findings?? CTE does exist and is a problem ... but he wants to know more about the condition and what causes it before pointing the finger at football.

Hoge tells us A TON of current and former players that have read the book couldn't agree more -- including Big Ben!!

"I have not had a player that has said anything negative that has read the book to this point," Merril says ... "A lot of them have been relieved!"

New York Giants legend Amani Toomer tells TMZ Sports the problem in NY ain't Eli Manning ... it's his trash O-line!!!

Of course ... Amani's biased -- dude is rockin' a Super Bowl ring these days 'cause of Eli's heroics in SB XLII -- but he swears he's tellin' the truth.

"I'm not an Eli apologist," Toomer tells us ... "I just think that, in my honest opinion, I just don't think Eli's it -- I don't think he's the issue."

So, what is? Amani tells us to look at the five dudes in front of Manning for that.

"Realistically, there's not many quarterbacks that you can insert in this situation and get an appreciable difference."

As for the future of the franchise ... Amani says the team just needs to stick with Eli -- 'cause the ex-WR clearly HATES the idea of drafting QBs.

"I think when you're getting a rookie quarterback," Toomer says ... "you're wishing on a star."

Lauren McCluskey -- the Utah track star who was brutally murdered on campus this week -- will be honored by the entire Utes football team when they take on UCLA Friday.

The school announced players will wear a black and white sticker featuring a winged foot with Lauren's name on it ... in remembrance of the slain student.

As we previously reported ... 21-year-old McCluskey -- a 2017 honorable mention Pac-12 All-Academic -- was shot to death by her ex-bf on Monday after finding out he was a registered sex offender.

Utah announced in addition to the helmet decals ... they'll hand out a similar sticker at this week's women's volleyball and women's soccer games to remember her legacy.

For their part ... UCLA says it'll hold a moment of silence for McCluskey at the Rose Bowl.

Former Miami Hurricanes head football coach Al Golden is suing his former employer -- claiming the University screwed him out of $3 million after they fired him back in 2015.

Golden says he signed a massive multi-million dollar contract to lead the Canes back in 2011 -- a deal loaded with incentives. The contract says Golden's initial base salary was $150k per year but the upside was tremendous.

For example ... as part of his deal, the University of Miami guaranteed that in addition to his base salary and bonuses, Golden would get MILLIONS from third parties for TV and radio deals.

$1.25 mil for year 1, $1.675 mil for year 2 ... and incrementally increasing all the way up to $2.94 million for year 9.

Golden would receive a $750k bonus if Miami won the BCS Championship game, $400k for a 2nd place finish, $300k for a non-title BCS bowl game 1st place finish and so on.

More bonuses include ... $25k for 10 regular season wins, $75k for 11 wins and $175k for 12 wins.

He also got $5,000 annually from UM's deal with Nike.

There's more ... Miami also provided Golden with a luxury car, paid for his membership to the fancy Deering Bay Country Club along with a bunch of UM football tickets and usage of the suite at Sun-Life Stadium.

Unclear exactly how Golden got to the $3 million he's asking for in the lawsuit -- but saying it's "separation pay" that he never received based on their deal.

An assistant coach for the University of Michigan gymnastics team was arrested earlier this month for having sex in public after officials say he nailed an 18-year-old member of the UM team in a car.

The asst. coach is 39-year-old Scott Vetere -- a former stud gymnast back in the day who was the 2000 Big Ten Gymnast of the Year.

Officials say Vetere and a female gymnast were doing floor exercises in a car in the parking lot of an Ann Arbor apartment building on Oct. 8 ... when they were spotted by police and arrested for performing an indecent act in public.

The female gymnast was also arrested. Both parties are due back in court next month.

A rep for the University of Michigan confirmed Vetere was "immediately suspended" when the school learned of his arrest.

He later resigned from his position and no longer works for the University.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has just approved a motion to release HALF of Khabib Nurmagomedov's $2 million purse from UFC 229 immediately.

The other $1 million will be held until Khabib's next hearing in front of the commission on Dec. 10 -- where the board will decide Khabib's ultimate punishment for the melee at the Oct. 6 incident.

Board members said during the hearing that they felt the $1 million they're still holding will cover all expenses related to the incident and is substantial enough to keep Khabib interested in the hearing.

Translation -- it's too much money for Khabib to blow off the commission.

NSAC officials noted that Khabib made roughly $5 to $6 million from the UFC 229 fight. It's interesting, considering Conor McGregor said he expected to make around $50 mil.

They also said had the board had access to additional video from the UFC 229 melee, they would have held Conor McGregor's purse as well.

As it stands now, both are due to appear in front of the Commission -- in person -- in December after the investigation is complete.

All hell ALMOST broke loose at a Kobe Bryant book signing in L.A. on Tuesday -- with cops responding to an upset crowd ... but sources at the scene tell us Mamba stepped in and diffused the situation.

Kobe was set to meet with 500 fans at Barnes & Noble at The Grove shopping center -- taking pictures and signing copies of his new book, "The Mamba Mentality: How I Play."

We're told everything was going fine until someone at the store let in an additional 300 people with less than 30 minutes left in the event.

When time was up and Kobe had to leave, sources say the crowd became upset -- and cops responded to keep the peace.

The good news -- one witness tells us Kobe grabbed the mic, thanked everyone for coming and said he would stay late until he met every person who came out to the event.

The Denver Broncos have axed backup QB Chad Kelly from the team after he was arrested Tuesday morning for allegedly trying to break into a Denver-area home.

Broncos general manager John Elway was furious after learning about the arrest and decided it was best to get rid of Kelly ... according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

Cops say Kelly broke into a home around 1:17 AM and sat down on the couch next to a woman who was holding her baby. Kelly was reportedly mumbling incoherently at the time.

Police say someone in the home chased Kelly out while striking him with a piece from a vacuum. He was ultimately arrested for criminal trespassing.

Kelly had attended Von Miller's Halloween party earlier in the evening ... and there are reports Kelly had to be escorted out after getting into a physical altercation with another guest.

Elway released a statement on the decision, saying, "Even though Chad's no longer part of our team, we've offered to help him however we can and are supportive of him in every way possible."

The Boys in Blue were looking out for the Boys in Blue during Game 1 of the World Series -- check out the heavy LAPD presence in front of Yasiel Puig's home on Tuesday!

As we previously reported, cops had reached out to several Dodgers players to help make sure their homes were protected during the series -- unlike last year when Puig's home was burglarized during Game 7.

Cops believe Puig -- and several other high-profile people -- were targeted by a burglary ring that knew when Yasiel (and others) would be out of their homes.

So, this time ... with Puig and the Dodgers in Boston, the LAPD sent a few units to Yasiel's house to make sure the bad guys know they ain't playin' around this time!

Former pro skateboarder Neal Hendrix has been accused of sexually assaulting a much younger female pro skater when she was just 14 years old .... and now cops are investigating.

25-year-old Julie Lynn Kindstrand Nelson -- known professionally as Julz Lynn -- went public with the accusations on Tuesday ... saying Hendrix "used his position of influence to pursue his own sexual ambitions, which included luring me to have sex with him" ... beginning when he was in his early 30s.

Julz told espnW ... Hendrix first met her at a skate park in 2006 and convinced her to come to his apartment for "sex lessons." She also claims Hendrix masturbated in front of her and took naked videos of her while she was underage.

Julz has reached out to the Costa Mesa Police Department in CA -- and has also called for other possible victims of Hendrix to come forward.

She's also pointing the finger at skate officials -- saying the International Olympic Committee and USOC "never cared to pay any attention or look into illegal inappropriate interactions with many underage athletes."

Julz says her experience with Hendrix took her innocence and destroyed her career ... and now she's "in the process of getting my life back together."

Hendrix -- now 45 -- won five X Games medals during his career ... and has been a TV commentator for big events like Dew Tour and X Games. He's also on the USA Skateboarding executive committee.

Ever wonder what a 1-on-1 game between Lakers legends Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant would have looked like????

Good ... 'cause Kobe spilled the beans to Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday night's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" -- and the ex-L.A. superstar says it was actually pretty funny!!!

"He called every single foul," Bryant joked ... "even the ones that weren't there."

Mamba says the two basketball icons only squared off one time during a Lakers practice ... but Magic made sure to tweak the rules -- and the score -- in his favor.

"What's the score?" Kobe says Magic would ask.

"It's 10-6," Kobe would respond.

"No, it's not, it's 10-9."

"I'm like, 'Wait, what the? All right, I'm done.'"