TMZ Sports - Page 50

People at a Florida nightclub got a HUGE surprise Saturday night -- a 7-foot-1, over 300-pound one to be exact -- 'cause Shaq jumped into a mosh pit with them ... and danced his face off!!

It all went down at Celine in Orlando ... where DJ Diesel serenaded a Cuatro De Mayo crowd with a late-night set.

Shaq broke out his signature beats ... but then took the party one step further -- jumping into a sea of people going insane!!!

The clip's awesome ... clubgoers are hanging all over Shaq -- and he's loving it!!!

Don't worry, no one was injured!!

Of course, Shaq has been spinning the 1s and 2s professionally for several years now ... and has earned all kinds of praise from world famous DJs for his sets.

In fact, Diplo just told TMZ Sports a few months ago he's a huge fan of what Shaq's doing ... saying, "He's great, Shaq Diesel, man. He's killin' it right now. Very heavy music."

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora says he will NOT join the team to visit Donald Trump on Thursday ... and several Red Sox players are boycotting with him.

The team was invited to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to be honored for winning the 2018 World Series -- and it's all set to go down on Thursday -- but Cora says he ain't going.

The 43-year-old issued a statement in Spanish saying he doesn't feel "comfortable" visiting Trump after the way POTUS handled recovery efforts in his native Puerto Rico after the 2017 hurricane.

"Puerto Rico is very important to me," Cora said ... "Unfortunately, we are still struggling, still fighting. Some people still lack basic necessities, others remain without electricity and many homes and schools are in pretty bad shape almost a year and a half after Hurricane María struck."

"Even though the United States Government has helped, there’s still a long road ahead and that is OUR reality."

"I’ve used my voice on many occasions so that Puerto Ricans are not forgotten and my absence [from the White House] is no different."

"As such, at this moment, I don’t feel comfortable celebrating in the White House."

Cora said he told Red Sox officials about his decision before informing the media.

Other Red Sox stars who will NOT go to the White House include shortstop Xander Bogaerts, David Price and Mookie Betts.

Trump has hosted a bunch of athletes recently -- including NASCAR champ Joey Logano.

Topless saxophone, drunk push-ups, booze chuggin' with his bro ... yeah, retirement is going GREAT for Rob Gronkowski!!

The future Hall of Famer turned all the way up at the JEMAA, The NoMad Pool Party at the Park MGM over the weekend ... where Gronk decided to put a full SHOW on for the crowd.

Someone gave him a sax -- so he played it!

Someone told him to do push-ups -- so he did 'em.

Someone gave his brother a bottle of vodka -- so he slammed it onstage!

Rob's bikini model girlfriend, Camille Kostek, was also at the party -- and helped Gronk celebrate by handing him a beautifully-crafted retirement cake ... which Gronk later smashed to pieces.

Sources at the party tell us Gronk's group had a private VIP area stocked with champagne and Don Julio 1942 ... because ... well, it's awesome. That's why.

Congrats on retirement, Gronk -- and remember to drink water!

Legendary horse trainer Bob Baffert is breaking his silence on that insane Kentucky Derby ending --measuring his words carefully ... but telling TMZ Sports the whole thing was "crazy."

"Hell of a way to lose," Baffert said about Maximum Security -- who crossed the line first Saturday but was later DQ'd after officials say MS illegally impeded the path of other horses.

Maximum Security's owner, Gary West, now says his horse will NOT run in the Preakness later this month.

What's interesting ... Baffert says he worked for West this year -- training West's other horse, Game Winner, for the Kentucky Derby. Game Winner finished 5th in the race.

Game Winner was one of THREE Baffert-trained horses that ran in the 2019 Derby, running with Improbably and Roadster.

Look, Baffert's horses have won FIVE Kentucky Derbies over the years -- and he plans on having more horses run the race in the future ... so you can probably understand why he wouldn't go scorched Earth on Derby officials.

As for Baffert's other horses -- Improbably finished 4th and Roadster finished 15th.

Someone who didn't hold back? Donald Trump ... who said the Derby sucked.

"The Kentucky Derby decision was not a good one," Trump tweeted over the weekend.

"It was a rough & tumble race on a wet and sloppy track, actually, a beautiful thing to watch."

Great news for UFC star Brian Ortega ... the 27-year-old says he's been medically cleared to return to the Octagon -- and he's got his sights set on a rematch with Max Holloway.

Ortega suffered a broken nose and a broken thumb after his Dec. 8 bloodbath with Max at UFC 231 ... a fight Brian ultimately lost when the doctor stopped it at the end of the 4th round.

Brian fought his ass off -- and later said he was "willing to die" in the Octagon.

After the fight, Ortega underwent surgery -- which was successful -- and now the featherweight star tells us he's looking to book a fight as early as July.

Unclear who the opponent will be -- but Ortega says the ultimate goal is to earn another crack at Holloway, an opponent he has tremendous respect for.

Ortega says he's replayed the Holloway fight in his head -- and knows he can win the second time around.

Lindsey Vonn made it clear to all ... retired athletes can stay super fit.

Lindsey and BF P.K. Subban hit the sand Saturday afternoon in Miami Beach, and we're guessing every step she took had to be carefully calculated.

Gotta say ... the one piece is amazing -- a feat of fabric.

The 34-year-old Olympian retired in February after the 2019 World Championship in Sweden. Lindsey has suffered some really serious injuries during her career, but she's clearly not worse for wear.

In case you didn't know, P.K. plays on the Nashville Predators hockey team.

Pacman Jones not only cheated at the blackjack table before his February arrest ... he also smacked the hell out of an officer's arm -- and it's all on video obtained by TMZ Sports.

As we previously reported ... the ex-NFL star was busted three months ago after he was caught "capping bets" at an Indiana casino.

You can see the video ... Jones places a bet -- and when he realizes he's won the hand -- he sneakily adds another chip.

The problem? Jones got caught ... and even though he eventually gave back the dirty money -- the situation escalated into a violent affair.

Jones clearly became irate, put his hands directly in officials' faces ... and even gave them the finger just inches from their noses!!!

That's when one officer grabbed his wrist -- and in retaliation, Pacman slapped the guy's arm!!!

Of course, Pacman was then put in cuffs ... and was eventually hit with a bevy of charges, including felony intimidation, felony battery against an officer and several misdemeanors.

We previously posted footage showing Pacman in a heated verbal confrontation with officers after he had been pulled off the casino floor.

But, Jones copped a plea deal last month ... and agreed to enter a guilty plea to one count of felony cheating at gambling and one count of misdemeanor resisting law enforcement in exchange for having the rest of the charges dropped.

WWE superstar Paige just had a movie about herself totally crush it in the box office ... so what's next???

More Hollywood, baby!!!

TMZ Sports spoke with the 26-year-old wrestling star about her plans following the big success with her biopic "Fighting With My Family" ... and she's hoping to get in on the action herself!!!

FYI, 'Fighting' killed it on Rotten Tomatoes, scoring 92% fresh -- which is pretty amazing. Some of the top reviews came from highly respected critics, like Richard Roeper. CinemaScore graded it an A-.

Of course, Paige retired from wrestling last year due to injuries, so now she's ready to tackle a new industry.

"I want to go into movies and stuff like that, start branching out a bit. Obviously, I can't do the wrestling side of things anymore."

Desiigner celebrated his 22nd birthday in a big way, and Chris Brown, Lamar Odom and a bunch of other celebs helped make it appropriately wild.

The bash went down Saturday night in Calabasas at Jake Paul's house. Aside from Chris and Lamar, Bella Thorne, Swae Lee, Justin Combs, Paris Brosnan, Trey Songz, Famous Dex, Cameron Dallas and others partied till the wee hours.

Speaking of Dex, he definitely seemed to be having a good time in the "legends circle" with Desiigner and the Paul brothers. Check it out ... good pals right here for sure.

There were, of course, the obligatory motorcycle stunts as the choppers flew over the heads of the Paul bros. Desiigner performed and generally, a good time was had by all.

"What better place for a Jewish quarterback to be than in Miami!?"

That was Jay Fiedler's reaction to the Miami Dolphins bringing on Josh Rosen -- and Feidler would know, he's Jewish too!!!

In fact, Fiedler -- a 2002 inductee to the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame -- was the last Miami Dolphins QB to lead the team to a playoff victory back in 2000.

So, with Rosen now in South Beach ... we hit up Fiedler to see if he had advice for his Hebrew brethren.

"The Jewish community down there will love him," Fiedler says ... "And, he'll probably get invited to quite a few Bar Mitzvahs along the way!!!"

In all seriousness, Fiedler thinks Rosen is a great addition to the Fins -- and says having a respected veteran like Ryan Fitzpatrick in the QB room will be HUGE for the young guy from UCLA.

Fiedler also dishes out some advice for Rosen ... and Josh should listen.

By the way, the Dolphins last playoff win was in 2000 ... when Fiedler led his squad over Peyton Manning's Indianapolis Colts in the wild card round!!!

Since then, the Dolphins were QB'd by guys like Daunte Culpepper, Trent Green, Chad Pennington, Chad Henne, Ryan Tannehill and Jay Cutler.

But, none of those guys were able to put a W on the books in playoff time.

Deontay Wilder has yet another ally in his goal to star in "Creed 3," because another huge star in the franchise is totally down with, actually advocating for, Wilder to hit the big screen in the next flick.

Wilder told us some time ago that one of his main career goals was to get into acting, with his dream role being playing the son of Mr. T's Clubber Lang in the next 'Creed' movie.

We actually talked to Sylvester Stallone about it, and Sly was MORE THAN DOWN, saying he thinks Wilder could actually nail the role if given the chance.

Fast forward to now, and we spoke with Wood Harris, the man who plays Duke's son (Apollo and Rocky's trainer from the old movies) and he says the best plot for "Creed 3" is the Clubber Lang son angle ... but you need Wilder.

"Adonis needs to fight Deontay Wilder, Mr. T's son."

Guys, this could happen. Stallone has a long history of putting real boxers in these movies, from Tommy Morrison to Antonio Tarver, to Florian “Big Nasty” Munteanu, who played Drago's kid in the last movie.

4:22 PM PT -- A stunner down in Louisville ... Maximum Security has been disqualified after a replay review of the final stretch. The second horse to cross the finish line, Country House, has now been declared the winner. MS was found to have been impeding another horse.

3:59 PM PT -- Maximum Security just won the 145th Kentucky Derby, beating out Game Winner ... which was the pre-race favorite horse to win it.

And by the looks of the race track and how far ahead MS broke out in the end, this baby loves the slop ... just eats it up.

Hollywood didn't skimp on the swank for the 2019 Kentucky Derby, including Mr. Tom Brady ... who came back in a big way after temporarily being outshined by Baker Mayfield.

Celebs were out in force Saturday at the Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, where much of the Patriots organization seemed to be in attendance ... not to mention some Broncos stars, like Von Miller, and other footballers from the Packers and Browns.

TB was there too, of course, and his Day 2 outfit definitely had a lot more swag than his Friday one did. You'll recall ... he was barely recognizable standing behind Baker and his pink suit.

All is well now though -- Tom looked great, as did his teammates. In fact, everyone was dressed to the nines on the day of the big race ... even the non-athletes.

Some other A-listers who showed up include Wilmer Valderama, NeNe Leakes, Backstreet Boys singers Kevin Richardson and Howie D, Joey Fatone, Stormy Daniels, Jeff Bezos, Richie Sambora ... and even Anna Nicole Smith's daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead, who wore her mom's iconic KY Derby look from 2004. Anna died of an overdose in 2007.

At the Kentucky Derby, it's always hard to figure out the best of the best-dressed. Everyone was looking fantastic, if we do say so ourselves.

Someone at USC wants you to think that Lori Loughlin and her daughters were NOT a one-off, but actually the status quo in that ya need NO experience for the women's rowing team.

A laminated poster promoting the D1 ladies crew team is literally hanging in the women's locker room inside USC's Lyon Rec Center right now, which has a pretty eyebrow-raising slogan ... "Join USC's Women's Rowing ... No experience? No problem."

There's even an email to contact the official asst. coach for questions, and the USC women's rowing social media handle is attached as well. Hmm ... interesting.

As you know ... Lori and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have both been indicted and charged for allegedly paying hundreds of thousands in bribes to get their daughters -- Olivia Jade and Isabella -- into USC via the crew team ... even though they weren't rowers.

For the record ... Lori and Mossimo have pled not guilty to the initial conspiracy charges, as well as the additional money laundering charges that were filed when they didn't follow Felicity Huffman's lead in copping a plea.

Either way -- it would appear this poster is an elaborate joke that someone went to some lengths to pull off, assuming it is, in fact, fake. We only say that because it looks pretty damn real ... and it's eerily similar to an official recruiting ad the rowing team ran in 2018.

So, here's the thing .... we'd like to give USC the benefit of the doubt and assume this is a fake, 'cause if it wasn't ... it'd be incredibly tone-deaf and, frankly, dumb all things considered.

Blake Griffin sure hopes Drake didn't seal Arya Stark's fate on "Game of Thrones" by shouting her out at the Billboard Music Awards ... him and everyone else, tbh.

We got the Pistons star outside of the Maxfield clothing store in WeHo Friday afternoon and asked him about Drizzy showing love to Maisie Williams' 'GOT' character Wednesday night when he mentioned her during his acceptance speech for the Top Billboard 200 Album.

ICYMI ... Drake made sure to plug Arya for "putting in that work last week" during Sunday's episode when she killed the Night King with some fancy dagger moves -- basically saving every living person in Westeros from eternal death in the process.

BTW, this is a spoiler -- and you should've seen it by now. If you haven't, well, here it is ... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway ... Blake really, REALLY hopes the Drake curse doesn't kick in here for everyone's sake. Like he says, "I think we all need a little bit of Arya." Considering Champagne Papi's track record with supporting losing teams ... here's praying Blake's right.

Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss, listen up ... Lamar Odom says you've already interviewed the PERFECT candidate to replace Luke Walton -- JUWAN HOWARD!!!

Of course, Pelinka and Buss have been searching for a replacement for Walton since they canned him at the end of the season ... and they've already interviewed a few people for the gig.

Guys like Tyronn Lue and Jason Kidd are reportedly the favorites ... but L.O. thinks the Lakers should scrap 'em both in favor of Howard, and he told us why.

"Somebody that has some presence. Somebody that can handle having LeBron on your team."

Howard's name has definitely been floated around as a name for the Lakers top job ... he was a teammate of LeBron and coached him while he was with the Miami Heat.

So, let's be real for a second, the Lakers are almost certainly gonna hire Ty Lue ... BUT don't discount what Odom is saying, there might be an 11th-hour surprise.

Wayne Gretzky says he WANTS Alex Ovechkin to pass his all-time goals record ... telling TMZ Sports it would be GREAT for hockey!!!

"If he breaks it," The Great One says ... "I'll be the first guy there to shake his hand."

Of course, Gretzky owns the NHL's all-time mark for goals scored with 894 ... but Ovie ain't that far behind with 658.

In fact, if the 33-year-old Washington Capitals superstar averages 33.7 goals per season for the next 7 years ... he'd tie Gretzky by the time he's 40.

Doesn't seem like TOO difficult of a task -- Ovie's NEVER scored less than 32 goals in his entire 14-year career!!!

As for Ovechkin, he says he's actually gunnin' for the record -- telling NHL.com earlier this year, "I'm going to try to do it."

By the way, while we were on the subject of records ... Gretzky also told us he thinks Tiger Woods has a "great chance" to catch Jack Nicklaus' majors mark.