TMZ Sports - Page 50

Ex-NHL star Tim Thomas is explaining why he vanished from the public after his retirement in 2013 ... saying he's been dealing with serious brain damage from a concussion.

45-year-old Thomas -- a 2011 Stanley Cup champ and Boston Bruins legend -- got emotional with reporters before his U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame induction on Thursday ... saying his everyday life was changed after a blow he suffered in his final season.

"I woke up the next morning after it and I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat, where I wanted to go," Thomas explained.

"I couldn't plan a schedule. I survived following the team schedule the rest of the year and just made it through that season."

Thomas said his condition worsened to the point where he moved to the woods to avoid speaking with people close to him ... and didn't watch hockey because he couldn't keep up with it.

"I couldn't communicate with anybody for a few years," Thomas said.

"I didn't call my dad. I didn't talk to anybody. There was a time period where I hated the game, so to speak ... My rebound effect was like, this wasn't worth it."

Thomas says he's gotten much better recently ... thanks to recovery methods like oxygen therapy and water with ionic minerals.

Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey is a real crappy criminal ... but the dude sure can golf -- 'cause just 4 days after he was arrested for soliciting a prostitute -- he CRUSHED it on the course!

Despite being busted on Dec. 8 for trying to pay an undercover officer for sex acts ... Gainey still dominated the first day of the final stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School in Florida on Thursday.

Taking on the Orange County National course in Winter Gardens, Florida ... Gainey went SUPER low, shooting a 6-under 66 -- and finishing his round in a tie for 6th place.

Gainey's card was VERY impressive ... the 44-year-old logged six birdies, one eagle and just two bogeys.

Of course, Gainey's still got three days left in the tournament ... but it's a hell of a start for the guy, considering what he went through at the beginning of this week.

As we previously reported, Gainey was 1 of 124 people arrested in an undercover investigation in Polk County, Florida dubbed, "Operation Santa's Naughty List."

Gainey was popped for solicitation -- a 1st-degree misdemeanor -- and, in video of the encounter obtained by TMZ Sports, you can see "Two Gloves" offering $60 for sex acts.

Sorry, Boston ... Roger Clemens is predicting a MONSTER career for Gerrit Cole with the New York Yankees, telling TMZ Sports, "It's gonna be great, man."

Cole just inked the fattest contract EVER for a pitcher ... signing a 9-year, $324 MILLION deal to play in pinstripes.

When we got Clemens out in NYC ... he told us he has ZERO doubts the 29-year-old is going to live up to that lofty deal -- saying the ace is just that good.

"We're going to miss him in Houston," Clemens says.

Of course, the Rocket knows a thing or two about succeeding in NY ... the dude is a Yanks LEGEND -- and he tells us Cole's got the right makeup to succeed at Yankee stadium.

"He absolutely does," Clemens says.

As for off the mound ... Roger is just as high on Cole there -- telling us, "He's a better person than he is a pitcher. That's how good a kid he is."

Lizzo is going to be VERY busy in 2020 ... especially if Tommy Hilfiger can get her people on the line, because he's got big plans for the singer.

Tommy was leaving an Autism Speaks event Wednesday night at David Yurman Jewelry in L.A., and we asked about his upcoming collabs. He's already said he and J. Balvin will be getting creative in the fashion arena ... so we wanted to know what else he's got cooking, and with whom.

He said there's a long list of big names he wants to team up with, but when pressed to name just one ... L-I-Z-Z-O rolled off his tongue. You gotta see it, because you know Tommy can line up just about anyone in show biz -- but he was totally beaming when Lizzo came up.

And, btw, all that controversy over Lizzo's assless outfit at the Lakers game this week ... it's not scaring off the Hilfiger brand. Tommy told us why he's anxious to work with her, no matter what she's wearing.

Great news for Terrelle Pryor ... the NFL star was walking on his own -- IN STYLE -- on his way into a Pennsylvania courthouse Thursday, less than 2 weeks after he was stabbed.

Pryor and his girlfriend Shalaya Briston were both scheduled to be in court to face criminal charges stemming from the Nov. 30 incident.

The hearing was lackluster -- the case was pushed to next week because prosecutors want more time to review evidence. According to WTAE, the NFL sent a representative to the hearing to monitor the case.

Pryor is still trying to continue his NFL career -- he was cut by the Jaguars before the 2019 season and was hopeful he'd get signed by another team before the stabbing.

If the NFL finds he violated the league's Personal Conduct Policy, he could face a suspension if he does get signed by a team in the future.

But, the most noteworthy event happened in the court hallway ... where Pryor was walking without assistance and even climbed stairs on his own.

Impressive, considering he ALMOST DIED from the stabbing -- and was hospitalized for several days after undergoing emergency surgery to save his life.

As we previously reported, Briston has been charged with attempted homicide and aggravated assault. Pryor was charged with misdemeanor simple assault.

According to the police report, a witness says Pryor attacked Briston and her friends first ... leading Briston to ultimately stab the NFL player in defense.

Jarvis Landry says his best friend Odell Beckham is NOT trying to bolt from the Browns, despite reports to the contrary ... telling reporters, "He's not trying to leave."

There are multiple reports claiming Odell told opposing players and coaches to "come get me" out of Cleveland ... essentially letting people know he's unhappy with the Browns and wants to get out.

Of course, Beckham didn't choose to play for Cleveland in the first place -- he was traded there by the Giants earlier this year.

Additionally, Beckham expressed frustrations with the Browns training staff -- suggesting they did not properly handle the sports hernia injury he suffered in training camp.

But, Landy -- who's been super tight with Beckham since high school -- came out strong to reporters today, saying the superstar WR is not trying to jump ship.

"He doesn't want to leave and he's not trying to leave," Landry said moments ago.

"It's not even about trying to go somewhere else," Landry added ... noting that Beckham's been a solid teammate and consummate pro during his run in Cleveland.

For his part, Odell has tweeted about the reports saying, "I NEVER said I was not happy in Cleveland, just like everyone else I’m hopeful for better results. Period. Next story plzz."

Pure honesty from Larry Holmes ... who says his decades-old feud with Leon Spinks was real and mean, but he's praying for his old rival to fight through his current medical crisis.

If you know your boxing history ... you know Holmes had REAL animosity for both Leon and his brother Michael Spinks.

In fact, Holmes knocked out Leon in the 3rd round of their 1981 title fight -- only to get beat TWICE by Leon's bro Michael later in his career.

Now, with Leon fighting for his life in a Las Vegas hospital, we asked Holmes how he felt about the situation ... and his response was about as real as it gets.

"Leon was a fighter that ... if you ain't ready, don't get in the ring with him! Because he's ready. He fought hard, man."

Here's where things got real ...

"I didn't really like him as much as a fighter because he said some things to my wife that I didn't like," Holmes said ... "And, I held it back on him a little bit."

"But, when it came down to me fighting him, he was total different guy."

Holmes added, "You don't want to kick a man while he's down. That's what a lot of people want you to do, kill him while he's down. I don't want to do that. I'm not mercenary. I got in the boxing game to make money, to take care of my family. Not to hurt nobody."

"And, I hope that I didn't hurt him, but I probably was one of the guys that caused whatever problem that he's having now."

Victor Oladipo got booted off "The Masked Singer" on Wednesday ... but don't feel bad for the guy, 'cause he landed a date with Nicole Scherzinger!!

The Indiana Pacers superstar -- AKA "Thingamajig" on the anonymous singing show -- pulled up from half-court to let the judge know he's interested right after getting voted off.

Remember, the Pussycat Dolls singer had been crushing hard and flirting with the blue and yellow creature all season ... so when Vic came face to face with the panel, Jenny McCarthy asked him if he was down for a date.

"Of course," the All-Star said. "We can go anywhere, any time, any place."

Naturally, Nicole loved that answer ... and even looked a little embarrassed!!

Oladipo -- who was able to participate on the show because he's been sidelined with a serious knee injury since January -- got real for a second, saying, "It has been a rough year for me."

"But, to be able to come out here and put smiles on people's faces, and just do something fun for once and kind of get away from the game has been awesome," Oladipo said. "It's nothing but a blessing for me."

We've spoken with Vic in the past about his singing career ... and he even gave us an impromptu concert in an interview in the past!!

Hey, man ... even if this singing thing doesn't work out, you'll always be a winner in Nicole's eyes.

Ex-NFL star Clinton Portis is accused of defrauding the NFL and stealing money from the league's healthcare program ... and now, the former RB is facing up to 20 YEARS behind bars.

United States Department of Justice officials say Portis and 9 other ex-NFL players developed a scheme back in 2017 to make money off of the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Plan.

According to court docs obtained by TMZ Sports, some of the names involved in the scam included Robert McCune, John Eubanks, Tamarick Vanover, Ceandris Brown, James Butler, Fredrick Bennett and Etric Pruitt.

Officials say the scheme wasn't too complicated ... Portis and the former players allegedly made up fake claims, submitted them to the plan (which is designed to help retired players pay for medical bills) and were reimbursed.

Officials say some of the fraudulent claims included the players looking to be reimbursed for things like pricey hyperbaric oxygen chambers, ultrasound machines and electromagnetic therapy devices designed for use on horses.

Antonio Brown is gearing up for round 2 in his crazy condo trashing legal battle -- he's due in court for ANOTHER deposition -- and this time, he's leveling up his fashion game.

Just minutes before the deposition was scheduled to begin in Florida, Brown was showing off his expensive Gucci short suit at his home ... while wearing a super flossy gold chain.

The point ... Brown is trying to show he's cool, calm and collected for the deposition -- unlike the FIRST time when the opposition claims he acted like a "belligerent" lunatic.

As we previously reported, Brown is accused of going berserk at his luxury condo, causing thousands of dollars in damage, but never paying the bill.

The first deposition -- back in Sept. -- went so poorly, that a judge ordered Brown to appear at a Miami area courtroom for a do-over ... which should have started by the time this post is published.

So, how badly did things go the first time? Here are some snippets from court docs filed by the opposing attorney ...

"Antonio Brown was extremely noncompliant and flagrantly disorderly, to the point that he frustrated the totality of the proceeding."

And, there's more .... the attorney claims Brown's deposition was filled with "tumultuous tirades, defiant rants, use of profane language and refusal to comport himself in a civilized and grown-up manner."

"Once the deposition started, almost immediately, [Brown] was belligerent and pugnacious, refusing to answer the most routine of questions."

We'll see if he does better this time around. At least he looks good.

Donald Trump is still on the Patriots bandwagon ... praising both Robert Kraft and Tom Brady at a White House event Wednesday -- despite the new Pats video scandal.

Kraft was Trump's guest at a special Hanukkah event where the two also spoke about their support for Israel. And, they were joking like two old pals.

"I also want to bring a friend of mine up," Trump said ... "He's a tremendous success in so many other businesses, but they only know him because he signs Tom Brady's check every week!"

POTUS added, "He's a champ, he's a winner."

"As usual, his team is mired in 1st place," Trump continued ... "Have you ever been in 2nd place?"

Obviously, no mention of the new investigation into the Pats -- after the team admitted their video crew broke league rules by filming the Bengals sidelines from the Browns press box.

The NFL is investigating the Patriots. The team has insisted they weren't trying to cheat -- claiming the video crew made an innocent mistake.

Trump and Kraft go back decades -- and while they're on great terms right now, they've had some rocky moments.

As we previously reported, Kraft was critical of the way Trump handled the Colin Kaepernick kneeling situation ... and spoke out against POTUS at a 2017 NFL meeting.

But, clearly, that's all water under the bridge now.

Illinois hoops star Kofi Cockburn was TRYING to celebrate after hitting a crucial shot Wednesday -- but accidentally clocked the ref in the face instead with a BRUTAL elbow.

In fact, the ref immediately dropped to his knees -- and was HOSPITALIZED for further treatment.

Cockburn -- 7'0", 290 lbs -- had just hit a put-back floater (and got the foul) in the 2nd half against Michigan ... and tried to celebrate with a big Tiger Woods-styled fist pump.

But, ref Lewis Garrison accidentally got in the way ... and took a BIG elbow right to the face.

Garrison dropped to his knees and had to be helped off the floor ... and after trainers checked him out at the stadium, he reportedly went to a local hospital for further evaluation.

Thankfully, doesn't seem Garrison's injuries are too serious ... it's reported the trip to the emergency room was for precautionary reasons -- but still, scary stuff!!

As for the game, Cockburn ended up leading Illinois to a huge 71-62 win over the Wolverines -- a massive upset.

Pro hockey player Akim Aliu tells TMZ Sports the racism he was forced to endure over the years held him back from reaching his full potential ... and the proof is in the racist pictures.

You're looking at pics of Aliu at the 2011 Halloween party for the Colorado Eagles -- which, at the time, was the minor league affiliate for the Winnipeg Jets.

Aliu says when he arrived to the party, he was greeted by the team's equipment manager Tony Deynzer, who was dressed up as Aliu in blackface -- complete with a custom jersey sporting Aliu's nickname, "Dreamer."

"The hardest thing about that ... just how much planning went into that," Aliu tells us.

"He got my jersey made, so that means this was planned in advance."

Aliu says people at the party laughed at him -- and his instinct was to raise hell and cause a scene -- but he was new to the club and there were families at the party "so I tried to play it off as cool as possible."

A short time later, Aliu says he demanded to be traded to another club.

It's just one of the MANY examples of racism black players at all levels of hockey have been forced to deal with. Aliu recently made headlines after revealing NHL coach Bill Peters hurled the n-word during a locker room rant back in the day.

"It's been a tough road and obviously I’ve bumped into a lot of barriers with racism and discrimination," Aliu says.

"People don’t really understand how bad it is unless you’re on the inside of the hockey world, inside the hockey establishment. I’ve dealt with a lot. I think my career has faltered because of that."

Now, 30-year-old Aliu says he wants to help fix the racism issues affecting the sport he loves.

"I think there’s still been failure to agree to the fact that we have a systematic problem in the National Hockey League and in hockey in general. From grassroots, from Tykes to all the way up to the professional rank."

"I think [hockey officials] need to come together with minorities and people that have been affected by these issues, and talk to them, and get together and say, 'Hey, what did you guys experience? How do you feel about what’s going on? How do you feel about moving forward? What ideas do you have moving forward for us?"

There were no boo birds for Kawhi Leonard's big return to Toronto on Wednesday ... with the Klaw getting an epic tribute before his Clippers played the Raptors.

Of course, this is Leonard's first game back in the 6 after bailing for L.A. this past off-season ... and the Dinos gave an awesome video tribute of Leonard's many highlights from his lone year with the squad.

The best part of the ceremony came on the court ... with the arena lights highlighting Kawhi's path to his incredible buzzer-beating shot over the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference Semis last season.

The reception is totally understandable ... the guy helped the Raptors earn the franchise's very first championship.

Raptors team ambassador Drake was courtside for the moment ... giving the Klaw a shoutout on Instagram, saying "Kawhi's home" while showing off his own bling.

Leonard -- who is known for showing no emotions -- clearly looked appreciative of the gesture as he hugged all his ex-teammates and received his own title ring.

UFC champ Amanda Nunes says it would be "impossible" for Claressa Shields to beat her in an MMA fight ... and she's warning the boxing star to back down before she gets hurt.

Shields is the biggest star in women's boxing by far -- she's undefeated, holds multiple belts and Olympic gold medals. But, she REALLY wants to fight Amanda and recently started MMA training in hopes of making it happen.

The good news for Shields ... Dana White told us he's interested.

The bad news for Shields ... Amanda says she would SQUASH Claressa like a bug.

In fact, Amanda's fiancee Nina Ansaroff -- the #5 ranked UFC women's strawweight fighter -- thinks Shields is in for a rude awakening about the difference between MMA and boxing.

"She would have to win enough fights to even get into the UFC to even see Amanda. I don’t think that’s possible. Because there’s girls now that are coming from a wrestling background."

Amanda added, "We can get a girl from low rank right now in 135 and put her to fight. [Shields] wouldn’t pass the 1st round."

More bad news for Shields ... if an MMA fight doesn't happen, Nunes says she has ZERO interest in taking a boxing match with Claressa.

"I'm not a boxer, I’m an MMA fighter. If I wanted to be a boxer, I would be."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says the league is conducting a thorough investigation into the New England Patriots to see if they used a video crew to try and cheat.

"Obviously it’s under review," Goodell said to the media while in Dallas ... "We're gonna be thorough and we're gonna get all the facts and we'll go from there."

Goodell was also asked if the Patriots' history of using illegal surveillance -- aka the 2007 Spygate scandal -- would factor in to the investigation.

"Of course that’s a factor. The key things are the new information that we have. That [old] information we obviously already have. But, I think the issue is what information do we have from this incident?"

As we previously reported, the Cincinnati Bengals told the NFL a Patriots staffer was illegally shooting video of their sidelines during a game. The Patriots admitted wrongdoing but insist it was a mistake and not intentional. The team is adamant they did NOT cheat.

There was A LOT more during the media event ... Goodell was also asked about Colin Kaepernick and Antonio Brown.

When asked about the Colin Kaepernick workout, Goodell said -- "It was about opportunity, a credible opportunity. He chose not to take it, and I understand that."

Colin famously backed out of the Nov. 16 workout -- organized by the NFL -- over a dispute regarding media access and the legal language on the workout injury waiver.

Instead, Kaepernick held his own workout at a nearby high school and called for interested teams to hit up his agent. So far, he's still unsigned.

As for Antonio Brown ... Goodell was questioned about the league investigation into sexual assault and harassment claims against the WR.

Goodell says his investigators DID meet with Antonio but "they have more work to do."

"They're following up on that and I'll get an update when they have more information."