TMZ Sports - Page 50

Bubba Wallace -- NASCAR's only top-level African-American driver -- says he spoke to Kyle Larson about his N-word incident ... and has accepted his apology.

26-year-old Wallace says Larson called him on the phone 5 minutes after using the slur Sunday night during an iRacing event that was publicly streamed on Twitch.

After ignoring multiple calls, Wallace says he finally accepted a FaceTime from Larson the following day, so they could speak "face to face."

"We had a good conversation, his apology was sincere. His emotions and pride were shattered."

Wallace says, "We discussed why he chose to use that language and I shared my thoughts. I told him, it was too easy for him to use the word and he has to do better and get it out of his vocabulary."

"There is no place for that word in this world. I am not mad at him, and I believe that he, along with most people, deserve second chances, and deserve space to improve."

"I do wish him and his family nothing but the best. And, I am more than willing to work with him to address diversity and inclusion in our sport."

Wallace also explained why the word is so damn offensive -- and has no place in any part of society ... especially NASCAR.

"It’s NOT just a word. There is a ton of negative meaning behind the word. Doesn’t matter if a person uses it in an offensive way or not. The word brings many terrible memories for people and families and brings them back to a time that WE as a community and human race have tried our hardest to get away from."

"The sport has made combatting this stereotype one of their top priorities. NASCAR has been doing what it can to get away from the ‘racist and redneck sport’ labels. Diversity and inclusion is a main priority for the sport across every team, every car, every crew member and employee. With that said, it hurts to see the African-American community immediately throw NASCAR under the bus with the ‘I’m not shocked it’s NASCAR.’"

He added, "NASCAR has been, and will be way better than how we’ve been represented in the last couple of weeks. As the person that arguably has the biggest voice on this topic in our sport, it’s tough for me to speak to because I didn’t imagine us being here."

For his part, Larson issued a public video apology -- but it didn't save his job or sponsors.

DePaul's former softball coach allegedly punched his assistant in the face and repeatedly verbally abused players ... but school officials did nothing about it -- this according to a new lawsuit obtained by TMZ Sports.

In the suit, one of the mental health doctors DePaul used regularly, Jenny Conviser, alleges she uncovered a pattern of abuse stemming from Eugene Lenti's softball program.

FYI, Lenti is a legend at the school ... coaching there for nearly 40 years and racking up more than 1,000 career wins.

Conviser -- a noted sports psychologist who worked with DePaul from 2005-2018 -- says in meetings with student-athlete patients in 2016 ... they told her Lenti exhibited abusive behavior often.

In the docs, Conviser says players told her the coach often called them "f**king whores" and "regularly punched them about their bodies," among other things.

Conviser says when she brought this to the attention of school officials ... they failed to properly investigate -- and says it's all because Lenti's sister, Jean Lenti Ponsetto, was the program's athletic director.

Conviser says in 2018, a similar incident happened ... when a patient told her Lenti, during a dispute, "had punched in the face his female Associate Head Coach."

Yet Conviser says when she brought this up to the school once again ... she claims officials not only didn't look into the allegations -- they attempted to cover them up.

In the docs, Conviser alleges the school allowed Lenti to "slip out the back door" and quietly retire. She also says the school fired Lenti's entire staff, including the alleged victim of the punching attack.

Conviser also claims the school terminated its involvement with her and her medical companies ... and also defamed her by painting her as a "befuddled and disgruntled vendor crassly using DePaul’s patients’ well-being as an excuse to extort money."

Conviser is now suing the school -- but not Lenti or other officials -- for retaliation, breach of contract, defamation and more.

We've reached out to DePaul for comment, but so far, no word back yet.

As for Lenti, he unretired one year after leaving DePaul ... and was hired as an assistant coach on Auburn's softball staff in 2019. He's currently still on the school's coaching roster.

We've reached out to Auburn for comment as well, but no word back yet there either.

Here's Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly giving a whole new meaning to "breaking ball" ...

The L.A. pitcher was working on his off-speed stuff in an at-home, quarantine throwing sesh this week ... when he let one get away from him -- and threw the cowhide straight through a window!!!

Yeah, JUUUUUUUUUUUUSTTTT a bit outside!!!

You can see in the footage of the aftermath (filmed by his wife) ... the damage Kelly's changeup did was pretty significant.

There was glass everywhere and a big ol' hole through the window ... and JK sure seemed to be in disbelief over it all.

Don't worry, Joe's got enough funds to pay for a new piece of glass ... dude signed a 3-year, $25 MILLION deal with the Dodgers just before last season.

Also, it coulda been much worse ... at least it wasn't fastball practice -- the guy throws his heater 100 MPH!!!

G.O.A.T. blood clearly runs thick in the Brady fam ...

Tom Brady's niece -- a BEAST on the UCLA softball diamond -- just won a huge national award ... and yeah, the Bradys are now officially good at everything!!

If you weren't aware ... Maya Brady -- the daughter of Tom's older sister -- was a coveted softball recruit last year who chose the Bruins over a bunch of other offers.

And, before the season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic ... she CRUSHED it in her first collegiate season -- leading the team with 7 home runs and batting an absurd .356!!

Softball America named her its 2020 Freshman Player of the Year this week ... now cementing her as one of the best players on the globe.

Of course, we should've seen this coming ... remember when Tom posted footage of their family dodgeball game back in 2018??

Yeah, she was the one FIRING LASERS AT THE QB LEFT AND RIGHT!!!

Roy Halladay's dad told investigators he was worried the abuse of prescription meds played a role in his son's fatal plane crash back in Nov. 2017 ... this according to new docs obtained by TMZ Sports.

NTSB officials say in 2 separate interviews with Halladay's father shortly after the fatal flight -- he told them he was worried the ex-Philadelphia Phillies ace might have been abusing Rx drugs.

Investigators claim Halladay's father told them Roy had "enrolled in an in-house detox program for an addiction to Lorazepam" a couple years prior to the accident ... and he told officials he was "concerned that Roy was abusing prescription medications, and that may have played a role in the accident."

As we previously reported, an autopsy revealed Halladay had zolpidem (the generic name for Ambien), as well as morphine in his system at the time he crashed his plane in the Gulf of Mexico.

The tests also came back positive for amphetamines.

Investigators say Halladay's dad told them Roy was suffering from anxiety and depression around the time of the accident.

According to the report, Halladay's dad also told officials he believed back pain, shoulder surgery and anxiety were the only medical ailments the former pitcher suffered from.

There's more ... officials also claim Halladay's father told them Roy often took risks while flying ... saying, "Mr. Halladay had a feeling that his son did not appreciate the dangers involved with flying."

Roy -- who was 40 at the time of the crash -- had tweeted about a conversation with his father just days before the accident, writing, "I keep telling my dad flying the Icon A5 low over the water is like flying a fight jet!"

"His response...... I am flying a fighter jet!!"

Officials also included new photos of the wreckage after it was pulled from the water -- which shows the aircraft was essentially reduced to scrap.

Shaquille O'Neal says he's still so emotional about the death of Kobe Bryant, he will NOT watch the 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony because it will simply make him too sad.

Kobe is set to be formally inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in August -- the ultimate honor for one of the greatest players of all time.

But, Shaq admits he can't muster up the strength to watch -- mostly because he can't handle another bout of soul-crushing sadness after Kobe passed away in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26.

"Still miss him. Still think about him every day," O'Neal said on "The Big Podcast with Shaq."

Shaq says on the "scale of sadness" with 10 being the worst, he's finally at a "2" right now ... and watching the HOF ceremony "would bring me back to a 7, 8, 9 and I can't right now."

O'Neal continued, "It would be great if his wife gave a speech or his mom or dad give a speech but I'll see that afterwards. I'm not gonna watch the ceremony."

He also floated the idea of having a Kobe hologram at the ceremony -- saying it would be "nice" to have a Kobe-gram "sitting next to everyone else."

Kobe's Hall of Fame class is pretty stacked -- he'll be inducted along with Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan.

Howard Finkel -- one of the most famous announcers in the history of pro wrestling -- has died, WWE confirms. He was 69.

Details surrounding his death are unclear at the moment.

The Fink (as he was lovingly called) had been ring announcing since 1977 -- when he was hired by Vince McMahon, Sr. for the WWE's predecessor, WWWF.

He became a full-time staffer in 1979 and went on to become WWE's longest-serving employee.

Besides that famous voice, Fink was involved in a bunch of WWE storylines over the years involving superstars like Mr. Perfect, The Million Dollar Man, CM Punk and more.

He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.

"WWE extends its condolences to Finkel's family, friends and fans," the org. said in a statement.

Stephanie McMahon also weighed in -- saying, "In what has already been a tough week for our @WWE family, today we lost our 1st ever employee and WWE Hall of Famer, @howardfinkel."

"Howard’s voice is iconic & recognized by generations of fans. He will be missed. #RIPHowardFinkel Thank you for everything."

RIP, Fink.

Imagine having twins ... TWICE!!!

That's the reality for WWE superstar Roman Reigns who just revealed his wife Galina is pregnant with twins -- for the second time!

Roman and Galina already have 3 kids -- including a set of twin boys who were born in 2016.

But during an interview with Muscle & Fitness, Roman dropped the big news ... their fam is growing again in a big way!

"You have 3 kids?" the interviewer asked.

"3 with 2 in the oven," Roman answered ... "So, I'm looking to be a Papa Bear of 5! Breaking news! We haven't shared that."

First, CONGRATS!!!

Second, HOLY MOLY THAT'S A LOT OF KIDS!!!

By the way, the odds of having twins naturally is reportedly 1 in every 250 births -- so, in a way, they kinda hit the jackpot twice!

On the other hand, that's a LOT of poopy diapers.

No word on when the kids are due.

Worth noting ... Reigns notably pulled out of WrestleMania 36 just weeks before the April 4 event -- and even though it seemed the decision was based on his health due to prior bouts with leukemia, it now seems the pregnancy may have also played a role.

"You don't know the whole story," Reigns said in a video posted on March 30 ... "All you know is what you think, 'Oh well his health' and this and that, but you don't know what else is going on in my life."

"One of the topics covered in a Major League Baseball course at Arizona State is this player who broke the color barrier in 1947."

COME ON -- EVERYONE KNOWS THE ANSWER ... right?

Wrong.

Because when Xiaoke Ying buzz'd in on "Jeopardy!" on Wednesday night -- she replied, "Babe Ruth!"

WHAT?! NOOO!!!!

It's Jackie Robinson. Obviously.

We thought everyone knew that ... but Xiaoke (from USC) blew it on an episode that coincidentally aired on "Jackie Robinson Day."

Whoops.

Some facts. Babe Ruth did not break the color barrier. He was white. Like super white. German ancestry white.

Jackie Robinson (who went to Xiaoke's rival school UCLA) famously broke the color barrier while a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

Robinson made such an impact in the sports world and on society as a whole, there have been countless movies, documentaries and books written about him.

Also, his jersey #42 has been retired across MLB to honor the legend.