TMZ Sports - Page 50

Houston Astros superstar Jose Altuve LOVES the Backstreet Boys -- and it turns out, the feeling is mutual.

A.J. McLean says he saw the rendition of "I Want It That Way" that Jose and his Astros teammates shot in the team locker room last year ... and now he wants to collaborate!

The Backstreet Boys singer admits Altuve ain't exactly the songbird of his generation ... but his voice is good enough -- so he extended the slugger an invite to sing with the band.

Please say 'yes.' Please. Please.

This is pretty awesome ... if you're an Astros fan!

Bun B was ALL THE WAY TURNT after his Astros beat the Dodgers on Sunday night -- he found a news camera, grabbed the mic ... and WENT OFF ON LIVE TV!

The Houston rapper is a HUGE 'Stros fan -- he stayed at Minute Maid Park until the very last out (past midnight) ... and you can see from the live ABC 13 broadcast, the adrenaline was pumping hard.

Yeah, he messed up some scoring math (twice) but who cares?! This is raw emotion at its finest.

There's more ... during the game, Bun B was hangin' in a VIP suite with fellow Houston rapper Paul Wall and celeb jeweler Johnny Dang -- and captured the walk-off madness on video.

Game 6 is in L.A. on Tuesday ... wonder if they can keep this energy up???

Welcome to the Lonzo Ball 6-game rookie season breakdown with your host ... LaVar Ball!

So, LaVar ... the Lakers are 2-4, but how do you think Lonzo looks so far?

"How would I rate his first few weeks? Good!"

He took responsibility for that loss to the Jazz ...

"Hey, that ain't nothing new to me. He knows what he's supposed to do. He do it right."

But it's a team sport. It was a team effort, right?

"It can be a team effort, it's all on him. He already know. We built that way. My boy built that way."

So, what happens next for Lonzo? How does LaVar feel about Metta World Peace saying he can't tell if Lonzo will be a star until 3 years into his pro career?

WNBA star Breanna Stewart says she was repeatedly molested by an adult man from ages 9-11 ... and she's sharing her story to help other abused women find the strength to seek help.

"It's not a dirty little secret," Breanna wrote in The Players' Tribune. "When you're comfortable with it, and when you're comfortable being open about it, you could save someone's life."

Stewart describes her abuser as a construction worker who "lived in one of the houses" of a relative.

She says the man would molest her when she slept over at the family member's house ... and the abuse continued for 2 years until she finally told her parents, who reported the man to the police.

Stewart says she's never been to therapy, but the basketball court "became a sort of safe space for me."

But basketball was just an outlet to help her cope ... and Breanna urges fellow victims to step forward the moment the abuse begins.

The horrific leg injury Chicago Bears TE Zach Miller suffered on Sunday was so bad, surgeons were scrambling to "save his leg" ... according to ESPN's Chris Mortensen.

Miller badly dislocated his left knee while trying to catch a TD pass in the 3rd quarter against the New Orleans Saints. He came down on the leg wrong and Miller knew right away the injury was bad.

Now, Mortensen says Miller suffered damage to an artery in his leg -- and vascular surgeons have been called in to repair it.

C'mon, Scottie ... you're better than this!

Hall of Fame basketball legend Scottie Pippen -- who's now living in Los Angeles -- gives zero craps about the World Series.

He honestly doesn't even know who's playing in it.

So, while the rest of the city -- and the sports community -- was up crazy late watching one of the greatest offensive games in World Series history, Pippen couldn't care less.

T.J. Dillashaw is firing back at Cody Garbrandt for all the snake emojis he's hit him with ... saying his UFC rival should have a prostitute emoji 'cause Urijah Faber's his pimp!!

"Urijah's more his daddy (than his coach/teammate)," T.J. said on the "TMZ Sports" TV show. "He tells him what to do and how to feel ... he's just on his leash and he listens to him."

Garbrandt's been trashing Dillashaw ever since he left him and Faber's MMA team 2 years ago -- droppin' snake-mojis all over social media.

So, we asked T.J. what emoji he would give Cody -- and he went with a working girl ... so long as it came with a pimp emoji for Faber.

The backup Rocky Balboa statue for "Rocky III" might just end up in the hands of Sly Stallone himself ... 'cause his wife, Jennifer Flavin, says she wants to buy it!!

That was until we told her how much it'd cost her -- up to $1 MIL -- at which point she seemed to lose hope (sorry, Jenn).

TMZ Sports broke the story ... SCP Auctions is taking bids on the only replica of the iconic Rocky statue -- made just in case anything happened to the original.

Flavin was pumped about bringing the piece home to Stallone ... but after finding out the price tag, told us another place she'd be OK with the bronzen Balboa ending up.

Never say never, though ... you really think Sly wouldn't pony up?

Janet Jackson has a Classic Man in her corner begging the NFL for a JJ + JT reunion at the Super Bowl halftime show ... 'cause Jidenna says it's only right to give the duo a shot at redemption!!

As we previously reported ... Janet is NOT banned from performing at the show, so when we broke the news to Jidenna ... he let out a huge "HALLELUJAH!!"

The "Bambi" singer says the league should let Janet perform with Justin Timberlake this year ... and jokes if they don't like the results, they can start a kneeling protest of their own.

All kidding aside ... Jidenna says a Janet appearance would be "massive."

The Houston Texans had a mixed response to their owner's comment comparing kneeling players to prison inmates ... but the majority took a knee.

About 25 Texans players knelt during the National Anthem ahead of Sunday's game against the Seahawks -- which looked kinda awkward since some other players chose to stand.

The kneeling appears to be a direct response to Bob McNair's comment last week when he said "You can't have the inmates running the prison" in reference to players who kneel in protest.

The backlash was swift, and McNair apologized for his phrasing ... but not before one of his players, DeAndre Hopkins, left Friday's practice in reaction to the news.

Oakland A's catcher Bruce Maxwell was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after cops say he pulled a gun on a woman ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Scottsdale PD tells us Maxwell, 26, was arrested Saturday at 6:08 PM at his Scottsdale, AZ home. Cops say the alleged victim was a female food delivery driver who told them Maxwell pointed a gun at her.

It's unclear what led up to the incident.

SPD says Maxwell was booked on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct.

Cops say he is in custody and awaiting his initial appearance in front of a judge.

Earlier this week, Maxwell -- the only MLB player to kneel for the anthem -- told us he was recently denied service at an Alabama restaurant by a waiter who disagreed with the protest.

Ronda Rousey still loves fighting ... but she doesn't have to break arms to be in the scene.

The semi-retired UFC mega-star gave us the low-down on her latest project -- an executive producer gig for the docuseries "Why We Fight."

Rousey told TMZ Sports it's basically a look inside the mind of a mixed martial artist ... and what pushes people like herself to punch face for a living.

"It's not a normal profession or thing to do, but there's always something that drives you towards it and everyone always has their own story."

FYI, Ronda's also keeping busy in the gaming world (Assassin's Creed is her jam) ... and it's looking like she's about to jump ship to the WWE.

Rampage Jackson says there's only 1 way he can get square with Nick Diaz after Diaz tried to swoop his girl -- FIGHT!!!!!!

"Nick Diaz, come to my weight class. You know you disrespected me. You know you was outta order. Come to my weight class, motherf**ker!"

FYI, Rampage and Nick were out partying in Vegas last week ... when Nick made his move in a video that some people think was staged.

But now ... we got Jackson calling out the elder Diaz bro -- even though Nick's at least 50 pounds lighter than him.

Is Rampage being serious? Hard to tell ... but anything to get Diaz back in the cage, right??

Fun Fact: This rivalry goes back to a 100% real (and hilarious) incident where Rampage hollered at Nick's girl inside a Burger King.

Ex-NHL bad boy Sean Avery and Martin Brodeur absolutely hated each other on the ice ... but now that they're both retired, is it time to bury the hatchet over some coffee??

FYI -- the beef goes all the way back to the '08 Stanley Cup playoffs when Avery stood right in front of Brodeur to distract him from blocking the net ... and there's been bad blood ever since.

So we asked the controversial hockey star if he'd ever be willing to grab a cup of joe with Brodeur ... and it's clear he's not about it.

1:10 PM PT -- Gurriel has reportedly been suspended without pay for the first 5 games of the 2018 regular season for his racist gesture. He will play in Game 4 of the WS Saturday night, though.

Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel decided to rub it in after hitting the first home run of game 3 with a gesture that has enraged Asians and others who are calling him out as racist.

Gurriel was in the dugout in the second inning after hitting one out of the park off Yu Darvish when he set his sights on Dodgers pitcher, who is from Japan.

Gurriel apologized, but the way he did it makes it even worse. He said, "I didn't mean to offend anybody in Japan. I have a lot of respect. I played in Japan. I was commenting to my [teammates] that I hadn't had any good luck against Japanese pitchers here in the U.S."

WWE Hall of Famer Rowdy Roddy Piper was literally within an inch of death after being stabbed by a fan back in the early '80s ... and we finally have a detailed account from "Hot Rod" himself.

Piper, who passed away in 2015, vividly recalled the attack in "Roddy Piper: In His Own Words" -- a new documentary from Nine Legends Film -- who spoke with the legend in 2006.

Roddy says he was shanked 3 different times during his career ... the worst one was at a show in Raleigh, North Carolina, when a guy with a buck knife came after him on the sidelines.

"First rule of a knife fight -- don’t take your eyes off the knife. Broke that rule. I stopped, boom -- he got me an inch from the heart."

Piper says he chased the perp after he booked it into the stands ... but was stopped by cops, who also subdued the fan.

"Closest I’ve ever seen to somebody get shot, I think. ... They had him down, and the policeman that had the pistol that I ran into turned, and he had it towards the back of his head."

There's more -- but it's better you hear it straight from Roddy.

FYI, a percentage of all sales from the doc are being donated to Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland -- Piper's adopted hometown.