TMZ Sports - Page 50

The NFL Network is firing back at the former wardrobe stylist who claimed she was sexually harassed by on-air talent like Marshall Faulk and Donovan McNabb ... saying she approved of the inappropriate behavior.

NFL Enterprises -- which runs the football network -- filed its response to Jami Cantor's lawsuit on January 18 ... denying all of her claims and asking the court to throw it out.

As we previously reported ... Cantor made several claims of sexual harassment from 2006 until she was fired in 2016. She alleges Faulk pulled out his genitals in front of her and asked invasive questions.

Cantor also claims McNabb sent texts to her asking if "she was a squirter" and telling her she "looked like the kind of girl that squirted when getting f***ed," ... and accused Warren Sapp of urinating in front of her.

Ike Taylor, Eric Davis and Heath Evans were also named in the suit.

The response claims Jami "approved, consented to, authorized, and/or ratified" all of the misconduct ... translation -- she was cool with it.

The response also claims the network properly addressed any concerns that may have been raised by Cantor during her time with the company.

Alex Rodriguez's private jet just made an emergency landing only minutes after leaving a runway in New Jersey.

The multi-million dollar Gulfstream IV took off from Teterboro Airport Thursday morning, and the pilot declared an emergency shortly after. We're told he attempted to land the plane in Albany, but aborted, and headed back to Teterboro where he he was able to bring it down safely.

A-Rod was not on board, and it appears the issue was mechanical.

TMZ obtained air traffic control audio, and you can hear the pilot mention a problem with a flap. Air traffic control opened a runway for the emergency landing, which was successful.

A source connected to A-Rod tells us the landing was made mostly as a precaution, and the pilot was making a test run. The FAA tells us it's investigating.

As we reported, A-Rod just took delivery of the G4 last month.

It's official ... Vince McMahon is bringing back the XFL -- and Tim Tebow already has an invite to play.

The WWE honcho made the announcement Thursday afternoon ... saying the new XFL will launch in 2020 and will focus on more exciting football with zero political distractions.

That means players will be required to stand for the National Anthem.

Vince says the league will launch with 8 teams -- 40-man rosters -- and nobody with a criminal background will be eligible to play. Vince says the quality of the individual matters as much as the quality of the play.

When asked specifically about 3 players -- Johnny Manziel, Tim Tebow, and Colin Kaepernick -- Vince danced around Johnny and Colin ... but extended a casual invitation to Tebow.

McMahon insists there will be no crossover between the WWE and the XFL -- which means completely different announcers.

Vince also says he will not be the face of the league and will hire an accomplished people to run the XFL.

As far as the length of the game, Vince says he's gunning for 2-hour games.

Vince says he's confident the league will succeed this time around, 'cause the team has a 2-year runway ... and will be listening closely to what the fans want.

He even asked fans to submit ideas to the league office.

FSU QB Deondre Francois was worried his ex-GF was going to wreck all his stuff -- including 2 flat screen TVs -- according to the 911 call obtained by TMZ Sports.

Cops responded to an incident at Francois' apartment earlier this week. Francois claims his GF became enraged and started breaking things at his apartment before she tried to hit him.

Francois' GF told a different story ... saying the FSU QB flew into a jealous rage, knocked down a door and threw her to the ground.

In the 911 call made by DF, he tells Tallahassee PD that his girl is "tearin' up everything in my house."

Francois tells the operator the girl threatened to call cops and say he physically hurt her ... "She's trying to say I was domestic violent. But my best friend is sitting right here. He just seen her trying to take everything down."

"I just want someone to come get her please."

Here's Adrien Broner being Adrien Broner ... telling basically the entire boxing world how much he hates them ... TO THEIR FACES.

It went down at Showtime's boxing Upfronts in NYC Wednesday which were hosted by radio superstar and rabid Boxing fan Charlamagne Tha God.

All of Showtime's biggest stars like Errol Spence, Keith Thurman, Deontay Wilder and Mikey Garcia were there, but when AB got the mic, he decided to tell the rest of the guys how he felt about them

Floyd Mayweather Sr. adamantly denies attacking a woman after the Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez fight ... pleading not guilty to a battery charge in a Las Vegas court.

In case you missed it ... cops say Sr., 65, got into a heated confrontation outside T-Mobile Arena after the fight. They say Sr. grabbed the woman before punching her in the leg.

Sr. was charged with battery and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Floyd turned himself Tuesday ... and the warrant was canceled. On Thursday, Sr.'s attorney appeared before a Vegas judge ... and pled not guilty on Mayweather's behalf.

As we previously reported, FM Sr.'s rep told us he's totally innocent ... and never laid a hand on the alleged victim.

Here's Celtics rookie stud Jayson Tatum learning the hard way that he hasn't completely made it yet, getting rejected -- more than once -- at one of the hottest clubs in Tinseltown.

It went down Wednesday night when the 19-year-old -- who's a Rookie of the Year contender -- tried to get his turn up on at Warwick in Hollywood, a 21 and over joint.

Warwick is known for sticking to its guns when it comes to the age requirement ... after all, D'Angelo Russell got denied in 2016 when he was just months from turning 21.

We're told J.T.'s teammate Kyrie Irving got through the door without a hitch ... which makes sense 'cause he's 25.

Oh BTW, Celtics did beat the Clippers earlier that night ... so at least there's that.

Warren Miller -- the iconic director behind dozens of legendary skiing and surfing films -- died Wednesday night in Washington state.

Miller's family announced he died of natural causes on Orcas Island. For more than 60 years, Miller's legion of fans were treated to his films in cities across the U.S. and around the world to kick off ski season.

Miller took his cameras to exotic locations to film extreme skiing and snowboarding ... and set the standard for adrenaline-fueled sports footage.

Miller produced more than 500 films and wrote 11 books. His films featured an elite roster of skiing legends ... including Otto Lang, Billy Kidd, Jimmie Heuga, Hannes Schneider and Stein Eriksen.

Miller was born in Hollywood, played basketball at USC and served in the Navy during World War II ... before devoting his life to adventure sports. He was 93.

#RIP

HALLELUJAH!! Tim Tebow is headin' back to baseball!

The ex-football superstar tells TMZ Sports he's going to accept his invite to the NY Mets spring training in February ... and he's swingin' for the fences.

Tebow -- who played for Class A St. Lucie last season -- got the invite to return to the Mets' major league camp last week, but hadn't officially said whether he would take another shot at baseball until now.

BTW ... the 2007 Heisman winner had a .226 batting average with 8 dingers and 52 RBI in the minors last season.

Jen Selter brings out the thirst in all of us -- which is fitting ... 'cause it looks like she's a little thirsty herself.

The famous fitness model was seen poolside in Miami drinking from what appears to be some sort of fancy drink from a giant wine glass -- with lots of straws to suck from.

Ronda Rousey is slamming the door on rumors she'll make her official WWE debut at the Royal Rumble on Jan 28 -- telling TMZ Sports it'll be physically impossible ... 'cause she'll be out of the country!

"I'm actually leaving to Colombia right now to finish shooting 'Mile 22' and won't be back until mid February," Rousey says.

"Mile 22" is an action flick starring Mark Wahlberg and John Malkovich.

But the bigger issue ... Ronda says there is no official contract in place between her and WWE, despite a recent dinner meeting with high-ranking WWE exec Triple H.

Don't rule it out though ... Rousey seemed flattered by some recent smack talk from WWE Raw womens' champ Alexa Bliss.

So, what's Ronda's long-term career plans? She talked about that, too!

Jeff Hostetler knows what it's like for a backup QB to achieve Super Bowl glory ... and he's passing his wisdom to a guy who's in his exact same shoes -- Nick Foles.

Just like Foles ... Hoss was #2 on the depth chart when the 1990 Giants started the season -- but got the starting gig when Phil Simms got injured in Week 15.

Everyone counted the G-Men out ... saying a backup couldn't lead them to a win. Hoss proved 'em wrong, throwing for 222 yards and a TD.

Now, the 56-year-old is giving a bit of advice to the Eagles backup ... revealing what it's like for a backup to take over under center in the Big Game.

BTW -- the Giants were a 6.5-point underdog against the Bills, and the Patriots are 5-point favorites over the Eagles.

Byron Scott is ecstatic his old teammate Kobe Bryant was nominated for an Oscar -- and tells TMZ Sports he hopes people celebrate Mamba because people deserve 2nd chances in life.

Questions have been raised about how Kobe will be received at the Academy Awards on March 4 by a Hollywood crowd that's been cracking down on stars accused of sexual misconduct.

Obviously, Kobe has sexual misconduct allegations of his own in his past -- but Scott says he hopes people are able to forgive Kobe and let him move forward with his life.

Dana White isn't wasting time ... telling TMZ Sports he's calling up Nate Diaz TONIGHT to make him an offer to return to the octagon.

White joined the guys on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs tonight on FS1) -- and we asked about Nate's Instagram post where he called himself "The Real Champ" and vowed to return to fighting in "May or June."

"I'll tell ya what," White said ... "I’ll call him today and make him an offer."

"I will make Nate Diaz an offer to fight today."

White says he's not sure who he'd match Diaz up against -- "I gotta look at the rankings and see where everybody is."

What about a 3rd fight with Conor McGregor? Dana isn't ruling it out ... but says that fight ain't the priority for Conor.

"I think people would rather see Conor come back and either fight Tony [Ferguson] or Khabib [Nurmagomedov] -- whoever wins -- and the Nate Diaz fight isn’t going anywhere. We can do that thing any time."

What about Nate vs. Tyron Woodley? Dana says he has other plans for the welterweight champ.

Tyron Woodley says Nate Diaz calling himself "The Real Champ" is an absolute joke ... and if he's really serious about coming back, they can throw hands RIGHT NOW.

Tyron just had shoulder surgery 5 weeks ago, but he ain't kidding ... explaining why he can whoop Nate's ass at way less than 100% on "The Hollywood Beatdown" (full episode drops this Friday).

FYI, Diaz claimed he's making a return to the UFC in a social media post, saying -- "I'll see you around May, June. Sincerely, The Real Champ."

Tyron says he truly believes Nate's gonna come back ... but does he think Diaz will accept a fight with him after ducking out back in November?

He answers that question on the Beatdown, too.

Verne Troyer ain't messing around when it comes to his 2018 #FitnessGoals ... CRUSHING the weight room with NFL prospect Du'Vonta Lampkin!

Verne gives up 300 POUNDS to Du'Vonta ... but he did a damn good job keeping up with the former Oklahoma defensive tackle out at Sports Academy in Newbury Park -- flippin' tires and reppin' barbells like a regular frat bro.

Mini-Me got teamed up with one of the largest human beings in the draft thanks to Vayner Sports ... and we're glad they did.

Get it, Verne!!!