TMZ Sports - Page 50

UFC legend Anderson Silva is still adamant he never knowingly used steroids -- but says if the positive test results are accurate, the only explanation is "contaminated supplements."

Silva tested positive for two banned substances in a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency drug test conducted back in October. Silva is now facing a maximum 4-year suspension from fighting.

But, "The Spider" tells TMZ Sports he would NEVER knowingly juice up -- saying it would be a "stupid" thing to do at the tail end of his career.

His explanation -- "Maybe the supplements I'm using are contaminated."

Silva says his lawyers are still fighting to clear his name -- and he's confident he'll fight again.

In fact, he's still focused on getting a fight with boxing legend Roy Jones Jr.

And get this ... if 42-year-old Silva IS banned for 4 years -- he does NOT plan on retiring ... insisting he'll still take a fight even in his late 40s because he loves the sport so much.

Bill Belichick didn't win the Super Bowl -- but he's winning at life.

Here's Bill's long-term girlfriend, Linda Holliday, stuntin' in a fishnet 1-piece somewhere a hell of a lot warmer than New England ... and lookin' damn good.

No sign of Bill -- guessing he's behind the camera in a hoodie.

It's the second beach pic Linda's shared since the Super Bowl ... but play time's over for her Coach Belichick, 'cause she also mentioned they just got back to Boston.

Sure Bill's stoked to get back to work -- though we bet he prefers hangin' with a half-naked Linda.

By the way, Bill and Linda reportedly met back in 2007 and began dating shortly after that. Since they've been together, the Patriots have been to 5 Super Bowls and won 2 of 'em.

Washington Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly is glad the fans who heckled him for being a black hockey player were dealt with ... but he says it ain't enough.

"I don't really have all the answers, but something needs to change," Devante told TMZ Sports.

DSP was in the penalty box during a game at the United Center on Saturday ... when a group of nearby fans starting chanting "basketball" at him.

No surprise -- he was triggered.

Those 4 fans were booted from the arena -- and later hit with a lifetime ban -- but Devante told us addressing this one incident doesn't solve the larger problem.

"It shouldn't happen anywhere -- hockey, baseball, basketball -- it shouldn't happen in the world."

FYI, there have been several instances of black athletes dealing with racist fans in recent years.

Ex-Louisville basketball star Kevin Ware says he doesn't understand why the NCAA is forcing the school to vacate their 2013 NCAA Championship ... saying the sanctions are a "joke."

Ware was a member of that championship team -- but suffered a catastrophic leg injury that sidelined him during the Elite Eight round of the tournament.

Still, Ware says he's incredibly proud of his team -- despite the NCAA vacating the title and all of the team's wins due to the stripper sex party scandal involving players, recruits and team officials.

"It's a joke, honestly," Ware tells TMZ Sports ... "Just my personal opinion."

Ware says at the end of the day, Louisville still beat Duke, Wichita State and Michigan to win the tourney -- and the NCAA can't change that history.

Steph Curry's All-Star team lost to LeBron's Sunday, meaning his charity of choice received less than half the donation as Bron's ... until now.

Brotherhood Crusade was picked by Curry as the community outreach program to rep for the All-Star Game, which ended up getting $150k since Team Steph lost (LeBron's charity got $350k).

Charisse Bremond, president and CEO of the organization, tells TMZ ... Warriors exec Erika Glazer felt bad it didn't get the winning money, so she pledged to match the donation and give an extra $150k from her own pocket. We're told the check will be there by week's end.

Bremond says Glazer's donation and the Team Steph donation -- $300k total -- will go toward operating costs, bolstering a variety of programs for its kids, providing mental health services and paying its high-quality staff.

Brotherhood Crusade helps around 3,000 kids a year in South L.A. and was the unanimous choice by the stars on Team Steph to play for. Several kids from the program attended the All-Star festivities last weekend and got to meet the players.

If we told you we had video of Dwight Howard playing pick-up basketball with random gym dudes at San Diego State ... you'd probably expect to see DH destroying them, dunking repeatedly on their normal heads.

You'd be wrong ... because we actually have video of Howard hooping with some random gym dudes at San Diego State and the dude who got kinda dominated was Dwight.

Apparently Howard was looking for some fun Sunday night and hit up the Aztec Rec Center at San Diego State University to get some night ball in with the 100-ish kids in the gym.

Dope for those kids ... but it's not like they took it easy on him for blessing them with his presence -- they went at him hard, with one dude actually ripping Dwight on defense and then freaking a reverse dunk!

Dwight also horribly bricked a three.

Derrick Lewis is a VERY happy man after getting the W at UFC Fight Night in Austin -- 'cause he won ... but mostly 'cause his wife says she's ending his booty ban!!

The bad news -- we talked to Derrick and April the day after the fight ... and they told us he's too injured to get it on.

"The ban is over. I've been trying to get him all day, but he's tired," April told TMZ Sports.

"I don't got it in me, man -- I'm hurtin' ... I can't put in a half-assed performance, lay there like a starfish," Derrick added.

Lewis ain't lying -- showing us a serious injury he sustained early on vs. Marcin Tybura. It looks bad.

But, the Black Beast says he wants another fight soon ... and he's callin' out the scariest dude in the heavyweight division!

The chick who missed her shot at Steven Adams on Twitter 3 YEARS AGO says she's pumped the NBA star finally got back to her ... and she's still VERY down to go on a date!!

Social media has been blowing up after Adams went DEEP into his Twitter history to respond to a 2015 tweet from Lauren Myers -- who asked him to be her date to her law school prom.

On Monday, February 19, 2018 ... Adams wrote back, "Absolutely."

Better late than never right?! Well, that's how Myers feels.

In fact, the 28-year-old lawyer (she's since graduated law school and passed the bar) tells TMZ Sports she's down for a basketball game, dinner, bowling ... "anything would be fun!"

Myers says she initially hit Adams up because he was a young, unknown player at the time and she thought there was a good chance she'd get a response. She never imagined hearing back now!

Serena Williams says she "almost died" after giving birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia -- if not for a team of super doctors who removed a large hematoma from her abdomen.

The tennis star says her daughter was born by an emergency C-section on Sept. 1 after Olympia's heart rate plummeted during contractions.

The surgery went smoothly, Serena said on CNN.com ... "But what followed just 24 hours after giving birth were six days of uncertainty."

Williams says she suffered a pulmonary embolism -- which is when a blood clot blocks one or more arteries in her lungs.

Serena contacted medical professionals -- but the coughing from the embolism got so bad, her C-section wound popped open and she required another surgery.

"The doctors found a large hematoma, a swelling of clotted blood, in my abdomen. And then I returned to the operating room for a procedure that prevents clots from traveling to my lungs."

Serena eventually made it home and was ordered to spend the next 6 weeks in bed.

She credits the "incredible medical team of doctors and nurses at a hospital with state-of-the-art equipment" -- and urges people to support UNICEF, which provides medical services to mothers and babies around the world.

Seemed like a good idea at the time ... but now Rick Pitino's celebratory Louisville back tattoo (commemorating the 2013 National Championship) -- is technically incorrect and Rick's got some decisions to make.

Remember, Rick promised his players in the middle of the season that he would get a Louisville logo with the team's record and the words "NCAA Champions" tatted on his left shoulder if they won the NCAA tourney.

Problem is ... the NCAA just vacated all of Louisville's wins from that season -- along with the national championship -- over the sex party scandal in which team officials paid escorts and strippers for dances and sex acts for recruits and players.

Also, Rick has since been fired from Louisville in the wake of allegations he participated in a scheme to essentially pay recruits. He's denied all allegations and is now suing the school.

So ... if you're Rick Pitino -- keep the tat? Laser remove the tat? Get a new tat over the old tat?

Either way ... sucks to be that guy.

The University of Louisville is being forced to vacate all basketball wins from the 2011-12 season through the 2014-15 season -- including their 2013 National Championship ... and it's all over the sex party scandal.

An NCAA investigation found "a former Louisville director of basketball operations acted unethically when he committed serious violations by arranging striptease dances and sex acts for prospects, student-athletes and others, and did not cooperate with the investigation."

The punishment was initially handed down in June 2017 -- but Louisville appealed. Now, the NCAA is upholding the ruling ... which means the banner is coming down.

As we previously reported, the allegations made headlines back in 2015 when self-described madam Katina Powell claimed U of L staff paid her more than $10,000 for dances and sex services from her stable of escorts.

In her book, Powell singles out ex-Louisville staffer Andre McGee -- a graduate assistant who became director of basketball operations -- claiming he was the point man who paid Powell.

Powell claims her stable of dancers included her own daughters -- and they would perform for Louisville players at various off-campus locations from 2010 to 2014.

After the dances, Powell claims she would negotiate a separate fee for the players to have sex with the women.

Charlotte Hornets rookie Malik Monk -- the 11th overall pick in the draft -- was involved in a car accident early Sunday morning ... and was cited by cops for careless driving.

According to police documents obtained by TMZ Sports, Monk was driving near the University of Arkansas around 5:46 AM when his red 2002 Lexus ran off the road and crashed into a gate.

University police responded and cited the 20-year-old for careless driving and no proof of insurance.

The car was pretty jacked up and was towed to a nearby impound lot. Monk was allowed to retrieve his personal items which included money, basketballs, shoes and jerseys.

Monk told police, "I was driving, looked down for a second then I just hit a bump. Happened fast."

No word if he was injured in the wreck. The Hornets don't play until Thursday.

Talk about a power dinner ...

Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union met up with Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart at one of the fanciest restaurants in Beverly Hills ... and TMZ Sports has the video!

Of course, they were all in town for the NBA All-Star Game -- but when we asked why they all met for dinner, D-Wade joked, "Black History Month!"

Clearly, they're all good friends -- and joked around together after chowing down at Mastro's Steakhouse.

At one point, Kevin told Dwyane that he didn't have his cell phone number anymore -- and Wade joked back, "I got traded and I changed my number!"

They weren't the only superstars in the building last night -- Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Usher were also inside!

Tito Ortiz is doubling down on his Chuck Liddell call-out ... telling TMZ Sports straight-up that he's down for a 3rd fight with the Iceman!

"I don't need to fight, but if Chuck needs to ... I'll be a good friend like he was once and give him a payday," Ortiz said ... adding that ONLY Chuck could pull him outta retirement.

The bad news -- Tito says he proposed Ortiz vs. Liddell 3 to a UFC matchmaker on New Year's ... and got shot down HARD 'cause they're worried about Chuck's health.

"He kinda looked at me and laughed and said, 'Chuck couldn't fight again! He's been knocked out unconscious 5 times! I guarantee you the doctor won't give him a license."

But that ain't stoppin' Chuck -- who tells us he's still training his ass off.

Spurs baller Dejounte Murray was the real winner of All-Star weekend -- ditching his NBA bros for his INSANELY HOT IG model GF ... and bae-cationing in Maui.

Yeah ... good call.

For those unacquainted, that's 21-year-old Jilly Anais -- the apple of Dejounte's eye for the past year and change.

Murray and Anais were all over each other at the Four Seasons' Wailea beach -- makin' out and ass cuppin,' splashin' around in the water ... basically doing the kinda stuff you'd expect from a man with the baddest chick on the island.

Seems like things are getting serious, too. Jilly captioned one of the pics, "Falling head over heels for you is easy" (shout-out to Chris Brown).

Lock it down, young man. Lock it down.

PyeongChang's Olympic village is hook-up central for alpine skiers ... who are hitting the dating app, Bumble, as hard as they hit the slopes.

Bumble says most competitors -- from all countries, not just the U.S. -- have seen a 50% spike in swipes since the games started a little over a week ago. Translation: someone's gotta help you "stretch" on your off days, right?

That mostly applies to athletes who love going downhill -- Bumble says the alpine skiers are getting more hook-up action than their fellow Olympians. According to the app ... hockey players rank second, freestyle skiers and cross-country skiers tie for third. Snowboarders and ski jumpers bring up the rear.

Ya won't get crucial stats like that on NBC!