TMZ Sports - Page 50

Von Miller's fishing expedition in Florida has ignited an investigation after PETA accused the NFL star of illegally catching a hammerhead shark ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Miller and some friends went fishing in Miami last week and reeled in the 9-and-a-half foot shark -- which they later threw back in the ocean.

PETA -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals -- went berserk over the footage ... accusing Von's group of illegally catching and killing the animal.

PETA vowed to follow up with wildlife officials and said they would "ensure Miller is held accountable."

The complaint got all the way to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission -- a government law enforcement agency that regulates hunting and fishing.

We spoke with FWC Public Information Coordinator Rob Klepper who tells us, "FWC has received the images and video and is looking into whether or not a violation occurred in this incident."

Unclear what the punishment would be if officials found Miller broke any laws -- we're looking into it.

Story developing ...

As impressed as Reggie Bush was with Villanova's dominating victory Monday night, he tells TMZ Sports the triumph had NOTHING on the women's NCAA final, which featured an INSANE buzzer beater.

In case you missed it -- and you shouldn't have -- Arike Ogunbowale splashed a three as time expired to put Notre Dame on top of Mississippi State, and the shot was Mamba-Jordan-esque.

We got Reggie Bush out in L.A. Monday night, and Bush says it was THAT shot and ending that was the best in college hoops, and NOT Villanova's easy dominance over Michigan.

BTW -- the big shot by Ogunbowale was her SECOND in two games ... she also hit a long shot in the final seconds to beat undefeated UConn in the Final Four.

Tech-nerd no more!!!

Serena Williams' hubby, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, has traded in his keyboard for free weights and steel chains ... saying he's finally made the life decision to get fit.

But, don't be fooled by the broey gym pic -- he's doing it all for baby Alexis.

"Made a promise to Alexis Olympia Ohanian when I first met her that I was going to start focusing on my health as much as I focus on my business," Ohanian said on social media.

"My legacy is almost starting to talk, so she'll be cheering soon enough."

You can tell he's already made serious gains -- but Mr. "Mediocre at Best" says he's still got a ton of work to do.

No doubt having a workout buddy like Serena helps. Congrats!!

UFC star Joanna Jedrzejczyk had the exact same thought as all of us when news broke that Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov was off -- April Fools, right?!

Wrong ... and Joanna was shook.

"I thought it was a joke! But ... it's not," Jedrzejczyk told TMZ Sports.

Joanna -- the longtime women's 115-pound champ -- said she would've been fine with her rematch vs. Rose Namajunas getting bumped up to the main event at UFC 223 ... but Max Holloway stepping up is even sweeter.

"He saved the card!" Joanna said.

As for Rose ... JJ's got nothing but respect for the woman who ended her title reign, but says she's in for a rude awakening against Joanna 2.0.

More bad news for Adrien Broner ... the troubled boxer is now being sued for sexual battery by the woman who claims he groped her genitals at a Georgia mall, TMZ Sports has learned.

The woman behind the suit is Kaila Crews ... who claims she was walking around the Lenox Square shopping center back in February when Broner approached her and "swiped his hand across [her] private parts."

"At no point had Plaintiff given [Broner] permission to touch any part of her body," Crews' lawsuit states.

Part of the incident was captured on video -- including the moment Broner was handcuffed by police and arrested for misdemeanor sexual battery.

Crews claims she suffered emotional distress from the incident and says Broner needs to pay up for any injuries she experienced, along with pain and suffering.

As for the criminal case, investigators are still collecting evidence.

Meanwhile, Broner has a fight scheduled for April 21 -- where he's due to face off against Jessie Vargas at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Michael Rapaport says the New York Giants have a VERY simple blueprint to not suck next season ... if they can keep their heads outta their asses.

Part 1: "DO NOT get rid of Odell Beckham. DO NOT make the mistake."

Part 2: "Draft Saquon Barkley ... he's a star."

OBJ's had a really tough offseason, but Rapaport explains why the G-Men gotta give him a pass for the off-field stuff ... and he makes a solid argument.

As for Saquon ... Mike says he's seen the kid in person and, like Odell, he's a generational talent!

Rapaport also gives props to LaVar Ball for taking on the almighty NCAA with his new league ... and it's pretty obvious he puts the Ballfather over the NYG brass.

Drew Brees claims he was scammed out of MILLIONS by a jeweler who sold him an $8 MILLION diamond ring ... but the jeweler is saying Brees has no one to blame but himself.

The New Orleans Saints QB has filed a lawsuit against Vahid Moradi -- who runs the CJ Charles jewelry shop in San Diego, the city where Brees began his NFL career.

Brees claims he's been buying jewelry from Moradi for years -- and has dropped roughly $15 MILLION on some insane pieces ... including watches, earrings and rings.

Problem is ... Brees claims he recently had his jewelry independently appraised and was told his collection is worth $9 MILLION less than he paid.

In his suit filed Monday ... Brees says Moradi had insisted his jewelry was a solid investment that would definitely go up in value over the years -- and feels he was lied to the entire time.

Brees claims the biggest hit he took was on a 4.09 carat blue diamond ring he bought in 2015 for $8.18 million ... which recently appraised for only $3.75 million.

But Moradi's high-powered attorney, Eric M. George, says Brees shouldn't be pointing the finger at Moradi ... he can only blame himself.

"Drew Brees aggressively purchased multi-million dollar pieces of jewelry. Years later, claiming to suffer ‘cash flow problems,’ he tried to bully my client into undoing the transactions."

"Mr. Brees’s behavior and his belief that he was wronged because the jewelry did not appreciate in value as quickly as he hoped both demonstrate a lack of integrity and contradict basic principles of both economics and the law."

"He should restrict his game-playing to the football field, and refrain from bullying honest, hard-working businessmen like my client."

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Robby Anderson -- the guy who allegedly told a cop he was going to find his wife and bang her out of spite -- is essentially off the hook in his speeding case ... and all he had to do was pay a fine!!!

Remember, the NY Jets stud WR was arrested in Florida back in January after cops say he was doing 105 mph in a 45 mph -- and during the stop, he went completely nuclear on the arresting officer.

"He was going to find my wife, f*ck her and nut in her eye," the officer wrote in his arrest report.

Anderson was initially hit with 9 charges including 3 felonies (harming a public servant, fleeing and eluding and reckless speeding) and faced up to 15 YEARS in prison!!!!

But now, the Florida State Attorney's office tells TMZ Sports ... prosecutors have declined to move forward with ANY of the felony charges and the reckless speeding charge was downgraded to a misdemeanor.

And get this ... court records show Anderson was only ordered to pay a fine in the misdemeanor case (which he did) ... and it appears the case is essentially closed.

It's good news for Anderson -- but he could still be punished by the NFL if league officials find he violated the personal conduct policy.

Steph McMahon hit Ronda Rousey with a straight-up MEAN personal attack on 'Monday Night RAW' -- mocking the UFC star for the way she broke down after her losses in the Octagon.

Remember, Rousey went off the grid after her first loss to Holly Holm back in 2015 -- hiding her face at the airport and then stating on the 'Ellen' show she had suicidal thoughts.

After her next loss to Amanda Nunes, Rousey went into another black hole and suggested on IG that she hit "rock bottom."

So, it was shocking when McMahon decided to go "there" with Rousey on live TV -- telling Ronda:

"In the record books your very first match in WWE is going to be a loss to me. And we all know, the world knows, how you handle losses."

Obviously, the line was scripted and most likely run by Rousey before the show -- and the fact she approved it suggests Ronda's finally coming to terms with the way her UFC career wrapped up.

Ronda will be ready to exact revenge on McMahon at WrestleMania 34 -- when she teams up with Kurt Angle to take on Steph and Triple H.

Our money's on Rowdy.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic doesn't think he became a legend overnight in Los Angeles after his stellar MLS debut -- telling TMZ Sports, "I was BORN a legend."

And he meant it!

Zlatan is an international superstar who just signed with the L.A. Galaxy and scored 2 insane goals in his debut this past Saturday ... including a rocket from 40 yards out.

The Swedish-born striker was leaving Mastro's Steakhouse in Bev Hills with his family where he told us he's enjoying his time in L.A. and hopes to lead his team to an MLS title -- explaining, "Train hard, work hard and hopefully!"

No pressure ...

Villanova star Donte DiVincenzo had a busy night -- after he led the Wildcats to an NCAA title, he deleted thousands of old tweets ... including one that featured the n-word.

As DiVincenzo heated up during the game, people started combing through the 21-year-old's social media history ... and found a tweet from 2011 that read, "Ballin on these n**gas like I'm derrick rose!"

The line is actually a lyric from a Meek Mill track that came out a week before the tweet -- but the Internet freaked out anyway.

There were more questionable tweets that also surfaced.

After the game, Donte confirmed the Twitter account was his, but said he didn't remember ever posting the n-word tweet.

"It’s my account, yes ... but I never remember doing that.”

Villanova reportedly put out a statement saying Donte's account had been hacked, but later took back the statement.

All of the tweets on the account have since been deleted.

Donte DiVincenzo wasn't the only thing on fire last night ... the students at Villanova blazed up several bonfires near campus Monday night after the Wildcats beat Michigan.

Thousands of Nova fans flooded the streets to celebrate. Others set off fireworks.

Some climbed light poles -- despite the fact the Radnor Township Police Dept. had said they would be greasing the poles as a deterrent.

Still, the police were out in force and so far it doesn't appear there were riots or any kind of student vs. police fighting. We're calling cops to confirm.

Most of the celebration consisted of dancing and yelling and drinking ... and one of the guys on the light pole appeared to be chuggin' a beer.

To the victor ...

New York Yankees star Giancarlo Stanton has no problem hitting them out of the ballpark, and same goes for his choice of homes.

The former Miami Marlins right fielder was renting this $8 million crib in the Hollywood Hills during the offseason. He's from L.A. and was training in town.

The 3-bedroom, 4-bath contemporary home boasts panoramic views of L.A. There's a wine cellar, massage room, sauna, and pool with a sitting area and fireplace built in the middle of it, but the coolest thing about the pad is the interior lighting and suede-lined closet. It was also once Sammy Davis Jr.'s home.

Dennis Rodman is GOING IN on LiAngelo Ball ... telling TMZ Sports the dude sucks at hoops and has a snowball's chance in hell of making the NBA.

"He's not good at all," Rodman says ... "He's awful."

We pointed out LiAngelo dropped 72 points during a game in Lithuania on the day he announced he'd be entering the 2018 NBA Draft ... but that didn't seem to impress Rodman one bit.

"Teams over there [in Lithuania] just pretty much suck."

Still, Rodman says he gives LiAngelo a 10% chance at getting drafted "just because of social media."

On a positive note, Rodman says he's still sober and feeling great.

He's also excited for his son, Dennis Rodman Jr., who's a baller in his own right ... and getting offers from some of the biggest college programs in the country!

UFC star Brian Ortega told Dana White 'HELL YEAH" when he called and offered him the chance to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov for the 155-pound title at UFC 223.

Of course, that shot ended up going to Max Holloway ... who Ortega was scheduled to fight later this year with Max's 145-pound title on the line.

But, Brian says he ain't sweatin' the double whammy -- 'cause all it means is he's gotta wait a little longer to take out BOTH of 'em!

"My shot with Max (at 145) is already secure ... but then, there's always Khabib. I've always been interested in this fight with Khabib," Ortega told TMZ Sports.

Plus, Ortega's got some cool stuff cookin' on the side -- including a charitable project with Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr.!!

NFL star Danny Amendola isn't ready to open up about his breakup with Olivia Culpo yet -- but he's handling the split pretty well based on the way he answered our questions.

We spotted the WR at Gjusta in Venice Beach ... and asked him how he was doing in the week after the news of the split went public.

You gotta watch the clip ... Amendola says he's doing OK and seemed to be in a good mood -- but busted out the ol' "no comment" when we asked if the two were on good terms.

FYI, Danny and Olivia had been dating for several years and seemed to be doing well during the NFL playoffs ... when she famously jumped into his arms for a celebratory kiss after the AFC Championship.

There's more ... we also spoke with Danny about his new squad, the Miami Dolphins -- and if he's bonding with his QB, Ryan Tannehill.