TMZ Sports - Page 50

To our knowledge, no high speed chase ensued and no pedestrian road kill.

Kobe and Vanessa Bryant are striking back at the maid who accused Vanessa of various abuse on the job -- including an alleged incident where the maid was forced to stick her hand into a bag of dog crap.

The Bryant's lawyers, Loeb & Loeb LLP, just released the following statement on behalf of the couple:

We have learned that a former employee of the Bryants, Maria Jimenez, has filed a complaint against our clients. Ms. Jimenez's outrageous allegations of improper conduct are totally unfounded and patently false. The Bryants intend to vigorously defend against these untruthful allegations and are confident that the baseless nature of the allegations will be proven.

TMZ has obtained the mugshot of former first round NFL draft pick-turned-Detroit Lions mega-bust, Charles Rogers.

Rogers -- the #2 overall pick in the 2003 draft -- was sentenced to 30 days in the slammer yesterday (with 15 days credit for time served) for violating the terms of his probation in a domestic violence case.

Court records show the 27-year-old, who signed a $55 million contract with the Lions back in the day, tested positive for alcohol and falsified records showing he attended AA classes.

Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa are being sued by their former housekeeper, who claims Vanessa was incredibly abusive -- even demanding that she put her hand in a bag of dog feces to retrieve a tag from her blouse ... so Vanessa could deduct the cost of the blouse from the maid's salary!

Maria Jimenez claims Vanessa called her "lazy, slow, dumb, a f---ing liar, and f---ing sh-t."

In the lawsuit filed in Superior Court in Orange County, Jimenez claims Vanessa accused her of stealing her (mouth) retainer.

Jimenez says it got so bad -- Vanessa allegedly "badgered, harassed and humiliated Maria by yelling and screaming at Maria and criticizing her in front of Kobe, the Bryants' children, employees and other people in the household" -- she threatened to quit but Kobe talked her out of it.

The final straw: Vanessa went nuclear because Maria put an expensive blouse in the washer. Vanessa demanded that Maria put her hand in a bag of dog feces to retrieve the price tag for the blouse.

Maria says she wanted to quit and Vanessa responded that she "had to work until payday to pay for the $690 blouse, which she did."

Maria is suing for wrongful discharge, invasion of privacy and emotional distress and unpaid wages.

Lance suffered the injury when he crashed his bike during a race in Spain earlier today, jeopardizing his chances to compete in the upcoming Tour de France.

Peyton -- dressed in sensible pair of khakis and a polo shirt -- got a drunken crowd roaring at a bar in Key West, as he and Kenny Chesney busted out a version of "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" by David Allen Coe.

Mixed martial artist Din Thomas knocked his opponent out Saturday night, and offered an encore with another bad ass -- Chris Brown.

Thomas, who made quick work of Gabe Lemley, grabbed the mic after the fight and told the crowd he'd love to take on Rihanna's alleged abuser.

He told the crowd: "It's not cool to put your hands on a woman. So Rihanna, if you want someone to kick his ass, holler at me."

Kolan McConiughey, a Special Olympics competitor who has bowled three perfect 300 games, tells TMZ that the Prez has to score a lot higher than 129 to beat him. Kolan says he bowls an average of 266.

Kolan -- who works at a grocery store in Ann Arbor, Mich. -- said he'd love to go to the White House to beat Barack on his own lane. Kolan said, "He's cool, but he can't beat me."

We posed the challenge to the White House. They said "no comment."

We just turned up a lawsuit in which Alex Rodriguez sued Ryan Investments to get his $1 million deposit back on a house he was supposed to buy. A-Fraud claims he had every right to back out of the deal, since Ryan Investments didn't close the deal on time.

A-Rod and Cynthia (he was still with her when he made the deal back in November 2007) were buying the house for $15 mil -- it eventually sold to someone else a few months back for just under $12 mil.

Kobe Bryant has just been excused from jury duty -- but the way it all went down is priceless.

When the Orange County judge questioned Kobe -- a candidate for jury service on a vandalism case -- TMZ was inside the courtroom and heard the following exchange take place:

Judge: "What do you do for a living?"
Kobe: "I play professional basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers"
Judge: "Go Lakers!"

Yes, that conversation actually happened. But there's more. When the judge asked Kobe why he thought he would be a "good juror," Kobe replied, "I'm a good listener."

Kobe was also asked about his relationship with the cops, to which Bryant replied, "My team of security guards are comprised mostly of police officers."

Though Kobe was among one of the last people to get excused, he was still in good spirits on his way out -- even signing an autograph on a shoe for a fan.

Kobe Bryant just returned to the O.C. Courthouse after a lunch break and had nothing to say ... we were hoping for an answer to the burning question: Did he think his wife Vanessa could clear the metal detector with all that bling?

Kobe is a prospective juror in an auto vandalism case. What are the chances it's a Hummer?

Kobe is at the Orange County Civil Courthouse in Santa Ana, waiting to be called for service. We got a pic of the famous Laker/former defendant clearing the metal detector. He was escorted into the building by Sheriff's deputies and taken to a private room near the Jury Assembly Room.