TMZ Sports - Page 50

Dez Bryant was officially charged today with assault stemming from the fight he had last week with his mom ... TMZ has learned.

Jamille Bradfield at the Dallas County D.A.'s office tells TMZ ... Bryant was charged with assault, family violence -- a class A misdemeanor.

No court date has been set.

11:00 AM PT -- Joe Paterno's family just responded to the NCAA sanctions, claiming they "defame the legacy and contributions of a great coach and educator without any input from our family or those who knew him best."

The family adds, "Punishing past, present and future students of the University because of Sandusky's crimes does not serve justice. This is not a fair or thoughtful action; it is a panicked response to the public's understandable revulsion at what Sandusky did."

6:26 AM PT -- Well, that didn't take long -- a PSU football recruit has ALREADY decommitted to the school.

Ross Douglas -- a cornerback from Ohio -- will no longer attend PSU in the Fall. No word on where he will play.

Penn State University was just hit with a $60 million sanction by the NCAA for its role in covering up the Jerry Sandusky child rape scandal.

And it gets worse -- or better -- depending for whom you're rooting.

NCAA President Mark Emmert just announced ... PSU will be BANNED from bowl games for the next 4 years. The NCAA will also vacate all PSU football wins from 1998 to 2011.

Bald is not beautiful ... it's embarrassing ... and men should do whatever it takes to hide their hairless shame ... so implies Wes Welker -- the new face of hair transplant surgery.

The 31-year-old New England Patriots wide receiver has revealed ... he underwent hair transplant surgery back in July after noticing his hair was starting to thin.

In fact, Welker is enjoying his new thickened mop so much, he's agreed to star in an ad campaign with the man who re-populated his melon, Dr. Robert Leonard of Leonard Hair Transplant Associates.

According to the LHTA, Welker's procedure went down in July -- with doctors "transplanting follicles to an area of Welker’s scalp where his hair had started to thin."

5 hours later, Welker's dome was good to go ... and according to LHTA, Welker was "immediately able to resume his regular activities, including training for the football season and even wearing a helmet."

It's hard being teammates with Tom Brady ... that beautiful sonofabitch.

Washington Redskins offensive lineman Trent Williams is 6'5" and weighs 318 pounds, so just imagine how much ink was used to slap a gigantic tattoo on his back.

WIlliams -- whose self-annointed nickname is "The Silverback" due to his aforementioned massive size -- got the tat a few months back of ... what else ... a silverback gorilla.

The ink cost Williams around $3,000 (plus a "nice tip") ... courtesy of Sergio Garcia at Ultimate Designz in Miami. We're told Williams had to sit through two separate seven-hour sessions ... which he took like a champ.

Hard to imagine a man that size crying.

Dennis Rodman won't be thrown in jail for failing to pay over $200,000 in back child support -- because TMZ has learned the NBA legend finally struck a deal with his baby mama ... to pay her back ... kinda.

TMZ broke the story -- a Florida judge issued an arrest warrant for Rodman back in April after he failed to pay one of his baby mamas $179,000 in unpaid child support.

The judge later revoked the warrant when Rodman said he planned to fight the bill ... but set a court date earlier this month to address the issue. In the meantime, Rodman's $179,000 tab swelled to $253,000.

Rodman showed up to court -- with his longtime lawyers Bradford Cohen and Vanessa Prieto -- and we're told The Worm finally hashed out a deal with his ex. Which is good, because in Florida, deadbeat dads can get jail time.

Rodman's lawyers tell TMZ, he agreed to pay his ex $5,000 up front in good faith -- and slowly repay the balance in monthly installments. The judge was satisfied with the arrangement.

We're told Rodman still wants to get the principle amount lowered.

Sports radio host Max Kellerman thinks Penn State did the right thing in taking down the statue of Joe Paterno -- in fact, he thinks they need to go further.

We caught up with Max at LAX today where he said it was "about time" the statue of JoePa came down. Max said he believes Paterno's actions in the Jerry Sandusky child abuse action outweigh all the good that he's done ... and that Penn State shouldn't stop with just the statue.

The statue honoring Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has been removed from in front of Beaver Stadium.

The statue was removed via forklift as 100-150 students watched, chanting, "We are Penn State."

Penn State president Rodney Erickson announced the statue will be stored in a "secured location."

Erickson released a statement saying, "I now believe that, contrary to is original intention, Coach Paterno's statue has become a source of division and an obstacle to hearing in our university and beyond. For that reason, I have decided that it is in the best interest of our university and public safety to remove the statue and store it in a secure location."

The decision came 10 days after a report conducted by former FBI director Louis J. Freeh conclude that Paterno, as well as other top Penn State administrators, had concealed the allegations of child sexual abuse made against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

A new report by CBS Sports says the NCAA will hand down "unprecedented" penalties against the school on Monday morning.

Jason Kidd took to his twitter account to kind of, sort of apologize for his alleged drunk-driving accident last week in Southhampton, NY.

Kidd was arrested July 15 for DWI after allegedly smashing his SUV into a light pole ... which knocked out the power of the surrounding community for hours.

After pleading not guilty to DWI -- the Knicks point guard addressed the crash publicly for the first time via Twitter yesterday, but made sure not to take responsibility of any kind.

He tweets, "I regret any disruption my accident last weekend may have caused members of the community and want to thank the local authorities ... I’d also like to thank my family and friends for their support."

Kidd sure knows how to beat around the bush. Poles? Not so much.

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt has been arrested ... again ... this time for driving under the influence in Kentucky ... TMZ has learned.

The NFL star was taken into custody by the Fort Campbell Police Department at 3:30 AM Tuesday while attempting to drive on to Fort Campbell -- a U.S. Army base located on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee.

We're told Britt was with a soldier at the time of the arrest.

Britt's cherry red 2008 Dodge Challenger was taken to a nearby impound lot (pictured below).

It DEFINITELY ain't Kenny's first brush with the law ... the 23-year-old was busted back in April 2011 for careless driving ... and in June 2011, he was popped in New Jersey for resisting arrest.

A rep for Fort Campbell tells TMZ the incident is "under investigation."

Fun Fact -- Snooki has been invited to attend the wedding of former U.S. Olympic wrestling champ Kurt Angle, which will take place in Pittsburgh this weekend.

Not So Fun Fact -- Snooki respectfully declined due to prior obligations.

Fun Fact -- She sent a gift anyway ... it was pot.

Not So Fun Fact -- Not pot as in weed, pot as in coffee pot.

Fun Fact -- Snooki knows Kurt through her baby daddy Jionni ... who wanted to train with Angle earlier this year.

Not So Fun Fact --They never actually trained together.

Mike Piazza has no doubt Roger Clemens was pumped up on steroids during their infamous broken bat standoff in the 2000 World Series ... at least according to Mike Piazza's wife!

Mike and his wife, former Playboy Playmate Alicia Rickter, were leaving dinner last night -- and when we started talking to the retired MLB star ... Alicia blurted out, "Does he (Mike) think Roger Clemens was on 'roids when he broke that bat? Yes! He DOES think that!"

You gotta see the look Piazza gave Alicia the second she opened her mouth. We suspect she had a drink with dinner ... and it's obvious he didn't want to rehash the legendary incident.

If ya missed it (shame on you) ... Piazza's bat was shattered by a Clemens heater during the last Subway Series between the Yankees and Mets. Clemens picked up the jagged barrel of the bat and angrily hurled it at Piazza.

The violent incident fueled the longstanding debate about Clemens using steroids ... which he's always denied.

But check out the clip ... Piazza actually goes on to say some nice things about Clemens.

Rafael Nadal just delivered some GREAT NEWS to everyone who's not a Spaniard ... he's officially pulling out of the 2012 Olympics ... claiming he's "not in condition" to compete.

It's a crushing blow to Spain ... since the tennis great won gold at the 2008 Games and was a favorite to top the podium this time around, too.

9:25 AM PT -- According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Owens has also been ordered to pay Smith's attorney's fees and expenses -- a $12,000 obligation.

The judge has ordered T.O. to make 6 easy monthly payments of $2,000 ... but if he's late, the full remaining balance will be due immediately and Owens could face additional punishment.

9:10 AM PT -- Randy Kessler, an attorney for TO's baby mama, Melanie Smith, tells us, "While it is unfortunate that it required court action to get the child support payments resumed, we are glad the amounts have been paid and our client remains hopeful that further court involvement will not be needed and more importantly, that a better, more consistent relationship for her daughter and her daughter's father can develop."

7:45 AM PT -- Court documents show T.O. has finally paid the $20k he owes the mother of his 7-year-old daughter.

Terrell Owens has just arrived to the courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia ... hoping to convince a judge NOT to throw his unemployed ass in jail after missing $20k in child support payments to one of his baby mamas.

Just the fact he arrived ... on time ... is a big step for T.O. ... considering he blew off his last scheduled court appearance and the judge threatened to send his ass to the slammer if he no-showed today.

Earlier this week, T.O. switched lawyers ... and his new attorney released a statement saying, "Mr. Owens is making the necessary arrangements to pay child support due to Ms. Smith in the Georgia case."

The statement continued, "He regrets that he is no longer able to pay child support based upon his previous NFL income. He hopes to be signed to an NFL team in the future. Mr. Owens has always made his child support payments his top priority."

7/19 -- Warrior's rep released a statement saying, "Mr Elias's allegations of criminal fraud are completely unfounded, ill-advised and unfortunate. This is a purely civil matter that is in the process of being resolved by our attorney."

The Ultimate Warrior has been named in a police report ... accused of bilking a collector out of $28k and a ton of wrestling merchandise, including ring-worn wrestling trunks ... TMZ has learned.

The report was filed with the Sante Fe County Sheriff's Department in New Mexico by a sports memorabilia dealer named Christopher Elias.

Elias claims he struck a $28k deal with Warrior, in which the wrestling legend agreed to send Elias a bunch of classic merchandise from his personal collection. Warrior was also supposed to sign twenty wrestling belts and ten Wrestlemania posters that Elias owned.

Elias says he paid Warrior nearly $30k for the gear and the autographs ... but claims the wrestler went MIA and never sent Elias any of the promised merchandise.

So, Elias filed the fraud report asking the Santa Fe Sheriff to bring criminal charges against Warrior. He also vows to sue the wrestling great if he doesn't get back his money and memorabilia ASAP.

We reached out to Warrior's rep for comment -- so far, no word back.

"Iron" Mike Tyson was once the most feared man on the planet -- but even he was no match for the fighters in his own awesome video game ... "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out."

We ran into Tyson in NYC and asked him how he fared against the likes of King Hippo, Soda Popinski, and the other heavy hitters in his hugely popular Nintendo game from the late 80s and 90s.

Mike 'fessed up that -- like most of us -- he could never take the belt from his own alter ego in the game ... Kid Dynamite.

Tyson also admitted there is a real-life person he'd be afraid to meet in a dark alley.