TMZ Sports - Page 50

WWE Champion CM Punk believes Vince McMahon was RIGHT to fire Abraham Washington ... because rape jokes are not funny and have no place in the WWE.

TMZ spoke with the wrestling champ on his way in to Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills last night where he made it clear ... A.W.'s crack about Kobe Bryant during a live WWE event was definitely grounds for termination.

"I don't like to see anybody lose their job," Punk told us ... but says axing someone over a rape joke is "justified."

Kobe Bryant's wife Vanessa says she can only be with a man who wins championships ... and if you think that makes her sound like a gold digger -- we agree. Well, some of us do.

MLB umpire Greg Gibson suffered a broken nose and a nasty gash near his eye when L.A. Angels star Torii Hunter accidentally cleated him in the face during Wednesday's game ... but Gibson tells TMZ he isn't holding a grudge.

We spoke with the 43-year-old umpire ... who tells us he's recovering nicely after Hunter's foot collided with his face during a botched slide at home plate.

Gibson says he required 5 stitches to close the wound near his eye. During an exam with an Angels team doctor during the game, Gibson says he was informed the bridge of his nose was fractured.

Doctors also performed a CT scan, but determined he did NOT suffer any head trauma.

Gibson tells us ... Hunter visited him after the game and apologized.

Gibson says Hunter seemed "upset and worried" about the accident ... but the umpire tells us he doesn't blame Torii ... chalking it up to a "freak play ... an accident."

In fact, Gibson says Hunter is one of the nicest guys in the league ... "One of the princes of the game."

Gibson says he has another eye exam Friday morning ... and if he passes, he hopes to get back on the job ASAP.

While Michael Phelps is off hanging out in a mankini with his guys pals in the Maldives, his gorgeous reported girlfriend Megan Rossee was frolicking in a sexy gold bikini at the beach in Santa Monica on Thursday.

Kim Kardashian is telling close friends she is not pushing for a divorce so she can marry Kanye West -- she's saying Kris Humphries has simply become "a cancer" she wants out of her life forever.

Sources connected with Kim tell TMZ ... after Wednesday's court hearing, Kim said, "Kris is the first person I ever had to break-up with and that f**ked with my emotions." She added, when their marriage started to fall apart "He told our producers he would destroy my career and me if the show wasn't edited right."

Kim, who is telling friends she is "emotionally exhausted" from dealing with Kris, says if he really thinks he can convince a judge she defrauded him, wait 'til he sees the outtakes of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" -- which show Kris as a "manipulative, vindictive, petty, fame-hungry jerk."

Things are looking up for Marion Jones -- who was infamously stripped of her Olympic gold medals -- because she just traded in her humble Texas home ... for a much nicer version.

In case you didn't already know ... in 2007 Marion -- who was considered a LEGEND in Track & Field -- copped to using steroids throughout her career and as a result was stripped of her medals, lucrative endorsement deals, and thrown in jail on charges of perjury.

But all that's behind her ... Marion and her husband just sold their modest 2,173-square-foot home ... and traded up to a much nicer 3,156-square-foot pad with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths ... all for a cool $212k.

With her new crib -- which is just a few miles from the old one -- comes a wooded deck ... 3 living rooms ... a huge master bedroom and a giant back yard where she can run around .

Ya know ... 'cause she's a runner.

Terrell Owens can easily afford $5,000 a month in child support thanks to his brand new NFL contract -- this according to one of his baby mamas ... who's now fighting T.O.'s request to reduce his financial obligations.

Owens had filed legal docs last year -- asking to reduce his enormous child support payments to FOUR separate baby mamas -- because he was unemployed at the time ... and seriously strapped for cash.

But last week, Owens signed a contract with the Seattle Seahawks -- a deal reportedly worth almost $1,000,000.

Which is why baby mama #4 -- a woman named Melanie Paige Smith -- has just filed papers, asking the judge to dismiss T.O.'s payment reduction request.

In the docs -- filed by Melanie's lawyer Randall Kessler -- she claims, "It is clear that a downward modification of [T.O.'s] child support obligation is not warranted" due to his new Seahawks contract ... as well as his income over the last 5 years, which Melanie estimates to be around $29,000,000.

According to Melanie, T.O. earned $7,000,000 playing for the Cowboys in 2007, signed a $13,000,000 contract with the Cowboys in 2008, signed a $6,500,000 with the Buffalo Bills in 2009, and signed a $2,000,000 deal with the Bengals in 2010.

And then there's T.O.'s indoor football contract with the Allen Wranglers -- which Melanie says was six figures.

But Melanie's math doesn't exactly add up -- T.O. was released from the Cowboys early, got injured mid-season with the Bengals, and was released from his Wranglers deal after less than a year.

Here's a shocker -- something actually lasted LESS TIME than Chad Johnson's marriage to Evelyn Lozada -- his endorsement deal with Zico coconut water ... because the drink company just fired his ass ... less than a month after signing him.

A rep for Zico released a statement today, saying, "In light of recent events involving Mr. Johnson, we have decided to terminate our relationship" with him. The "recent events" obviously refer to Johnson's domestic violence arrest this weekend ... after he allegedly headbutted Lozada.

The rep adds, "The values we espouse, through our employees, our customers and our brand, are central to our mission. We have taken this proactive step to demonstrate just how important those values are."

Zico signed Johnson on July 25th. Johnson married his soon-to-be ex-wife Evelyn on July 4th.

Kris Humphries' lawyer engineered a sneak attack by trying to serve a subpoena on Kanye West by putting it in a Nordstrom box and sending it to Kim Kardashian's house.

Kim's lawyer, disso queen Laura Wasser, told the judge in the divorce case about the ploy during a hearing that is still going on.

Wasser groused to the judge ... Kim has already racked up $250,000 in attorney's fees, yet it's unclear exactly what Kris wants out of this.

Wasser said she's heard the reports that Kris and his lawyers want to put reality TV on trial, and there seems to be evidence to back that up. Wasser noted that Kris has served Kris Jenner with a subpoena and NBC Universal and Bunim/Murray, which produces the Kardashian reality shows.

Wasser said she's perplexed as to why Kris Humphries thinks the marriage was a fraud -- because he went in eyes wide open.

Kris Humphries' lawyer, Marshall Waller told the court he wants to prove the marriage was a fraud, which Kim wanted solely to benefit her reality show. He says he wants to be armed with information about the show before taking Kim's deposition.

Kim's lawyer, Laura Wasser followed up by asking why it's so important for Kris to get an annulment. Waller did not answer. Wasser then said she intends to get Kris to pay every penny of Kim's attorney's fees.

On her way out of court, Wasser said, "We're just moving forward. My client just wants to be divorced."

Abby Wambach TRAINED HER ASS OFF to lead the U.S. soccer team to a gold medal ... and yesterday she celebrated the victory by letting herself go ... with PIZZA AND BEER!!!

Wambach was out with some pals at Paisano's Pizza in Hermosa Beach, CA ... doing a little well-deserved boozy day partying with her new best friend ... the gold medal.

FYI -- Wambach is a frickin' badass ... who got punched in the face by a cheap-shotting Colombian in one of the early rounds of the Olympics ... and GOT UP.

Chad Johnson lied to his coach's face this week in an effort to keep from being cut from the Miami Dolphins ... but it didn't work ... and Chad's humiliating termination was all caught on tape.

Johnson's ill-fated meeting with Coach Joe Philbin was captured by the crew at "Hard Knocks" ... a weekly HBO documentary series following the Dolphins which aired last night.

"Hard Knocks" cameras followed Johnson on the day after he was arrested for domestic battery ... when he met with Philbin at the Miami offices ... and tried to talk the Coach out of firing his ass.

During the very short meeting, Johnson told Philbin ... "Coach, I've never been in trouble before ... ever."

He lied.

As TMZ previously reported, Johnson was convicted of domestic violence back in 2000 ... after slapping his then-girlfriend during an argument. Apparently, the arrest slipped his mind.

Lawyers for Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian will square off in court today and -- in technical legal terms -- we're told the judge will force Kris to either s**t or get off the pot.

Lawyers for both sides must tell the judge what they have done to either settle the case or prepare for trial. As TMZ has previously reported ... Kris has refused to settle, even though he signed what we're told is an iron-clad prenup that gives him zilch in the 72-day marriage.

What makes things puzzling ... even though Kris won't settle, he hasn't prepared for trial. In fact, we know Kris' lawyers have not even taken Kim's deposition ... this, despite the fact the judge said all depos must be in the can by today's hearing.

As we previously reported, Kris' lawyers have said they want to put reality TV on trial, but it's unclear what their end game is because Kris has no damages. He made hundreds of thousands of bucks off "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" as well as the wedding special, and he signed a $24 million basketball contract -- and the notoriety that made him a celeb didn't hurt the negotiations.

Short story ... it's almost certain the judge will not screw around with the case by prolonging it. If Kris doesn't want to walk away with a clean divorce, the judge will almost certainly set the case for trial -- whether Kris and his legal team are prepared or not.

We're not so cynical to believe Kris is dragging things out because he likes the publicity.

Dwight Howard's working on a backup plan if this Lakers thing doesn't work out -- celebrity impressions ... and he busted out his Charles Barkley today in Beverly Hills.

The Lake Show's new all-star was leaving a salon in the 90210 (he really likes BH), and when someone asked him to whip out his Barkley ... Dwight jumped right into it.

We'll say this ... it's okay. Not as good as the Kobe Bryant impersonation he did last week, but decent.

Chad Johnson has broken his silence ... and has issued an apology "To everyone for the recent events that have occurred" involving his wife Evelyn Lozada.

Moments after Evelyn filed for divorce, Johnson released a statement on his website regarding his recent domestic violence arrest ... saying, "I would like to wish Evelyn well and will never say anything bad about her because I truly love her to death."

He adds, "To all the fans and supporters I have disappointed, you have my sincerest apologies. I will stay positive and get through this tough period in my life."

And now this ... Chad just changed his Twitter picture to a sign that reads "Rock ... Hard place" with arrows pointing in opposite directions. Wonder what he's trying to say ...

Chad Johnson's wife of 6 weeks has filed for divorce ... TMZ has learned.

Evelyn Lozada filed legal docs moments ago in Florida, claiming her marriage is "irretrievably broken."

The trigger for the divorce was the domestic violence incident over the weekend, in which Chad Johnson was arrested after allegedly head-butting her during an argument.

Evelyn claimed she found a receipt for a box of condoms in his car.

According to the divorce docs, the couple had a prenup -- but that won't be a big deal since the marriage was shorter than Kim Kardashian's.

The East Coast leg of Gabby Douglas' post-Olympic media blitz started right at JFK yesterday ... 'cause the second she stepped off the plane she was SWARMED by fans, autograph seekers and paparazzi.

Thanks to some help from the NYPD, the 16-year-old gold medal winner made it to her waiting SUV without incident.

Gabby's a valuable commodity these days -- according to Forbes, she's expected to rake in between $5 and $10 million in sponsorship deals over the next 4 years.