TMZ Sports - Page 50

Kobe Bryant is in a tooth-and-nail fight with his mother over some priceless basketball memorabilia, including his 1998 All Star ring.

Seems Kobe's mom, Pamela Bryant, made a deal with Goldin Auctions to sell hoards of Kobe's bball swag, including a 2000 All Star game signed ball, game and practice jerseys from his days at Lower Merion High School, a Lakers jacket and shorts, trophies, his varsity high school letters and lots of other stuff.

According to a lawsuit ... obtained by TMZ ... the auction house gave Pamela a $450,000 advance, which she says will be used immediately to buy a new home. According to the lawsuit, Pamela told the auction house Kobe gave her all the stuff outright 5 years ago.

But Kobe has beef, claiming he's the owner of the stuff and he's trying to block the auction.

So a fearful Goldin Auctions has gone to court, naming Kobe as the defendant and asking a judge to declare Pamela the owner of the goods.

A judge has yet to rule.

Ex-WNBA star Carolyn Moos says her ex-fiance Jason Collins burned 8 fertile years off her womb's life -- and now she's planning to freeze her eggs before her biological clock stops ticking.

Moos previously said she had a life plan to have kids with Collins during their time together -- and after she learned he was gay, she felt the NBA player shattered her dreams.

34-year-old Moos says she still wants to have children -- but she's concerned she might not meet Mr. Right until she's too old to conceive ... so she's taken steps to have her eggs frozen later this month in case she wants to undergo in vitro fertilization sometime down the line.

"So many women think about this as a plan or option ... but few have had 8 years taken away from them like I did."

Moos says the procedure will cost around $10,000 -- but she's hoping to get some financial backing from any production company looking to capture the journey for a documentary.

Before Brittney Griner signed her fat new contract as the #1 overall pick in the 2013 WNBA draft ... she had to make a promise to her team -- I'LL TONE DOWN MY SKATEBOARDING HABIT.

"I agreed with the Mercury that I would only ride in a controlled environment," Griner tells TMZ ... "No tricks or hill bombing."

Besides being the most dominant female basketball player to come out of college in years, Griner is an avid skater ... who's been riding since she was a little kid.

"I know what is at stake, so I'll just be cruising. I'll get my adrenaline rush on the court."

Griner -- who's 6'8" and DUNKS -- caused a major uproar during her college career at Baylor when she broke her wrist while riding in a parking structure.

"Before that, I had never been injured," Griner said ... explaining, "[I was] going too fast."

"Once my basketball career is over though, I will be building a skate ramp in my yard, that's for sure."

Ex-New York Giants linebacker Michael Boley was quietly arrested for child abuse back in February ... 3 days after he was cut by the team ... TMZ has learned.

Boley -- a starting linebacker in Super Bowl XLVI -- had been under investigation in Alabama for a 2011 incident involving his son, who was 5 years old at the time.

The details of the alleged abuse are unclear, although sources tell us the allegations were of a physical nature and NOT sexual abuse.

Here's what we know ... Boley's case was scheduled to go in front of a grand jury in February 2013 ... but before that got under way, the 30-year-old NFL star struck a plea deal with prosecutors.

Court officials in Etowah County, AL tell TMZ ... Boley pled guilty to child abuse -- and in exchange, he was ordered to enroll in a pre-trial diversion program and upon completion the charge would be dropped.

Boley was also required to turn himself into authorities. He was booked on February 8, smiled for a mug shot and was released from custody later that day.

Seems the NY Giants were hip to Boley's legal issues ... 'cause he was unexpectedly cut by the team on February 5 ... 3 days before Boley turned himself in to authorities. Boley is currently a free agent, on the hunt for a job.

A rep for Boley had no comment -- but sources connected to the NFL star tell us Boley plans to comply with the terms of the plea deal.

5/3 -- Boley's agents have released a statement saying, "Mr. Boley is dealing with a personal matter that allegedly happened nearly two years ago. Michael has been and always will be a loving and supportive father to all of his children."

It's not all love for the first major (active) pro athlete to come out of the closet ... NBA player Jason Collins has also been the target of online death threats since announcing he's gay.

The homophobic threats began appearing on Twitter right after Jason's big coming-out interview with Sports Illustrated. Among the venom ...

-- "Yous a dead f****t talkn on tv Boy."
-- "Listening to Jason Collins describe his gayness as 'beautiful' makes me wanna puke. And kill him."
-- "Jason collins comes out the closet! Kill that biiitttchhhh!!!"
-- "First jason collins say he gay.. Now he on espn w lipgloss on kill him now !!!"
-- "Jason Collins should get the death penalty lol how u a 7 foot gay dude lol the west is crazy smh"

In the S.I. article, Collins says he doesn't expect everyone to embrace him ... but it's unclear if he expected this kind of hatred.

We reached out to Collins for comment -- so far, no word back.

WWE Vice President Stephanie McMahon is 36 years old ... a mother of three ... and she's more beefed up than Outback Steakhouse.

Stephanie usually keeps her physique hidden beneath a trademark business suit -- but TMZ has obtained these pics from an upcoming photo shoot for RxMuscle.com, finally revealing the Billion Dollar Princess in all her muscular glory.

As for what keeps her in shape -- Steph is a scary good boxer ... and obviously eats really well (under the tutelage of bodybuilding legend and diet guru Dave Palumbo).

He may have a cracked toe ... a disgusting, bloody, broken toe ... but Jon "Bones" Jones stomached the pain last night and crutched out for some delicious BBQ in NYC.

In case you haven't seen the injury -- don't, it's gross -- but Jones exploded his little piggy during his UFC 159 beatdown of Chael Sonnen this weekend ... and now, he's gotta use crutches to get around.

In fact, Jones felt healthy enough to venture out to Dallas BBQ in Times Square ... and told TMZ he's doing well and feels good.

The woman who was once engaged to NBA star Jason Collins tells TMZ, she had NO CLUE he was gay at the time of their relationship ... in fact, she only found out last weekend ... and she was floored.

Carolyn Moos (who played a few seasons in the WNBA) dated Collins for seven years and was engaged to him until they broke up in 2009 ... after Collins pulled the plug on their wedding.

Carolyn tells TMZ, she never once suspected he was gay, so the news is shocking. She says Collins eventually revealed everything last weekend -- just days before his big announcement -- and said that his homosexuality was the real reason he ended things with her.

At the time of their breakup, Carolyn says Jason gave a bunch of BS reasons for calling it quits ... and she could never understand what went wrong, until now.

Carolyn -- who's back on the hunt for Mr. Right -- tells us, "It's very emotional for me as a woman to have invested 8 years in my dream to have a husband, soul mate, and best friend in him. So this is all hard to understand."

Paulina Gretzky just posted this photo on Instagram.

Don't stick a fork in Tim Tebow ... 'cause he ain't done in the NFL just yet ... at least according to NY Giants quarterback David Carr.

Carr -- the #1 overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft -- was at LAX last night when we asked him if Tebow's release from the Jets signaled the end for the former Heisman Trophy winner.

Despite the media funeral for Tim's career, Carr still thinks there's hope.

NBA star Jason Collins -- who instantly became a national symbol as the first openly gay professional athlete currently playing -- says he doesn't know any other gay players in the NBA.

Collins appeared on GMA this morning ... saying he always knew he was gay but fought it hard.

Collins says he was engaged at one point but called it off, because he felt he would be getting married for the wrong reasons -- he felt he was doing it to convince himself that was the life he should lead.

Collins praised the Prez for calling him and voicing support, and also said one of his true heroes is tennis legend Martina Navratilova ... who has been openly gay for years.

The daughter of a MLB pitcher who threw at Jackie Robinson's head in the movie "42" tells TMZ ... producers blatantly disregarded the truth and unfairly portrayed her dad as a racist.

It was one of the most important scenes in the flick ... big, bad Fritz Ostermueller (pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates at the time) fired a baseball at Jackie's head ... and then shouted at him, "You don't belong here!!!"

Problem is ... Fritz never beaned Jackie in the head in real life -- according to multiple reports at the time of the incident, the ball struck Jackie's arm.

Now, Fritz's daughter, Sherrill, is lashing out to TMZ -- "The producers of ‘42’ certainly owe my father an apology. If they were going to portray my father falsely, they should have used a fictional name."

Sherrill wants to make it clear -- her beef is NOT with Jackie ... "I have the deepest respect for Jackie Robinson and the courage he had to change baseball.”

However, Sherrill says producers have damaged her father's reputation beyond repair -- she tells us he was a "good man" who was never as angry or violent as he was portrayed in the movie.

We asked Sherrill if she believed her father was a racist -- to which she replied, "My dad, to my knowledge, was not a racist. I was not raised in that type of home."

Michael Jordan had to invite a friend as close as Tiger Woods to his huge wedding -- but with his track record ... let's hope TW didn't get too close to the bride, the bridesmaids, the mother of the bride, the cake ...

​Not everyone in the NBA is thrilled about having a gay dude in the league -- in fact, there are definitely some "closed-minded" haters who are gonna have a hard time with Jason Collins ... so says NBA star Antawn Jamison.

The Los Angeles Lakers player was hangin' out in Beverly Hills today when we asked about Jason's big announcement ... and the 36-year-old veteran had a lot to say.

Antawn -- who's been in the league since 1998 -- told us he's glad Jason came out ... and he's happy the guy can "be who he really is."

But Antawn says not everyone feels the same way -- telling us, "Of course, you're going to have some closed-minded people, let's be realistic."

"That's life."

Mike Wallace needs to learn how to RESPECT gay people ... so says the Miami Dolphins organization, which says it strongly condemns the comments made by their star receiver.

A rep for the NFL team tells TMZ ... the Dolphins took immediate action once they learned about Wallace's homophobic tweet, in which he condescendingly questions why Collins would want to "mess with other guys" when there are so many beautiful girls in the world.

The Dolphins tell us ..."Mike Wallace has apologized for his comments, and we have addressed the matter with him."

"Mike’s comments do not reflect the views of the Miami Dolphins. We believe in a culture of inclusiveness and respect, and any statements to the contrary are in no way acceptable to our organization."

"We will address the entire team about our policy of inclusion and make sure they all understand the importance of respecting individual choices.”

Wallace has since deleted the tweet.

Here's hoping Tim Tebow has developed a taste for women's undergarments ... because TMZ has learned, the teamless QB has just been offered a new job with the "Lingerie" Football League.

The LFL -- now known as Legends Football League -- sent Tebow's agent a letter moments ago, offering the former Jets QB a swanky new coaching position ... after the Jets fired his ass this morning.

LFL President Mitchell Mortaza writes, "Now that it appears Mr. Tim Tebow's career in the National Football League may be coming to an end, we at Legends Football League would like to extend him an offer to become our Quarterbacks Coach nationally."