TMZ Sports - Page 50

The widow of late Atlanta Braves catcher Earl Williams says her trusted doctor robbed her blind ... stealing her husband's jewelry -- even a prized catcher's mitt, this according to court docs obtained by TMZ.

Williams (the 1971 National League Rookie of the Year) passed away in January at the age of 64, following a battle with cancer. And after he died, Earl's wife Linda says she began to notice several items had gone missing from her NJ home -- including $20k in jewelry and Earl's favorite catcher's mitt.

She claims a baseball signed by Earl's former teammate Hank Aaron was also MIA.

So, Linda called police ... and after a quick investigation, cops arrested Lynda Stambaugh-Lupo -- a doctor who had been making housecalls to treat Linda's lymphedema.

We spoke with Linda Williams ... who tells us cops discovered most of her missing items at the doc's home -- and they've already been returned.

As for the doc, she's been charged with the 3rd degree theft -- and faces up to 5 years in prison if convicted.

And there's this ... according to the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners, Stambaugh-Lupo was not properly licensed to be practicing medicine at the time she was treating Williams, because her license was revoked in 2008.

Wanna see a bunch of grown men murder a terrible pop song?

Well, you're in luck, 'cause the Dallas Mavericks just spoofed "What Does the Fox Say" ... and somehow it's more hilariously painful than the original.

Dirk Nowitzki -- along with Vince Carter, Devin Harris, DeJuan Blair and the rest of the squad -- grabbed all sorts of ridiculous animal costumes and released their own parody version of that horribly addictive song.

Phil Jackson coached Lamar Odom to his greatest NBA glory -- but now he tells TMZ Sports L.O.'s chances of making a comeback with the Lakers are slim to none. Time for Lamar to go to Plan B?
Think he has one?

Plus, Eli Manning gets a Fantasy Football vote of confidence from a major Hollywood player -- but most of us (who are suffering in the office FF league) are calling BS!

And could Utah Jazz great John Stockton actually dunk? His ex-teammate Bryon Russell joined us with his insight -- but also revealed HUGE news about his archenemy, Michael Jordan being a ... giant chicken?!! You gotta see this!

Shaquille O'Neal's still calling the shots -- but now in the political arena -- telling TMZ it was HIS brilliant idea to endorse Republican NJ Gov. Chris Christie.

Shaq -- who's a native of Newark -- was in neighboring NYC last night when we asked about the Governor's newest strategy ... a 30-second campaign commercial featuring the big man (O'Neal not Christie).

Clearly, Shaq's a big fan ... telling us Christie's "a good man" who's done a lot for the Garden State. ... that's why he came up with what could be a game winning play for the Governor.

Huddle up ... 49ers legend Ronnie Lott just gave a Congressional hopeful in California an impassioned pump-up speech worthy of "Friday Night Lights" -- and it was all caught on camera.

Lott actually called for a huddle Monday night at the fundraising event for politician Ro Khanna -- who's currently running for a spot in the House of Reps -- unleashing motivational bombs like, "You've won the election ... because we close our eyes and we dream big. We dream greatness ... It's up to you. You gotta carry the torch. You gotta be the next Obama."

Lott was joined by fellow 49ers legends Harris Barton and Roger Craig. It was pretty cool.

All that's missing is the echoey guitar and snare drum. (Goosebumps. Every time.)

John Stockton is finally settling one of the great mysteries surrounding the NBA -- can he dunk a basketball????

The Hall-of-Famer was out in NYC yesterday promoting his new book," Assisted" when we asked if he ever got above the rim.

John's answer -- "Not anymore ... I could at one time."

For the record, trying to find a video clip of John dunking a basketball is like trying to find the Loch Ness monster ... it's virtually impossible.

So, here's the next best thing ...

Snoop Lion tells TMZ ... his football son is not a thug and SHOULDN'T have punched a rival player during a high school brawl earlier this month ... but hey, that's football.

Snoop was leaving Supperclub in L.A. last night when we asked about his 16-year-old son Cordell Broadus -- who, along with several players on his team, was suspended for a game after a bench-clearing fight a couple of weeks ago.

"It was a team fight," Snoop said ... "It was an unnecessary act on both sides."

As for Cordell -- considered one of the best high school wide receivers in the country -- he was caught on tape throwing a haymaker during the brawl. Snoop says he's apologized for his actions.

"He wasn't taught to be that way. He was taught to be an athlete and be sportsmanlike. So, it was a once in a lifetime situation, you learn from your mistakes ... he's a young kid, so hopefully, he'll learn from this and it'll never happen again."

There's more ... Snoop also TALKED SMACK to Clippers fans after the Lake Show beat 'em last night -- and specifically to Clippers head coach Doc Rivers.

He also talks about Lamar Odom -- telling TMZ, he considers L.O. a good friend ... and he truly believes the NBA star is finally getting his life together.

"NFL on Fox" sideline reporter Pam Oliver says she was only KIDDING when she ripped New Yorkers at a Super Bowl event in NY last week ... but Pam tells TMZ she refuses to apologize.

FYI -- Oliver's been taking some serious heat ever since she asked the Super Bowl Host Committee how they planned to "instruct people of this area, particularly New Yorkers, to be nice" when the SB comes to the Big Apple in a couple of months.

Yesterday in NY, Pam addressed the issue head on -- saying she understands why people are pissed ... but chalks the whole thing up to a bad joke.

Pam says she loves New York ... her husband's from NY ... and she even owns an "I Love NY" shirt.

But don't expect an apology -- because even though Pam says she learned a lot from the controversy, she doesn't feel like she did anything wrong.

The Aaron Hernandez jail ID badge fiasco has opened up a can of worms -- TMZ has learned, the former NFL star is now being INVESTIGATED for allegedly passing secret messages to other inmates.

As we reported, one of the inmates at Aaron's jail in Connecticut was busted recently for trying to steal AH's jail ID badge. The thief was caught and Aaron got his badge back, but it didn't end there.

Sources connected to the situation tell TMZ ... the inmate who tried to swipe the ID claims Aaron contacted him soon after the incident and gave him a copy of the 320-page book, "Bad Boy Brawly Brown" ... which contained a secret handwritten note on two pages inside.

We've seen the note and the handwriting appears to match up with the handwriting on Aaron's previous two jail letters (#1, #2).

Surprisingly, Aaron's message isn't angry -- it even sounds like Aaron is friends with the guy who took his ID. Aaron opens the note, writing, "I heard you are the one that tried to steal my ID! That's crazy lol!"

The rest of Aaron's letter rambles on about how he's innocent and can't wait to prove it in court. He also still believes he will play football again soon. Yadda yadda.

But the content of the note isn't the issue, at least as far as jail staff is concerned. A rep for the jail tells us, inmates are forbidden from passing each other notes such as this -- so if it turns out Aaron really did write the letter, there could be severe consequences for all involved.

Lamar Odom may have ruined his chances of EVER returning to his beloved Los Angeles Lakers ... so says his ex coach and NBA legend Phil Jackson.

Jackson didn't mince words to TMZ when we asked if he thought Lamar would ever return to the purple and gold. He said, "I think that bridge might have been burned."

In case you didn't know, Phil is pretty tight with Lakers execs -- he lives with team Prez Jeanie Buss.

And this is interesting. Phil tells us ... he's not blaming the Kardashian family for Lamar's woes, despite a recent interview in which he hinted that Lamar would have been better off without the K-fam.

He says although the reality show was "a distraction" for Lamar, there's a benefit that outweighed the negative -- "Lamar got a family and a caring unit."

He also said he worries that Bruce Jenner is out of the picture ... because Lamar related to him as an athlete.

As for what caused Lamar to unravel, Jackson said he's been dealing with "too many personal things," although he was not specific.

Aaron Hernandez is pretty popular in jail, in fact, at least one of his fellow inmate's been busted trying to swipe his identity. Does Aaron need extra protection behind bars? Should he get it?

Plus, Mike Tyson plays Confucius to Chris Brown ... dropping some major wisdom on him after his latest violent arrest. Sounds crazy, but can Iron Mike actually teach Chris a thing or two?

Boston Red Sox pitcher Koji Uehara is such a nice guy, he refuses to go after the media for constantly mispronouncing his last name.

But there's another Uehara who's refusing to stay silent ... and he happens to work for TMZ.

Here's the deal -- our photog is named Yori Uehara (no relation to Koji) ... but just like the pitcher, he's from Japan and believes it's important for people to pronounce K's name correctly.

So, when Yori ran into Brady Anderson -- who's now the V.P. of Baseball Operations for the Baltimore Orioles -- Yori taught him the CORRECT way to pronounce the name and begged Brady to spread the word to all his MLB friends.

For the record, Japanese is a language in which pronunciation is very important -- and the wrong inflection or pronunciation of a syllable can completely change the meaning of the word ... as is the case with the name Uehara.

Ya gotta check out the clip -- it's pretty hilarious ... and educational!

One of the inmates at the jail which Aaron Hernandez now calls home was busted for trying to steal the ex-NFL star's identity -- for souvenir purposes ... TMZSports has learned.

Here's what we know. Aaron was in the medical wing shortly after his arrest in June. One of the inmates apparently thought it would be fun to swipe Hernandez's medical ID badge as a keepsake.

Problem with inmates ... they tend to get caught. The thief actually got the badge but someone saw him do it and snitched on him. The inmate never made it out of the infirmary.

The thief was disciplined and Hernandez got his badge back.

The man who allegedly beat Adrian Peterson's 2-year-old son to death has just been released from jail.

27-year-old Joseph Patterson was released from Minnehaha County Jail in South Dakota this morning after posting $750,000 bond.

The bond was lowered from $1 million yesterday after Patterson pled not guilty in court. He has been charged with second degree murder and 2 counts of first degree manslaughter, as well as aggravated battery of an infant. He has also been charged with felony child abuse.

Going to Miami anytime soon with money to burn? Great, because you can now rent a custom Lamborghini Aventador for the wildly inflated price of $7,000 a day ... and you can thank LeBron James for the opportunity.

Sources at Lou La Vie exotic car rentals tell TMZ, the car was commissioned by Nike for LeBron's new sneaker unveiling Sunday night -- designed by Rich B. Caliente to match the new green LeBron shoe, for better or worse. (Kinda like the Chris Brown job back in July.)

Nike just paid to use the car for one night, so we're told it's going back to Lou La Vie and they're keeping the custom wrap on it.

Normally, Lou La Vie rents their Aventadors for around $4,000 per day -- but the LeBron wrap will cost you another $3k.

Worth it?

Here's a fuzzy 45-year-old Craig "muMs" Grant who is best known for playing the well groomed Arnold "Poet" Jackson on the HBO series "Oz" (left) -- and 39-year-old UFC fighter and backyard brawler Kimbo Slice with his signature badass beard (right).

Only one of them could survive in real prison.

We're just sayin'.