TMZ Sports - Page 50

J.J. Watt received an awesome gift from the coolest 7-year-old on the planet ... and TMZ Sports has learned little Anthony Tarantelli can expect something in the mail from #99 real soon.

Tarantelli captured the hearts of every sports fan when he sent Watt an autographed jersey (not the other way around) and included a letter saying he was "the most feared rusher in my league this year."

Anthony's dad Joe tells TMZ it took a little luck to get the delivery to Watt. Joe says he posted about it on Facebook ... and a friend came forward saying he knew Watt's agent.

Lauren Tarantelli, Anthony's mom, tells TMZ Sports ... J.J. reached out to Anthony after getting the package and sent along a video message ... in which he said Anthony can "expect something in the mail."

Mama Tarantelli -- who was a college tennis player herself -- says Anthony's love of J.J. came about all on his own (his dad's a Bills fan) and that he's so feared in his league ... he once had the referee tell him to go easy.

Perhaps NFL refs should try that approach with J.J.

The New England Patriots are all business on the field, but they know how to have fun off it ... because a bunch of the team's stars rocked the mic at a karaoke event on Monday benefiting sick kids.

The "Open Mic Holiday Party" in Foxboro, Mass was hosted by safety Patrick Chung (who rocked out to Katy Perry's "Firework") with fellow Pats Vince Wilfork, Jerod Mayo, and Devin McCourty in attendance.

Chung and the Pats raised $80,000 for "Chung Changing Lives" -- an organization that supports personal and academic development in kids -- and several other Boston area charities.

Pats owner Robert Kraft even made a cameo, and promised to perform an Elton John song next year.

Here's hoping he keeps his word.

Fabolous has his eyes (and ears) on NBA superstar Kevin Durant -- not for courtside seats -- but to record a song because he thinks KD could be the Crockett to his Hip Hop Tubbs.

F-A-B-O-L-O-U-S was out in NYC when our photog asked him to pick a rhyming partner from the crop of athletes trying to spit lyrics right now.

Watch the video -- Fab doesn't hesitate to shout out Kevin, but he does seem to have some doubts about his pedigree on the mic.

Here you go Fab ... we did the research for you.

Ray and Janay Rice partied hard Monday night ... their friends threw them a surprise party -- complete with cake and hard booze -- to celebrate being in Baltimore for seven years.

Janay posted a few pics from the party at their home -- looks like they played Cards Against Humanity and drank beers and a handle of Fireball.

We don't know what Ray was drinking, but as we first reported -- he blamed the entire elevator incident on hard alcohol and told friends he was swearing off the stuff completely.

Janay captioned her pics with: "our Bmore family is seriously the best!!! We thought we were having a normal Monday night then the doorbell rang...little did we know there they were with drinks, food, games, and the most of all love & support!"

One of her hashtags was "#lovenomatterwhereweare" ... perhaps an acknowledgment that after 7 years they'll most likely be leaving Baltimore when -- and if -- Ray gets picked up by another NFL team.

Rihanna just got a huge gig with Puma -- and aside from maybe Puma stockholders ... no one is more excited about this than the fastest man in the world.

First, RiRi's gig -- she's been named creative director of Puma ... and a company rep says she'll not only work on designs, but also serve as a brand ambassador. She celebrated her new job by posting pics in some Puma kicks.

Now, the good stuff -- Puma's other big spokesman is, of course, Usain Bolt ... and we know the Olympic sprinter's been jonesin' to hookup with Rihanna because he told TMZ Sports about his crush last year.

We're guessing Usain's on the phone to Puma brass right now with all kinds of new promo ideas.

Liam Neeson picked the worst time to: 1. Be a Knicks fan ... 2. Have a 'Taken' sequel coming out ... and 3. Be a Knicks fan.

Liam co-stars with Washington Wizards star John Wall in what has to be the most unfortunate and unintentionally hysterical tie-in promo for "Taken 3" and the Christmas Day game between the Wizards and the Knicks.

The best: Neeson saying, "They shoot with unthinkable accuracy."

Pepperdine women hoopsters are jumping to their coach's defense -- shooting down claims from 2 teammates that he's on an anti-lesbian campaign.

TMZ Sports broke the story... Haley Videckis and Layana White filed a lawsuit against the university because they say coach Ryan Weisenberg said "lesbianism" would not be tolerated on his team.

But multiple players tell us Videckis and White are twisting their coach's words. We're told Weisenberg did make a speech ... telling the team "he doesn't want off-the-court drama brought on the team."

The players we spoke with felt his message was clear ... don't let relationships -- regardless of sexual preference -- affect your play.

As for why Videckis and White sued -- we're told it might be because they haven't played in any games.

NHL star Slava Voynov's wife pleaded with prosecutors to drop the felony domestic violence case against him because if people like Ray Rice didn't go to jail ... Slava shouldn't either.

TMZ Sports obtained a letter sent by Slava's wife, Marta Varlamova, to the L.A. County District Attorney in November ... and in it she takes all the blame for the argument which she says started during a party at a friend's house where she was drinking -- but continued when they got home.

She claims Voynov was trying to go to sleep, but she kept pressing the issue and got physical ... squeezing his shoulders and yelling, "No, I want to talk more." Marta says he only pushed her when she refused to get out of his face. That's when -- as we've previously reported -- she claims she turned and smashed her head into a flat screen TV in their bedroom.

In the letter, she describes how profusely she was bleeding and says, "I started yelling because it hurt quite a bit and I was very worried about whether I was going to need stitches and worried about how it would look." She says they decided to go to the ER around 11:30 PM.

Marta, whose first language is Russian ... claims she repeatedly told a police officer Slava did not try to kill her, and she was not afraid of him. As we've told you ... she and Slava believe the officer did not understand her because her English is so poor.

In fact, during a hearing Monday ... police testified the she had said Voynov punched, kicked and choked her. So, it appears there was a communication gap ... or someone's lying.

Marta ends the letter by pointing out she's "heard about other athletes on the news" who did things that Slava didn't ... yet they were not charged. She's clearly referring to Ray Rice ... who got a pretrial intervention program instead of being prosecuted for punching his then-fiancee.

Despite her objection ... Voynov has been charged with felony domestic violence.

Donald Sterling pulled out of a charity toy drive in Watts Saturday night ... because his security team feared for his safety in the hood with racial tensions running so high across the country.

TMZ Sports broke the story -- Sterling was scheduled to show up for something called the Chrismukkah Soiree "Party in the Projects." But a rep for the ex-owner of the Clippers tells us he abruptly canceled after we posted the story.

Apparently, Sterling wanted his appearance to be a surprise. We're told his security team was worried too many people knew where he was going to be -- and considering his track record with the black community ... things could go south quickly.

Donald's rep says he still donated a sedan-full of toys during a Friday night event held in a much more ... Sterling-safe environment -- Beverly Hills.

L.A. City Councilman Joe Buscaino -- who reps Watts -- probably didn't help matters by coming on TMZ Live, and demanding Sterling stay away ... unless he's ready to donate much more than toys.

A children's hospital in Pittsburgh is dealing with a possible outbreak of the mumps ... which might have been caused by an NHL player who paid a visit recently to cheer up some sick kids.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are dealing with a mumps outbreak that has hit the NHL -- star player Sidney Crosby has it and winger Beau Bennett has shown symptoms and is being tested.

That would be bad enough, but Bennett was one of the players who visited the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh last week ... so now the hospital is taking all sorts of precautions.

A rep for the hospital tells TMZ Sports they are in the process of ID'ing who came in contact with Bennett so they can start administering vaccines ... and will even place some kids in isolation, if need be just to be safe.

The wife of Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov told police he punched, kicked and choked her before he was arrested for domestic violence back in October ... this according to police testimony given Monday.

Voynov's preliminary hearing shed new details about what allegedly went down that night. Orange County Register reporter Rich Hammond tweeted from the courthouse, saying a Redondo Beach police officer testified to seeing Voynov's wife with a "laceration over left eye, blood streaming, red marks on neck."

The officer also testified that Voynov's wife claimed Voynov pushed her to the ground multiple times, kicked her repeatedly while on the ground and choked her. She also told police she cut her face after Voynov pushed her into a flat-screen TV.

The judge denied Voynov's motion to dismiss and another motion to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor.

As TMZ Sports first reported, Voynov's attorney claims the cops misunderstood his wife because she doesn't speak English and maintains she "fell down."

"Breaking Bad" is over, so Lavell Crawford has moved onto breaking blocks ... he's taken up jiujitsu.

Crawford has been training at the Gracie Barra gym in Burbank, CA where the guy best known for playing Huell recently earned a stripe for his white belt. Hey, gotta start somewhere!

The gym's owner -- Alberto Crane (standing next to Crawford in the photo above) -- tells TMZ Sports he's been impressed with Crawford so far ... saying most guys Crawford's size can't do what he does.

Crane says Crawford, who is also a standup comedian, has been keeping things light at the gym, telling us, "He is so much fun to work with. He cracks a ton of jokes, he's a real funny guy and a pleasure to have around."

As for getting his first stripe, Crane says Crawford could not have been more excited: "He was pumped up. He said he couldn't wait to brag to his son about his first stripe."

Oprah Winfrey is about to get all up inside Michael Sam's head ... telling TMZ Sports her upcoming interview with Sam will answer the one burning question she HAS to know from him.

Winfrey was out in New York when we asked her if working with Sam has lost any of its luster ... since the former SEC Defensive Player of the Year failed to catch on in the NFL.

Oprah -- who once had an entire reality show in the works for Sam -- says that the fact that he's NOT in the NFL actually makes the interview more intriguing ... and ties into her biggest question.

Adrian Peterson might have the smoking gun he needs to get his indefinite suspension overturned -- audio of NFL exec Troy Vincent seemingly promising the Vikings star he'd only sit for 2 games.

Peterson had previously claimed Vincent made the promise, but now -- 2 days after an arbitrator denied AP's appeal to overturn the suspension -- ABC News played audio of the Nov. 12 convo between Vincent and Peterson.

On the tape, Vincent never uses the p-word, but does say ... "I gave you my word." He also hints Peterson needs to "go through the process" quietly. Translation: keep your mouth shut, don't blast the league ... and you'll be back on the field in no time.

The NFL Players Association filed a lawsuit Monday on AP's behalf, challenging the decision on Friday to uphold his indefinite suspension.

Earlier this month we talked to Vincent about the alleged "promise." Interestingly, he didn't say AP was wrong for calling him out -- and only said he was "praying" for him.

Serena Williams' #1 tennis ranking means ZILCH when it comes to getting on the mic -- 'cause she got blown away by her sisters, including Venus Williams, at karaoke last night.

Serena and Venus belted out the disco classic "We Are Family" at the end of the first Serena Williams Ultimate Run in Miami beach.

Looks like at least one of the non-tennis playing sisters was on stage too -- and it's obvious Serena knows her place in the family. Even though Serena (on the right) is the most famous ... she barely sings.

Matt Barnes' kids are getting socks and underwear for Christmas this year ... and the Los Angeles Clippers baller says they can blame the NBA for it.

Barnes was still fuming Sunday night over his fine from the league this week ... $25,000 for kicking a water bottle (the league says it's also for cursing at a fan).

The swingman explained why he thinks the league came down so hard on him -- and told us how he was planning to spend that dough.