TMZ Sports - Page 50

Herschel Walker's son is following in his father's supremely athletic footsteps ... only he's not on the football field ... he's a state champion male cheerleader ... and his dad couldn't be prouder!

The former NFL star was out in D.C. where he was bragging about his son's Texas cheerleading squad winning the NCA National Championship in Dallas last month.

"I never knew how athletic those people were," Walker says ... "Now, I've been spending a lot of time with it. And I've gotten involved with it."

Walker is a full-on "Cheer Dad" -- and spends a lot of time mentoring the cheerleaders.

His son Christian is a star on the team ... and after watching the kid twist and tumble in his gymnastics workouts, it's obvious he's got his dad's athletic genes.

So, we had to ask Herschel ... do you think Christian is good enough to make the Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad one day?

You gotta hear his answer -- it's pretty great.

Nashville Predators star Mike Ribeiro is being sued by his former nanny -- who claims the NHL star assaulted her back in 2012 ... but Ribeiro says she's making the whole thing up.

In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports, Ribeiro's accuser doesn't go into detail about the alleged incident ... only claiming she suffered unspecified injuries at the hands of the 35-year-old All-Star.

The woman also claims ... after the alleged incident, Mike's wife verbally attacked her. She's suing both Mike and his wife for more than $1 MILLION.

But the Riberios say the whole thing is BS -- with their lawyer telling TMZ Sports, "My clients strongly deny these allegations."

Looks like Jamies Winston and Marcus Mariota, better invest in a good pair of headphones ...

That's 'cause Giants punter Steve Weatherford tells TMZ Sports they'll need them in the locker room, where NFL rookies have absolutely NO SAY in what music bumps.

Weatherford was out in NYC (looking impeccable as always) when we asked him about the sonic dynamic of an NFL locker room ... basically what gets played and by who.

Check out the clip -- Steve says NOTHING gets played by the young guys. He goes on to say that if you want some jam time in the locker room you better have major time logged in the league.

Sidney Rice vs. Rick Ross doesn't seem like a fair fight (though Rozay has dropped some weight lately), but the NFL receiver says he could take the rap mogul ... when it comes to inhaling wings.

Seems Rice and Ross both share a love for everyone's favorite bar food, since both have invested heavily in Wingstop franchises. Ross owns a bunch in the southeast, while Rice currently has 2 in the Seattle area ... with 5 more set to open.

Rice -- who's getting his MBA back at the U. -- says biz is good ... as long as she doesn't eat the profits. He told our photog he can put down 30 wings on a good day, and might even take Ross in a contest.

Steve Francis can rest easy about his missing chain -- 'cause the rappers who were performing on the night he got jacked tell TMZ Sports they're on MISSION to get the necklace back to the NBA star.

We broke the story ... Francis was on the stage at a Sauce Twinz concert in Houston this weekend when some guy snatched the chain right off his neck.

Now Sauce Diddy -- who manages the Sauce Twinz (and was wearing the red backpack at the concert) -- tells us the guys feel terrible that it happened at their show ... and want to do everything in their power to make it right.

"Steve is good people," Sauce Diddy tells us ... "He's going to get his chain back. I'm going to make sure of it. One way or another."

Diddy is adamant the crook is NOT affiliated with the Sauce Twinz -- he's just a "random stupid ass" -- but says Steve didn't exactly do the best job of protecting himself that night.

"He must have been drunk. He was mumbling on the mic and bumping into people. At one point, one of my artists tried to get Steve to leave the stage."

How much does confidence cost? If you're 50 Cent, about $1.6 million ... 'cause that's how much the hip-hop star says he's going to bet on his old frenemy Floyd Mayweather Jr. to beat Manny Pacquiao.

50 and his G-Unit runnin' mate Tony Yayo sat down with "The Breakfast Club" this morning -- when Charlamagne Tha God asked Fiddy for his pick for the mega-fight in May.

"Champ 'gon smoke em ... it's gonna look like [the fight] was pumped up for no reason."

So why such a big bet? 50 says he spoke with Floyd at the Chris Brown concert last month -- the first time they've spoken in a while -- and says Mayweather is SUPER focused.

It's interesting ... considering 50 bashed the hell out of Mayweather on social media last year ... ripping on everything from his spending habits to his reading ability.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is sitting front and center in the U.S. House chamber to support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Kraft is sitting directly behind Netanyahu's wife, Sara ... while her husband addresses Congress about why he believes Iran is a nuclear threat.

The speech has become a controversial issue in Washington -- with several members of Congress boycotting the speech.

But Kraft clearly wanted to make a statement ... which isn't too shocking considering Kraft's connection to Israel.

NBA legend Steve Francis was the victim of a violent chain snatching at a rap show in Houston this weekend ... and TMZ Sports has footage of the brazen attack.

The 38-year-old, 3-time NBA All-Star was onstage with the Sauce Twinz -- a Houston rap duo -- when someone crept up on the unsuspecting Francis and tried to rip his gold chain right off his neck.

Problem is ... the chain didn't pop -- and Francis was dragged down to the floor where the culprit continued to yank on the necklace while the discombobulated NBA star tried to figure out what was going on.

Sources tell us the guy ended up removing the chain from Francis and booked it.

We're also told police were NOT called to the scene.

As for the perp, no word on his ID -- or if he's connected to the Sauce Twinz.

We reached out to Francis and the Twinz for comment -- so far, no word back.

ESPN anchor Robert Flores is DOUBLING DOWN in his beef with Nick Young -- firing even more shots at the Lakers star ... after Young threatened him on Twitter yesterday.

You know the backstory ... Flores trashed Nick's GF Iggy Azalea on the air by saying she's trying to "kill hip hop" -- so Nick blasted the guy on Twitter and said they'd "run into each other soon."

Well, Flores didn't seem scared when he went on the "Sedano and Stink" radio show last night -- and responded to Swaggy's cyber-tough talk.

"If you look at his numbers, there is a 70% chance that -- if he takes a shot at me -- he's going to miss. I'm just looking at the numbers ... so I'm good."

Nick is shooting 36% from the field this year ... math jokes.

There's more ... Flores was asked how he'd react if Young went after his wife, to which he responded:

"Well, I don't think Swaggy wants to be making fun of my wife. She will put the paws on him. She's from down South ... and those Southern gals are not to be messed with. Take it from me."

160 pounds of dynamite exploded right in Seth Rollins' bean bag Monday night ... when Jon Stewart delivered an effective low blow right in the middle of "Monday Night Raw."

Stewart had just finished berating Rollins in front of a live crowd in Newark, NJ -- the latest round of trash talk in their public spat.

But when Rollins decided enough was enough and started roughing up "The Daily Show" host in the ring -- Stewart took advantage of a distraction ... and kicked Seth's balls up into his throat.

Someone get that man some ice.

Here's NFL running back Chris Johnson working out SO DAMN HARD at an L.A. gym Monday, he went and dry-heaved in the parking lot ... and TMZ Sports has the video.

Johnson was haulin' kettlebells outside of the Unbreakable Performance Gym in West Hollywood -- where trainers pushed him to the brink of hurl city.

Now, we never saw Johnson actually blow chunks ... but he was close ... and eventually got back to the weights to finish his workout like the monster that he is.

Fun Fact -- Unbreakable is same place where Diddy raced (and BEAT) NFL star Dashon Goldson in an uphill sprint last month!

Ronda Rousey couldn't just BEAT male fighters ... but she'd easily be ranked in the Top 20 in her division if she was able to fight dudes ... so says UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer.

To be fair, Buffer says he doesn't ever see the UFC signing off on a Ronda vs. Man fight ... but says, "Quite frankly I'm sure she would do very well against at least half the division she's in which is the bantamweight."

For the record, the men's bantamweight division (135) is comprised of guys like T.J. Dillashaw, Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber.

Still, Buffer says Rousey is a friggin' beast ... and "the most dominant fighting athlete in the world."

Apparently, patriotic trunks run in the family -- 'cause Michael B. Jordan was sporting Apollo Creed's famous shorts when he stepped in the ring to play A.C.'s grandson in the new "Rocky" flick ... and TMZ Sports has the 1st pics.

Jordan was going toe-to-toe with real-life pro boxer Tony Bellew -- who plays a boxer named "Pretty Ricky" in the upcoming movie.

The pics were taken on February 26th ... just a few days before hell broke loose on the set -- with Sylvester Stallone jumping in the ring to break up a REAL BRAWL that went down between Bellew and an actor playing one of his corner men.

Reps for the studio tell us the fight never got physical -- multiple witnesses tell us otherwise.

As for Apollo Creed himself ... he died in "Rocky IV."

Sucks for Carl Weathers.

Here's video of 26-year-old professional athlete Jeremy Lin in a foot race with a 55-year-old homeless guy in L.A.

So the question ... who ya got?

It all went down over the NBA All-Star break -- Lin and some of his pals decided they would help out in the community by socializing with some of the less fortunate and serving up food.

That's when one of the men decided he wanted to serve Jeremy -- and challenged the pro basketball player (who's 29 years his junior) to a foot race in the park.

Check out the video -- the man claimed he was "pretty quick for 55" and we gotta say, he moved pretty well against Lin.

Rocky's not taking any mess on his set -- Sylvester Stallone had to bust up a very real brawl during filming of the latest Rocky flick, "Creed" ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to production say things went ballistic in Aston, PA Monday when boxer/actor Tony Bellew -- who's playing "Pretty" Ricky -- dove out of the boxing ring, mid-scene, and began unloading on the guy playing his corner coach. It was NOT part of the scene.

Sly still has the eye of the tiger -- we're told the fight was broken up when he, and a few others, jumped in to pull the men apart.

It's not clear what prompted the fight, but we're told security threw everyone out. Unclear at this point, if anyone plans to press charges.

Kevin Garnett didn't get an employee discount when he bought 1,000 tickets to give away to fans for tonight's Timberwolves game ... dropping more than $20k of his own money, TMZ Sports has learned.

After fans came out in force to attend KG's first game back in Minn. last week, the NBA legend decided to give back ... by hooking up 500 fans with a pair of tix for tonight's game.

Smelled like a team-engineered publicity stunt ... but the V.P. of Communications for the T-Wolves assures us that Kev bought the tickets HIMSELF and paid FULL PRICE for all of 'em.

The rep wouldn't say exactly how much KG spent ... but the cheapest seats go for $21-a-pop.

$21 x 1,000 = $21,000. Not cheap.

KG's career earnings? $315,000,000+ ... so, he can afford it.