TMZ Sports - Page 50

NFL line judge Carl Johnson -- the former head of officiating for the league -- is under investigation for an alleged pattern of domestic violence in Louisiana, though he's adamant the accusations are BS, TMZ Sports has learned.

Johnson's accuser is a 49-year-old woman who told police she and Johnson had been living together in 2016 when the NFL official became aggressive. She claims Johnson first got violent in December and during the incident, Johnson hit her so hard, he busted one of her breast implants.

The woman claims she went to the NFL in March hoping the league could help her out. Unclear what happened next but a few months later, she went to police.

Court officials in Louisiana confirmed the accuser requested a temporary restraining order against Johnson and it was granted. But a request to make the restraining order permanent was rejected at a later hearing.

But it's not case closed ... a rep for the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office confirmed to TMZ Sports that the case involving Johnson and his accuser is still under investigation.

Sources connected to the case tell us Johnson has denied all allegations of domestic violence and vows to continue to fight the case.

We spoke with the accuser who claims she has photos and audio recordings to back up her allegations.

Of course, in the wake of the Ezekiel Elliott situation -- the league believes it has the right to impose punishment on NFL players and other staff for domestic violence without a conviction in a court of law. Elliott feels differently.

We reached to the NFL to see if it was investigating Johnson -- so far, no word back. But we do know Johnson has been working NFL games. He was the line judge during Monday Night Football in Week 1.

TMZ Sports reached out to Johnson who told us, "No comment."

Pras from The Fugees says he's incredibly grateful to Tom Brady -- because the QB has helped him win roughly $250,000 in NFL bets!

Yeah, he's dead serious.

Pras is a huge New England Patriots fan -- and tells TMZ Sports he's used some of his hip hop fortune to fund some massive sports betting over the years ... including a $100k bet on Super Bowl LI.

"In the Super Bowl this year, at the end of the 3rd quarter, my friend called me and bet me $100,000 'cause he thought it was over ... and I took him on, and I won $100,000."

The only catch -- Pras says his boy still owes him $30K ... and he's callin' him out to pay up!

A high end 4-star resort in Florida has hired an armed security team to protect the building from looters in the wake of Hurricane Irma ... and one of the officers is ex-boxing champ Michael Moorer.

Moorer was an absolute animal in the ring -- winning light heavyweight and heavyweight titles during his career with notable wins over guys like Evander Holyfield and Francois Botha.

Now, 49-year-old Moorer works for the famous Pinkerton Armed Response Security team -- which has been hired by the Hawks Cay Resort in Duck Key.

One source close to Moorer tells us Michael has been a private investigator for years and is also a licensed armed private security officer.

So how's he doing in Florida? We're told his team's undefeated.

Hollywood superstar Taylor Lautner didn't watch the Emmys. He didn't care.

Football comes first.

At least, that's what the "Twilight" star told us at LAX on Monday -- and we think he's being pretty serious.

Kind of a big statement for Lautner ... a movie and TV star (he was one of the main characters on "Scream Queens") who told us he chose to watch NFL games instead of the award show that honors his peers on the small screen.

Anthony Scaramucci believes it was Gisele who stopped Tom Brady from joining the Patriots on their Super Bowl trip to Donald Trump's White House ... strongly insinuating the supermodel didn't want Tom around Ivanka Trump.

The Mooch -- Trump's former White House communications director -- guest hosted "TMZ Live" Monday -- when we asked straight-up about the alleged rift between the POTUS and the GOAT.

A.S. says he didn't have direct knowledge of the situation -- but strongly suggested Gisele shut Brady down ... saying, "I think she's possessive of him and probably didn't want him there."

Mooch suggests Gisele may have been jealous of Ivanka Trump -- saying he thinks Brady and Ivanka may have dated at one point in the past.

In fact, back in 2004 ... Donald praised Tom as a great guy who would make a "great combination" with Ivanka.

Despite the Moochsinuation, a source connected to the Trump family tells us, "While they have known each other for years, this is not true."

Miami Dolphins head coach, Adam Gase, doesn't seem like a man concerned with the health of linebacker Lawrence Timmons -- he seems pissed off.

We broke the story ... the Dolphins filed a missing persons report with police after Timmons disappeared from the team's Southern California hotel Saturday night.

Timmons was found by LAX police early Sunday morning after he was trying to board a flight to Pennsylvania. ESPN has reported Timmons was supposed to meet with team doctors Monday.

But when Gase was asked about the player and his situation -- he gave short answers and told reporters he hasn't spoken with LT and has no idea where he is right now.

When asked if he's expecting Timmons to remain on the team moving forward, Gase said, "I have nothing to add for what I have right now. Really, just gathering a lot of information ... and I got a few other things I gotta deal with, with the guys that played yesterday."

Add another intriguing name to the list of potential additions for BIG3 Season 2 ... cause former NBA star T.J. Ford says he's healthy and ready to ball out in Ice Cube's league.

We got T.J. leaving L.A. after catching Saturday's USC-Texas thriller -- which he told us was epic, BTW -- and the Longhorns legend holla'd at Cube for a roster spot next year.

The only problem ... Ford retired from the NBA before he turned 30 -- after serious neck injuries left him temporarily paralyzed.

FYI, Lamar Odom, Stephon Marbury and Gilbert Arenas have all been tied to the BIG3 ... so T.J. ain't the only risky proposal on Cube's plate.

Outrage be damned ... the GGG vs. Canelo fight was a legitimate draw, says George Foreman -- who tells TMZ Sports the fighters should have been gunning for a knockout instead of a decision.

Foreman says he watched the fight -- and thinks the judges collectively got it RIGHT scoring the match a draw because neither boxer fought well enough to walk away with the other man's titles.

"The best way to win a boxing match is by knockout. The Triple G man couldn't pull it off and the other guy was scoring points on making him miss."

Foreman continued, "You don't score points just by coming forward."

"In reality, they both came in as champions I would have allowed them both to leave as champions. I wouldn't have done any more than a draw."

Is Dwyane Wade goin' home to Miami?

With all the whispers of him being bought out by the Chicago Bulls ... we had to ask when we got D-Wade and Gabrielle Union leaving Catch in L.A.

Wade played it super coy -- just like when we asked about a potential LeBron reunion -- but he also couldn't stop cheesin' ... which kinda makes us think he's heard from ex-Heat bro, Udonis Haslem.

Hard to say which way he's leanin' ... but the NBA superstar does still call South Beach home, FYI.

Kyrie Irving says he didn't talk with ANY of his Cavs teammates before deciding to leave Cleveland -- including LeBron James-- saying he doesn't have an obligation to tell ANYONE about his decisions.

Irving appeared on ESPN's First Take and dug his heels in when explaining why he shouldn't have to explain himself to LeBron ... or anyone.

Irving says it's "nothing personal" ... yeah, right.

Irving says he understands why LeBron may have taken it personally, but sincerely doesn't give a crap.

The Miami Dolphins were so concerned when linebacker Lawrence Timmons went AWOL on Saturday, a team rep filed a missing persons report with police ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Here's what we know ... the Miami Dolphins team was in Southern California on Saturday to play the L.A. Chargers on Sunday.

When the team checked to make sure the players were in their rooms by curfew, Timmons was not there.

Our sources say the team scrambled to find him -- calling family and close friends before ultimately filing a missing persons report with local law enforcement.

The good news ... cops found Timmons at LAX early Sunday morning in a boarding area in an effort to get to Pennsylvania. A team rep met Timmons at the airport and left with him.

So, why Pennsylvania? We're told Timmons had spoken with his baby mama who lives there and had told her he missed the baby and wanted to visit. He was serious about visiting her.

Got a problem with Michael Bennett throwing up the black power fist after his sack on Sunday?

Keegan-Michael Key doesn't ... telling TMZ Sports he totally supports the Seattle Seahawks star expressing his freedom of speech on the football field.

Bennett explained the move this way -- "The raised fist represents unity or solidarity with oppressed peoples."

But some people had a serious problem with it -- once again arguing social activism has no place on the gridiron.

Not Key ... he likes the fist and gave Bennett the KMK stamp of approval on his way out of an Emmy party in L.A.

As for Bennett, with his alleged profiling incident with Las Vegas police ... bet this ain't the last on-field statement he'll make this season.

Hey WNBA (hell, maybe NBA), Kobe Bryant's daughter is coming to dominate you all ... here's video of the making of a new Mamba -- and it seems like the snake doesn't slither far from the father.

Kobe posted video of his 11-year-old daughter, Gianna, getting some work in ... and that work was learning some signature Bryant moves -- the same moves that dominated the NBA for 20 years.

Bryant explained the workout in one of his captions, saying they were both inspired to get up and sweat by the upcoming WNBA Finals rematch ... and debuted a new nickname for her -- "Mambacita."

Cleveland Browns legend Joe Thomas threw a Fitz after his 10,000th NFL snap -- and it was delicious.

The 32-year-old tackle threw a 1-man whiskey celebration after his record-breaking game on Sunday -- with a glass of Old Fitzgerald Prime.

But it doesn't appear to be any old bottle -- it seems to be a more collectible (and really valuable) version of the brown stuff (we're still waiting for our liquor experts to wake up).

Thomas hasn't missed a single play since getting drafted back in 2007 ... and has played for 22 different quarterbacks during that time.

Bobby "The Brain" Heenan wasn't just a legendary wrestling manager -- he was also INCREDIBLE when it came to throwin' down in the squared circle ... so says Triple H.

The WWE executive tells TMZ Sports most people don't know about Heenan's wrestling skills -- "He was one of the best in-ring performers there was. He just chose not to do it."

And why not?

"He wanted to be a manager. That's what he wanted to do."

Heenan was obviously damn good at the managing thing -- rising to legendary status managing stars like Andre the Giant, Ravishing Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect and more in his storied career.

Triple H also says one of his favorite Heenan moments was his 2004 WWE Hall of Fame induction speech -- which Bobby performed without a single scripted note.

R.I.P.

Soccer superstar Wayne Rooney has apologized for driving drunk during a Sept. 1 incident -- after officials say he was more than THREE TIMES the legal limit.

As we previously reported, the English soccer legend was pulled over in Cheshire, England in the early morning on Sept. 1 while driving a VW Beetle with a female passenger.

The 31-year-old Everton striker appeared in court Monday morning and pled guilty to drunk driving, according to the BBC.

The judge told Rooney, "You placed yourself and other road users at risk as a result of your poor judgement that night."

"I accept your remorse is genuine and that you are aware of the adverse affects the events of that night have had, not least on your family."

Rooney was sentenced to a 2-year driving ban and has 12 months to complete 100 hours of community service.

After the hearing, Rooney issued a statement saying, "I want publicly to apologise for my unforgiveable lack of judgement in driving while over the legal limit. It was completely wrong."

"I have already said sorry to my family, my manager and chairman and everyone at Everton FC."

"Now I want to apologise to all the fans and everyone else who has followed and supported me throughout my career."