TMZ Sports - Page 50

Several youth basketball players beat the hell out of a referee following a game in Georgia over the weekend -- and the violent punching and kicking was all captured on video.

The alarming scene went down Sunday at Stronghold Christian Church in Lithonia, GA ... when, following a contest on the floor, multiple players from one of the teams went after one of the game's refs.

You can see in video from the scene -- a couple of young men chased after the guy in the striped shirt, who for a few seconds, appeared to be defending himself well.

But, eventually, there became too many people involved in the attack -- and the guy appeared to be brutally beaten on the floor.

Footage shows the man was kicked and punched in the face repeatedly ... before his attackers finally let up.

No word on if the man sustained serious injuries ... but a spokesperson for the Dekalb County Police Dept. tells TMZ Sports cops did respond to the scene in reference to an assault.

The spokesperson added an investigation into the incident is underway.

A rep for the church, meanwhile, said in a statement following the game, "It is truly unfortunate about the turn of events that took place during the basketball game held at our facility this weekend."

"We open our doors to serve our community and our goal is to provide an atmosphere conducive for enjoyment, enrichment, etc."

Forget fajitas, cheeseburgers and pasta ... Hideki Matsuyama completely balled out for his Masters Champions Dinner menu this week -- choosing A5 Wagyu beef for an entree!!!

The Masters announced the 2021 champ's menu on Tuesday ... and while there's sushi, nigiri and cod on it -- the star of the show is clearly the red meat.

If you're unfamiliar, A5 Wagyu is one of the rarest and most decadent cuts of steak in the world -- and can cost around $50 an ounce!

If there's any time to spend that kind of coin on a dinner, though, it's now -- as the annual meal is an exclusive one reserved solely for past Masters champs.

Usually, the menus are pretty tame -- Tiger Woods had sushi and fajitas in 2020, while 2015 champion Jordan Spieth famously ordered a bunch of BBQ for the occasion. But, Matsuyama is clearly sparing no expense this week!

The dinner -- which will also feature Japanese strawberry shortcake for dessert -- is slated to kick off on Tuesday night.

Hideki won the Masters in April last year -- becoming the first-ever Japanese golfer to win a major.

Barring a setback between now and Thursday, Tiger Woods says he will play in this week's Masters tournament.

The golf legend just made the announcement at a news conference at Augusta, saying "as of right now" he has plans to tee it up when the tourney begins on Thursday.

Woods added that he wholeheartedly believes he can actually win the event.

"I can hit it just fine," the 46-year-old said. "I don't have any qualms about what I can do physically from a golf standpoint."

Woods said he does have at least a small worry about walking around the course on the surgically repaired leg that he injured in a car accident back in February 2021.

But, as we reported, Woods has played multiple practice rounds at Augusta the last few days in order to make sure he can withstand walking around the course for the duration of the event.

Tiger has only competed once since the car wreck -- when he played in the PNC Championship in December with his son, Charlie Woods.

He had said in the leadup to that event that he'd never return to being a full-time golfer again, though he would "pick and choose a few events a year" going forward.

As for his recent switch from Nike to FootJoy golf shoes, Tiger says he's having problems with mobility following the crash ... and needed to wear something more stable.

He says he's working with the Swoosh on coming up with a product that will fit his needs ... adding the shoe giant has been "fantastic" throughout the process.

Hailie Deegan -- a rising NASCAR star -- pulled out of a race last week after she says a catfished fan terrifyingly threatened to kill her boyfriend, racecar driver Chase Cabre.

The 20-year-old broke down the horrifying situation in a new YouTube video titled "Our Lives Are Being Threatened...," explaining that a man who she believes is being catfished is now making her and Cabre's life a living hell.

Deegan says the fan wrote her a note recently, saying he was in love with her and calling her his "soulmate."

"I went home that day," she said, "looked up the guy's name on the note, and figured out that he was getting catfished by a fake Hailie Deegan account."

Deegan said since that time, the guy has become overbearing and overwhelming -- forcing her to pull out of last week's Freedom 500 race at Bradenton's Freedom Factory because he's continually threatening to end Cabre's life.

In fact, Deegan played audio of a threat she claims the man made -- and in the clip, you can hear a male clearly saying to Chase, "Boy I swear to f***ing God if your ass ain't out of North Carolina before the sun goes down, you are guaranteed going to see my motherf***ing face that's going to be the last motherf***ing you ever see go through you're motherf***ing eyes. I promise you."

Deegan says cops are involved in the situation, and said the couple has beefed up security around their home.

But, she and Cabre both pled for the man to understand that he's being catfished and to stop the violent threats regardless.

A British transgender cyclist says she had to deactivate her social media to stop the "targeted abuse" following her disqualification from a women's championship race.

As we previously reported, Emily Bridges was banned two days before the April 2 women's championship race in the UK by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) ... because she's registered as a male cyclist.

Ever since, the 21-year-old says her "privacy has been totally violated" to the point where she had to shut down her social media to avoid mistreatment.

"I've had to deactivate my social media to prevent the targeted abuse I am receiving," Bridges said in a statement, "and block websites to stop seeing them."

Bridges calls out the British media for harassing her as well -- saying reporters have been at her home pressuring her for a story.

"I've had journalists at my front door every day harassing us for comment and story, my privacy has been totally violated over speculation around my eligibility and fairness to compete."

"They attack anything that isn't the norm and print whatever is most likely to result in the highest engagement for their articles."

But Bridges -- who was in contact with the UCI about her status six months before the disqualification -- says she will continue to dispute her ineligibility with the org.

"I am an athlete," Bridges said, "and I just want to race competitively again, within the Regulations set by British Cycling and UCI after careful consideration of the research around transgender athletes."

Thousands of Univ. of Kansas fans swarmed a street near campus to celebrate the Jayhawks' NCAA championship Monday night -- with one fan actually surfing through the crowd in a shopping cart!!

The wild party all went down just moments after Kansas stormed back to win the title over UNC ... with roughly 70,000 people leaving their homes near Lawrence to cheer for the school's men's basketball team.

Video shows the scene was crazy -- people were shoulder to shoulder for what looked like a stretch of a couple hundred yards -- and at one point, a fan got in a cart and crowd surfed in it.

Footage reveals the people below him moved him through with ease, all while fireworks were being set off in the background.

The party, according to reporters on the scene, went well past midnight -- but the Lawrence Police Dept. says nearly everyone was behaved, with preliminary reports showing just three arrests were made and no significant injuries.

Meanwhile, back in New Orleans ... the Jayhawks partied their faces off after winning the game 72-69, showering each other with water and dancing in the locker room.

Ochai Agbaji, who scored 12 points in the win for Kansas, earned Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four honors. The championship was Kansas' fourth in school history.

Shaun Weiss is back and better ... and now he'll be returning to the big screen ... 'cause the dude's just landed a role in a movie.

The 'Mighty Ducks' star tells TMZ ... he'll be in the film, "Jesus Revolution," starring Kelsey Grammer -- based on the true story of Lonnie Frisbee and the hippies he baptized in the '70s -- and the role is reflective of his own life.

Shaun tells us, someone from Lionsgate actually saw his sobriety story and wanted to offer him the role. He did a read for a director via zoom, and voila!

We're told, he plays a strung-out Vietnam vet who gets saved and sobers up. And, he's really gotten into the role ... even asking his dentist if he could temporarily take out the implants he just got, to look the part.

Well, that wasn't possible but, either way, Shaun says the role has taken him back to his own life and being drugged out ... so much so, he says, playing the role is almost like experiencing a relapse.

As we previously reported, Shaun has struggled with drug addiction for many years ... even losing most of his teeth from drug abuse. He's since turned his life around, gotten a new set of pearly whites and has been sober for 2 years!

Talk about a comeback ...

Even though Tom Brady's back, Rob Gronkowski says he's not ready yet to commit to playing football again ... telling TMZ Sports he's still truly undecided about his future.

Most thought the tight end would be a shoo-in to return to Tampa Bay in 2022 after his QB unretired ... but Gronk says that's just not the case -- at least not yet.

In fact, Rob says he actually avoided catching footballs at a charity event over the weekend so he wouldn't get an urge to make a decision that he might regret later.

"I knew if I started catching some passes that my head would have started turning, like, 'Oh, crap, I got to get back out on the field,'" Gronk said. "And, right now, I'm not ready to get back out on that field. I'm not ready to commit to the game of football right now."

The 32-year-old does not have a contract yet -- and he said he won't sign a new one until he's 100 percent sure he's ready to get back on the field.

As for what he's doing in the meantime -- he told us he's enjoying his offseason ... and he announced Gronk Beach is making its return this year at the NFL draft in Las Vegas later this month.

Rob says the party will happen on April 29 -- and he promised it'll be a complete rager.

After that, it appears a football decision will ensue.

The Spurs might suck this season, but one fan single-handedly made Sunday's game a whole lot better ... by absolutely dominating a lip sync challenge to Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone."

It all went down at the AT&T Center in San Antonio during the Spurs' matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers ... when the jumbotron cam focused in on 27-year-old Briana Saldaña to show off her skills -- and she didn't hold back.

Check out the awesome vid -- Briana jumps from her seat and uses her drink as a makeshift microphone ... dancing and even including her man in the routine.

The crowd absolutely loved it ... and clips of Briana's performance quickly spread like wildfire on social media.

We know what you're thinking, but everyone affiliated with the viral moment swears up and down that this was NOT a staged act ... and it just so happened to come out better than anyone could have hoped.

No word on if Kelly herself got to check out the clip ... but it's only a matter of time.

Aaron Donald might be dropping a hint about his NFL future -- the Rams superstar just listed his incredible California mansion for more than $6 million ... amid rumors he could retire.

TMZ Sports has learned ... the pad is located in a gated community in Calabasas (45 minutes west of downtown Los Angeles) and sits on nearly an acre of land.

The 7,036 square-foot home has six bedrooms, six and a half bathrooms, a huge kitchen and a 4-four car garage ... but there's a ton of awesome additional features to the place.

The mansion has a huge game room, an outdoor basketball court and a resort-like zero-edge infinity pool ... as well as an outdoor kitchen for pool parties.

The best part?? The new owners will always have a fresh cut ... 'cause there's a private barbershop inside the home with a huge mural of #99 himself.

The Donald crib -- listed with Jordan Cohen of RE/MAX -- was just put on the market this week ... and comes with a $6,250,000 price tag.

The listing may come as a sign the Super Bowl champ is either retiring or leaving the Los Angeles area ... but Donald's made more than $90 million in eight seasons in the league, so it's entirely possible he could be upgrading.

In other words ... take a DEEP breath, Rams fans.

Donald is one of the best defensive players of all time -- on top of his Super Bowl win, his accolades include 3-time Defensive Player of the Year and most career sacks (98) in Rams history.

Scary scene on the baseball diamond on Monday ... Twins left fielder Nick Gordon appeared to be knocked unconscious after he collided with his teammate in the outfield.

The terrifying moment happened during Minnesota's spring training game against the Boston Red Sox ... when Gordon and center fielder Max Kepler went after a fly ball at the same time.

The two Twins ended up crashing into each other before the ball dropped out of the sky -- and you can see in a clip of the play, Gordon got the worst of the collision.

The 26-year-old's body seemed to go stiff -- and he looked to be knocked out for several seconds.

Somehow, though, the Twins say Gordon avoided serious injury -- but he did have to leave the game and he is reportedly suffering from a minor headache.

The North Carolina Tar Heels and Kansas Jayhawks are hours away from facing off in the NCAA National Championship on Monday ... and anyone looking to catch the game in person is in luck -- 'cause ticket prices are torpedoing.

TMZ Sports has learned ... ticket prices have been steadily dropping since the title game matchup was announced.

According to Gametime -- an app for last-minute tickets -- fans can purchase seats starting at just $22 ... a far cry from Saturday's lowest asking price of $123.

Before UNC upset Duke and Kansas topped Villanova ... the top-priced seats for the big game were a whopping $9,423 per ticket.

But now, fans will have to cough up $5,561 per ticket for a premium seat in the building -- which is nothing to scoff at, but not nearly as much as they would have paid before perennial powerhouse Duke got eliminated.

There's a logical theory behind the price change -- many fans had hopes of seeing Coach K and the Blue Devils go out on top in the title game ... as Krzyzewski previously announced this season would be his last.

Coach K -- who's won 5 national championships with Duke -- was seeking that elusive 6th title ... but the Tar Heels, led by stars Caleb Love and Armando Bacot, and coach Hubert Davis had other plans.

Kristin Cavallari and Tyler Cameron are pretty comfortable around each other ... even willing to have a make-out session in the middle of a photo shoot!

The reality stars were doing a campaign for her Uncommon James line in Joshua Tree Monday ... we're told Kristin asked the former 'Bachelorette' star to be a part of the shoot last month after appearing on a talk show together.

As we reported, Kristin filed for divorce from Jay Cutler in April 2020, but tried going on a few dates with him after filing. The time apart and then together didn't prove helpful for a rekindling, as she called it quits and began dating other people, including country music star Chase Rice in 2021.

In March, she was having the time of her life at "Magic Mike Live" in Las Vegas ...  getting a full-blown lap dance of sorts -- albeit one that had her lying flat on her back -- while the dude went to work on the whipped cream. Nothing like Sin City ...

A Nicole Brown Simpson look-alike surprised O.J. Simpson in his bedroom at 1 a.m. for a prank video -- and you can see in the footage, The Juice was SHOCKED by the impromptu wakeup call.

The clip was posted to TikTok over the weekend -- showing the Nicole doppelganger and several other young women barging into the ex-NFL star's room late at night to try to get a rise out of the guy.

The girls had their phones out -- playing music loudly -- while a man can be heard in the background saying, "Let’s go! It's party time in the house!"

One of the girls can be heard yelling "Wakey! Wakey!" ... all while the Nicole look-alike laughed.

O.J. -- who wasn't wearing a shirt -- appeared to giggle it all off ... and eventually looked like he was going to get up and entertain the guests before the video cut out.

Further details surrounding the prank -- like when it happened, where it happened and who the girls were -- are unclear ... O.J.'s yet to address it publicly.

Tyron Woodley, Nate Robinson and the Houston Rockets mascot all now have something in common -- each has been knocked out by Jake Paul!!

The Problem Child added "Clutch" to his KO victim list in a hilarious scene at the Rockets vs. Timberwolves game in Houston on Sunday -- moments after the furry mascot challenged Paul to a "fight" near his seat.

In video of the "altercation" posted to his social media page Monday, you can see the Houston mascot came over to Jake with some comically large gloves on and challenged him to a boxing match.

At one point, the mascot appeared to tag Jake in the arm -- which got the YouTuber out of his chair.

Jake then quickly put Clutch into his place, hitting the bear to the floor with a big right hand.

Paul talked a little smack and went back to his seat -- and fans found the interaction hilarious.

Of course, the punch was all scripted and the mascot is OK ... but Jake still had fun with it all on his Instagram page -- writing in the video's caption, "Will Smith'd em."

If you thought dropping $5.2 million on a piece of cardboard was a lot, Logan Paul says he paid even more to keep his beloved, rare Pokémon card safe -- shelling out $80k for its iced-out pendant case!!

Paul -- who bought the PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator for $5,275,000 and then wore it around his neck at WrestleMania -- is opening up about his Guinness World Record-breaking purchase on Monday ... saying it was a transaction more than a year in the making.

The Maverick says he completely understands spending that kinda coin on a piece of cardboard is "absurd" ... but offers his reasoning behind pulling the trigger.

"The Pikachu Illustrator is the rarest Pokémon card in the world," Paul says. "Only 39 of them exist, and this is the ONLY PSA 10 (perfect condition). Until this weekend, there were no pictures or videos of this card ANYWHERE."

Logan says he was able to track down the owner of the card last year, spent months negotiating ... and then finally made his way to Dubai to make the purchase.

Logan later turned the card into an $80k wearable piece ... which he debuted alongside the Miz at Mania on Saturday.

The case is completely decked out in diamonds and gold ... including a shiny Pokeball bail.