TMZ Sports - Page 50

Disturbing moment during a junior hockey game ... a player sucker-punched an official in the face, and the player has now been hit with a lifetime ban.

It all went down in the United States Premier Hockey League -- a developmental league for amateurs -- when a member of the South Shore Kings got frustrated with one of the refs.

Check out the clip, the official appears ticked off by something the player did and motions to send him to the penalty box.

That's when things went south ... 'cause as the player began skating off the ice, he punched the referee in the face, dropping him to the ice.

The other refs restored order ... and the official who was punched was helped back onto his skates -- but the damage had already been done.

FYI, Junior Hockey is typically played after high school, but before college.

The commissioner for the USPHL released a statement saying, "The action taken today by a USPHL player is completely unacceptable in the USPHL. The USPHL has zero tolerance for any player striking any official, at any time."

He continued ... "The player in question’s actions have led to a lifetime ban."

Michael Jordan shared a special moment with Kobe Bryant's wife at the All-Star Game on Sunday ... with MJ embracing Vanessa after the Lakers legend was honored during halftime.

The Black Mamba received a powerful ovation as members of the league's 75th-anniversary team were recognized in Cleveland ... and Vanessa was visibly overcome with emotion as her husband was featured on the scoreboard.

Jordan, Jerry West and Lakers GM/Kobe's longtime agent Rob Pelinka were spotted alongside Vanessa during the festivities ... as #23 went up and gave her a big hug and chatted with her on the court.

Kobe's presence was felt throughout the night ... as Vanessa was in attendance to hand Chris Paul the WNBA's first Kobe and Gigi Bryant Advocacy award, which honors players for their contributions to women's hoops.

Stephen Curry won the newly-designed Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP award ... after nailing 16 3-pointers to help Team LeBron beat Team Durant, 163-160.

The exchange between MJ and Vanessa was truly emotional for fans to watch -- Jordan and Kobe were close, and the Bulls legend even gave a tearful speech at Bryant's service in 2020.

Adele is trying to tune out any distractions in her life ... even cameras that are right up in her face!

Adele was at the NBA All-Star Game Sunday night -- no doubt showing support for BF Rich Paul -- and a camera crew unsurprisingly got a shot of her.

The cameras got super close to her, but Adele just pretended they weren't there ... looking away to either side. The shot lasted an uncomfortably long time. Typically the director stays on the shot until the person they're shooting acknowledges it, but that never happened.

Adele hasn't been seen in public much since the cancellation of her Vegas residency... where she went online and apologized -- breaking the news just one day before the first show would begin.

She's mostly been on the down-low since the cancellation, with the exception of a night out at a gay bar in London.

This was a big night for Rich, and Adele was there to support him and watch the game. They were seated next to another musical icon -- Mary J. Blige.

Olympic skier Remi Lindholm says it was so cold during a race at the Games in Beijing over the weekend ... his penis literally froze while he was competing.

Lindholm says the horrifying injury happened during Saturday's men's 50km mass start event ... where temps dipped so low, officials actually delayed the start and even shortened the race's overall distance to 30km to try to keep competitors safe.

The precautions, though, clearly didn't help Lindholm too much ... because he said after spending over an hour racing on the course, his junk turned into a popsicle.

"You can guess which body part was a little bit frozen when I finished," Lindholm told reporters after the race. "It was one of the worst competitions I've been in."

Lindholm said he needed a heat pack to thaw everything out -- but added that once he got warm, "the pain was unbearable."

The worst part for Lindholm? His efforts only resulted in a 28th place finish.

Turns out, this was not the first time Lindholm has experienced the terrifying race wound -- he said it happened to him in a race in Finland in 2021.

Quinton Aaron, best known for his role in "The Blind Side," has dropped a whopping 100 pounds!!!

Quinton tells TMZ ... he gained quite a bit of weight during the pandemic, binge eating at home and developing a hankering for chocolate ... something he didn't have before the virus hit.

He says he would start his morning by eating 2 jumbo-sized KitKat packs and 2 Reese's packs. If he went out to eat, he would end his meal with a chocolate dessert. He also ate a lot of bread ... sometimes 2 large sandwiches in one sitting.

Quinton tells us ... he wanted to make a change because he has a lot of professional goals with his production company and music.

"I used the new year as a way to get a new me," he says ... and that work paid off! He went from 559 pounds to 462 lbs.

He cut candy bars and bread from his diet. He's eating Cobb salads for lunch and sticking to a keto diet ... along with fasting. He's also been walking and doing stretching exercises.

Now, he says he wants to drop another 64 lbs by May 10 to honor his late mom on her birthday -- which was his weight during "The Blind Side" movie.

His overall goal is to get between 300-325 pounds.

Macy Gray’s the latest to try something different with the National Anthem during the NBA All-Star weekend ... and yet again, it evoked some would-be chuckles from the players.

The Grammy-winning singer did a take on the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ Sunday ahead of tip-off for the All-Star game, and it definitely conjured up memories of Fergie from 4 years ago ... when she did something similar during her appearance.

Just like then, MG’s rendition now is getting widely mocked -- but more importantly, it’s causing the same sorts of reactions among the guys themselves, most notably ... LeBron James, who was seen apparently fighting back laughter when the camera panned to him.

He was standing next to Steph Curry, who kept his composure this time ... and you can see LBJ with a big grin on his face as Macy sings. When he looks up to the Jumbotron and sees his reaction was captured, he bows his head in embarrassment -- trying to hide.

He wasn’t the only one who was left stunned by the show -- one Bill Murray was in the crowd as well, and he seemed dumbfounded by what he was hearing.

Others, too, looked on with confusion ... maybe even terror!

Still, Macy powered through it ... and ended with one of the shortest “brave” refrains we’ve ever heard. She got a round of applause, obviously, and was graceful upon completion.

Funny enough, she’s actually had some thoughts on Old Glory of late ... suggesting the flag needs to be redesigned to reflect modern-day America.

It ain't Tyreek Hill or Micah Parsons ... no, DK Metcalf says he's the fastest man in the NFL -- telling TMZ Sports he'd dust Hill, Parsons and anyone else in the league in a race.

The Seattle Seahawks superstar made the claim while touring Nate Diaz's Represent headquarters in Fullerton, Calif. this month ... saying flat out no one is faster than him.

In fact, Metcalf laughed at the idea that he'd lose a race to Hill -- telling us, "Yeah. I can beat Tyreek Hill in a race."

Most consider Hill to be the fastest (even if he did lose while not trying very hard against Parsons at the Pro Bowl) ... but Metcalf certainly has a right to be confident.

After all, DK did run a 4.33 40-yard dash at the combine, just a few breaths slower than Hill's reported 4.29 time.

The big issue -- DK just had surgery to fix a foot issue, so he won't be racing anyone anytime soon.

Juwan Howard got physical with another coach after his team’s bitter loss in a basketball game ... kickstarting an ugly fight.

The University of Michigan’s men’s basketball head coach got into it Sunday while shaking hands with the opposing team ... the Wisconsin Badgers, who beat Juwan’s Wolverines 77-63 in a hard-fought game.

While UoW’s HC, Greg Gard, approached JH in the lineup ... he appeared to get snubbed by the latter -- which made him start to get in Juwan’s face, as the two of them began yapping back and forth.

Soon, it became clear this was going beyond words ... as other coaches and players had to rush between them to break up a head face-off. Juwan wasn’t done yet though ... in an apparent effort to reach Gard, he took what looked to be an open-hand swing at one of the Wisconsin assistant coaches, and made contact. It was all caught on camera, of course.

That sparked more fighting from the players, and an all-out brawl ensued.

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem things got too out of hand ... and the chaos was eventually tapered down after everyone separated from one another.

No word on what exactly made Juwan react that way -- or what sort of punishment, if any, awaits him.

L.A.'s Super Bowl celebration deserves a big fat penalty flag ... at least according to the infamous "Hollyweed" vandal who says the city screwed up its Hollywood sign overhaul.

As you know, the "Rams House" overlay went viral after the big game -- mostly because it took forever to complete -- and fans were, at best, split on the end result. Well, Zach "Jesushands" Fernandez isn't even that complimentary, and insists the project could've gone way better ... with his help!

Of course, Zach vandalized the Hollywood Sign back in 2017, turning it into "Hollyweed" to celebrate Cali legalizing recreational marijuana -- and from what he could see, the "Rams House" sign fell short of the high bar he'd set.

He told TMZ ... "When I first saw it, I couldn't even make out what it said. That was a really bad first impression, I guess."

His final impression wasn't much better, with Zach calling it "more of a disgrace."

Zach knows what he's talking about when it comes to dressing up the big sign, saying the material and color of the fabric was a poor choice ... as the light was bound to shine right through it.

If the Rams repeat as Super Bowl champs -- as several players suggested during the victory parade -- he has alternative options.

L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti announced the overlay after the Rams took down the Cincinnati Bengals at Super Bowl LVI. What was supposed to be a one-day project ended up taking 3 ... narrowly making it up for Wednesday's parade.

Not shockingly, Zach says he was never asked to help out -- after all, he was arrested for trespassing after his stunt. Still, he says if the price is right, he'd be down.

Jake Paul is already getting interest from the MMA community ... 'cause Wiz Khalifa -- who is part-owner of the Professional Fighters League -- tells TMZ Sports he'd love to sign the YouTuber-turned-fighter to the promotion!!

25-year-old Paul has flirted with making the switch from the ring to the cage recently ... in hopes of landing a fight with Jorge Masvidal -- or pretty much any other fighter in the MMA community at this point.

He seems to be serious about the switch ... and has even been spotted working on his kicks at Jay Glazer's Unbreakable gym recently, a place that Wiz has frequented over the years.

So, when we met up with Wiz during Super Bowl week, we had to ask if he thinks Jake is PFL material.

"It would be tight if he fought for PFL," Wiz said. "He's a cool guy. So, wherever he is, he's going to bring a lot of excitement."

Of course, PFL is one of the top MMA promotions in the sport ... so Wiz's co-sign is nothing to scoff at.

When we asked straight-up if he would want PFL to sign Jake, Wiz didn't mince his words.

High praise from Doug Flutie ... the ex-Bills QB says he loves Josh Allen so much, he could see the signal-caller one day taking the title of best-ever Buffalo quarterback from Jim Kelly.

Flutie dropped the compliments after dining with Joe Montana in Los Angeles earlier this month ... saying he's just that big of a fan of Allen's.

The 59-year-old, though, said the current Bills QB has a bit of a ways to go to catch the former one.

"I love Josh Allen, love everything he did -- he had a tremendous year," Flutie said ... "I'm not going to say he's going to [overtake Kelly], but the potential to do so is there."

Allen just wrapped up his fourth season as the Bills' starter -- going 39-21 in 60 games with 14,114 passing yards. Kelly, meanwhile, went 101-59 in his 160 career games, throwing for 35,467 yards.

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle tells TMZ Sports that backup quarterback Trey Lance is absolutely ready to start in the NFL next season if given the opportunity.

Relax Niner fans -- he didn't tell us Trey should be starting over Jimmy Garoppolo. In fact, he showed Jimmy props saying, "Love Jimmy G. Fantastic quarterback. Took us to two NFC championships."

But, he did make it seem that even if a change at the QB position were to happen ... it wouldn't affect his game because he's just out there "to catch balls."

"I play tight end and whoever's throwing me the football, I can't wait to catch footballs from them baby," Kittle said.

GK says ultimately head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch will be responsible for doing what's best for the football team.

Former NFL legend Joe Montana, however, doesn't believe Lance is "ready" to start for the 49ers ... and furthermore, disagrees with trading Jimmy G away in favor of keeping Trey.

"I think they should keep Jimmy until they find somebody that helps," Montana said on Radio Row during Super Bowl week. "I don't think Trey is ready to play yet."

Dalvin Cook did his best Nostradamus impression earlier this month ... guaranteeing to TMZ Sports that he will win the Vikings a Super Bowl.

The Minnesota star running back promised to bring home the ring when we spoke with him at a Super Bowl party last weekend ... saying he and Justin Jefferson will get the job done.

"We gon' win us one," he said. "We gon' win us one. Yeah."

As for when ... Cook couldn't pinpoint an exact date -- but reiterated, "We gon' win us one. We working, though!"

It's a bold prediction ... considering the Vikings have only won two playoff games since 2017 and just fired their head coach this offseason. But, watch the clip, Dalvin seems as confident as ever.

If the team does win next season, Cook will be sporting a different number for the celebration -- he tells us he's officially switching digits to #4 in 2022 because it's the number his late father would've wanted him to wear.

As for the #33 chain Dalvin customarily rocks ... he told us that's not going anywhere -- but he will be adding another pendant to it next season.

Gold medal-winning figure skater Tara Lipinski's good looks have been on ice for over two decades!

Here's a 15-year-old version of the Team USA ice skater smiling to the cheering fans in Nagano, Japan moments after scoring the gold medal in the women's long program beating out her teammate Michelle Kwan at the 1998 Winter Olympics XVIII. (left).

TP ... now 39 years old ... shared this selfie on her social media page while covering this year's Winter Olympics alongside her friend, co-anchor and figure skater Johnny Weir (right).

Her beauty is frozen.

The question is ...

Brian Flores is suing the NFL, but he'll still be getting paychecks from the org. in 2022 ... 'cause the ex-Miami Dolphins head coach has been hired to join the Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff.

As we previously reported, Flores is in the middle of a messy legal battle with the NFL ... claiming its hiring process is rooted in racism -- even using texts from Bill Belichick to make his point.

While the 40-year-old's priority is facing off against the league in court in hopes of bringing change, he'll also be setting his focus on the AFC North ... as Flores will be the senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach for the Stellers next season.

Mike Tomlin spoke about the hire ... saying, "I am excited about Brian Flores joining our coaching staff given his history of developing and teaching defensive players during his time in the NFL."

"Brian's resume speaks for itself, and I look forward to him adding his expertise to help our team."

Flores was 24-25 in his 3 seasons with the Dolphins ... but many were puzzled with his firing in 2021, as it appeared he was finally hitting his stride in Miami.

Bill Maher delivered a devastating blow to celebrities, companies and woke American culture for turning a blind eye to the horrendous abuses in China ... mostly to make a buck.

Maher lasered in on freestyle skier Eileen Gu, an American who chose to join Team China for the Beijing games. As he puts it, "She chose to represent a totalitarian police state over America." He also notes she's made $23 million from a ton of endorsements in China.

Bill ticked off some of the horrendous human rights abuses in China, including genocide. He then wondered out loud why Americans -- in particular celebs -- who show outrage for abuses at home are either silent about the abuses in China or say something critical and then apologize.

He recalls NBA GM Daryl Morey who tweeted a few years ago he stands with Hong Kong -- a country whose freedom is being crushed by China. LeBron James fired back that Morey had to be "educated." And, what does Maher think is behind LeBron's jab -- $$$. Maher notes the NBA has a $1.5 billion deal for TV rights in China, then saying of LeBron ... "I got some shoes to sell."

And, then Maher led in hard on John Cena, who once called Taiwan a separate country from China. Point of fact, it is, although it's pretty clear China wants to change that. So, Maher noted 34% of global box office is generated from China, and Cena's a big movie star ... so then Maher played Cena's video, apologizing to the Chinese for saying what he said. BTW, Cena apologized in Chinese. Wait till you hear Bill's joke about small balls.

He goes on and on ... the remake of "Top Gun" has scrubbed the Taiwanese flag from the bomber jackets.