TMZ Sports - Page 50

Lamar Odom had no intention of cleaning pots and pans when he and his driver bought Chore Boy this week ... it was one of the tools of his crack trade ... so claims his summer roommate.

Polina Polonsky hooked up with Lamar in June and July after meeting him at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. He moved into her apartment for 6 weeks and during that time Polina says he was doing crack.

Polina tells us, Chore Boy was always laying around the apartment when Lamar was there ... and she claims she's seen him use the pads multiple times to fashion homemade crack pipes. In fact, she says her apartment was regularly littered with copper pad scraps and old boxes while Lamar lived there.

Bottom line ... all signs point to Lamar's crack problem still going strong, with no let up in sight.

Former NBA star Allen Iverson -- who raked in more than $140 million during his career -- says he's a pathetic shadow of the man he once was ... at least financially ... and he wants his ex-wife to drop her child support demands.

TMZ broke the story -- Allen’s ex-wife Tawanna Iverson went to court last month, asking a judge to force Allen to pay $1,272,000 into a trust fund for child support. She wanted the money in a lump sum because she was sick of chasing him every month.

Allen has now filed court docs scoffing at her demand, because he doesn't have the dough.

Allen says the only steady source of income he has is a Reebok deal. We don't know exactly how much he pulls in, but he claims it's nowhere near enough to meet his ex-wife's demands.

Allen also says he resents his ex's claim that he's a deadbeat dad, boasting that he paid more than half-a-mil in support this year alone.

Lamar Odom has just been charged with 1 count of DUI ... TMZ has learned.

TMZ broke the story ... Lamar was arrested August 30 at 3:25 AM on the 101 Freeway after cops saw him driving too slow. He flunked several field sobriety tests and was then cuffed and taken to jail, where he REFUSED to submit to a blood alcohol test.

The fact that he refused the blood alcohol test actually helped him ... in that normally a defendant would be charged with 2 counts of DUI -- driving under the influence and driving with .08 or higher.

Here's the bad news -- By refusing to take the test ... Lamar will have his driver's license suspended for 1 year.

As we first reported, law enforcement sources told us they believed Lamar was under the influence of both drugs and alcohol.

If convicted ... the likely outcome would be probation and an alcohol ed course since he's a first-time offender. These cases are almost always plea bargained.

Lamar will be arraigned on Sept. 27.

Justin Bieber has successfully weaseled his way into Floyd Mayweather's inner circle -- AGAIN -- TMZ has learned, the 19-year-old will walk Money May to the ring tomorrow before his next big boxing match in Vegas.

Bieber has been ingratiating himself with Mayweather since last year, when the singer appeared out of nowhere at Mayweather's match against Miguel Cotto ... walking the fighter to the ring, and celebrating with him afterwards (along with Lil Wayne).

The courtship continued ... and this summer, Mayweather flew Bieber out to his 13-year-old daughter's birthday party.

Now, Bieber's back for more shameless money-flaunting publicity whoring ... agreeing to accompany Mayweather to the ring Saturday at the MGM Grand, where May's set to fight Saúl "Canelo" Alvarez.

And he deserves to get his ass kicked. (We may or may not be talking about Alvarez.)

With 46 days 'til the NBA's opening day, Kevin Durant is in hardcore relax-mode -- with hookah pipes and Segway scooters.

The 24-year-old Oklahoma City Thunder superstar was rollin' around Barcelona yesterday on the two-wheeled machine (sportin' a helmet for safety) ... before chillin' out at a smoke shop.

Durant seems to be a big fan of hookah shops -- he's been spotted puffin' away all over the world in places like Chicago, Minnesota and even Hong Kong.

Kevin's penchant for puffin' might also explain why he was chillin' with Justin Bieber recently -- those guys might have more in common than we thought.

Ex-Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher says there's only ONE GUY who hasn't called him on the phone since he retired last year ... QB Jay Cutler ... and he's kinda bitter about it.

Urlacher recently sat down with Graham Bensinger and vented about the lack of post teammate communication when Graham asked if any of the Bears have given him the cold shoulder since he left the squad.

Urlacher's response: "I did not hear from Jay ... out of all the guys I played with."

And why so bitter? Urlacher explained ... "I felt like I stood up for him a lot more than anybody else did over the past 3 or 4 years in the media ... 'cause that guy takes a lot of grief."

"Strong men also cry" -- The Big Lebowski

Jillian Michaels didn't just SUCK ASS at the Malibu Triathlon -- she was an EMBARRASSMENT -- so says her former "Biggest Loser" co-star Cara Castronuova.

As we previously reported, Michaels was a disaster at last weekend's big race -- admitting to TMZ she got beat by a bunch of people a world class fitness professional shouldn't have lost to ... including an 80-year-old.

But when we ran into Cara last night in L.A., the former B.L. trainer didn't pull punches -- telling us. "I would probably kill myself if that happened to me."

Cara said Michaels likely bombed because she didn't take the event seriously -- "That's what happens a lot with people that think they're in really good shape. They take things lightly and then they embarrass themselves."

Billie Jean King is calling BS on reports the mafia rigged her famous Battle of the Sexes tennis match with Bobby Riggs ... telling TMZ, "I just beat his butt and that's it."

The allegations surfaced in an ESPN investigation last month -- a country club worker claims he witnessed a secret meeting between Riggs and the mafia, in which Riggs agreed to throw the famous 1973 match if the mob forgave his $100k gambling debts.

But King says the whole story is ridiculous -- telling us, "[Riggs] was not that kind of a guy. He didn't play around with the mafia."

BJK also says Riggs had more of a financial incentive to WIN their duel -- because had he emerged victorious, he would have had the chance to play in a MILLION DOLLAR match.

WWE Hall-of-Fame announcer Jim Ross -- the voice of the organization for two decades -- has decided to hang up his microphone and retire, so says the WWE.

Ross called some of the biggest matches in WWE history -- including Stone Cold's epic battles with Vince McMahon, the rise of The Rock ... and the famous "Hell In a Cell' match when Undertaker launched Mick Foley through a table from the top of a steel cage.

But Ross didn't just do the play-by-play -- he also came up with some pretty iconic wrestling nicknames ... referring to Stone Cold Steve Austin as the "Texas Rattlesnake" and Triple H as the "Cerebral Assassin."

He was also famous for shouting phrases like "By god, that man has a family" when wrestlers were getting their asses kicked in the ring.

According to the WWE, Ross wants to spend more time focusing on his "personal business endeavors" -- and by that, we're guessing he means his growing BBQ sauce company.

Ominous sign for Lamar Odom's battle with drug addiction -- he scooped up a household cleaning product that doubles as a vital part of homemade crack pipes ... and TMZ has the photos.

Lamar and his driver walked out of a San Fernando Valley pharmacy on Tuesday with a bag full of items ... most notably ... Chore Boy copper scrubbing pads.

How commonly are the pads used for drug abuse? Type it into Google ... and "crack" is the first auto-fill topic besides the product name. Also, Forbes magazine wrote an article about its use as a filter in makeshift crack pipes.

Oh, and Urban Dictionary defines it like this: "Brand name of scouring pad used also by people smoking crack to retain some of the cocaine vapors."

As TMZ first told you, multiple people in Lamar's life -- like his estranged wife -- are saying he desperately needs to get in to rehab for many addictions, especially crack.

So, it's possible the NBA star had some kitchen cleaning to do, but we gotta ask ...

Kimbo Slice -- the real-life street fighter who became a cyber-punching superstar -- tells TMZ ... he's gearing up for another brawl in November ... and he's gunning for BUTTERBEAN.

39-year-old Slice was in Calabasas on Tuesday when we asked about his boxing career (he's undefeated as a pro, btw) and that's when Kimbo told us he's got his sights set on the King of the Four Rounder.

"Hopefully, if Butterbean plays his cards right we'll go at it," Slice told us ... "I like beans."

Butterbean is 47-years-old now ... and hasn't won a sanctioned boxing match since 2007 ... but he's still hungry for a fight.

No word on what's holding up the match -- but until they get the deal signed, here's a clip of Butterbean beating up Johnny Knoxville in a shopping mall ...

It's the kind of "Storage Wars" story that would make Dave Hester proud -- some guy in Maryland bought a unit for $300 at a storage auction recently only to find more Dikembe Mutombo memorabilia than you can shake a giant finger at.

The winning bidder is Adrian Petrus ... who competed for the contents of a forceclosed unit -- and just like on "Storage Wars," Adrian had no idea what was inside.

So you can imagine how pumped he was when he opened the locker and realized the whole thing was packed full of Mutombo items -- signed basketballs, shoes, jerseys, trading cards and photos of Dikembe with celebs like Michael Jackson and Nelson Mandela.

The locker also contained works of art painted and signed by Mutombo's brother.

So who would abandon such an incredible cache of Dikembe stuff?

Turns out, the unit belonged to one of Dikembe's brothers ... who lost the locker recently after missing several rental payments.

We're told the brother had gone back to the Congo to deal with family issues in the wake of his father's death -- and simply forgot to make his locker payments. Sucks.

Petrus tells us .. once he realized what he had, he reached out to Dikembe to try and make a deal to return the items ... but never heard back. So, naturally, the next step ... is eBay.

Oscar De La Hoya has just checked himself back into a rehab facility ... two years after completing a stint in treatment for cocaine and alcohol.

De La Hoya revealed the news in a statement to the media, explaining why he won't be ringside during the Mayweather vs. Canelo fight this weekend, one of the biggest fights ever put on by his Golden Boy Promotions company.

"I will not be at the fight this Saturday to cheer Canelo to victory since I have voluntarily admitted myself into a treatment facility," De La Hoya said.

"I explained this to Canelo and he understood that my health and longterm recovery from my disease must come first."

"Thank you for your understanding. I ask for your support and privacy during this difficult time for me and my family."

Oscar checked into rehab back in 2011 -- and in a previous interview said, "My drug of choice was cocaine and alcohol."

SF 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick just made a BET with Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson -- whoever loses when they face off this weekend has to shave an eyebrow.

The wager was captured on video in a commercial for EA Sports -- they even shook hands -- and Colin warned Wilson, "Hope you don't like your eyebrow."

It'll be interesting to see if the losing QB actually lives up to the bet ... unlike Green Bay Packers QB/chicken enthusiast Aaron Rodgers ... who still hasn't paid up after losing a bet to Boyz II Men last season.

Just a warning to Colin and Russell -- don't let your mouths write checks your eyebrows can't cash ... you'll never live it down.

Right Aaron?

Lamar Odom says he's absolutely NOT a drug addict ... doesn't need professional help ... and is confident he'll play in the NBA next season.

He's wrong on all 3 counts.

33-year-old Odom went to Teru Sushi in Studio City last night ... and after taking some photos with fans, he finally addressed the media about drug issues in his life ... claiming everything is hunky-dory.

Problem is ... Odom is clearly in denial. As we've previously reported, just about everyone in his life -- personally and professionally -- knows about his battle with substance abuse, including his wife Khloe Kardashian.

In the last year alone, Lamar's been thrown out of hotels ... busted for DUI ... spent time in rehab ... and dropped from multiple NBA teams.

Still, Lamar insists ... "Life is good."

Aaron Hernandez wasn't watching when Tom Brady and his former Patriots teammates mounted a comeback against the Buffalo Bills this past weekend ... 'cause he's NOT allowed to watch football on TV during his stint behind bars, TMZ has learned.

Sheriff Hodgson of the Bristol County Jail tells us, "While Mr. Hernandez and many other inmates would like to watch football, it is just not part of our policy here ... so that will not be happening. “

Hernandez does have an hour of free time per day ... so, in theory, someone could call him on the phone and play the TV really loud so he can follow along with the action -- but what's the fun in that?