The day after speaking at the funeral of Whitney Houston, Kevin Costner hit up Madison Square Garden this afternoon to check out Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks. 

In other Lin news, ESPN announced today that it "dismissed" the employee responsible for the offensive headline about Lin that appeared on their mobile site over the weekend. 

The headline, which featured the phrase "chink in the armor," appeared for only 35 minutes in the middle of the night, the network said. ESPN also suspended an anchor who made a similar comment on air. 

Kevin Costner had his hands full at LAX moments ago, where he's set to board a plane bound for Whitney Houston's "Home Going" ceremony in Jersey -- grabbing his wife with one hand, and a trolley bag with the other.

As TMZ previously reported, Whitney's funeral is expected to be star-studded -- with invites like Oprah, Stevie Wonder, and Aretha Franklin.

Mel Gibson was invited, but is unable to attend.

We posted video earlier today -- Ray J and Brandy are already on their way to the East Coast.

Kevin Costner is on the verge of losing an enormous $4 million bronze bison sculpture ... constructed over the course of SEVEN YEARS -- and TMZ has obtained the contract that could bite him in the ass.


According to the document, Costner -- who commissioned the sculpture in the '90s for a failed resort venture in South Dakota -- promised to sell the statue and split the profits with the artist ... if a) the hotel wasn't built by 2010 ... or b) the statue wasn't "agreeably displayed elsewhere."



Well, the hotel wasn't built by 2010 ... and according to the artist -- a woman named Peggy Detmers -- she never agreed to the statue's current home in a museum owned by Costner ... on the same property where the resort was supposed to be built.

Now, Peggy's tightening the screws in court ... demanding Costner liquidate the bison statue ASAP.

Sources close to the artist tell TMZ, Detmers was originally paid $310,000 for the entire project -- so if it sells for anywhere near its reported value of $4 million ... she stands to make serious money.

So far, the court hasn't made a decision.

Stephen Baldwin is suing Kevin Costner, claiming Costner and his business partner  "schemed" to make millions of dollars off the BP oil rig disaster ... by allegedly duping Baldwin into selling shares in a company that builds machines that separate oil from water.



In a lawsuit filed in Louisiana federal court, Baldwin claims in April, he had a meeting in the wake of the oil disaster, and decided to become a 10% partner in an invention backed by Costner -- a device that separated oil from water that was actually developed during the filming of "Waterworld."

According to the lawsuit, Costner and his partners made it seem as if Costner had already sold his shares in the company when in fact he was still heavily invested.  Baldwin also claims the company misrepresented that there was no deal to sell the contraption to BP.

Baldwin alleges he was duped into selling his shares back to the company so Costner and his partners could score a bigger profit in a deal that was already inked -- specifically, a deal with BP valued at more than $52 million.

Baldwin is suing for unspecified damages. No comment from Costner's camp.

TMZ has learned Kevin Costner was privately offered first dibs to buy the famous corn-filled property where he made "Field of Dreams" -- but Kevin turned it down.



The owners of the 193-acre Iowa farm put the legendary field up for sale this week for $5.4 million -- but before it was offered to the public, we're told it was offered to Kevin ... twice!

According to former major league pitcher Ken Sanders -- the guy overseeing the sale -- Kevin got a crack at the place once last year, but decided to pass.  The owners reached out to KC again earlier this week ... but the actor still didn't seem willing to go the distance.

A rep for Costner didn't comment.

Kevin Costner and his band were due to take the stage at the Big Valley Jamboree in Canada yesterday when a storm touched down causing the stage to collapse. One person died and at least 60 people were injured.



Costner was okay, but we're told two members of his band were taken to the hospital. A witness on scene tells TMZ he saw Costner helping people out of the wreckage.

Country music singer Billy Currington was performing his last song when the stage collapsed. He was ok.

In a statement to TMZ, Costner's rep said: "We are so saddened by the loss of life and injury that occurred on a day that carried so much promise, but turned so wicked so quickly. We hope to return to Alberta in the future to help with the healing."

We've obtained the 911 call made in January by an employee of Kevin Costner -- where he describes how Kevin became "violently sick" while driving.

The caller calmly explains Costner had to pull over his Audi in the middle of Hollywood after suddenly becoming ill and "throwing up".

At one point, the caller says, "It's Kevin Costner, actually, just to let you know." To which the 911 operator amusingly responds: "THE Kevin Costner?"

As TMZ first reported, Kevin was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he stayed overnight while awaiting results of tests, which came back normal.

Kevin Costner tried to go incognito through the streets of NYC, but as soon as one papper said his name out loud, he was surrounded faster than Britney at a Taco Bell.

Costner was also hit up for cash by a homeless guy -- and was about as generous as critics were to "Waterworld."

Judging by all the pap attention, it looked like Kevin Costner was still relevant. It's too bad all the questions they threw at him were about things that happened -- or people he knew -- nearly 20 years ago.

Kevin Costner got pissed off last night when paps got a little to close to him and his baby.


TMZ cameras spotted the "Waterworld" star and wife Christine outside of One Sunset last night, where Costner was stern in asking the paps to back up as he unloaded his 5-month-old son, Cayden Wyatt.

Costner then got angry when one photog was still standing too close -- and started walking toward him like he was going to start something. The paps backed off, with one easing the situation by asking the couple to pose for one shot, and promising to leave.

Kevin Costner recently celebrated the birth of his fifth child, his first with wife Christine Baumgartner, but daddy still likes to rock out with busty blondes!

TMZ has obtained video of Costner performing with his band at a recent concert in Greenville, South Carolina, when a female fan hopped on stage to get a better view of his instrument!

Hmm ... wonder which asset got her the VIP access?