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Lamar Odom got emotional while wishing happy 40th birthday to Kobe Bryant Thursday -- thanking his good friend for sticking with him through thick and thin ... even during his darkest hours.

Remember, Kobe was one of the first people who rushed to the hospital to meet with Lamar following his overdose at a Nevada brothel back in 2015.

In fact, Kobe bolted from a Lakers preseason game early right when he heard the news and was with Lamar hours after the incident.

Kobe continued to support Odom during and after his recovery -- and Odom hasn't taken his friendship for granted.

"There are no words in this world that can describe the mad love I have for you," Lamar wrote.

"I appreciate you Bean, you have been there for me in my most dark times until today and I hope till the end of times."

"We shined together in my most glorious times and those are like a tattoo in my heart . I can never repay you back for the unconditional love but I can tell you how much I appreciate you."

Ex-Ohio State WR coach Zach Smith blew stacks at a strip club with another OSU coach and at least 1 high school coach during a recruiting trip in 2014 ... and afterwards, Urban Meyer threatened his job.

It's all in the Ohio State investigation report detailing Meyer's history with Smith ... who was fired in July after a series of incidents stemming from domestic violence allegations.

In the report, investigators say, "In May 2014, in connection with an out-of-town recruiting trip to Florida, Zach Smith ran up a significant bill at a local strip club along with another OSU football coach and one or more high school coaches."

Smith spent at least $600 in the club -- which investigators say came from "personal funds."

Urban Meyer later learned about the incident and told Smith that, if it happened again, he would be fired.

Meyer also changed up the 2014 coaches manual to include a “morality clause,” telling staff to avoid strip clubs "or venues that would embarrass The Ohio State University."

The revised manual also prohibited coaches from having porn on any university-issued computer, phone, iPad, etc.

Of course, that part is relevant because Smith took penis pics while at the White House on the official Ohio State trip to D.C. to meet President Barack Obama in April 2015.

He also took explicit pics of himself in various OSU football facilities.

Unclear why Smith wasn't punished for violating the terms in the 2014 manual.

Ohio State has suspended head football coach Urban Meyer for 3 games without pay after an investigation determined he permitted misconduct to continue involving ex-WR coach Zach Smith.

However, school officials state neither Meyer nor Athletic Director Gene Smith covered up or condoned the alleged domestic abuse by Smith, but rather ... "failed to take sufficient management action relating to Zach Smith's misconduct and retained and Assistant Coach who was not performing as an appropriate role model for OSU student-athletes."

Meyer is suspended through September 2 and for the games on Sept. 1, 8 and 15 without pay. The final decision came after officials met with Meyer and Smith for more than 10 hours Wednesday.

As we reported ... Meyer was placed on administrative leave August 1 after the coach admitted he lied to the media when he initially claimed he had no knowledge about a 2015 domestic violence incident involving Smith.

Smith was fired from his job on July 23rd when details from the 2015 arrest went public. Smith had been arrested for felony domestic violence and felonious assault for allegedly attacking his then-wife Courtney Smith.

Courtney claims she told Urban Meyer's wife about the abuse -- but no action was ever taken by the University.

On July 24, 2018 ... Meyer was asked about the incident at Ohio State Media Day -- and claimed he had no knowledge of it.

Meyer told reporters he got a "text late last night" that "something happened" involving Smith back then but insisted "there was nothing."

Meyer said, "Once again, there’s nothing. Once again, I don’t know who creates a story like that."

Smith began coaching on Meyer's staff at 2005 as a graduate assistant at the University of Florida. He also happens to be the grandson of former Buckeyes coach Earle Bruce -- who Meyer has referred to as a mentor.

Courtney Smith claims Zach began abusing her in 2009 while Zach was working at Florida. He was arrested in '09 for aggravated battery on a pregnant victim but Courtney ultimately decided not to move forward with charges.

When asked about the '09 incident at the OSU Media Day in July, Meyer said the Smith's were a "very young couple" at the time and he did not push for an internal investigation because he wanted to "let the experts do their jobs."

He added, "We’re certainly not going to investigate. It came back to me that what was reported wasn’t actually what happened."

Courtney ultimately divorced Zach in 2016. However, their relationship is still very bad -- she got a civil protection order against him last month.

For his part, Zach claims he never abused Courtney but admits things did get physical between the two during heated arguments.

"There were several times where things got out of hand between us and I’m not saying that as I restrained her and moved her out of my way to exit the house to get out of a volatile situation ... it’s completely possible that she got a bruise or a mark," Zach said during a radio interview.

In addition to the alleged domestic violence, Zach's ex-wife Courtney claims he performed sex acts in the Ohio State athletic dept. offices with a female OSU staffer and documented it in photos and video.

She also claims Zach took multiple selfie penis pics during the OSU trip to the White House in 2015 when the team was invited to meet with President Barack Obama.

There's more ... Courtney also claims Zach ordered several sex toys and other adult items from Amazon and had them shipped to the OSU athletic officers, where staffers would have to open the boxes and deliver them to Zach.

2:42 PM PT -- GOLDBERG IS PISSED!!

We just shot the WWE legend in Atlanta and he WENT OFF about the hacking situation ... telling us he's working with the Secret Service because he wants the hacker punished to the fullest extent of the law.

"I'm sick and flippin' tired of people trying to steal people's identity because it's happened to me a number of times. These people are bullies and I'm sick and tired of it."

"This time when I got hacked, I called the Secret Service on my own and I'm taking them down."

10:56 AM PT -- Goldberg's rep tells us the wrestling legend has already been in touch with the Secret Service regarding the tweets from his account threatening President Trump.

As we reported, Goldberg claims he was hacked -- and now, we're told Goldberg and his team have offered to do whatever they can to help authorities catch whoever's responsible.

WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg insists he did NOT call President Trump a "spatastic sh*t head" in a series of violent tweets directed at the POTUS ... claiming he was hacked.

Goldberg's official Twitter account started going off about Trump on Wednesday. The first tweet read:

"Why have you been threating me and my wife you dick head just because you're the president doesn't mean you can make threats using your new found power we should go into the ring together no secret service just you and me."

A follow-up tweet to Trump said, "I challange you to a fist fight you spatastic sh*t head ill f**king kill you."

We reached out to Goldberg to see what the beef was about -- and his rep, "Uncle Louie" Gregory, told us he was the victim of social media hackers.

"The Official Goldberg twitter continues to be a target for opportunistic hackers with bad intentions who are seeking notoriety and revenue. Team Goldberg will continue to address this issue while Goldberg is in ATL with Tu Lam working on his show 'Knife or Death' for the History channel."

Goldberg was once friends with Trump and appeared on 'Celebrity Apprentice' back in the day. But the two had a falling out and are no longer friends.

The man accusing Asia Argento of sexual misconduct when he was 17 years old says he chose to keep the event private because he was afraid and ashamed to have his story heard.

In a statement to The New York Times, Jimmy Bennett says, "I did not initially speak out about my story because I chose to handle it in private with the person who wronged me. My trauma resurfaced as she came out as a victim herself. I have not made a public statement in the past days and hours because I was ashamed and afraid to be part of the public narrative."

He continues, "At the time I believed there was still a stigma to being in the situation as a male in our society. I didn't think that people would understand the event that took place from the eyes of a teenage boy. I would like to move past this event in my life, and today I choose to move forward, no longer in silence."

We broke the story ... a photo of Argento and Bennett in bed together -- shirtless -- suggests the 2 had a sexual relationship, along with several text messages between Asia and a friend in which she flat-out admits she had sex with him.

The bed photo is one of 4 that Bennett, now 22 years old, took in a Marina del Rey hotel room back in 2013. Sources tell us the pic was taken after the 2 had intercourse. It's a crime in California for an adult to have sex with a person under 18 ... and Asia was 37 at the time.

However, Argento released a statement Tuesday saying, "I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett" ... but claims Bennett was litigious and made exorbitant money demands, so she settled with him for $380,000.

Her boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, paid Bennett the money because Asia says they wanted to "no longer suffer any further intrusions in our life."

In the text messages to her friend, though ... Asia admits to sex with Bennett but claims she didn't know he was a minor until he sent a "shakedown letter." She adds ... "it wasn't raped (sic) but I was frozen. He was on top of me. After, he told me I had been his sexual fantasy since was 12."

Kevin Spacey is the target of yet another sexual assault case in Los Angeles.

A rep for the L.A. County District Attorney's Office tells us they received a sexual assault case Tuesday from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. It's currently unclear when the alleged event happened or details surrounding it.

TMZ broke the story earlier this year ... Spacey was under investigation in L.A. for another incident that allegedly happened in October 1992. The alleged incident involved an adult male. The case was ultimately rejected because the statute of limitations had expired.

Spacey's "Billionaire Boys Club" opened to a reported $618 over the weekend ... a career low for the actor.

Insane moment for ex-UFC fighter Dean Lister ... who pulled a firearm on a man who was robbing his house -- and the whole thing was captured on video.

42-year-old Lister -- who was 13-7 as an MMA fighter -- says he arrived to his San Diego home around 8 PM on Saturday when he saw a tatted up bald dude inside of his kitchen.

The man was super sketchy and told Lister he thought the home was a church -- but when Lister continued to press, the man picked up a hammer in a very threatening manner.

"Off camera, I drew a sidearm and he stopped advancing toward me," Lister said.

"I LET him escape with his life through a window. Cops said I was legally good if I killed him."

Lister says the man stole a bunch of cash out of the home and he published the video publicly in the hopes someone can identify the INTRUDER.

"Police are on it but if anyone knows who he is please help me,,, thank you very much."

Jake Paul just gave Deji -- the guy he's fighting in Manchester -- a Rick James welcome to his fan meet and greet ... introducing his 5 fingers to Deji's face, SLAPPIN' THE HELL OUT OF HIM!!

The slap to Deji's face all went down when KSI's little bro crashed Jake's gym ... where he was meeting up with fans for autographs and pics.

The YouTube star walked in -- talked trash -- and then had his face smacked to the moon by Logan Paul's baby bro.

"Deji showed up at my gym unannounced to try & talk shit," Jake said of the altercation.

"As soon as he walked in I slapped him in the face like the Bitch he is & then he left like a bitch..."

You can tell who won the Dodgers vs. Cardinals game just by looking at Jon Hamm and Jason Bateman.

Hamm -- easily one of the biggest Cards superfans on the planet -- had a front row seat for St. Louis' 5-2 win over Bateman's Dodgers on Tuesday ... and he made sure J.B. never heard the end of it.

The Dodgers are currently in a tight race for the playoffs ... but have lost 7 of their last 10 games (which might explain why Bateman looks like he just saw a dog get hit by a car).

It wasn't all sadness for Bateman, though ... at least he got to see Manny Machado hit a dinger.

A dance battle broke out on the streets of Queens on Tuesday -- Good Vs. Evil -- and the winner gets Serena Williams!!

There was definitely a Luke Skywalker-type vibe with Serena -- a bunch of "dark side" lookin' dancers tried to dance-pull Serena down some stairs ... while some "light side" dancers resisted and yanked her the other direction.

So ... what the hell was going on?!!?

BEATS, BABY!

It was all for a Beats By Dre headphones commercial -- but since the production didn't bump the music out loud, we don't really know what song they're all dancing to.

Still, everyone slaaaaaayed ... and Serena got paaaaaaaaid.

Jim Brown says he's throwing his support behind President Donald Trump -- even though he knows he'll be vilified in the black community.

The NFL Hall of Famer appeared on "The JT The Brick Show" on Fox Sports Radio and since he's met with so many Presidents in the past, he was asked how he felt about Trump.

"I should be criticizing Trump on every level because he does certain things that call for criticism but when I look at television I see all these announcers become experts and they're pointing the fingers and they're not doing a doggone thing but pointing their fingers, I find myself really pulling for the president."

"Now, that would make me very unpopular in the black community, very unpopular with a lot of Americans ... but I think that there are certain good things that are coming out of this Presidency because we've never seen anything like it."

He added, "I mean there's confusion. A lot of people are retiring. A lot of people are giving their opinions and we have to really dig deep down inside to come with the right kind of an answer."

Brown -- who also doubled down on his stance against NFL kneelers -- also had this to say to people who believe he's not a good American.

"I believe that I have to work on myself first to be as good a person as I could be to back up my country as best as I know how."

"And the second situation I should be helpful to those people who need help that don't have life as good as I have it and if I do those two things, I think I'm making my contribution."

Brown famously went to Trump Tower right after Trump won the election to talk about how he can make a positive impact in the black community.

Floyd Mayweather also famously met with Trump during the transition but he has since distanced himself from the president. Brown clearly feels differently.

Baltimore Ravens CB Jimmy Smith has been suspended 4 games for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy ... after an investigation determined he verbally threatened and emotionally abused his baby mama.

The Ravens released a statement Tuesday ... saying the investigation found "threatening and emotionally abusive behaviors by Jimmy toward his former girlfriend that showed a pattern of improper conduct."

The woman involved in the incident has a child with Smith. The two had been in a custody dispute that begin in 2015.

Details on any specific incident are unclear ... but NFL insider Mike Garafolo reports the punishment stems from court docs filed by Smith's ex, claiming "physical violence."

While the league found no evidence of Smith putting his hands on his baby mama, the Ravens believe there was enough evidence to punish Smith for the first 4 weeks of the season.

The Ravens say they spoke with relationship and domestic violence experts and a group of "women and men executives, not directly involved with our football operations" to review the situation as well.

"We also engaged in conversations with Jimmy about his past behavior and his intention to change."

"Additionally, it is our understanding that following a long-running and difficult custody dispute with his former girlfriend and mother of his son, Jimmy has resolved his custody and support issues."

Smith -- the 27th overall pick in the 2011 Draft -- addressed the suspension, apologizing and owning up to his actions.

Kyle Shanahan is adamant the 49ers are NOT one of the teams allegedly colluding against Eric Reid to keep him out of the NFL ... saying S.F. would LOVE to have him back.

But ... there's a catch -- with Shanahan telling reporters Tuesday the Niners would only take the safety back if he were willing to play on a minimum deal AND as a backup.

Remember ... Reid was one of Colin Kaepernick's first and loudest supporters when it came to kneeling during the national anthem -- and he's part of a lawsuit alleging the NFL is blackballing him from the league because of that.

Shanahan didn't comment on that matter ... but he did say he would have no problems re-signing the former Pro Bowler at the right price.

"I like Eric," Kyle says. "He's a good player. A good person. And, that'd be great if we could have him in that role."

In fact, Shanahan says it's actually Eric that might be holding up the whole process of being signed -- saying he thinks the DB wouldn't "be that interested in" a backup deal.

2:55 PM PT -- Trump weighed in on the verdict as he landed in West Virginia for a rally, and he wasted no time distancing himself from the whole proceeding.

Paul Manafort had a bad day ... a jury found him guilty of 8 counts -- 5 tax fraud charges, 1 charge of hiding foreign bank accounts and 2 counts of bank fraud -- which could land him up to 80 years behind bars. He was not acquitted on a single charge but the jury deadlocked on 10 other counts. The judge declared a mistrial on those 10 counts.

As we reported ... his downward spiral started last August when the FBI stormed Manafort's house in Alexandria, Virginia to seize docs related to Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia interference of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Manafort surrendered to the FBI a couple months after and was indicted on multiple federal charges ... including laundering more than $18 million through foreign banks which was used to fund his lavish lifestyle.

Kobe Bryant playing in the BIG3 next year is "100% not happening" ... so says the woman who runs Kobe's company.

Rumors started swirling Tuesday when BIG3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz told reporters on a conference call that he heard from a "credible source" that "Kobe is going to be playing next year."

Of course, Ice Cube and several BIG3 players including Stephen Jackson and Allen Iverson have called for Kobe to join the league -- because it would be awesome -- but Bryant had always said he's retired from basketball.

In fact, when rumors swirled that Kobe was considering coming back to the Lakers for one last season with LeBron James, Vanessa Bryant was adamant he's DONE with hoop.

So, when Kwatinetz suggested Kobe was down for some 3-on-3, we reached out to Molly Carter -- the Chief Marketing Officer at Kobe Inc. -- who told us straight-up, "NOT True. 100% not happening."

Lamar Odom says it's a miracle he's alive -- revealing he had 12 strokes and 6 heart attacks while he was in a coma from his 2015 drug overdose.

Th ex-NBA star spilled his guts about the incident to Kevin Hart while sitting in an ice bath for KH's YouTube show, "Cold as Balls."

"All my doctors that see me say I'm a walking miracle," Odom said while shivering in the ice tub next to Hart.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Odom was rushed to a hospital on October 13, 2015 after he was found unconscious at Dennis Hof's Love Ranch South in Pahrump, Nevada.

Blood tests showed Odom had cocaine in his system at the time of his overdose. There were times doctors didn't think Odom would survive -- but somehow, he managed to pull through.

Since recovering, Odom has been to rehab and says he's now fully sober and over his addiction.

In fact, Odom told Kevin Hart he feels grateful to be alive -- joking about how it beats the alternative.

During the "Cold as Balls" segment, Odom also joked about the brothel and opened up about how much he appreciated Khloe Kardashian stepping up and handling his care while he was unconscious.

"It was big," Odom said about Khloe.

Odom -- who was legally married to Khloe (but separated) at the time of the overdose -- had tried to get back with her after he got better ... but she had moved on.