Thursday, Sept. 30, 2004 | 9:51 a.m.
Another venomous dose in O'Neal-Bryant feud
Different teams and different coasts have done nothing to lessen the animosity between former Los Angeles Lakers teammates Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. If anything, the feud is escalating.
On Wednesday, O'Neal dismissed as "ridiculous" Bryant's allegations that O'Neal had paid up to $1 million in hush money to various women and then took his own shot by saying, "I'm not the one buying love."
O'Neal made the remark over the telephone to a staffer at ESPN, the network said, after the Los Angeles Times quoted a police report as saying Bryant told detectives in Eagle, Colo., "he should have done what Shaq does ... that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything" and already had paid up to $1 million "for situations like this."
O'Neal was informed of Bryant's allegation last September, and the relationship between the two was cool throughout the 2003-04 season.
"This whole situation is ridiculous," O'Neal told ESPN. "I never hang out with Kobe, I never hung around him. In the seven or eight years we were together, we were never together. So how this guy can think he knows anything about me or my business is funny. And one last thing -- I'm not the one buying love. He's the one buying love."
O'Neal's latter comment was an apparent reference to a ring -- reportedly costing several million dollars -- that Bryant gave his wife, Vanessa, after he was charged with felony sexual assault last summer.
Henin-Hardenne out
Olympic champion Justine Henin-Hardenne pulled out of next week's Porsche Grand Prix in Germany because she is still ill from an energy-sapping blood virus which she has had since April. It has contributed to her slide from No. 1 to No. 3 in the WTA rankings.
Ball case delayed
A judge in San Francisco delayed until Friday a hearing on who the rightful owner of Barry Bonds' 700th home run ball is, giving lawyers on both sides time to make their cases.
Hamm has to wait
A decision on whether U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm keeps his Olympic gold medal won't come until after Oct. 11, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said Wednesday.
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