All Star Games

Cherokee Parks, Marina High School's 6-foot-11 All-American center, has agreed to participate in the Capital Classic all-star basketball game March 27 at the Capital Centre in Washington. Parks previously committed to play in the McDonald's All-American high school game April 6 in the Springfield (Mass.) Civic Center.

West 143, East 138 (final) Who says there's no defense in All-Star games? In the play that sealed the West's 143-138 victory over the East on Sunday at Toyota Center in Houston, Kobe Bryant blocked LeBron James' jump shot late in the fourth quarter, leading to a breakaway one-handed dunk for Kevin Durant. As if to prove it wasn't a fluke, Bryant blocked another shot by James, part of his all-around excellence on a night the Lakers guard finished with nine points, eight assists, four rebounds and the two blocks.

Nine Southland athletes are scheduled to participate in a national high school football all-star game that will be played Dec. 30 in Dallas.

HOUSTON - There were reminders everywhere of the greatness Chris Paul brings to the Clippers and the greatness he could have brought to the Lakers had NBA Commissioner David Stern never uttered the phrase "basketball reasons. " Paul threw alley-oop passes to Blake Griffin, Lob City achieving liftoff inside the Toyota Center. He made a flurry of shots, including a memorable pull-up three-pointer over Joakim Noah. He also came up with a steal and found All-Star teammate Kobe Bryant for a layup and there was nothing Stern, who voided the proposed Paul-to-the-Lakers trade before last season, could do about it. Paul and Bryant were a duo to behold, if only for one night, during the West's 143-138 victory over the East on Sunday.

Some of the best Orange County prep soccer players will participate in the Southern California high school all-star games beginning today at Azusa Pacific. The games, sponsored by the Galaxy of Major League Soccer and the Standard Falcons of the United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues, features Southern Section seniors in a four-team format for boys and girls. County players will be on the boys' and girls' South teams.

Hideo Nomo was told to stay behind at the team hotel for a few extra hours. No need to take the bus with the rest of the All-Star team. Come on, you're the National League's starting pitcher, stay out of the heat and preserve your strength. Well, take a guess who was among the first to arrive in the clubhouse Tuesday afternoon? There was Nomo reading a congratulatory fax from Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama.

Motivated by last summer's All-Star Game embarrassment, Major League Baseball owners, meeting in Phoenix on Thursday, are expected to endorse a recommendation by Commissioner Bud Selig that the winning league in the midsummer exhibition gets home-field advantage in the World Series. There will be no changes in the size of rosters.

Splashed across the sports page was the headline, "The Decline of the Shrine." That was 20 years ago. Today, the Shrine all-star football game is accustomed to adversity. Started in 1952 to raise money for young orthopedic and burn patients at Shriners' Hospital of Los Angeles, the event has brought in about $20,000 in each of the last 10 years -- small change compared with the $22 million in private donations needed each year to support free medical care at the 60-bed facility.

Two days after managing in the biggest All-Star debacle in baseball history, Bob Brenly said he still didn't have any answers. "I don't know what we could have done different," said Brenly, the Arizona Diamondback manager who managed the National League squad in a 7-7 tie that was ended after 11 innings after both teams ran out of players. Some have suggested, why didn't they just hold a home-run derby to decide the winner? "Yeah, I heard about the home-run derby," Brenly said.

Should 14-year-old girls rule the world? They're running the WNBA, and that's as it should be, say the people who created the three-year-old women's pro basketball league which tonight plays its first All-Star game at Madison Square Garden. In other words, if you're 14, female and your Mom and Dad keep buying you WNBA tickets and they get you to the game on time, you get to vote for whoever you want.

HOUSTON - Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard were here, so of course there was going to be drama. Howard said Friday that Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak had told him he would remain with the team through Thursday's trade deadline. On Sunday, Bryant said "it doesn't matter" what his team does with the six-time All-Star. "I don't know what they are going to do," Bryant said Sunday at Toyota Center after helping the West defeat the East, 143-138, in the All-Star game. "But at this point ... , it doesn't matter.

Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant were elected starters for Sunday night's NBA All-Star game in Houston. Despite playing through a torn labrum in his right shoulder , Howard said Monday that he expects to play. "If I re-aggravate my shoulder in these next two games, I'll probably just play a couple of minutes and sit the rest out," Howard said. Coach Mike D'Antoni gave his endorsement to Howard on Tuesday. "I don't think it matters, but it's his call and whatever he feels," said D'Antoni.

The NBA's All-Star reserves were announced Thursday, meaning there was a gripe session for every celebration. Emotions ran the gamut in Oakland, where the Golden State Warriors trumpeted David Lee as their first All-Star since Latrell Sprewell in 1997 while lamenting that Stephen Curry was excluded despite averaging 20.9 points per game as the league's eighth-leading scorer. "He is an All-Star," Coach Mark Jackson told reporters. "The thing I talk about is he stands for everything that's right.

— When TNT announced the starters Thursday for the NBA All-Star game, it didn't come as a surprise the Clippers had Chris Paul and Blake Griffin named to the Western Conference team. Paul, who missed his third straight game Thursday night at Minnesota because of a bruised right kneecap, was picked to start in the backcourt alongside Lakers guard Kobe Bryant . Griffin was picked to start in the frontcourt with Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant and the Lakers' Dwight Howard . Paul and Griffin are big reasons why the Clippers have the second-best record in the NBA. Paul is averaging 16.8 points, 9.7 assists and an NBA-best 2.62 steals per game.

Two Lakers and two Clippers were selected Thursday as staters for the Western Conference All-Star team. Kobe Bryant received 1.59 million votes, the most of any player in the fan balloting, as the Laker star was chosen to his 15th NBA All-Star team. His Lakers teammate Dwight Howard was also selected as a starter for the West squad. This is Howard's seventh All-Star selection. Clippers Chris Paul (sixth All-Star team) and Blake Griffin (third All-Star selection) will also start for the West.

Leaders of the NHL and the NHL Players' Assn. traded barbs instead of labor proposals Friday as the league extended its cancellation of regular-season games through Dec. 14 for a total of 422, or 34.3% of the schedule. It also canceled the All-Star game, scheduled for Jan. 27 at Columbus, Ohio. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in an interview on Toronto radio station The Fan 590 that he has doubted the NHLPA's willingness to make a deal. "I would hope the players want to play and want to have a season but I'm not so sure at the end of the day that unless it's on certain terms that union leadership necessarily shares that goal," he said.

Dave White of Edison High and Julian Smilowitz of Fullerton have been named coaches for the 42nd Brea Lions Club North-South all-star prep football game July 13 at Orange Coast College. White, who played in the game as an Edison quarterback in 1974, coached the South team in 1990. Smilowitz, coach at Fullerton for nine seasons, will be making his first appearance on an all-star sideline since he was an assistant at La Mirada High and coached in the 605 all-star game in 1985.

Larry Bird has won the right to coach in the NBA All-Star game. However, it's still not clear whether he'll go. The rookie coach has qualified to guide the Eastern squad because his Indiana Pacers had the best winning percentage in the conference after Sunday's games. But Bird, who played in 12 All-Star games when he was with the Boston Celtics, has said he doesn't want to attend the Feb. 8 game at Madison Square Garden because he already had plans to spend the break at his Florida home.

With one whack to the nose, Kobe Bryant gave Scott Brooks a first-hand look at what made the Thunder coach admire the Lakers star so much from afar. Brooks, like any NBA coach or player, has always gushed over Bryant's toughness, longevity, competitiveness and efficient footwork. Those qualities often cause the biggest nightmares for opposing teams when they try to stop the Lakers' star. But when he coached the Western Conference team in the 2012 NBA All-Star game, Brooks gained an extra sense of appreciation for it. Brooks saw varying images of Bryant that left him shaking his head as he processed it all. First, Brooks saw Miami guard Dwyane Wade deliver a hard foul that broke Bryant's nose.

PITTSBURGH — Maybe it's because Chad Billingsley's parents were in the seats on a muggy night at PNC Park to watch him pitch. Maybe it was because Billingsley just felt more comfortable here; he lives in Pennsylvania in the off-season. Or maybe the right-hander finally has figured out — for now, at least — how to put away hitters, as he did with prejudice Tuesday night. Whatever the reason, a dominant Billingsley threw eight scoreless innings and Luis Cruz knocked in three runs as the Dodgers routed the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-0, in a rain-delayed game.