Johnson

Magic Johnson has thrown down the gauntlet when it comes to LeBron James and the NBA All-Star dunk contest by offering a $1-million prize to the winner. Well, $1 million to the winner if James, who has never participated, enters the contest. One would suspect that James would win since he's gained notoriety for putting on a pregame show with an array of dunks that would easily get him to the finals. The legendary Lakers guard made his plea on ESPN's nationally televised pregame show on Friday evening.

At Jerry Buss' memorial service Feb. 21, more than a dozen speakers honored the longtime Lakers owner, who died Feb. 18 at age 80 after a battle with cancer. Below are some of the highlights from the service, which included speeches by some current and former Lakers legends. MAGIC JOHNSON Johnson played for the Lakers from 1979 to 1991 and returned in the 1995-96 season. He and Buss hung out often, but Johnson didn't realize just how close they had become until he contracted HIV. "When I announced HIV, I knew he was really a father figure in my life," Johnson said.

Closing arguments are set to begin Thursday in Los Angeles in a high-stakes trial where healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson is accused of negligence in designing and marketing a once-popular artificial hip. The case in Los Angeles County Superior Court pits the world's biggest maker of medical products against Loren Kransky, a 65-year-old former prison guard who claims he suffered metal poisoning and other health problems from the company's ASR...

Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson played "Russian roulette" with patient safety by ignoring high failure rates and surgeons' complaints about its once-popular artificial hip, a Los Angeles jury was told during closing arguments at a high-stakes medical trial for the company. Jurors heard arguments from both sides Thursday in a case that pits the world's biggest seller of medical products against Loren Kransky, a 65-year-old former prison guard in Montana who claims he suffered metal poisoning and other health problems from the company's ASR XL hip implant he received in 2007.

INDIANAPOLIS - Oklahoma's Lane Johnson ran nearly as fast as Baltimore receiver Anquan Boldin, leaped as high as Cincinnati receiver A.J. Green, and matched the broad jump of New England running back Stevan Ridley. Were Johnson, say, a safety, his performance at the NFL scouting combine would have been reasonably impressive. But this boggles the mind: Johnson is a 6-foot-6, 303-pound offensive tackle. "Think about those three things for a 300-pound offensive tackle and put that in perspective of what he can be," said NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock, who said Johnson is "going to end up somewhere in the 10-15 range in this draft, and he has the ability to be an All-Pro left tackle.

Dozens of fans were left outside the sold-out Long Beach Poly High gym Tuesday night unable to get a ticket for a Southern Section Division 1AA semifinal playoff game. What they missed was a basketball classic. Sophomore Delewis Johnson made two free throws with three seconds left in overtime to clinch Etiwanda's 59-55 victory over the Jackrabbits. "It hit me when the buzzer sounded," Johnson said. "I started crying because it felt so great to win and finally beat Poly. " It was the unofficial public school championship game, matching two powers that have met for four consecutive years in the semifinals.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- As the cars barreled into the final lap, there was a chance the improbable might happen at the Daytona 500. Jimmie Johnson, the five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, led the field with Greg Biffle on his tail and Danica Patrick stuck to Biffle's rear bumper. If Patrick could find a way to maneuver around Johnson and Biffle, Patrick would become the first woman to win the sport's crown-jewel race, in only her second attempt. But for as strongly as Patrick ran Sunday, at the end her inexperience showed.

Jimmie Johnson won NASCAR's Daytona 500 for the second time by holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished second, on Sunday. Danica Patrick finished eighth, the highest finish in history for a woman in the Daytona 500, but she was poised to finish higher. As the field started the final lap, Johnson was leading Greg Biffle and Patrick was third. But as the cars made their final trip around the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, several cars passed Patrick. Another group of cars behind the leaders crashed on the final lap, but NASCAR did not throw the yellow flag and let Johnson and the others race to the checkered flag.

If you believe the trailers, "Snitch," the new crime drama starring Dwayne Johnson, is a jampacked action thriller. His weapon of choice: a giant snarling big rig, all the better to run the bad guys down. But what the movie is really about is a war-on-drugs tactic that offers early release to convicts willing to snitch on someone else. Though 18-wheelers and reckless driving are definitely involved, there is not nearly as much action as most fans of the increasingly polished Rock will be expecting.

The beloved mentor and his favorite student spent their final hours together holding hands on a hospital bed. Jerry Buss was entering the final stage of his life after a long battle with cancer, and he wanted to spend some of it with Magic Johnson. Buss summoned Johnson to his room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center last fall and, together, for five hours, they clutched each other and told stories and cried. At one point, Buss summoned two nurses to the room. Johnson was worried something was wrong until Buss ordered the three to pose for a picture.