L.A. Laker fans must have hoped that their team's imploding in this year's NBA playoffs during coach Phil Jackson's likely last season was the end of the this year's Staples Center soap opera. Well, as it turns out, that was wishful thinking. Now suddenly the Lakers faithful are witness to an even more bizarre melodrama. Their legendary, Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has, in recent days, taken to Twitter ...

Know what's contagious? Fear is contagious. On the day more than 1 million Egyptians took to the streets demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, the monarch governing a desert kingdom right next door saw fit to dismiss his Prime Minister and appoint ... a new government. This was in Jordan, where the statement issued by the Palace of King Abdullah II made clear the first orders to the newly minted Premier, former general Marouf Bakhit: "to ...

So, you would like to understand about Black Thanksgiving? First of all, what you'll want to learn about Wilbon, whom I love, is that he has been recognized to exaggerate just a touch on event. But on this 1, he's on point. For those of us who cover the NBA for any living, like me and Wilbon -- now an ESPN yakker and author, previously a Washington Submit yakker and writer, and my friend --All-Star Weekend is really a long four days ...

There's normally a protocol in these games when the Lakers want a game-winning basket. Phone timeout. Draw a play that may get Kobe Bryant open. And allow the Black Mamba consider treatment of your rest. The identical logic could use towards the NBA All-Star sport. But there was one slight problem when the Western Conference trailed by two and required a game-winning basket to secure the 2010 NBA All-Star game. Bryant wasn't there. He sat out an All-Star game for the very first ...

The price wars have gone nuclear. From Target's $3 coffeemakers to Best Buy's half-price washing machines to Staples's $350 laptops, the theme of this holiday shopping season is, without a doubt, "we sell for less." Even Wal-Mart's commitment to "every day" low prices isn't preventing it from going lower. An online skirmish with Amazon.com that started with $9 hardcover books has dominoed into other categories, driving down prices on everything from mobile phones to Easy-Bake ovens. The deals are everywhere. Well, pardon my saying ...

Michael Jackson's music sales keep soaring as fans purchased more than 800,000 of his albums last week, Billboard magazine said. Jackson's albums hold all 10 top positions on Billboard's top pop catalog albums chart, according Nielsen SoundScan sales data released Wednesday. That feat broke a record Jackson set last week when he had eight albums on that chart. Jackson's albums are not eligible for the Billboard 200 chart, which is for newer albums. Jackson's "Number Ones" ...

His death nearly brought the Web to a standstill with several sites buckling under the sheer weight of traffic. And Michael Jackson's memorial service promises to be no different -- with media organizations bracing for a tsunami of traffic. Given the feverish interest in all things Jackson, the Los Angeles memorial could be the most-viewed online event of all time. "This will obviously be a huge media event," said Toni Fitzgerald, of Media Life, in an ...

Some lucky Michael Jackson fans got the e-mails they were hoping for Sunday, saying they've won two free tickets to Tuesday's memorial service. "OMG OMG OMG OMG i got tickets to the michael jackson memorial service!!!" Deka Motanya wrote Sunday afternoon in a Twitter message. The 8,750 fans chosen were summoned to Dodger Stadium Monday to pick up their tickets and have a wristband placed on their arms to prevent them from reselling them. The Michael Jackson memorial, set for ...

Fans continued to register by the thousands early Saturday, hoping to be among the 8,750 people who will be randomly picked to attend the memorial service for singer Michael Jackson next week. By 5:30 p.m. PT (9:30 p.m. ET) Friday, seven hours since the lottery's announcement, more than half a million people had registered to snag a pair of tickets to the ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, according to Jackson family spokesman Ken Sunshine. The overwhelming ...

Fans must register online for a lottery to win tickets to the Michael Jackson memorial Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, organizers said Friday. Third seed Murray was hoping to become the first British man to win the tournament since Fred Perry in 1936, but he was eventually out-gunned by an inspired Roddick who went through 6-4 4-6 7-6 7-6. Roddick will now face Roger Federer, who has beaten him in their two previous Wimbledon final meetings -- ...