Sports briefs

NBA All-Star Weekend

Los Angeles saw a basketball filled, star-studded weekend with the NBA All-Star Weekend in town. The four competitions on Saturday were the 3-point competition, the skills competition, the Haier Shooting Stars contest and the much-anticipated dunk contest.

According to ESPN.com, the 3-point competition was won by James Jones of the Miami Heat, who squeaked out the win in the final round over Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, both of the Boston Celtics. Golden State’s Stephen Curry won the skills competition, only missing one pass in the final round. The Haier Shooting Stars Contest, where NBA All-Stars join forces with WNBA players and legends, was won by Team Texas over Team Atlanta.

The highlight of the night was Blake Griffin’s win in the dunk contest, where his most memorable dunk was jumping over a car. With dunks like JaVale McGee’s two basket dunk and several free throw line dunks, this contest was one of the most memorable the NBA has seen in years.

College Basketball

Division 1 men’s basketball has seen several surprising upsets in the last number of weeks. Just one week after No. 1 Ohio State garnered its first lose to Wisconsin, No. 2 Texas went down Saturday night in the final seconds of its game against Nebraska, 70-67. No. 4 Pittsburgh struggled in its game against St. Johns, losing 60-59. St. Johns has given several ranked schools a run loses, including giving No. 3 Duke its first loss of the season on Jan. 30.

In what has turned out to be a tough week for the top ranked teams, according to ESPN.com, seven of the top 10 teams in the Associated Press poll have had at least one loss this week. In women’s basketball, No. 1 Baylor was upset by Texas Tech, 56-45, ending its 21-game winning streak.

NFL Talks

Commissioner Roger Goodell, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, along with their teams, came to a silence after a second consecutive session of talks Saturday. The talks are trying to spur progress in time before the NFL’s labor deal expires in less than two weeks.

The teams are meeting with an assigned mediator from the U.S. government, who has instructed Goodell, Smith and their teams to refrain from publicly commenting on the progress of the talks. According to ESPN.com, with the bargaining agreement expiration looming on March 3, players believe that team owners are preparing to lock them out.

A lock out could threaten play in the 2011 season. The last time the NFL lost games due to a stoppage in work was 1987.

NASCAR

It was a record breaking Sunday with the running of the Daytona 500. Rookie Trevor Bayne became the youngest man to win the race at 20, with his birthday just the day before the race.

Bayne received no points for the race because he declared he would be received points in the lower Nationwide series and not the Sprint Cup series. Carl Edwards took the points lead with his second place finish.

The race was also record breaking in several other facets. According to the New York Times, there were 74 lead changes, 22 different leaders and 16 cautions. The race marked the 10th anniversary of the death of the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr.