Being an All-Star is old hat for Rangers shortstop Michael Young, who made his fifth Midsummer Classic appearance Tuesday night. Playing the role of hero is getting pretty familiar, too. Young, named the All-Star MVP in Pittsburgh two years ago after hitting a two-run triple in the ninth inning, supplied the game-winning RBI for the American League again Tuesday with a 15th-inning sacrifice fly that ended an epic 4-3 battle.

Non c’era modo migliore per dire addio allo Yankee Stadium, “la casa che Babe Ruth costruì” destinato a chiudere i battenti al termine di questa stagione. American League e National League hanno dato vita all’All Star Game più lungo della storia del baseball.

The second-year Rangers outfielder had a first round for the ages Monday night in the annual State Farm Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium, but he lost in the final round to the Twins’ Justin Morneau, who outhomered Hamilton, 5-3.

Smacking 28 first-round homers into the far reaches of the old ballpark, which is scheduled to close at the end of the season after 85 years, Hamilton set the all-time Derby record for homers in a single round. He shattered the mark of 24 that Bobby Abreu, then of the Phillies and now of the Yankees, set in Detroit’s Comerica Park three years ago, when Abreu won the contest.

 East beat West in a stunner of an All-Star Game on Sunday night 134-128. But the really beautiful thing about the NBA these days: how good the rest of the season looks in light of those eye-popping trades.

Dopo la brutta sconfitta rimediata lo scorso anno a Las Vegas, l’Est si prende la rivincita e batte l’Ovest 134-128. Una partita iniziata in sordina, ma che ha preso fuoco nell’ultimo quarto e ha regalato, oltre alle solite giocate spettacolari, anche una pallacanestro intensa e appassionante nei minuti finali.

Creativity was clearly the focus of this year’s Sprite Slam Dunk competition, leading up to it and during the competition itself. Imitation would not be accepted. If you didn’t bring something new to the contest, you would be staring at five NBA legends green cards with nothing but 8s on them.

Howard brought the spice tonight. And it wasn’t just spicy. It was down right impressive. Howard dominated both rounds of the competition, scoring 50s on both of his first round dunks and receiving 78 percent of the fans’ votes in the finals.

The key to Howard’s victory may have been that his two best dunks (the two he showed us in his YouTube video) were not in the same round.

Toronto Raptors guard Jason Kapono defended his title in this year’s Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout with 25 points, tying the all-time record set in 1986 by Mark Price, as part of NBA All-Star Saturday Night at New Orleans Arena.

Kapono became the first back-to-back winner of the Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout since Peja Stojakovic won the 2002 and 2003 titles. Kapono entered the final round facing Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Daniel Gibson, who finished in second place with 17 points, and Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, who took third with 14.

Stojakovic, of the hometown New Orleans Hornets, also competed Saturday night along with Richard Hamilton of the Detroit Pistons, two-time MVP Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns.

For his first run through the obstacle course of the PlayStation® Skills Challenge, Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams said he was a little nervous. He shook off those jitters very quickly. After advancing to the final round, Williams put together a flawless performance - no missed shots, every pass through the hoops - and set a record time for the final round at NBA All-Star Saturday Night, winning another duel with perennial rival Chris Paul.

Not moving at full speed, Williams clocked 31.2 seconds in the first round. In the final round, he covered the course in 25.5 seconds, just one tick off the all-time mark set by Steve Nash in the first round in 2005. Paul, the All-Star point guard of the host New Orleans Hornets, posted a strong final-round time of 31.2.

A pair of Eastern Conference All-Star guards were eliminated in the first round. Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets clocked 39.7 seconds and two-time defending champion Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat lost his dribble and timed 53.9 seconds. Paul had the best first-round time at 29.9.

Tim Duncan and David Robinson are no strangers to winning with one another, so, with the added help of San Antonio Silver Stars sharpshooter Becky Hammon, it’s no wonder they won yet another crown. After an impressive run in the first round, Team San Antonio took care of business in the finals of the 2008 Haier Shooting Stars challenge against Team Chicago, as Duncan drained a half-court shot to give the Texas threesome a time of 35.8 seconds.

Tim Duncan and Team San Antonio took this year’s Shooting Stars title on Saturday.Deron Williams grabbed this year’s PlayStation Skills Challenge title in record time Saturday. Jason Kapono successfully defended his Three-Point Shootout title Saturday. He dunked. You decided, Dwight Howard beat Gerald Green in Sprite Slam Dunk contest.

Daniel “Boobie” Gibson took 20 shots in tonight’s T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam, all of them from beyond the three point line. He connected on 11 of the bombs for a game-high 33 points, leading the Sophomore squad to their sixth straight Challenge win, a 136-109 victory at New Orleans Arena.

The Rookies kept the game surprisingly competitive in the first half, and it was tied at 24 with 10:46 remaining in the first half when Gibson checked in. He immediately hit a three off an assist from Jordan Farmar. The Rookies answered and led by three a few minutes later when Gibson hit four straight bombs (with a Paul Millsap miss mixed in) to help the Sophomores take back control.

Like the Harlem Globetrotters in basketball, the Pro Bowl is mainly about entertainment. The teams are led by the coaching staffs of the teams that lost heir conference title games. The Chargers lost to the Patriots in the AFC, and the NFC saw the Packers fall to the Giants. So the Patriots and Giants play in the Superbowl, while the coaches of the Chargers and Packers led the Pro Bowl squads. The game usually features plenty of trick plays and blunders. The NFC win over the AFC 42-30. Adrian Peterson had two touchdowns and 129 yards rushing. He was the game MVP.

La selezione dei migliori giocatori della National Football Conference ha battuto quella dell’American Football Conference 42-30 a Honolulu. Adrian Peterson dei Minnesota Vikings, autore di due touchdown, votato uomo del match. La sfida, conosciuta come Pro Bowl, e’ andata in scena ad una settimana dal Superbowl.