EAST WINS ALL STAR BATTLE

Everything's not just bigger in Texas -- it's gigantic, colossal, and don't forget -- humongous. The NBA All-Star Game came to the Lone Star State and a basketball nation broke out as a world-record crowd of 108,713 filled up the futuristic edifice that is Cowboys Stadium to see the East squeeze out a 141-139 win over the West. This was part playground for the planet's most imaginative athletes, part two-man theater for MVP Dwyane Wade and his co-conspirator LeBron James and mostly marvel for the massive, mind-blowing setting. "It was a spectacle," said Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. Indeed, the ancient Romans and their Coliseum had nothing on what Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban served up to a world-wide television audience. "It's a remarkable milestone and a testament to the popularity of our players, to Jerry Jones' tenacity and vision and to Mark Cuban's imagination," said NBA Commissioner David Stern. It was a night to hear a percussion line of dropping jaws hitting the floor at the parade of fancy passes, high-flying dunks and the in-your-face, seven-story close-ups of the celebrities shown on the 160 x 72 foot enormous video screens. "We were doing it the whole game," said Denver's Carmelo Anthony. "When we were on the bench we were just looking around, talking about how many people there were and how excited we were just to be a part of the situation. "We were on the court during free throws, waiting to come back from time-outs, we were looking and we were amazed by everything that was going on." (NBA.com)