Magic Johnson

"Ladies," said Cookie Johnson, looking straight into the camera, her husband's arm draped across her shoulders. "Have you been tested ... " " ... for HIV?" finished Los Angeles Lakers basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson. As the most prominent African-American face of HIV, Johnson, who is now a businessman and philanthropist, has long used his fame to raise public awareness of the virus that causes AIDS. But the appearance of his usually camera-shy wife in the public-service announcements that began airing in July on cable TV and YouTube is a sign of a growing outspokenness among African-Americans about the community's disproportionately high HIV rates.

We just watched the best U.S. men's basketball team to play in the Olympics since at least 1996. But is the Redeem Team better than the Dream Team? Come on. Here's a little exercise. I'm coaching the 1992 team. You tell me how you're going to beat me with the 2008 team. You probably want to create turnovers and run our older legs off the court. But I can start three guys - Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson - who bring the ball upcourt. They're all 6-foot-6 or taller, and they can all pass.

Cue up CBS's theme music from the 1980s and imagine Brent Musburger setting the scene. Yes, it's time for a Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers showdown in the NBA Finals, the first in 21 years. Instead of Bird, Magic, Kareem and the Chief, we have Kevin Garnett questing for his first ring and Kobe Bryant trying to prove he can do it without Shaquille O'Neal. But one thing remains the same. This matchup makes casual sports fans care about the NBA. So to get you ready, here's a little Celtics-Lakers nostalgia: Five best games 1. 1984 Finals, Game 4: One of the most intense games in NBA history.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Earvin "Magic" Johnson used to dominate the basketball court. Now, a team of restaurant developers is helping him own the food court, too. Sodexho USA's Retail Brand Group, an Allentown subsidiary of the Gaithersburg-based food services giant, is working with hoops legend Johnson to develop three restaurant concepts through his Magic John Enterprises that will trade on Johnson's sports and business success. Plans call for a sports bar, a sandwich shop and a Magic Johnson Marketplace food court, brand group officials said this week.

For quarterback Mark Rypien, the decision to walk away from the game he loved was an easy call. And three years later, after dealing with a family tragedy that had consumed him in his time away from pro football, the idea of returning to the playing field at the ripe age of 38 grabbed him and refused to let go. Rypien, who already had won a championship ring and a Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award with the Washington Redskins 10 years earlier in...

Like many others Tuesday night, sports marketing analyst Dean Bonham watched Kobe Bryant knock down a late three-pointer that might have saved the Los Angeles Lakers' season. The lack of a white American superstar in Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Lakers and the Detroit Pistons failed to register with Bonham, even as the issue was about to come front-and-center yesterday. Hall of Fame player and Indiana Pacers general manager Larry Bird prescribed more white stars in an interview scheduled to air tonight on an ESPN special.

Basketball legend Earvin Johnson is about to try to work his magic on NASCAR. So far, everything the former Los Angeles Laker has tried has turned golden. When he left basketball, he developed Magic Johnson Enterprises, taking businesses that avoided urban areas into ethnically diverse neighborhoods. Today, he has 70 Starbucks in 38 cities in 13 states, five movie theaters and two restaurants. He has 10,000 minority workers and 225 minority students on college scholarships. In a news conference yesterday, Johnson was introduced as the co-chairman of NASCAR's Executive Steering Committee for Diversity, a group that aims to increase involvement by minorities in the sport.

LOS ANGELES - Twenty years of running a sports league, especially one that has become as successful as the NBA, should give a man the right to gloat. The league, under David Stern, has raked in billions of dollars, introduced a salary cap copied by other leagues, and spread its tentacles globally. It has opened offices in Europe, Asia and Australia while welcoming players from around the world. Yet, when given the opportunity to boast last night, Stern said his proudest moment since taking over stewardship of the league on Feb. 1, 1984, was the human face the NBA has attained in the past two decades.

During his first year playing professional basketball in 1980, Earvin "Magic" Johnson earned $425,000, but spent about $700,000 on cars, clothes and other things he wanted - at age 19 - but later realized he didn't need. "It took me three years to get ahold of what I was doing with my spending ... and it's been great ever since," said Johnson, now 44, who after a stellar career with the Los Angeles Lakers became a symbol of African-American economic empowerment with his chain of movie theaters, retail centers and more than a half-billion dollars in real estate investments.

Baltimore's Andre Poole has one thing on his mind -- winning MTV's Who's Got Game (Sundays at 10:30 p.m.). With hosts NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson and playground legend "Pee-Wee" Kirkland, the show is made up of 12 cast mates who have to showcase their streetball skills to gain the respect of their peers, and to win $100,000. Poole, whose streetball name is "Silk," went to an open tryout and was selected from the thousands who tried out based on their personality, skills and charisma.