DeLaWho? DeLaWhat? DeLaWhere?

The Sixers are on the loose after picking up Webber and some how keeping Iverson...Let Us Rejoice!!!!!

Kings' Petrie taking a big chance
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

It's not just a blockbuster trade. This one ranks as new-millennium NBA history.

Reason being:

It's a highly questionable deal for Sacramento's Geoff Petrie, and I can't remember ever saying that before.

Petrie didn't just end an era Wednesday night when he agreed to trade away one of the strongest forces behind the Sacramento Kings' rise from laughingstocks to NBA elitists. By sending Chris Webber to Philadelphia for three forwards with long-term contracts, one of the most respected minds in the game put himself in line for some rare criticism.

There are undoubtedly benefits to trading Webber, who has three years and more than $60 million left on his contract. Although he continues to play at an All-Star level, it's clear to anyone who watches Webber that, besides turning 32 next week, he's essentially playing on one leg after serious knee surgery.

Then there's the bigger benefit: Webber's departure will undoubtedly please Peja Stojakovic. Peja has been quietly miserable this season with his muted role in the Kings' offense, in the wake of his offseason trade demand and Sacramento's struggles late last season after Webber returned to the lineup.

However …

You had to assume a GM as shrewd as Petrie -- widely regarded as one of the league's best -- would get Glenn Robinson's expiring contract as part of a Webber package in the interest of salary-cap relief. Instead Sacramento acquired three smallish power forwards (Kenny Thomas, Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner) who possess deals that aren't cap-friendly.

Worse yet, Stojakovic will still be a free agent after next season, and as long as Vlade Divac remains with the Lakers, Sacramento's hated rivals will have a shot at luring Peja away. There remains a possibility that the Lakers could trade Divac before Thursday's trading deadline, but that's because Divac is injured and can't help them. Chances are Divac will be retired by the summer of 2006, putting him in position to move into a Lakers front-office role … and thus putting Divac in prime position to recruit his best friend to Hollywood.

At first glance, then, you have to like this blockbuster much more for Sixers president Billy King than Petrie. Look at everything King accomplished here:

# With Shaquille O'Neal's health suddenly in question, King added a big-name big man who, if he can stay healthy, instantly makes Philadelphia the favorite in the Atlantic Division and a factor in the East playoffs.

# Within weeks of Allen Iverson voicing concern about the direction of the franchise and the lack of help around him, King found a sidekick AI will love.

# King accomplished the the first and second task without parting with Big Dog's contract or any of his prized youngsters: Samuel Dalembert, Kyle Korver and Willie Green. Which means Philly can keep Dog for the rest of the season and let the contract expire at season's end for some cap relief, or King can move Dog before the deadline for more help -- a deal for the retiring Jamal Mashburn and Rodney Rogers, for example, has been discussed with New Orleans. Also don't forget that, before the All-Star Game, Philadelphia was close to trading Robinson to Minnesota for Latrell Sprewell, with the deal breaking down when the Wolves also insisted on Green as part of the swap.

Of course, such is the respect for Petrie around the league that the first few executives we reached to discuss the evening's big news all had a similar reaction: Petrie must know something we don't.

As in: Webber, perhaps, is in worse shape than his numbers suggest.

There's no disputing Petrie's contention that it'll be easier to rebuild the Kings with three players earning the same salary as Webber does alone. In other words, packaging Thomas or Williamson or Skinner in future trades will be easier than it was to find a Webber taker.

You can likewise agree with the Kings' contention that they have some role-player depth in the short term to complement what still qualifies as a decent foursome: Mike Bibby, Brad Miller, Cuttino Mobley and Stojakovic.

Yet that's about all we can endorse from the Sacto end. It's difficult not to focus on how giddy Iverson must be; winning the All-Star Game's MVP trophy was apparently just an appetizer.

Sources close to Webber indicated late Wednesday that Webb, too, is happy with the move. Bittersweet as it must be to leave a franchise he lifted to prominence, Webb is said to be pleased to have a chance to win in his new city and leave a club (and an increasingly frustrated fan base) that didn't want him.

Yup. The suspicion here is that the biggest smiles Saturday, when the Kings visit the Sixers, will all be on the Philly side.

Kings Nation will accept the deal for now because Petrie made it, and because he has unquestionably earned that kind of trust. But since this is a good-as-your-last-deal business, that trust is at risk.

For the first time anyone can remember.

...in every young man's (well at least this young man's) semester, where a decision must be made. This decision is related to the hair which starts to envelop the tops of one's ears and impedes clearer thought (well not really)....To cut or not to cut the locks. That truly is the question. Wait till you come home so someone who knows how to cut your tornado head...or give in and get it cut. At one point, I considered going back to buzz-cut..I thought better of it and held off. I have yet to make my big decision yet, but I know one thing...Curtis/"Live" by Curtis Mayfield is one of the (live) albums I have heard. With a smaller backing band, the subtleties of his music shines threw and the small club atmosphere adds an indescribable element to his performance...give it a listen.

As my geology education progresses, it becomes clear that life in California is one filled with hazards. Why so many people live close to an tectonically active fault is beyond me. Today, In Environmental Geology, my professor proclaimed that California has the highest amount of hazard risk in land. Now this...



ABC News
Calif. Storms Spawn Tornadoes; Six Dead
Series of Deadly Storms Spawn Tornadoes and Landslides Across California, Leaving Six Dead

The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES Feb 22, 2005 — A deadly series of storms across California spawned everything from tornadoes to avalanches, flooding freeways with steady rain and sending rivers of mud crashing through homes.
At least six deaths have been blamed on the storm, including a woman buried by an avalanche north of Lake Tahoe and others who were victims of landslides, traffic accidents, falling trees and flooding.
Mudslides forced Amtrak officials to suspend service from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara at least through Tuesday. Service between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo wasn't expected to resume until next Monday. During the weekend, Metrolink also had canceled rail service for parts of the area because of flooding.

Forecasters said Tuesday that the long-lived storm system would bring at least another inch of rain to Southern California but was losing strength and could move out of the region by Wednesday afternoon. A flash flood watch remained in effect Tuesday for much of Southern California.
"I think we've probably seen the worst of the storm," said Ted MacKenchnie, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Dozens of homes were evacuated or red-tagged marked as uninhabitable because they were threatened by sliding hillsides, authorities said.
Northern California also was hit by severe thunderstorms, hail and at least two afternoon tornadoes in the Sacramento area that uprooted trees and damaged roofs and fences.
The California Highway Patrol reported more than 300 crashes in a 14-hour period in Southern California, compared with 50 to 75 accidents on a normal, dry day.
A section of the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles was shut down for several hours late Monday because it was flooded by as much as 5 feet of water.
The wild weather came from a series of storms that began battering the state on Thursday, dumping 6.5 inches of rain in downtown Los Angeles.
A total of 31.40 inches of rain has fallen since July 1, the start of the region's annual "water year" measuring period, the fifth wettest on record. The record is 38.18 inches, set in 1883-84.

This one is out of right-field...from NBC4:Columbus

The two fired caretakers of Koko, the famous sign-language-speaking gorilla, are suing their former bosses.

"Their boss was asking them to expose (their) naked bodies ... for the enjoyment of Koko," said the women's attorney, Stephen Sommers.

The lawsuit said the women were pressured to strip on several occasions, sometimes in situations where co-workers could have seen their bodies.

According to the lawsuit, the women never undressed.

Before filing the lawsuit against the Gorilla Foundation, the women had lodged a separate a complaint with the state over what they claim were unsanitary working conditions.

They were fired the day after inspectors visited the facility.

"We unequivocally deny these allegations," a lawyer for the Gorilla Foundation told The Associated Press. He said the foundation is "confident this case lacks merit."

The women are seeking more than $1 million in damages.

from MTV.com

Jazz organist Jimmy Smith passed away Tuesday at the age of 76, apparently having died in his sleep during an afternoon nap.

The legendary musician was a hugely influential figure in music, whose style of play affected not only his own genre


but others, including hip-hop. DJs and producers often sample his soulful riffs; among the songs on which Smith's music appears are the Beastie Boys' "Root Down" and A Tribe Called Quest's "Push It Along."

Smith played piano before switching to the organ in the early 1950s, and his innovative style of playing the Hammond B-3 organ helped revolutionize the sound of jazz while he was recording for influential record labels like Blue Note and Verve.

Smith's manager, Bob Clayton, discovered the musician's body at around 1:30 p.m. at his Phoenix-area home, where he had taken a nap while watching television. He said Smith had been in generally good health and that the night before he seemed in positive spirits.

The body is being flown to Philadelphia, where the musician was born and raised. Details on services will be announced by the family shortly.

— Joseph Patel

As you may notice, I have given the blog a little bit of a facelift. Check YouDee out. I also have uploaded a couple beats that I made over break and during the beginning of the semester. One might call them BREAK beats...Although they are all Note'able...here are my top five: (1) Angel Eyes (2) Tainted Love (3) White Room (4) Hold On and (5) I'll Be A Fool. Honorable Mention: False Hoods with Tricky Dick and Curious George W. Listen to these and other new ones on Soundclick.com.

both stories from hiphopdx.com

Kanye West Helps "College Dropout’s"
Wednesday - February 02, 2005
Deniece Mason

Although he was the original “College Dropout”, Kanye West wants to help lower the school dropout rate. Kanye West has established the Kanye West Foundation in effort to help raise awareness about the value of education and fight the rising number of students that are dropping out of schools around the country. At his first reception for the new foundation on February 10th, Kanye will be discussing how he hopes to help add more music programs into schools.

According to MTV, the organizations first effort will be “Loop Dreams” a quest to bring more instruments back into schools and help at risk students learn how to read and write music. For Kanye being a college dropout proved to be a success, but he realizes that life won’t be so easy for everyone else. Along with his ten Grammy Award nominations (the show will air live on February 13th), Kanye is working on his next album “Late Registration” which will hit stores later this year.

Wyclef Jean Continuing to Support Haiti
Thursday - February 03, 2005
Deniece Mason

Continuing to bring hope to his homeland Wyclef Jean has established the Yele Haiti program. The Yele Haiti program is an effort to bring aid and attention to Haiti as the continue to go through what Wyclef calls a “mini civil war” between Aristide loyalists, police and guerrilla gangs. Formed by Wyclef and his cousin Jerry Duplessis, Wyclef wants to see the impoverished children gain a better educational standard. “With Clef, he’s like the Bob Marley for Jamaica, the Beatles for England, Elvis for America”, Jerry said to MTV. “People trust him”.

The programs first initiative is to give one hundred and thirty four scholarships to the Sports Academy that offers educations, soccer training and hot meals to students after school. The Yele project will also help to rebuild over twenty schools and provide more than 3,600 other scholarships to people in the city of Gonaives. Although there have been violent outbreaks throughout Haiti, Wyclef is making plans to do a “world festival” that may include a performance by the Fugees.

From ESPN.com

Announcement could come as early as today
ESPN.com news services

An NHL team owner requesting anonymity said that, barring a major, unforeseen turnaround, he expects the league to announce either later Thursday or Friday it is canceling the 2004-05 season, EJ Hradek of ESPN the Magazine has learned.

This comes just one day after the NHL players' association rejected the league's latest salary-cap proposal. However, the union did invite commissioner Gary Gettman and players' association chief Bob Goodenow back to the table Thursday after the leaders sat out the previous five sessions over a two-week span. The meeting in New York began around 1:30 p.m. and was still going on over four hours later.

If the season in canceled, the NHL would be the first North American sports league to lose an entire season to a labor dispute. The Stanley Cup has been awarded every year since 1919, when a flu epidemic wiped out the final series between Montreal and Seattle.

Players turned down the NHL's offer on Wednesday, sticking to their vow that they will never accept a salary cap.

The main sticking point remains the NHL's commitment to getting cost certainty and the players' association's vows never to accept a salary cap. The union flatly turned down the somewhat flexible cap -- which the league termed a "floating team payroll range" -- formally proposed by the league this week.

The 4½-month lockout reached its 141st day Thursday, and it has forced the cancellation of 772 of the 1,230 regular-season games, plus the All-Star Game.

Neither side expressed optimism on Wednesday that the philosophical differences could be bridged, but Bettman and Goodenow were needed in the room before any deal could possibly be reached.

The NHL proposed a six-year deal that contained a cap that would force teams to spend at least $32 million on player costs but no more than $42 million -- including benefits. The union needed only a few hours to turn it down.

There were other components to the offer, such as a profit-sharing plan, reduced age for unrestricted free agency, a raise of the minimum salary, and the continued conclusion of guaranteed contracts, but the issue has always been about a salary cap.

Bettman has said that teams lost a total of more than $1.8 billion over 10 years and that management will not agree to a deal without a defined relationship between revenue and salaries.

Last season's average salary was $1.8 million, and the NHL wants to push that back with a salary cap. The latest offer would give players between 53 and 55 percent of league revenues.

An economic study commissioned by the NHL found that players got 75 percent of revenues, but the union has challenged many of the league's findings.

The NHL has been operating under the same collective bargaining agreement since 1995, when the last lockout went 103 days before a 48-game season was played.

When I don't have class, I like to relax and do some homework or listen to music or watch some tv...or answer the phone every 5 minutes and deny a telemarketer to pleasure of taking my money and time. I so enjoy answering the phone and waiting for the voice on the other line to come in and say in Joshua there....or may I speak to Chris. Today I woke up at 8:00...and I have already recieved 5 calls. I just want to thank Denison for selling our information. Without them it wouldnt be possible. I so enjoy being interrupted by those jovial telemarketers. I am so fed up with them that I finally registered with the Do-Not-Call registry about 15 minutes ago. My registration was quickly followed by a courtesy call from another phone monger...I was happy to inform him that this would be his last call to this number for another five years...finally...maybe I will have some piece and quiet.

While, the final moments of the speech were admittedly...very touching (the mother of a fallen soldier embracing an Iraqi woman)...It is my hope that those final moments of the speech do not overshadow some of Bush's shaky comments during the speech. One of the most frustrating statements that Bush has made during his re-election campaign and again during the state of the union, is that somehow a great difference in our approach to spreading democracy and freedom with violence and force and the "terrorists" also violent approach. The idea that we have a mandate to spread "freedom" is a bit self-rewarding and self-serving. He said that "the United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else." That could be the most bold-faced lie I have ever hear him say. It frustrates me so much...that i can write no more.