Raiders and Vikes and Kings, Oh My!

Let's scratch our collective heads over how the Sacramento Kings traded Chris Webber, one of the NBA's elite power forwards and 5-time All-Star, to the Philadelphia 76ers for the NBA equivilent of an empty bag: forwards Brian Skinner, Kenny Thomas and Corliss Williamson.

Of course, in ridding themselves of Webber's mammoth contract, the Kings now should have lots of money saved for...buying tickets to watch OTHER teams play in this season's playoffs since they've virtually eliminated themselves from the running. It must be unpleasant to say the least, to not only have to live in Sacramento, but to have the one true opportunity of successfully evading one's suffocating misery long enough to compete in the NBA playoffs yanked out from under them, adding to their burden.

The 76ers now have Iverson and C-Webb and a lock on first place. The Kings now have, uh, a badly drawn team.

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In addition to this smashing news, it appears that the Raiders have gathered Moss from the Vikings for what appears to be the NFL's equivilent to an empty bag in starting inside linebacker Napoleon Harris and the team's first- round pick, the seventh overall, in April's NFL Draft, along with a seventh pick in the 2005 draft, team sources confirmed Wednesday.

Randy Moss, big mouth and all, is one of the league's premier receivers, a five-time Pro Bowler who set an NFL record for most catches in a player's first six seasons with 525, and the only wide receiver to record 1,000-yard seasons in his first six NFL seasons. Napolean Harris is uh, just a linebacker and god only knows what someone like Mike Tice is going to do to render the 7th pick of the draft useless by drafting a punter or a reserve long snapper with it.

However, what IS relevant is that like the NBA's Chris Webber, Moss' salary was a game-breaker and regardless of the talent being traded and the utter lack of talent received in kind, the story is really about money and athletes with big fat contracts nobody but a small handful are willing to pay.

I just wish there was a league somewhere in the universe where athletes who earn like 40% of their team's total salary in serving themselves first and screwing the team in the process, could peddle their wares in anonimity, like Mars, or Pluto, or perhaps another galaxy.

As sick as I am of hearing about Tom Brady and the Patriots and their successes, it's hard to imagine Tom Brady, even with THREE Super Bowl rings, telling the Pats, Oh yeah, now I want MY cut: How about a nice 400 trillion dollar contract that demonstrates my true worth?

Me-me-me-me. The secret code word of the modern athlete. See where all this me-first mentality gets these guys? Moss now stuck in a dying franchise in Oakland and C-Webb fighting Iverson for the ball at every halfcourt crossing.

Of course, all along everyone knew that Oakland was precisely where a nutter like Randy Moss belongs, sheltered by the world's largest wasteland of super-egos and last-chance renegades who've worn out their welcome in the rest of the league.

C-Webb is the second big name to go return to the East since Shaq returned to Florida. Is this an NBA conspiracy to right the lopsided nature of the talent structure of the NBA's East and West? What's next Kevin Garnett to the Atlanta Hawks for Ted Turner's snapshots of a rapidly-aging Jane Fonda?

Where this gets us all, this sudden seismic shift of big-name talent for virtually nothing in return is the reality that no one's stomach is as big as their eyes and funny enough, it was just a few year's ago that Sacramento was screaming and crying, pissing themselves with joy when C-Webb finally decided he could lower himself to stay with the Kings for a few billion dollars.

Now look.

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Chelsea Badly Outplayed

They can make all the noise they want about some ominous halftime incident which they won't go into detail about, but Chelsea were run over time and again by Barcelona last night and even a man down, were well lucky to escape with "only" a 2-1 loss.

Apparently, Chelsea are planning on filing an official complaint but whatever happened in the lockeroom at the half could not have prevented the dodgy play of Drugba earning a second yellow card and ejection from the match. For the second match in a row Chelsea have had to play at least a man down and surrendering both matches is no coincidence.

It leaves one to wonder: Are Chelsea marked men?

They've still got a chance if they can shut down Barcelona when they meet them again, this time at home, in the next round but the chips are down and they are precariously balanced on the wrong side of momentum at the moment.

A solid performance against Liverpool in the Carling Cup would earn them their first silverware of the season and might go a long way towards tipping these lads back upright after weeks of injuries, bad luck and outnumbered play.

Otherwise, not even the Premiership title seems so safe any more.