I give up.

So things are going good...Rhonda passed her CSET, and I took a couple days off so I could spend some alone time with her, as she has the week off. We went out to dinner to celebrate me not having to work until Monday, and were on our way to Barnes & Noble to plan a day trip getaway, when I got the call from my dad.

The Kings traded Chris Webber.

The franchise player. The single person, more than any other, responsible for the Kings going from NBA laughing stock to perennial contender. Let's forget for a second the time out, the perjury plea, and his earlier stops in Golden State and Washington. The 1999 trade that brought Chris Webber to Sacramento brought the Kings franchise legitimacy, and the Kings franchise matured while Webber himself did.

So I'm thinking, they must've got Iverson for him, right?

Nope. Kenny Thomas, Brian Skinner, Corliss Williamson. Doesn't exactly strike fear in your hearts, does it?

At least when Mitch Richmond, the guy who almost single-handedly was able to bring Sacramento respectability in the mid-nineties, was traded for C-Webb, Kings fans could say, "well, at least we're getting Webber." Not this time.

Seriously, the Kings run nearly every offensive play through Webber. Who is going to take that role now? Brad Miller? Thomas? Every scoring threat the Kings have is a perimeter player now. They have no inside presence offensively. I can't see how this is a good thing.

I like Peja, but let's be honest: Stojakovic has been struggling this season, and has a history of disappearing in the playoffs. When Webber made the comment at the end of last season that some players needed to show up and didn't, and Peja took offense to that, too bad because it was true. It's an awful risk to trade Webber hoping Peja will all of a sudden catch fire. More than Webber's presence, I think Peja misses Vlade Divac, and that's not a situation that's going to get rectified anytime soon.

And Webber has been playing a man possessed lately. He had three triple-doubles in the span of four games, and missed the fourth by a rebound. Which makes his trade all the more baffling.

I haven't felt this angry about a trade since the 49ers showed Montana the door, but at least we all saw that one coming. Not like I'm a big NBA fan to begin with, but my interest level in this season has dipped to "rather watch spring training" levels. I'm almost hoping the Kings do poorly, so that maybe they'll learn something from this.

Needless to say, I won't be buying any Brian Skinner jerseys anytime soon.

Oh yeah, and the new arena deal fell through. Big surprise there, Sacramento has been running the arena construction like the small-time city it has. Normally, I would say the city doesn't deserve the Kings, but right now I feel like it might be the other way around.