In the summer of 1996, Shaquille ONeal left the Magic to sign a $120 million Lakers contract, and bought a house in the opulent hills overlooking Beverly Hills. A few months later he and his uncle Mike hopped in the car for a drive across L.A., to Watts.Its about an hour drive, but feels so far from the winding tree-lined hills of Mulholland Drive.Shaq had thoughtfully chosen a community center there to reprise his role as Shaq-a-Claus. He told uncle Mike it was his favorite day of the year, and it was full of taking holiday orders from delighted kids. One by one, they eagerly revealed their wishes: a bicycle, the top-selling Mario video game, a Tickle Me Elmo, the new Cabbage Patch dolls which were selling out as soon as they hit the shelves.He said yes to them all and promised Shaq-a-Claus would deliver the gifts two days before Christmas. Mission accomplished. Except ... as he turned to go, Shaq noticed one little boy who hadnt come forward.Concerned that his large stature had frightened the child, Shaq bent down on one knee, placed his massive hand on his tiny shoulder and asked, What do you want, little man?I dont think you can help me, he answered softly.I bet I can, Shaq persisted. You know, Im pretty good friends with Santa.What I really want, said the boy, is for it to snow. He was quiet for a moment before explaining that he shared his Christmas wish with his mother. She sighed, hugged him close to her, and then told him, Im sorry, baby. It doesnt snow in Los Angeles, and were stuck here.As Shaq and his uncle drove back toward the manicured lawns and the palm trees in his exclusive neighborhood, ONeal was mostly silent. In fact, he didnt say anything until they turned into his driveway and he blurted out suddenly, They ski in California, right? Shaq-a-Claus had an idea.Eventually, Dec. 23 arrived at last. Precisely on schedule, Shaq-a-Claus arrived with great fanfare at the Watts Community Center. He was accompanied by a convoy of vehicles packed with bicycles, video games, Cabbage Patch dolls and plenty of Tickle Me Elmos.But there was a different kind of convoy that preceded Shaq and his sacks of toys.An hour earlier, three oversized dump trucks rumbled down Central Avenue toward the community center. Each was filled to the brim with snow -- beautiful, white (all right, artificial), California snow, trucked to Watts from Bear Mountain in the San Bernardino National Forest. Shaq picked up the bill for the unusual shipment and instructed the workers to dump the snow into the Community Center parking lot.By the time he arrived, the kids were gleefully making snow forts and snow angels.The little boy who had been on ONeals mind was waiting with a smile and a snowball at the ready. He aimed for ONeals head, and missed.And then it was on, the most incredible, wonderful, spectacular (and only) snowball fight in Watts history, with a future Hall of Fame big man, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts and a Santa hat that was several sizes too small.Nike Air Vapormax Discount . The quest begins with what is supposed to be an easy one, although Germany has traditionally been a stubborn opponent to Canadian teams at international tournaments. Cheap Nike Air Vapormax . "It was nerve-wracking, but we pulled through," said Collaros, who threw four touchdown passes to lead the Toronto Argonauts (8-4) to a 33-27 win over the Calgary Stampeders (9-3) in front of 28,781 fans at McMahon Stadium. http://www.cheapairvapormaxsale.com/ . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night. Black Nike Air Vapormax . With Parker having a quiet game for once, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw provided the scoring as France won its first major basketball title by beating Lithuania 80-66 on Sunday. It was a victory that ended a decade of frustration for Parker and a talented French generation, which lost the final against Spain two years ago and took bronze in 2005. Cheap Nike Air Vapormax China . General manager Jarmo Kekalainen told Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch on Friday that he wants to see Gaboriks contributions go beyond the scoresheet before considering a long-term deal for the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent.Before the season, UCLA had the young, hot-shot quarterback that had the college football world -- and NFL scouts -- buzzing.Now, USC does.Redshirt freshman Sam Darnold is at the forefront of a Trojans resurgence that reached a peak with Saturdays 26-13 victory at previously undefeated Washington, which was No. 4 in the country. Darnold completed 22 of 33 passes for 287 yards -- the most allowed by the Huskies this season -- and two touchdowns.Darnold gets a different kind of stage this Saturday night.USC (7-3, 6-2 Pac-12) has its first six-game winning streak since 2008 as it heads into a game against struggling crosstown rival UCLA (4-6, 2-5) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. The 10:30 p.m. ET kickoff makes it just the 11th night game in the history of the series.The Bruins are without sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen, the former No. 1 quarterback recruit who has missed four games because of a shoulder injury and wont return this season. Darnold has replaced him as the L.A. star.USC coach Clay Helton inserted Darnold as the starter, replacing Max Browne, for the fourth game of the season. The Trojans lost that day, 31-27 at Utah when the defense allowed a touchdown in the final minute, but it has been all victories since then, riding the spark that Darnold provided.He is the reigning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Huskies, who have one of the top defensive backfields in the country. Darnold is eighth nationally in passer rating with a rating of 165.8.He has just unbelievable game maturity, Helton said.The Bruins, who are still pushing for a bowl, did end a four-game skid by beating visiting Oregon State last weekend 38-24.Its good to get a win, said Bruins coach Jim Mora. They have been hard to come by this year. These guys have stayed together and have kept a great attitude. So, they got rewarded for it. That was great.Mora said he has given away only two game balls in his nearly five seasons at UCLA. The second went to quarterback Mike Fafaul on Saturday.Fafaul, starting his fourth game in place of Rosen, completed 25 of 47 passes for 281 yards. Mora praised the fifth-year senior for sticking it out and not transferring as a graduate student.He played behind Brett (Hundley), and then Josh got the job, and he has hungg in there, Mora said.dddddddddddd Hes everything that you want in a quarterback in terms of studying the game and it being serious to him. Its just great.Fafauls challenge this week against USC will be much more difficult than it was against Oregon State. The Trojans held Washington quarterback Jake Browning to 17-of-36 passing with a pair of interceptions by cornerback Adoree Jackson.Fafaul has thrown 10 interceptions in 198 attempts, and if the Trojans could fluster Browning, what will they do to Fafaul?Darnold has had the advantage of a supporting run game -- Ronald Jones II has 487 yards on the ground in the past three games -- an All-American talent at wide receiver in junior JuJu Smith-Schuster and a veteran offensive line that has begun to play to its potential.Fafaul has had none of that. UCLAs young line has struggled, there is no game-breaker on the outside and the Bruins are second-to-last nationally in rushing at 87.2 yards per game. UCLA gave carries to five scholarship running backs last week and will try to find hot feet this week from among Bolu Olorunfunmi, Soso Jamabo, Jalen Starks, Nate Starks and Brandon Stephens.It wont be easy. USC held Washington to 17 rushing yards.Big men win the game, Helton said. On both sides of the ball, our big men are really excelling these last six weeks.UCLAs hopes rest with a solid defense that has allowed only one opponent (Utah) to score more than 27 points in regulation. Defensive end Takkarist McKinley leads the nation with 2.0 tackles per loss per game.The rivalry game wraps up the conference season for USC, which finishes at home against Notre Dame. The Trojans are a half-game behind Colorado and hold a head-to-head tiebreaker. The Buffaloes, 6-1 in the league, finish with two games against ranked teams -- Washington State and Utah.USC needs to win Saturday and have Colorado lose to have a chance to win the Pac-12 South. Utah, which is 5-2 in the Pac-12 with games left against Oregon and Colorado, holds the tiebreaker over USC.The Trojans have won 13 of the past 17 games against UCLA, although two of the victories were vacated due to NCAA sanctions. USC won 40-21 last season. ' ' '
