J.A. Adande: "Maybe his body can't keep up with his ego anymore. In this case the fall could goeth before pride."Chad Ford: "His lack of defense, effort and good health put his value seriously into question on any team; and on the Suns it appears to be the worst possible fit."
Chris Broussard: "Personally, I wouldn't make this trade if I were the Suns.... I don't know that you can count on him at his age (he'll turn 36 on March 6).
John Hollinger: "My first reaction to hearing reports about this deal was that I was being Punk'd. After that, I checked the calendar to make sure it wasn't April 1, and verified that the voice on the other end of the phone didn't belong to Orson Welles."
There have been similar quotes from guys like Marc Stein (an ewok), Chris Sheridan (E.T. lookalike), and Ric Bucher (who thinks he's Jon Voight and can spell his name however he wants). The one common denominator in each one of these so-called "expert's" background: not one of them has ever, not once in his life, stepped a single foot onto the court in an NBA game. Not once. And yet, the FLN has the ignorant audacity to present these camera-craving, sophisticated savages on tv and on their website in an attempt to pass them off as NBA analysts. The phrase, "little did he know" takes on a whole new meaning with these seat fillers.
Notice how Jalen Rose gave a thumbs up to the deal? Notice how Legler praised Kerr for taking the chance? Hear how Joe Smith of the Bulls came out and said it's a great deal for the Suns? These guys are current and former players, guys that have been on the court and in the trenches, and have guarded Shaq. They liked the deal.
Stein, Adande, and the rest of the FLN's joke they refer to as a staff are critics. They're half-valved, weak hearted individuals who have always found it easier to stand on the sidelines and point out your mistakes than it was to get on the field and mix it up with the men. They were the kids with asthma, the ones who needed a doctor's note to get out of dodgeball day in gym class. The kids with the giant 2-layer football helmets with the extra padding, or the ones with batting helmets equipped with face-guards. Now, who are you going to believe? Who are you going to give relevence too: The nerds that watched from the sidelines, or the guys in the field they were watching?
Allow me to help you answer that. You've got to be the proud owner of the biggest sack in the world to bet against Shaquille O'Neal... or be just plain stupid. We're talking about a man amongst men here. The Diesel. The man whom Kevin Garnett once said, "There's got to be something wrong with you if you don't love the guy." We're talking about one of the greatest players in the history of the game - one of the greatest athletes any of us have ever seen. I guarantee none of us will ever see another 7' 1'' 350 lb. human able to do the things that Shaquille O'Neal has done.
Not only, is he a freakish athlete, but he's a champion. He's pure winner. He's been to 6 NBA finals with 3 different teams. He's won 4 of them and he was the MVP of three of them. Dikembe "Big Africa" Mutombo, 4-time Defensive Player of the Year winner, has said he's unstoppable. He was, and still is, a monster.
The game has changed because of him, perhaps more responsible for changes than anyone in league history outside of Wilt. Shaq's dominance led to the league bringing in the 3 point line, then moving it back out again, re-establishing the 5 second possession rule, the allowance of zone defenses, the complications of the "illegal defense" call, the re-appliance of the handcheck foul in order to open up the game more, the creation of the most difficult 2-way call in sports - a block or a charge, and was the single reason for the "3-headed monster" scheme in which nearly every team in the league carried 3 centers on the roster just to be able to throw 18 fouls at the man - "The Hack-A-Shaq." He's 4th behind Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Wilt Chamberlain on the all-time centers list, ahead of greats like Tim Duncan, Moses Malone, and Hakeem Olajuwon. He's the biggest fan favorite in the history of fan favorites. He's an attraction in and of himself.
I remember the day George Mikan died, the first true star in the NBA, and the first true big man. It happened right before a Lakers game and O'Neal found out about his passing at half-time. After the game, in which Shaq dominated and received Player of the Game honors, he was stopped for a post-game interview. He brushed aside the first question and said that he dedicated the game to George Mikan, that he was one of the greatest players ever and a man he looked up to since arriving in the NBA. Then Shaq turned into the camera and said his thoughts and prayers are with the Mikan family and he offered to pay for all the funeral expenses.
I remember thinking to myself, there's a good chance at least half the players in that game that was just played didn't even know who George Mikan was. But here's the most popular player in the league, amongst fans and fellow players alike, and he's making sure the world knows who George Mikan is. Could you imagine Donovan McNabb or Tom Brady saying something like that about Otto Graham?
The Diesel is a special person. An athlete with the combination of size, personality, work ethic, talent and sense of humor that we will never see again. We should be thanking him for continuing to play, not ridiculing him and telling him to retire. GP and Zo came back to play with him for a chance to win a title. If Shaq says he's not going to let Steve Nash down, I, for one, definitely believe him.
And these handjob jerkoff balltouching journalists have the nerve to tell him, "No, you can't."
I hope they're sorry for underestimating him. If not, then I'm sorry for the Western Conference teams standing in his way.
