The Saddest Truth: Shaq is now The Big Embarrassment
To sports fans the hardest truths to face are often the ones that were in view the longest, these truths screamed from the rooftops yet we refused to hear, we refused to see them for what they are despite all efforts by the truth itself to enlighten us.
Instead as fans we make excuses…
“Ron Artest isn’t a cancer, he’s misunderstood”
“Dennis Rodman isn’t out of control, he’s a free spirit”
“Stephen Jackson isn’t a thug, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time (again)”
Now we are faced with the truth once again, Shaquille O’Neal aka The Diesel, Superman or The Big Aristotle has become The Big Bitter.
In his latest attack on an ex-teammate Shaq raps “Kobe tell me how my ass tastes” while freestylin about the homeless, Kareem and of course himself in a New York City night club.
“Kobe tell me how my ass tastes”
Stop and think about this for a minute, listen to the words think about the big picture for once sports fan.
“Kobe tell me how my ass tastes”
Today thanks to our friend Shaq, on a playground filled with kids, “swish” “not in my house” and “in your face” was replaced with “tell me how my ass tastes” Shaq and his petty battles have overflowed onto the courts frequented by kids and that should not be excused nor should it be acceptable because he says he was “just kidding”.
Shaq has been the darling of beat reporters since the day he entered the NBA. His post game quips and soundbites have served the media well over the years, and in return a media starved for information has turned an non critical ear to his his public rants as he snipes insults and jabs at competitors, former teammates and coachs.
The list of players that have fallen from Mr. O’Neals graces is filled with names of some of the best the NBA has had to offer. Former teammate Penny Hardaway in Orlando then Kobe, Phil Jackson, Mitch Kupchak and Lakers owner Dr. Buss in L.A.
It’s been reported that his bench squawking in Miami led to the dismiss of then Heat coach Stan Van Gundy. In 2008 when a losing season in Miami reared it’s ugly head, Shaq got uglier and called his agent, forcing a trade to Phoenix. Once safely wrapped in the loving arms of his new team, former teammates Dwayne Wade, Ricky Davis and rookie Chris Quinn fell into Shaq’s verbal cross hairs.
Now he raps “Kobe tell me how my ass tastes”
The Big Aristotle has become the Big Embarrassment, on the court he has fallen from the ranks of the immortals to that of just another journeyman center. Shaq tell me how the bench feels.
Shaq’s life is a Hollywood movie told a thousand times in a thousand different ways. The kid from LSU who entered the league as a promising rookie became the talk of the town. A beast on the hardwood a clown in the locker room, the big man quickly became a fan favorite on and off the court.
Movies and endorsements fueled his massive ego while on the court his legend grew until the glory reached it’s zenith with multiple rings and parades in the early part of the new century. But as it always is in Hollywood, it was not enough, he wanted more, more fame, more money more attention.
Sharing a roster with rising star Kobe Bryant was too much, Laker coach Phil Jackson got too much credit for being the one who taught Shaq and Kobe how to win and the Lakers contract extension of 25 million per year wasn’t enough. Needing to be the center of everything he forced his way to Miami, where the movie is retold with a new cast, it’s the same story with all the pomp and glory of the first, ending with the same outcome as in LA, a trade demanded, a demand fulfilled.
Shaq in Phoenix begins just like all the other versions. Starting with the trade from Miami to the Phoenix Suns it looks like it was meant to be another remake, but this time the movies ending was different, no glory no praise, just seconding guessing by Suns fans and players, another coach fired.
With Shaq’s rap outing last weekend in New York the fall from Olympus is now complete, the latest remake has no happy ending, no parades, no glory. His wife has left him for the Cuban pool boy after years of marriage and the world knows he is no longer the the cure for a floundering franchise. In the words of 7 Mary 3 Shaq has become “Cumbersome” The once greatest player in the league the “most dominant ever” no longer is and the sad part is the movie could have had a better ending, he didn’t have to end up playing a bitter broken down jock who refuses to see what everyone else should. The very fact it ends the way it does falls on Shaq’s shoulders, he has been afterall the director of the Shaq story through all it’s remakes.
Tell me, Shaq how does your first bite of failure’s ass taste?
GTS/K.J.
