Shaquille O’Neal goes out in his own style
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Say whatever you want about Shaquille O’Neal, but the big center conducted his retirement announcement news conference just as you might expect. The man has been a performer from his first days in the league ... and a good one, at that.
As he opened the session at his home in Florida, he was handed a cellphone and had a faux conversation, then told the assembled group (something along the size of a presidential press corps) that the New York Knicks were calling and offering him the general manager’s job. He said he’d be there Monday.
He later closed his prepared arguments with a Shaq-like comment on his future, assuring everyone they’d be seeing him for the next 19 years on TV, rattling off a series of networks before closing that he’ll be ready to take calls in his office on Monday.
He finally referred to himself with another nickname in a long series of names that have helped define the person: From this point on, he is to be referred to as ‘The Big AARP.’
The guess here is that we haven’t begun to see the last of Shaq, a dominant player who wasn’t without his flaws but who was a singular talent and personality.
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-- Mike James
