He took care of his body and wanted to be the best in the NBA prior to winning a title with Kobe in 2000 and every year after that, he got more lazy and more fat which attributed to his injuries like his toe. Then it finally caught up to him in 2003 when he was pathetic in the spurs series. Then following year he does the surgery during “company time” so he missed first 15 or so games and that put lakers in a bad position to start the year. Kobe does his surgery the minute the season is over. He doesnt wait for “company time”. When Shaq is asked about his weight and health he says “..we were still winning so why does it matter?” Umm, yeh u were winning….but each year you got fatter til u finally cost the team. And youre the captain? This is your team? Please give me a break. Shaq gets all the credit for being mvp in finals but kobe deterred his game for the better of the team (at phil’s request). However, what about the finals? 2000 you are guarded by Rik Smits wtf? 2001 mutombo? 2002 todd mccullough? Why dont we emphasize the true tests the Lakers had those years: 2000 portland game 7, shaq was shutout the whole game until the end and kobe and his teammates lilke brian shaw carried them in that comeback. Ok without Shaq there is no game 7 but man lets talk about the moment. In, 2001, the true challenge was beating the Spurs (who woulve won the title if lakers lost to them) i dont think anyone would argue that. (nets have no chance!) Who stepped up those games ..kobe? and he did it against the best defense in nba. Finally, 2002, beating the Kings was the “actual championship series”..both of them wouldve beat nets hands down. When kobe and shaq couldnt score that basket in Game 4 , horry saved the day. So yeh, once lakers reached finals, shaq just has his way and wins finals mvp 3 times but the series i mentioned were the true ‘championship’ series and kobe played just as good.

The worst thing that pissed me off about Shaq is how he thinks he is bigger than the great Laker franchise when he disrespected management shouting ‘’show me the money during preseason of one of the 2003 year forgot” How classy is that? Thats straight out childish and unprofessional ..u dont call ur employer out! Why would they pay him the money he wants when he shows up to camp overweight year after year. Then when he gets traded, he starts to lose weight and get back to shape just so he can impress Miami. Why didnt you get in shape when u were a Laker? Why are u working out now? Cuz he knows he has to impress Miami and show up the Lakers. What happens next, he wins a title with Wade and even though Wade is MVP. Now he must feel like “YEH I SHOWED LAKERS WASSUP THATS WHAT THEY GET!” Im a laker fan and u didnt show me shit! If you stayed a Laker you wouldnt care bout your health and wouldve been fat and injury prone. You just got back to shape cuz youre on a new team. So No, i dont see it as a loss like hey Lakers made a mistake. I dont agree. If he stayed a Laker, he wouldve been fat. Even when he was injured and Kobe was asked by Phil that he needs to score so he did that and Shaq got jealous saying that he wont play defense if he doesnt get the ball, etc. Man, that guy cant even stand Kobe get even a lil limelight. Remember this is the same guy that congratulates kobe before celtics finals and then dogs him in his rap after. Now, that kobe has chance to win he is on kobe bandwagon again saying kobe is right (shaq couldnt win without kobe, derek, horry,etc) Oh sure!! When kobe says it you say its true but you couldve said that long time ago yourself?

Remember this is the same guy that dissed Dwight Howard now during Finals saying all his moves are copies of his and he is overrated, the same guy doggin Pat Riley after Miami stint, dogging lakers after laker stint,etc. Oh did i mention he disses Pat Ewing and says he is better than Kareem. Man now dissing Ewing is one thing but saying youre better than the all-time greatest nba scorer and 6 time nba champion Kareem is just “nonsensical”!!! I wrote this post cuz of that last Kareem diss!! Thats where I draw the line. Talk about kobe all u want, I already backed him up but you got balls saying you’re better than Kareem!! When an individual says things like this….you really know that everything that comes out of Shaq’s mouth is just pathetic!!! I respect Shaq’s game and only his game and ONLY during when he actually gave 100 percent which is 2000-2002 (even though his effort was diminishing by summer 2002). For this i thank Shaq for helping Lakers win 3 in a row. Just dont think you did it alone and dont EVER EVER EVER dog Kareem like that you P.O.S.!!!! (hint: the “S’ is NOT for superman!)

Of course I noticed that lyric but I didn’t want to touch it with a ten foot pole. It’s offensive, but is it any more offensive than his parody of Yao Ming a few years ago?

There were a lot of people of Asian ascent who were upset when he mocked the Chinese language.

Thanks.

I think Shaq is fake. I think he’s been fake for a long time. I know you’re a busy man but if you’d like to take a look at the inner workings of the Lakers, buy ‘The Show’ by Roland Lazenby. It’s an all interview account of the Lakers history. There are some pretty shocking revaluations about Shaq in the book.

If so though, I think the early game might be Celtics vs. Cavs, and the 2nd game Lakers vs. Suns (or Hornets). If it were Hornets, that time zone might work.

I do, however, give Shaq the benefit of the doubt with his free styling rap.

Just as Shaq says the right stuff to the media about Kobe, the right stuff in that genre of music is to talk too big and too tough. I HONESTLY don’t think Shaq thinks himself to be better than Kareem, and I DO think he’s gotten past the Kobe thing.

It’s very much like talking smack, much of it is about the shock and braggadocio.

Shaq had not paid homage to the basketball gods with the dedication to the game like Kobe has, and won’t likely see another NBA Finals as a player, but the way isn’t paved for Kobe either. The Hornets are a young team as well.

At any rate, this was a really great job. I very much enjoyed it.

What odds do you give for the NBA making Suns-Lakers and Hornets-Jazz the two Christmas Day games this year?? Im thinkin’ 50-50…