Shaq's 5 best - off the court
LOS ANGELES - Shaquille O'Neal announced this week that he's retiring from the NBA after 19 seasons. He shared the news on Twitter, of course, where he has nearly 4 million followers - which just goes to show what an engaging, larger-than-life presence he's been off the court.
LOS ANGELES - Shaquille O'Neal announced this week that he's retiring from the NBA after 19 seasons. He shared the news on Twitter, of course, where he has nearly 4 million followers - which just goes to show what an engaging, larger-than-life presence he's been off the court.
That big personality has extended to movies, music and more, and made Shaq a one-name pop culture icon. You can analyze the 15-time All-Star center's prodigious stats all you want and measure him against the greats of the game, but here's a look at the big man's five best performances outside of basketball:
* Shaq the rapper: Plenty of athletes have tried to cross over into the music business with varying levels of success. But Shaq actually built a rap career in the '90s, having recorded with the likes of the late Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Warren G. He's recorded so many albums, he's even got a greatest-hits collection. He's used his rhymes to talk obligatory amounts of trash. But he's also opened up through his music: His 1994 single "Biological Didn't Bother," which became a minor hit, was about his estrangement from his father, and it sang the praises of the stepfather who raised him.
* "Shaq vs." (2009-2010): The short-lived ABC reality series provided Shaq with a great opportunity to show off one of his more endearing traits: his ability to goof off and toy with his own image. He'd take on various athletes and celebrities in their own arenas, usually with amusing results. In the Justin Bieber episode, for example, he challenged the pop star to a dance-off and a bowling competition.
* "Blue Chips" (1994): For his film debut, the former LSU star plays a character named Neon Bodeaux, a monster from the Louisiana swamps. The younger (and much leaner) Shaq and his then-real-life Orlando Magic teammate Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway co-star as a couple of the prospects coveted by a hotheaded college coach (Nick Nolte).
* "Kazaam" (1996): Shaq's next attempt at big-screen superstardom wasn't quite so successful. This supposedly family-friendly comedy, in which Shaq stars as a rapping genie who bursts out of a boom box, currently has a whopping 4 percent positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. That's right - it received one positive review. So bad, it's good. Almost.
* Shaq the statue: Shaq became a fan favorite no matter what city he was playing in, but he wowed them in Boston - where he made his last stop, with the Celtics - by doing absolutely nothing. Last fall, he tweeted that he'd be heading to Harvard Square to pose as a statue. And that's exactly what he did: He sat motionless for an hour, which drew a swarm of onlookers.