The Big Goodbye and not the next......

After 19 season in the NBA, Shaquille O'Neal has decided to retire. With 4 rings on his fingers, the Big (insert nickname here..he's given himself quite a few) Shaq hangs up his immense size 22 sneaks and heads off into the sunset with his next stop being the Hall of Fame. It was about time too. Remember when he came out of LSU all those years ago? He was both a freak and force of nature. It kills me to say this but....

I am going to miss the big lug.

Yeah I know he once called the Spurs a WNBA team but that was just Shaq being Shaq. He was calling the attention to himself and therefore deflecting it from his teammates. He was a leader and to a man, almost every teammate he has had have been nothing but reverent in their tones regarding the big fella. Some big men see their size as a burden (Kareem...im looking at you) or curse (Dwayne Schintzius spitting on people comes to mind) Not Shaq. He embraced it. He reveled in it. He wore it like a 4X trenchcoat.

We all heard the amusing story about how his eventual college coach Dale Brown saw him on an Army base in Germany and asked a then 13-year old Shaq "what unit are you in, son?" When Shaq replied he was just a teen...Coach Brown had his scholarship waiting for him.

At Cole High School in San Antonio, watching him play was watching a man among boys. There was talk at the time along the lines of "yeah...but its against 3A talent".

Yeah....no.

Shaq would have dominated at any level. He proved this when he went from that 3A school to the Bayou State.

San Antonio embraced him as their own even though he only spent a few years there, there was even a suggestion in the Express-News that the Spurs should trade David Robinson, who was still getting used to the NBA, to Orlando in order to bring Shaq home. You think the LeBron hate was bad? Imagine a million pissed off South Texans if Shaq would have jumped to the Lakers from SA? Two words for you....Riot Squad.

When Shaq did leave the Magic Kingdom for Tinseltown, the move seemed like a great fit but it also had a downside. Shaq loved to fill his offseasons with all kinds of things...rap albums, movies, commercials...everything but working on his game. That is the one thing, in my opinion, that kept him from possibly being the best ever. The physical talent was unmistakeable but the focus on the game was not there like it was for a Russell, Jordan or even his former teammate Kobe. Jordan too enjoyed endorsements and fame outside of basketball but it never got in the way of his preparation for the game. Aside from his first few years...he rarely had any kind of offseason workout regimen. Well, unless you count crushing Krispy Kremes. Right now..my all time big men list goes like this:

1. Bill Russell
2. Wilt Chamberlain
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
4. Shaq

If he had given two shits for most of his career...he would be #1 easily.

The Big Aristotle was not without his other faults. The whole WNBA thing...calling Sacramento the "Queens", making up a lie about David Robinson snubbing him for an autograph when Shaq was a high school senior. (By the way...everyone loves to ignore this but early in Shaq's career...DRob used to abuse him) He also snubbed a group of kids in Live Oak who had paid money for an autograph session. We also aren't even going to get into it about "The Sarge", Shaq's stepdad Phil Harrison. The guy who used to call the newspapers complaining that his boy wasn't getting enough ink. None of those are excusable but to be fair, Shaq has also always been very active in the community. Being Shaq-a-Claus for needy kids, providing Thanksgiving and Easter dinners, being involved in Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the like.

It was time for the Big Shamrock to hang it up because he was looking more like a Center for the Pats than a Center for the Celts.

He was a big kid playing a kids game...nothing wrong with that. Enjoy retirement big man..you've earned it.

The next....no, I don't think so...
We are in the midst of the 2011 NBA Finals, the Miami Hype Machine is up 1-0 on the Mavs in the series and game 2 is being played as this is being written. Miami is favored to win the series and have put me in the unclean position of rooting for Dallas. I think has to mainly do with LeBron. I respect the guys talent, just not the way he goes about things. Giving yourself your own nickname works for Shaq when its in fun and you win titles. Glossing yourself "the Chosen One" in high school makes you look like a sphincter, not a savior.

With the Heat close to winning the title, there have been quite a few conversations comparing Michael Jordan to LeBron James. Make no mistake about it...LeBron is a better physical specimen. He is bigger, stronger and faster than MJ. LeBron is a better athlete...MJ was a better basketball player.

Follow me closely on this one, campers...

There will never...ever..be another Michael Jordan.

Period. End of sentence. New paragraph.

Why? Simple. It's the one thing that can't be measured.

The desire to do anything to win. MJ had that...Russell had that...Barkley had that (too bad he kept running into MJ) Duncan and Kobe have it. Michael Jordan would have stabbed someone if he had to if that person stood between him and a title. MJ went for your throat...LeBron wants to be loved. He wants to be the next Global Icon...MJ did it without trying. LeBron isn't the best closer in the NBA...he isn't even the best closer on his team. In the last 2 minutes of the game, I want D-Wade to have the ball if I am Heat fan. I would take Kobe, DWade, Derrick Rose, Paul Pierce and Manu Ginobili to take my last shot before LeMiss.

We have had many "next Jordans" Grant Hill, Jerry Stackhouse, Vince Carter, Kobe...hell, Harold Miner was nicknamed "Baby Jordan" not happening.

MJ was a singularly unique talent which will never be duplicated....and why does it have to be?

There is nothing wrong with not having a Next anyone. Why not concentrate on being the first LeBron instead of the next MJ? LeBron is not the next Jordan and to be fair to LeBron..I don't think there will be a next LeBron..or Kobe for that matter.

We are always in a hurry to replace our retiring heroes when we forget that those qualities that made them our heroes cannot be duplicated. I know it won't stop anytime soon but we really should not be so quick and desperate to anoint someone a successor to a departed legend. Let them write their own chapter and have history decide.

Speaking of history...I am out

Until next time boys and girls...

Peace.