SHAQUILLE O'NEAL retires after 19 exciting years in the NBA

[Motownkid]

---

Shaquille O’Neal ends his career appropriately — with humor

O’Neal held a retirement press conference Friday at his home in Windermere, Fla., and was his usual comedic self. Here are a selection of quotes from the press conference:

• “Father Time has finally caught up with Shaquille O’Neal.”

• (O’Neal is handed a cell phone). “Who is this? ... For real? You want me to come up and apply for the New York Knick general manager job? OK, sure. I’ll be up right after the press conference ... That was the president of the Knicks; he wanted me to fly up right after the press conference and try out for the general manager job.”

• “The only people I will coach will be my three sons. I’ve been coaching them the last three summers, and I am the Phil Jackson of Little League around here. Really. I’m like 36-0.”

• “I do plan on entertaining you for the next 19 years. So whether it is TNT, ESPN, CNN, or whoever wants to hire me, my office is open up on Monday. Give me a call.”

• “I’m going to miss a lot about the game. I’m going to miss the competition, the camaraderie, the friendship, the fans, joking with the media, and I’m really going to miss the free throws.”

• “In light of today, I am retiring all of my nicknames. The Big Aristotle, Shaq Fu, The Big Shamrock, The Big Cactus, The Diesel, and finally, the one-and-only, original, never-to-be-duplicated or replicated, Superman. So from now on, you guys can call me The Big AARP, Association for the Advancement of Retired Persons.”

• “I’m working on my Ph.D in Human Resource Development at Barry University in Miami. So hopefully by December or January, I will only be called ‘Dr. O’Neal.’”

• “I definitely won’t be back, and let me tell you the reason why. Towards the end of my career, I started getting a little bit selfish. I’ve always heard the most two dominant players were Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O’Neal. Wilt’s at 31,000 (points) and I’m at 28,000. So if I had like 100 points fewer than him, I’d come back to pass him up and that would put me at the most dominant player in the world, but I’m about three years away, so I just have to remain at No. 5 for now.”

• “Me and my father were joking the other day. I was like, ‘Dad, I’m retiring.’ He was like, ‘How many points you got?’ I was like ‘28 (thousand),’ and he was like, ‘You dummy; if you’d have hit them free throws like I taught you how to shoot them you would have 30,000 points.’”

• “I can remember telling my parents, ‘Mommy, I don’t like my name; I don’t like my height.’ My mother said, ‘You know what? Make them remember your name. Make them remember you.’ So as I started creating my style in high school and going into college, my thing was to make people remember the name Shaquille O’Neal. Make people say, ‘This is a funny guy.’ Make people say, ‘He’s not like the average superstar.’ Make people say, ‘I just seen this guy at Wal-Mart; I just seen this guy at Target. He’s a normal guy.’ And I think I did that.”

Oklahoma News | Shaq

[reyscott1968]

Shaquille O’Neal ends his career appropriately — with humor

O’Neal held a retirement press conference Friday at his home in Windermere, Fla., and was his usual comedic self. Here are a selection of quotes from the press conference:

hahahahaa... really funny... a great player and a possible comedian

[skeptic_rob]

wrestling angay ani ni shaq

[genjoy]

para naay ka match si big show ug great kali.lol

[samamar21]

good! enjoy life shaquille!

[Iamalbertrebs]

murag nakabantay ko ani niya sa WWE. kuntra niya kay c big show

[chken]

So long Superman, The Big Aristotle, Shaq Fu, The Big Shamrock, The Big Cactus, The Big Leprechaun, and The Diesel.

So now that he's retired.

The Big Sheriffic

[cobraKing]

thnx shaq!..nice games

[istoy]

sunod si kidd napud hehehe more power to you shaq

[istoy]

naka kita lage ko nag sul.ob ug police uniform si shaq. mag piloce officer cya after sa nba? hehehe