Shaq O' Neal Under Fire for Bashing Houston Rockets NBA Player Yao Ming with Racial Slurs

The ESPN Insider and Asian Week Magazine ^ | January 10, 2003 | Chad Ford

[NYC GOP Chick]

Sounds like great days -- but that was all before my time, pretty much. (Actually, I was around then, but too young to care about that stuff. :D)

Kind of like how my father still reminisces about the golden days of baseball in NYC, when the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Yankees were battling it out just about every year. :)

[Mr. Mojo]

I think we're probably close to the same age. In '72 I was only 8, but already a huge sports fan. My dad's a New Yorker too, and does that same reminiscing about the same Yankee-Dodgers era as your dad. He's the one responsible for brainwashing me at an early age to root for all the NY teams ....and I'm still a Yankee, Giants, and Rangers fan to this day. I lost interest in the Knicks (and basketball in general) about a decade ago, as I prefer watching good fundamental play -- like the glory days of Wooden's UCLA Bruins or the Celtics, Knicks, and Lakers of years past. The players today seem more interested in making the ESPN highlight reel than in fundamentals and team play.

[Enterprise]

LOL!

[Enterprise]

Now THAT is BAAAAAAAAD! LOVE IT!!!

[Enterprise]

I have read your post about 5 times, and it gets better with each reading. LOL!

[Hiro Protaginast]

My analogy is only crap to you because you have failed to grasp it. Please explain the difference to me. Both are adjectives used to describe certain personal characteristics. And I think you are being untruthful about my remark. If I were in close proximity to you, and I said dumbass black boy, are you telling me you would let that remark pass without any noticeable response from you?

[lonestar]

He's making fun of the fact that Yao Ming is someone who barely speaks english and isn't an American.

The NBA has a lot of players who aren't American.

Yao Ming has more votes than Shaq for the all-star game. Shaq isn't accustomed to playing second fiddle.

[copycat]

And your opponent can retaliate by doing exactly the same thing to you.

I enjoy some contact in Basketball.

[copycat]

Basketball is now, as O'Neal says it is, a street game, played by and for muggers.

They still miss jumpers when they think they're gonna get bumped.

[anncoulteriscool]

****most playoff caliber teams today would take the teams from the so-called "glory days" apart. ****

In the "glory days" it was common to score 100 points in a game..even the losing team....now days that a major accomplishment...i really dont think its because of the awesome defenses....IMHO!

[GUIDO]

Shaq O'Neal may be one of the most well liked figures in the National Basketball Association...

Shaq is well liked??? By who? Thugs like him? This guy has trash talked David Robinson every freakin time he comes to town and he graduated from here, and we are all tired of his mouth and whining on the court. David is a better man than anyone, he does a great job of ignoring the SOB.

[lormand]

" Quite a bit more then you then you, I think, since I am half black and half white. (gasp)"

Wow! Simply because you are half black and half white (gasp), you know more about racism than me. This statement is monumental. Could you please tell me which race gives you superior insight on racism?

"Personally I oppose racial college admissions, police and fire department hiring and promotion policies, governmental programs (ie affirmitive action policies) because they provide very little real benefit to a small percentage of African American's, and because they provide a huge target for disillusioned white men (a small percentage of which who are racist) to whine and cry reverse racism."

Translation: Institutionalized racism geared to the better half of me would only work if the racism would give me a giant advantage. It isn't working too well now, and Whitey is unjustly upset, so I am now against it.

"I oppose The Black Congressional Caucus, Black Student Unions/groups/clubs sanctioned by colleges, because they support they are primarily extensions of the Democratic party, and their message is tired and irrelavent."

Translation: Segregation is ok if two or more parties are involved.

"Despite all of the racial double standards the black people "enjoy", I still think that you would (if you ever got of your high horse and came back down to reality, which I doubt) agree, along with the 99% of Americans both white and black, that it is a much better thing to be white in the US then to be black."

How is it much better to be white than black in America? Please explain!

I'm most worried about what my son may have to face. The Supreme Court currently has at least 4 out of 5 judges that are willing to legalize racial preferrence. They are currently considering a case from the University of Michigan (I think) in which two white students were denyed addmission to Grad school because they were white. The Hopwood decision originated here at the University of Texas in Austin. At UT, judging whitey by the color of his skin and not the content of his character is perfectly OK.

My son may have to enter this hostility if something is not done to stop it. Pointing out racial double standards is a great start, but not nearly enough.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Don't try to get a second job as an NBA scout.

[X-Servative]

Remember what the media did to John Rocker?!?!

[Bobby777]

now, now, don't go insulting Russian infantry troops ... they don't want to be connected with Shaq at all ... 8)

[dogbrain]

There's a million Shaq-would-be's selling crack on the corner right now.
The difference between him and them is....ah,....what IS the difference?

[kinghorse]

Yeah he's an air force brat I think.

I still get all misty eyed when I think of the night Olajuwon and the Rockets polished off Shaq Daddy and the Orlando Majzique in a 4 GAME SWEEP. Have the current cast of Lakers ever accomplished the same feat?

[NYC GOP Chick]

Yep, we're pretty much the same age -- I turned 7 at the end of '72. :)

Other than the Mets, we don't really root for any NY teams. Around 25 years or so ago, he became interested in the Miami Dolphins (pre-Marino) and that's the way it's been for us ever since. We used to be hardcore into the Knicks, but lost interest a couple of years ago when it became known that a couple of them (Wart and Houston) are Jew-haters. And we were never really hockey fans.

But, to tell the truth, since I left the sportswriting field a few years ago, I haven't followed sports nearly as much as I used to follow them. I'll still watch games and keep up with the news, but the passion isn't there anymore.

[NYC GOP Chick]

12-16 inches and 100-150 pounds.

[Mr. Mojo]

That Rocket squad was my favorite NBA team to come a long in quite some time. ...Great team play. Olajuwon drew Shaq out from under the basket by making everything in sight from 17 ft., and then when the latter came out to guard him, Akeem would either drive past him for an easy layup or find Otis Thorpe wide open under the basket. And when Olajuwon got the ball down low, he'd either sink that unstoppable baseline fade or kick the ball back out to Kenny Smith, Robert Horry, or Vernon Maxwell for the three pointer.

That sweep was awesome.