Weighing in on the Shaq Thing

So Shaq did some pretty shitty freestyling and made fun of Kobe. It's not really as ground-breaking of a terrible event as the media would put it. Really, the story there is that he's gotten no better with the mic since the Shaq Diesel days, easily in the running for worst vanity musical project ever (but really, what is the worst vanity music project ever? that's a good future post idea). It's not surprising that he was publicly a jerk to a guy he wouldn't have won three of his championships without. According to all of his public behavior to this point, he seems like the kind of guy who's a huge asshole but hides it behind acting like he's just a funny guy, joking around.

But you know what? I'm still fine with him being raked over the coals. Because I cannot stand the man. He's not even a good basketball player. His skills involve being really tall and really fat and not getting fouls called on himself. You know, I could score 30 points in a game if I didn't take a shot from more than 3 inches away from the basket all night, too. And of course Wolves fans will never forget the Western Conference Finals game with time expiring at the half when Shaq simply pushed over a motionless Kevin Garnett, stepped over him (without dribbling) and dunked, in both the clearest traveling and charging violations ever committed in the game of basketball, yet there was no call. So that doesn't really help me like him.

But even worse than his shitty-basketball-disguised-as-good-basketball are his notoriously conservative political views. In his spare time in Miami he was a deputy police officer who even helped out on some drug raids and he wants to be a cop when his career's over. Being a cop isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but being a conservative asshole who acts like he's entitled to the world and a cop is a bad thing.

Well, at least he's finally gotten some comeuppance. In light of the offensive language and racial slurs in Shaw's rap, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has stripped him of his badge. Even the Sheriff admits it won't really do anything, but it's nice to finally see someone publicly call this guy out on his bullshit in some capacity...