NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal revealed a fact about his playing days that supplies a lot of insight into his character and into what made him great. It also revealed that that Shaq has a lot in common with another NBA legend — Michael Jordan*. Shaq told TNT studio mate Kenny Smith that whenever he had a long stay in an opposing team’s city during the NBA playoffs, it was an advantage for him. Doesn’t sound quite right, does it? Staying in a hotel with no home cooking in a city where you’re the enemy is good? Yet Shaq had a technique to turn a 48-hour stay in, say, Utah or Portland, to his advantage.
Shaq’s technique? The big man went out in the public, on the streets, and took in all the taunts he received — and then he processed the taunts and turned them into motivational fuel. Shaq explains: “You all know I’m sensitive, so I would go out and look for people to make me even madder. I’d walk around and people’d go like ‘ah you went 2-for-19 from the free throw line’ and it would just eat me up…I’d just go out look for people to say something to me and I’d just get real pumped up [for the next game].”
Ernie Johnson was surprised that people would heckle the 7-foot 300-pound Shaq on the street, but Shaq said they definitely did. He says they’d even flick him on the arm and taunt “is that a foul?” Note: If any of you reading this are among those who approached Shaq after a 2-for-19 performance and whacked him on the arm to taunt him, please write us with your story. We are interested in the stories of crazy people.
*Jordan famously found motivation in what other’s said about him, and his teammates would sometimes make things up if the other team was smart enough to stay silent.
