It’s well known that Shaquille O’Neal was 7’1″ and 300+ lbs of fury. Backboards and an NBA pro or two have been at the receiving end of his anger. Off the court, it was mostly furniture. The Big Aristotle has taken out the anger of defeats on anything from the locker room to his mansions. These days, Shaq looks back on his violent temper tantrums with humor. With the benefit of hindsight, he knows he did a great thing getting over his violent tendencies. A big credit for that goes to his family....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE
JJ Redick returned the favor of The Big Podcast by dragging Shaq to The Old Man and the Three podcast so he could ask the hard questions. When Redick mentioned that he couldn’t imagine the kind of media coverage O’Neal would get in today’s NBA, Shaq agreed. “So in Orlando, when I first got to LA, if I lose a game, I tear my house up.” Those would be some wild headlines than it was in the early ’00s. But it’s a thing of the past. “I had to stop when I started having children and which actually helped me.”
The dad of six said he’d go “f**king crazy” when he lost a game. He’d think about his missed shots and free throws and instead of venting in the gym, he’d destroy windows, TVs and the furniture. But when his first child, Taahirah, was born, “soon as I walk in the door I had to turn that off.”
The benefit of it was that O’Neal learned to put a game behind him when he returned home. Before he was a dad, he admitted he was horrible to everyone around him because of his obsession with the game. While all his kids had a grounding effect, Shaq has mentioned before that Taahirah gets most of the credit for toning him down before the other kids came along. This saved his career, because as Redick said, O’Neal would’ve been a trending story every day for bad reasons.
Shaq’s infamous tantrums
One of Shaq’s infamous temper tantrums was after the Lakers were swept by the Spurs in the 1999 playoffs. O’Neal had come close to a title one too many times and this one before his first championship just stung. O’Neal got so frustrated, he reportedly tore up the restroom and pulled out five urinals off the wall. Mr Logo, Jerry West confirmed the story and revealed that he talked Shaq down his anger.
This would be a whirlwind story if Shaq was in the NBA today. There was once a time he confessed to Kobe Bryant that he was so mad his Lakers teammate won a fifth ring that he destroyed his house.
But he admitted to Redick that his overly competitive tendency didn’t completely die down after retirement and kids. Today he picks fights with NBA players on TNT. Whatever keeps Shaq busy.