Who gives a shit? Not me. How about this though...
After the game, when the ball was given to Shaq, it was discovered that someone had scribbled an "insulting expletive" onto the ball sometime between just before halftime and the end of the game. Who could have done it? Oh, probably anybody in the arena. Let's recap.
Sacramento hates the Lakers...mainly Shaq. After Mike Bibby made the US national team, Shaq made a comment about how Bibby was not even in the same league as the other National players...which, of course, pissed Mike & 90% of the city of Sacramento off.
Shaq was probably pretty excited as they announced his accomplishment to the Sacramento fans at halftime of the game that he finally hit the milestone...but, instead of cheering him for joining the other 27 NBA players to hit 20,000, the Sacramento fans booed him...something that I find to be absolutely hilarious.
Fast forward to the incident. Just before halftime, the Lakers' Public Relations Director had the ball in his possession and, of course, there was nothing written.
It's suspected that a Kings employee that was working on the floor did it (perhaps a player, towel boy, someone like that); however, it really could have been anyone that came in contact with the ball a'tall...including fans.
It doesn't really make much sense to me that it would have been a fan though. I mean, this isn't really the type of thing that you dream up before you go to the game. The fan would have had to have the pen or marker on him, ready to write quickly & gotten lucky as hell to come in contact with the game ball. Odds just don't point to that scenario.
On Sportscenter, they said the ball read, "Shaq is a...blank"; however, on espn's website it simply says it was an "insulting expletive."
I think the big son of a bitch deserves it. He declines and invitation to be on the National team and then criticizes other players that are selected. He's a douchebag. Also, for those of you that don't know, he missed a good chunk of the beginning of this season due to recovering from surgery on his toe. Whilst reading a magazine, I read a bit of an interview with him. When asked why he didn't have the surgery in the off-season, he responded, "Well, I figured that I broke my toe on the job...so I should have my recovery time on the job too." Honestly, there are millions that would kill to play one minute in the NBA...and this bastard actually goes through his off-season with pain in his toe JUST so that he can get even with the NBA by forcing them to give him "time off."
Also, look at Grant Hill. He went in for his 4th ankle surgery last Tuesday in an attempt to fix the problem that's been haunting him for a few years now...making him miss 161 games in the past 5 yrs (including the rest of this yr that he's going to miss). He's got an assload of money...more than he could possibly spend, yet he's going through another surgery in hopes that he can return and actually play...all this whilst Shaq dilly-dallies around so he can sit the bench for a few. What a jackass.
Maybe the next "fan" to get ahold of Mr. O'Neal's prize gameball will write their insult in anthrax. Let's hope such is the case.
[This message has been edited by Orgazmo (edited March 23, 2003).]
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