Total points scored does not
equal athletic ability.
How hard is it to knock an opponent out of the way when
you outweigh him by 100+ pounds? How much "skill"
or "talent" does it take to dunk a ball when you
are seven foot two inches tall? The simple answer:
none. Anyone blessed by God to be this size can do
what Shaq does every night. This is not athletic ability;
it is simple genetics. Shaq never had to do any "work"
in order to grow to this size. Some professional players
have natural talent; other players have skills developed
by concentrated effort and discipline. Shaq has neither.
Simple greed over loyalty.
Everyone already knows of how Shaq back-stabbed the Magic
for a "few million dollars," so I won't rehash
it here...
Refusal to accept even partial
blame for failures.
Many a post-loss interview has found Shaq "mumbling"
his views on the failures of his teammates. Amazingly
enough, I have never once heard him accept even partial
blame for the losses. At the same time, Shaq is more
than willing to "ride" his teammates—many
of whom are well-rounded, talented athletes—to the
playoffs.
Movie "career."
<SARCASM> With a resume including such box-office
smashes as "Kazaam!" and "Blue Chips,"
I'm astonished that he hasn't yet won an Oscar. </SARCASM>
Total points scored does not
equal intellect.
This should be apparent to anyone who has seen Shaq play
a game; the way he "bobs" up and down the court
with that dim-witted, eyes-half-open, slack-jawed look on
his face pretty much says it all. And don't even get
me started on his "speaking" technique.
Listening to a post-game interview with Shaq would give
even the most tolerant leftist a headache.
Music "career."
If Shaq could even define a basic musical term like "dynamics,"
it would be shocking. In my view, you can't be a musician
unless you have a clue about music. Even rap (when
done well) takes some basic knowledge of performance practice
and theory. Once again, no Grammy is yet in sight.
Failure to master basic career-related
skills.
Even I can hit four of ten free throws (as of this writing,
Shaq's 1998 playoff free throw percentage is a .420), and
I never claimed to be a professional-caliber basketball
player, let alone a supposed "superstar."
The simple fact of the matter is, if you want to be a professional
basketball player, you need to be able to do more than one
thing, make more than one type of shot, and have athletic
ability in addition to simple size.
That moronic little SHAQ logo.
Are we now to believe that Shaq is some sort of cultural
icon that needs his own little identification "symbol"
(a la Mickey Mouse and his "ears" logo)?
Even Jordan doesn't seem to be that self-centered! (Whoops!
Spoke too soon!)
Blind acceptance of endorsement
contracts.
While Shaq is by no means the only athlete guilty of this,
it really does say something about ethics and character.
An endorsement should be given by someone who (a) knows
something about the product (i.e., an expert) and (b) actually
uses the product and believes it to be worthy of endorsement.
The simple fact is that celebrity endorsements are a logical
fallacy; if Shaq had taken (and passed) a basic logic course,
he would know this.
Egotistic, Egocentric, and
Egomaniacal.
These do NOT all have the same meaning, and yet they are
all applicable here... |
