Defending the Shaq

Shaq has come under a blitz of fire lately for throwing the Heat under a bus. This is nothing unusual for him, as he's just as well known for his destructive exists as his mammoth entrances.

I'm not going to defend Shaq's actual comments. You can read about them here. DSponge, a respected member of our staff, had his own share of criticism for Shaq, and I vowed to launch a retort.

Does Shaq have emotional problems? Absolutely, and they're not the kind Dr. Phil can solve in Scary Movie 4. Has he burned bridges with his former teams? Yes. Did he do the same with the Heat? Yes.

But slamming Shaq for sharing a few plain words about the state of the Heat is a poor use of verbiage. Everything he said about Chris Quinn, Pat Riley, and the Heat this year just happens to be the truth. Pat Riley is equally no stranger to throwing his former teams under the bus (see Lakers, Knicks, Heat prior-to-Stan Van Gundy), and what he did to Stan Van Gundy is worse than anything Shaq ever said.

Let's also not forget how Shaq was berated this year. The guy is old! What more motivation would you expect from the large, detiorarating cyclops of charisma on a last place team? Between his wife cheating on him, the blame directed his way, and now the love he's receiving in Phoenix, I think we can understand why he'd make some of those comments.

Is he to be admired for them? No. Should he be forgiven? I say yes. Go Suns!