The Credits: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

by wondahbap on Nov 12, 2011 2:01 PM PST in Credits

Starring Shaq, Isiah Thomas, and the Lockout (of course).

Much More after the Jump...

Lakers Links:

Lockout and other NBA related Links:

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Shaq Uncut: My Story

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7200821/my-story

We celebrated a little too long and a little too hard. There were too many parties, too many commercials, too many celebrations. We lost our edge.

I showed up to training camp without any chance of making my target of 13 percent body fat.

The body fat crusade was on overdrive and I was tired of it. Tired of walking around drinking water twenty four hours a day. Tired of eating food for rabbits. I told the guys, “Do you honestly think Riley was doing this in LA? Do you really think he was pinching Magic Johnson’s waistline every day?”

Was Magic known for being lazy and out of shape? Did Magic ever say he should “heal on company time?”

They hooked us up to heart monitors and had these television sets with everyone’s name on it so they could measure our heart rates. Each one of us had to keep it at a certain level depending on our age, weight, and height. Pat would pace back and forth checking the numbers…
…It was demeaning, but we figured out a way to rig it.

Our team got off to a terrible start. On the night we raised our championship banner, Chicago crushed us by 42 points. We lost eight of our first twelve games.

On top of that, I hurt my knee against Houston just six games into the season. At first we thought I had hyperextended it but it turned out to be torn cartilage. I had arthroscopic surgery and missed 35 games.

I’m sure being fat and out of shape contributed to that.

I’m not going to lie. It stung me. If he had just pulled me aside and said, “Hey, this isn’t working anymore. It’s time for you to go,” we could have talked business. We could have avoided all the ugly s—- that’s gone down since then.

Talk business? Like what? Getting paid $20 million per season to play? Pat Riley shouldn’t even need to feel Shaq was dogging it. Mr. “If I get hurt on company time…”

And then, just like that, I’m gone.

For the second team in a row.

Silver Screen and Roll

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by wondahbap on Nov 12, 2011 2:14 PM PST reply actions

One thing that pisses me off the most about Shaq is that his accounts of events, with any team that he has been on, has always been with a point of view that points him as the victim. He somehow finds a way to say that he messed up but still blame the whole scenario on someone or something else.

"Hate me or love me. Its one or the other; always has been. Hate my game, my swagger. Hate my fadeaway, my hunger. Hate that I'm a veteran. A champion. Hate that. Hate it with all your heart. And hate that I'm loved for the exact same reasons." - Kobe Jelly Bean Bryant

by Jelly Bean on Nov 12, 2011 3:56 PM PST up reply actions

Exactly

How are you gonna get paid ridiculous amounts of cash, not stay in shape, then act like the guy who was trying to keep you in shape was at fault or something? I loved Shaq as a player, but god damn

by Aethereal on Nov 12, 2011 6:24 PM PST up reply actions

If he stayed in great shape he would've had a long career like Kareem...

"You said you was king, you lied through your teeth For that fuck your fillings, instead of getting crowned you're getting capped"
-Eminem
"Chris was simply the best I have ever seen. He would stay in the gym for hours, launching threes from everywhere inside halfcourt, in repetitions that spoke more of obsession than dedication. Chris practiced with fear, with a sort of cold sweated abandon, like he had been let out of hell to play ball one last time." -MATTHEW PIERCE

by Ray DLC on Nov 12, 2011 7:49 PM PST up reply actions