Shaq Says Goodbye to Basketball

June 4th, 2011 | By

After 19 years of playing basketball, Shaquille O’Neal is finally choosing to retire. A lot of folks thought he would retire a couple of years ago. And this year, people thought that the Boston Celtics would make it to the championship, if not win the altogether. But there was no final championship won by Shaq. In fact, he was hardly in the PlayOffs due to an injury.

At age 39, Shaq made his retirement official in a video that was posted on Twitter.

“Never thought this day would come,” O’Neal said. “Father Time has finally caught up with Shaquille O’Neal.”

The video was posted on Wednesday, confirming the speculations that had been thrown around over the past couple of weeks. Of course, his goodbye video could have been short, but he decided to thank everyone, including his father who disciplined him and his mother who used to sneak him cake, milk and cookies. He has six children who had made an apology to because of his schedule demands that’s kept him away. He also thanked his brothers and sisters, David Stern, the camaraderie in the locker room and the six teams he’s played on throughout his career.

“And I’m really going to miss the free throws,” deadpanned O’Neal, a notoriously bad foul-shooter.

He went as far to even say that he isn’t even going to come back to coach anyone, but he will coach his three sons. His career has left him with 28,596 points, 13,099 rebounds, four championships, 15 All-Star selections and three NBA finals MVP awards.

The 2011 All-Star Weekend

February 20th, 2011 | By

The 2011 All-Star Weekend was filled with lots of fashion, parties and fun – not to mention, games. Before we go into the fashion, let’s have a flashback of the weekend. On Friday, the Sophomore vs. Rookies game, the rookies won for the second year in a row. Then during the celebrity game, Justin Bieber was named MVP (go figure). Then tonight, the West beat the East once again in the All-Star game.

Now, onto the fashion. Lebron and Jay-Z threw a “2 Kings” annual dinner party, which attracted P. Diddy, Drake, Rihanna and other notables in the music and sports industries. It’s a dinner that is held for networking and for fellowship amongst stars. Jay-Z showed up wearing a grey tux with dark grey trim and a white shirt and bowtie. Diddy showed up wearing a slim all black suit and a pair of fashion sunglasses.

On Saturday of All-Star weekend, there were two sneaker launches – Ron Artest’s Ball’n line and Snoop Dogg’s Adidas X Snoop Dogg limited-edition sneakers. Ron Artest’s party took place at the Roosevelt Hotel and Snoop’s was at the Standard Hotel. Of course, Snoop didn’t get on stage til after 1 in the morning, but when he did he was wearing a Laker gold track ket that had the Adidas signature three stripes in purple. It also had 16 squares on the back that represented the Lakers’ NBA titles.

“Adidas is what real hip-hop is all about,” he enthused at one point. “They … with Snoop Dogg in a real way, you know?” he said at another, using a not-fit-for-a-family-newspaper colloquialism.
The athletes of the All-Star game entered the Staples Stadium wearing Adidas uniforms that were designed to pay homage to L.A. and the milestone of the All-Star game.

Jay-Z Tries to Bring Lebron James to the Nets

July 4th, 2010 | By

Word has it that hip hop mogul Jay-Z and the coach (Avery Johnson) and owner (Mikhail Prokhorov) of the New Jersey Nets basketball team is looking to swoon Lebron James to their team. They made a presentation with the intent to woo him into wanting to join them. The pitch lasted 90 minutes and consisted of a variety of other team officials.

Lebron James, a two-time NBA MVP, became a free agent at midnight on July 1st. There has been a lot of speculation regarding which team he will choose. Rumors have spread, saying that he is trying to team up with Dwayne Wade and Ray Allen on Miami Heat. Everyone has their views on where they would like to see Lebron James and other free agents end up this summer, but in the end it will all be up to free agents.

“Prokhorov left with a few members of the Nets’ entourage at 12:43 p.m. Lagging a few minutes behind them was Jay-Z , a close friend of James, who was sitting in the back seat of a black sedan leaving the garage as the Knicks’ motorcade – 2 sedans and 2 SUVs – pulled in,” the AP wrote.

There are some rumors that Jay-Z has a meeting with Lebron James and supposedly went well.

“I think it went well,” New York coach Mike D’Antoni told The Associated Press. “But obviously everyone that gets the chance to talk to him will probably say same the same thing.”

Celebrities Spotted at All-Star Game

February 16th, 2010 | By

The All-Star game took place on Valentine’s Day at the Dallas, Texas stadium (the new and biggest basketball stadium with about 90,000 seats). The goal of this stadium was to be the biggest stadium that allows the most viewers per game. It was a great pick for the All-Star game this past weekend, which was filled to capacity. Among the thousands of fans were many popular celebrities. If you were watching the All-Star game, you may have seen some A-Listers like Gabrielle Union, hip hop artist Jay-Z, Jamie Foxx, Sean Diddy Combs and Spike Lee, among others. Even Kobe Bryant was sitting on the sidelines — he was supposed to be in the All-Star game, but he ended up getting his foot injured, during a prior game.

Some of the All-Star players that made it include Lebron James, Jason Kidd, Dirk Norwitzki, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade and Dwight Howard, among others. The West Coast was leading the game in the beginning, but the East soon caught up, tying them twice. During the fourth quarter, they were tied up. The last couple of seconds ticked by as they continued to foul one another, and finally the East Coast took the title. Dwayne Wade was granted MVP, with 28 points, 11 assists and 5 rebounds. Not bad at all. The All-Star game was the final event of a great All-Star weekend. On Friday, it was the celebrity game and Rookie vs. Sophomore game. Then on Saturday it was the slam dunk contest, three point contest, horse and two other challenges.