After eight years as a star with the Los Angeles Lakers, O'Neal played yesterday against the Lakers as a member of the Miami Heat, and won.
Shaquille O'Neal came to Los Angeles to play Santa Claus to 250 kids Friday morning, reported The Associated Press, and it did not matter to a single one that the grinning basketball star was no longer a member of the home team.
But Friday, he was "Shaq-A-Claus" as he pulled up to the Challengers Boys & Girls Club in South Los Angeles in a truck filled with bicycles, Sony Playstations, karaoke machines, sneakers and other gifts.
For several hours, O'Neal, joined by teammate Damon Jones, handed out gifts to the crowd. O'Neal bought many of the gifts himself during an early morning visit to the Toys-R-Us store in Santa Monica on Friday after arriving in town from a Thursday game in Sacramento.
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Big number
80
Yards rushing that Falcons quarterback Michael Vick needs to break Bobby Douglass' mark of 968 for yards rushing by a QB in a season.
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"He gives back a lot to us," said 16-year-old Dwayne Gibbons, who received a video game console from O'Neal.
"He went back to Miami, but he doesn't forget about us. That's why I love him."
Trivia time
Who was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1982?
Get the fire extinguisher
Bowl games are permitted to give players mementos worth no more than $350 under rules from the NCAA, reported Bloomberg News Service.
Some games go for the latest consumer electronics, like the Fiesta and Insight bowls, which are including iPods in their gifts. While the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans is including a portable DVD player, it's the mini-barbecue grill that has 6-foot-1, 264-pound Virginia Tech defensive lineman Darryl Tapp excited.
"Man, that's sweet," the 20-year-old Tapp said. "I like to eat after curfew sometimes, so I might be cooking my own food in the hotel room."
Quotes of the month
From The Orlando Sentinel: "I thought rednecks were supposed to be laid-back, but apparently Chad didn't get the memo." – New York Jets guard Pete Kendall, reacting to QB Chad Pennington's lecture-like diatribe against the Big Apple media, which ripped him for declining interviews after last week's victory over Seattle. Pennington grew up in Tennessee and played college football in West Virginia at Marshall.
D.C. mayor Anthony Williams on the Nationals and the decision not to name Washington's new baseball team the Senators. "We don't have senators here. Give us two senators, and I'll be happy to call them the Senators."
Trivia answer
Second baseman Steve Sax of the Dodgers.
