how are you pretty good welcome to the show it's a pleasure to meet you and i can't tell you i'm
speaking on behalf of sports fans all over the world it's a thrill to see an athlete like you
come into the nba thank you how are things going for you pretty much your way i guess aren't they
pretty good pretty good tell me a little bit about your uh well first of all let's talk about your
name shaquille what does that mean it's muslim oh it means a little warrior little little warrior
yeah how much did you weigh when you were born i think i was uh eight something eight i don't
know eight something 22 inches though 22 inches so this is this is like uh it's i guess a little on
the large side but not an enormous but not one of those giant babies is it no yeah and so how
tall are you now you're seven i'm seven foot one and what do you weigh 303. oh my god cool isn't it
when when you were a kid did you did you know pretty early on that basketball was
going to be your game did you play any other sports as a kid i played all sports i played
soccer i played football i played baseball were you good at soccer i used to kick people yeah
i'm not sure that's the point of the game but what when you're 303 and 7-1 who the hell cares
kick anything uh and baseball now that would have been it was there a shot that you could
have had a career in professional baseball i played pitcher you were a pitcher yeah oh my god
i used to give batters a dirty look like let me hit you with this ball
strike them up strike them out uh and so then when did you know that basketball was going to be
where you would spend your time and attention say when i was age 14 14 what happened then i was i
i was about a six five six six and i was just tall yeah and i saw her
and i saw uh dr j one day take it to the hole and slam it and i said i want to be like that yes sir
and i just dropped every other sport how was it that you uh chose the college you went to lsu how
did you pick lsu uh i was in europe i was age 14. your dad was in the service in germany right and
dale brown came over and he gave a clinic and when the clinic was over you know he was you
know he pulled some people out of the audience and he said come here he said how long you been
in the army soldier and i looked i said dale i ain't in the army bro 13. 13. where's your father
go get him right now i thought i was in trouble or something go get your father right now go get him
and ever since then it was hey yeah what was it like the first time you uh met or played with
michael jordan when was the first time what are the circumstances when you met michael jordan
the first time i met him was when i went to a recruiting visit in north carolina
uh i was getting ready to watch the university of north carolina play
and jordan came in and shook my hand in my rookie year i was in my room i mean i was at my house
laying down and i live on a golf course in florida you play golf no
whatever you want you know whatever you want live wherever you
whatever makes sense gotta think about playing a little golf though that'd be good
nope but but you know it's right there if you ever get the urge
yeah all right so you're on the golf course and michael jordan is he's playing on the course hello
i'm at home sleeping you're at home sleeping and he's playing i used to live on the third hole
and after he you know hit a hole in one he came to the house yeah knocked on the door and he knew
this was your house obviously yeah and what did he want what did he say he just said good luck
tomorrow yeah that was the first game and then how did that game go i don't know i think we won yeah
do you remember anything about your first was there a confrontation was there any offense
defense with you and michael well i remember the first time i tried to shoot the ball he blocked it
he blocked it wow what did that tell you that he can block my shot
getting nowhere fast here
can i try on your jacket
yeah try it on what what size are you about about a 40 medium all right this'll be good
like i'm in a disney movie let's just slip right into that go ahead just go ahead put
honey i shrunk the host this is nice it ripped that's all right don't
don't worry about it yes dave drinks the secret potion and he shrinks
what is the the best part about your life right now what excites you the most when
you get up in the morning and you think oh my god i've just got the world by the string
what aspect of that really excites you i just uh like being happy yeah i like being successful yeah
and i love it when my mother calls me and says i love you oh that's sweet very sweet
well right there that's the key to the whole thing regardless of the success and all of the
the fame around the world your mother calls and says that to you that's it isn't it and really
that's what life's about it is yeah right let's talk about this uh the one-on-one the
big shootout on saturday what the hell is that going to be you and hakeem elijahuan
it's not going to be a exhibition uh-huh it's going to be a real game right i'm going out
there to play art yeah but what is the format what you know he's the gentle giant by the way
it's set up like a boxing format ten rounds ten rounds two minutes around this is half
court basketball right you make a basket you get the ball back right you go to like
a 12 basket something like that no you you play for two minutes with 12 second shot clocks yeah
and have you been training for this all summer are you going to win hopefully and if you win
all rounds how much money do you get i never was good at math let me see
a hundred thousand times 10 is a million that's right
there's two million you get a pretty good head for figures don't sell yourself short
uh and and are you uh are you worried about hakeem do you guys have a relationship
off the court do you like each other you're friendly he's a good guy yeah
great player but all that's out the window i'm just gonna go out there and play hard yeah okay
and uh is it will we be seeing more of this kind of thing do you think hopefully yeah absolutely oh
well this would be fun this is a pay-per-view kind of thing right uh what time does it take
place nine o'clock nine o'clock eastern time yeah you know we have one of your shoes here and i
don't want to dwell on your size and forgive me if i'm being insensitive or indelicate
but i saw this shoe this afternoon and i you know it's it's an amazing piece of engineering work
what's what size shoe do you wear 22 22 yeah well you haven't seen anything folks
how long have you worn a is it not a chance that you're still growing is there i don't know
i hope not now yeah i think humans are generally getting larger aren't they yeah that's pretty uh
okay here it is
anton this is bigger than a lot of studio apartments here in manhattan it really is
and i'm looking at this and it's a size 22 and i'm thinking to myself well
geez if he wears a size 22 you know i'm thinking
no no no no no no no no no no no no i'm thinking what size hat do you wear
man wow that look at this it's just here we are here's me here's the shoe uh it's a great pleasure
to meet you and uh i can't be happier for all your success you just seem like a wonderful guy and
and good luck uh on saturday against uh mr elijah thank you very much for your time shaquille o'neal
you