I Will Miss You Shaq- Stay In The Public Eye!

Shaquille O'Neal, my favorite Irish basketball player(LOL), has announced his intention to retire from the NBA. I will miss you for reasons beyond the thundering dunks and complete physical domination that has been the hallmark of your storied NBA career.

You approached the game with the joy of a child. Whether you knew it or not, your playful character and funny quotes tapped into the inner-child and youth of basketball fans. Let's face it. Getting to the NBA is a longshot for most people. So while you have destroyed the league for 20 years with your physical domination, millions of players have hung up their shoes and now live thru their heroes and I would venture to say that you are among the greatest NBA players ever. You are adored by many and have provided a lot of joy for NBA fans. Americans love basket ball and you have transcended the sport with your larger than life personality. Fans love players with a personality. Those sports stars that are brash, non-media friendly and unable to connect with fans don't get it. As big as your career and stats have been, your ability to reach average people and entertain has been amazing. I am sad to see you go but hope you will continue to use your gifts to touch people. This is who you are! "The Big Entertainer"!

You have so much to offer. Your voluntary public experiment documenting a study of your sleep and bringing attention to sleep apnea, may help a ton of people who become aware of this problem thru your celebrity and notoriety. This is a tremendous way to give back to the public who has rooted for and against you for 19 NBA seasons. I encourage you to remain in the public eye because people pay attention to you. They may not always agree with you, but your fun loving demeanor commands attention to a degee that you may use to the benefit of many people. Whatever your time and effort goes in retirement, people will watch. Continue to do the things you do "Super Man", "Diesel" and The "Big Aristotle". Thank you for helping the Lakers return to glory. Thank you for being you. I wish you nothing but the best and hope to see you in the media, doing your thing!

Dirk Better Call Kobe And Chuck Person

Despite being heart broken that the Lakers were swept by the Mavericks, I have resigned myself to being okay with the Dallas Mavericks winning the NBA Championship over Miami. Yes, I am also one of the biggest haters of Lebron James and that is not likely to change. I simply don't like anything about him other than I can point out what is painfully obvious to Non-Heat fans, and that is that he is probably the best player in the NBA currently.

So game 1 between the Heat and Mav's was close until the end. The Heat made big shots, Dallas had an off nite. Having watched the Mavs all year, you could confidently say they will bounce back, but Dirk has torn the tendons in his middle finger on his non-shooting hand. It remains to be seen if this will affect Dallas' star center and his scoring.

If this has potential to affect Dirk and his shooting, the first call I would make is to Kobe Bryant. Noone can guarantee a seething Kobe Bryant will take the call but he would be a start. Knowing that Phil Jackson's staff is gone with the hire of Mike Brown, I would offer Chuck Person some money to come out and advise Dirk on splints and how to overcome them. As I have learned, Chuck has been quite an asset to Kobe with regards to playing with what could be a season ending injury and surgery for other players. We don't know how bad it is and even if it is horrible Dirk and the Mavs will downplay it until they are forced to concede Dirk is struggling because of it.

My hope is that Dallas rebounds nicely and they get back in this series. The thought of a Lebron James led championship is simply nauseating! Let's go Dirk! This may be your last chance, mangled finger or not.