Shaquille O'Neal is like a lovable cartoon character and a beloved one. Once in a lifetime does a bigger than life personality in a bigger than everyone body embrace us like Shaq has. From challenging other professional athletes on his own show to dance-offs against other fellow NBA players. Shaq made an impromptu appearance at the hotel where the spelling bee was being held and challenged last year's Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, 14-year-old Kavya Shivashankar, to a spell-off.
She accepted Shaq's challenge and allowed him two misspelled words. Details of their face-off are TBA.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked O'Neal. "I did win the national spelling bee last year."
"Keep in mind I have my bachelor's and master's, and I'm ready to go," he said.
I will miss you Ken Griffey Jr. It's hard for me to believe that you are gone from baseball. You were my first favorite baseball player. My parents even bought me your Nike shoes and I wore those proudly. I spent hours in my backyard trying to bat left handed with the same beautiful uppercut swing that you carry. I could never replicate it perfectly, no one on this Earth can truly. You were bigger than the game of baseball, we all loved you. You stayed clean in a steroid-era, your records over a marvelous 20+ year career stands untainted. You are a surefire Hall-of-Famer. You will be remembered for having one of the best smiles in baseball. I will miss you Ken Griffey Jr., thank you for the memories.
The infamous call that caused Armando Gallaraga a perfect game could of had an ugly aftermath. The MLB could of panicked and instituted immediate instant replay rule changes. There could have been lawsuits filed, picketers outside the MLB office and a media war against umpires. None of that happened, because men stayed classy. Classier than I can ever remember.
Here is a fans perspective of the biggest missed call in MLB history:
Umpire Jim Joyce admitted his mistake and went out of his way to apologize to Gallaraga after the game. Gallaraga responded by acknowledging human beings make mistakes and thats just the nature of the game. It doesn't get classier than that, especially considering you would of been immortal in the world of baseball perfect game lore.
Gallaraga was even awarded with a brand new Corvette by the Detroit Tigers for his kindness which was presented by none other than Jim Joyce. Stay Kind my friends.
Los Angeles Lakers, you dominated Game 1. Kobe was Kobe, Gasol ran circles around Garnet, Artest showed Pierce that it won't be easy and Bynum looked good on that gimpy knee. This was the opposite image of the 2008 NBA Finals. The Celtics showed their age and looked almost defenseless against the energized Lakers. But Stay Cautious, LA.
These Celtics are filled with pride and have a champion pedigree. These are the men that stumped on title favorite Cleveland Cavaliers and last years Eastern Conference champion Orlando Magic. These are men who pride themselves on bullying you. These are men who make the other team feel like boys on the court. Doc Rivers is an expert at motivation and the Celtics will be ready to make this a competitive series. The men in Green will be determined to bring the the men in Purple and Gold.
A passionate optimistic soul who indulges himself in the irrational world of sports & food. I don the mask of sports lovers around the world wearing the bib of a food eating champion.
Why did I use the name of Hawaii's state fish as my name? It's just a great word to know. My name is Clark Matthew Pagaduan which is not as fun to say.
