President Joe Biden recently suggested the Hawkeyes to join the national champion LSU Tigers in a visit to Washington, DC, an idea that was almost universally dismissed by players and pundits alike before being walked back. NBA legend Shaquille O’ Neal has opened up on the matter.
Shaquille O’ Neal comments on the matter
The NBA superstar-turned-TNT analyst, it wasn’t about sportsmanship or “participation trophies,” as suggested by “The Big Podcast” co-host Nischelle Turner — though he was hesitant to come out and say what he believed.
“No, but that’s not what it was about,” O’Neal said. “That’s not what it was about. I want people to use their imaginations. You know what it was about. I’m not going to mention it. You know what it was about, right?”
“We can say it,” Turner said. “It became a race issue. It became a team of all black girls beating a team of all white girls. That’s what it became.”
“I don’t like to throw that word around,” Shaq said.
Shaq made four trips to the White House as an NBA champ over his 19-season career.
“So, in the history of me going to the White House and all the champions going to the White House, we never even mentioned the second team, right?” Shaq, who helped campaign for Joe Biden in 2020, said. “But the fact that it was that versus that. And the other, that lost, that’s when they wanted to make it a participation. ‘Oh they lost but they were there and all that.’”
