Shaq Uncut: A Book Review
Shaq Uncut: My Story
One man has always held the claim to the most "dominant" in the NBA, and that man is Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq is not just one of the largest people to ever exist, he also has one of the most intriguing stories to tell. He grew up poor in New Jersey, lived on a military base with his father, and terrorized opposing high schools in San Antonio, all before he became a household name. Throughout his 19-year career in the NBA, Shaq won four championships, and he played for six different teams, meeting all kinds of unique individuals. Shaq Uncut: My Story, an autobiography of Shaquille O'Neal featuring Jackie Macmullan chronicles The Big Diesel's playing career and personal life.
Shaq believes he has many large influences in his life, one of which is his maternal grandmother. He attributes much of his generosity and gratitude to her, he spent much of his early life with her. Shaq's biological father did not play a role in his life, but his stepfather played a massive role in shaping Shaq into what he is today. His stepfather was a classic military father, and he always made sure to keep Shaq off the streets and safe. After Shaq moved with his stepfather to Germany to live on a military base, his stepfather's influence grew even larger. Shaq's mother helped to reinforce his grandmother's values.
Before coming to Germany, Shaq unbelievably had little experience with basketball, and when he first tried it was actually not that skilled. However, once in Germany, Shaq started to grow at a tremendous rate, while also getting much stronger and more physically skilled. The first time he tried out for a basketball team, he actually did not make the team. This failure motivated Shaq to improve, and he later made the team. Once back in America at San Antonio, Shaq dominated the country as a senior, partially due to the fact that he was as large, strong, and fast as he was. Shaq attracted national attention, eventually committing to Louisiana State University.
LSU was the first place Shaq had separation from his parents, but he still had a great with his coach. Throughout college Shaq dominated, and he was selected first overall in the 1992 NBA draft. He used opposing big man Alonzo Mourning of Georgetown as motivation to keep improving, as he wanted to be drafted first overall. Once in the NBA, Shaq had an incredible career, including winning 3 championships with the Lakers and one championship with the Heat, while dealing with controversial issues such as Kobe Bryant, Pat Riley, injury, and ageing. This book features much more anecdotes about Shaq's experience rather than basketball experience, but it still focuses heavily on Shaq's basketball experiences.
This was a great book to read, it was a lot of fun to read. Shaq is a very interesting person who has gone through a lot of tough experiences, and this book does a great job of explaining these experiences. This book has a unique writing style, Shaq is a comedic author and does a good job highlighting his life from a comedic angle. While Shaq is one of the best basketball players ever, his autobiography surprisingly features much more superhuman moments from off the court, and I think this would make this book lots of fun for anyone to read. Personally, one of my favorite things in this book was how Shaq became a certified policeman and has gone on multiple raids, but it was also very entertaining to read about how Shaq has benefited a lot of people. This was a really fun book, and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
-Collins
I guess I should've imagine it was you writing this. On to the review, I always though of Shaq as a tall, successful, funny kinda person, and he is. Though learning about how he grew up and the dedication to improve helps understand what they experienced through life. Nice review.
ReplyDeleteI was not ever expecting to see Shaq's face on a blog post, but here we are! I had no idea Shaq lived in Germany, that he was a certified policeman, or about his family dynamics. You do a great job keeping an informative but entertaining tone, and I really enjoyed reading this blog post. Awesome post!!
ReplyDeleteWow! I had no idea that Shaq was a policeman who participated in raids and that he only begun to play basketball in high school. I think this book tells a complete story of his life and you did a good job of reviewing this book. Good review!
ReplyDeleteWow, I had no idea that Shaq was a policeman, or that he only started playing basketball in high school. I think that it's an important message in his life story that because he started playing basketball in high school it tells you that it's never too late to make it and that as long as you work hard you can make it and achieve your dreams.
ReplyDeleteShaq's background goes much farther than I could have imagined. I feel like this guy has done everything there is to do in his life. For example, being tall. That's honestly crazy that this guy was once a policeman, I mean he certainly meets the standards for one.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am not the biggest fan of basketball, this book sounds like an interesting autobiography of Shaq's life; I can certainly see why you enjoyed it so much. Great review!
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