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Thursday, December 14, 2000
Shaq fulfills promise of getting his LSU degree
Associated Press
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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Shaquille O'Neal has earned a new
nickname -- The Big Graduate.
The Los Angeles Lakers' star will receive his diploma at Louisiana State University on
Friday, causing him to miss the game that night against the Vancouver
Grizzlies in Staples Center.
O'Neal will miss the game with his team's blessing -- and won't be docked any of his $19.286 million season salary.
"Here he is, almost 30, and he's graduating from college,"
Lakers coach Phil Jackson said after practice Monday. "He's
persevered to do it. We wish him well in his graduation, it's a
wonderful thing to do."
The 28-year-old O'Neal, who left LSU after three years to turn
pro in 1992, will receive a bachelor of arts degree in general
studies.
"I could be anything I want -- I could take your job, I could be
a lawyer," he told reporters with a smile. "There's real life and
there's fairy tale life. This is real life."
O'Neal will go through a graduation ceremony Friday morning,
then have his jersey No. 33 retired at halftime of the LSU-New
Orleans game Saturday night, joining Bob Pettit and Pete Maravich
as the only LSU basketball players to have their numbers retired.
O'Neal will rejoin the Lakers in time for a game Sunday at
Toronto.
"I promised my parents I'd do it, I promised myself I'd do
it," O'Neal said of earning his degree. "It took eight years, it
should have taken six or seven. I had some other engagements."
O'Neal led the Lakers to their first NBA championship in 12
years last June. After falling one vote shy of becoming the first
unanimous MVP selection ever, he coined another in a series of
nicknames for himself -- The Big Aristotle.
"I'm the first graduate of LSU to graduate in crayon biology,"
O'Neal joked. "I'm excited about it, it gives me something to fall
back on. You need your stamp to prove you're an educated man; I'm
an educated man. The money's always nice, you need an education to
manage your money."
More seriously, he said: "The organization has been gracious
enough to let me go. I thought (finishing school) would be easy,
but it was kind of hard. Thank God for the Internet."
O'Neal said he was measured for a cap and gown last summer, and
only completed his work recently, finishing classes in political
science and agriculture.
"I turned in a (geology) paper a couple of days ago," he said.
Dale Brown, LSU's coach from 1972-97, said missing a game showed
how much graduation meant to O'Neal.
"He made a promise to his mother and to me," Brown said. "I
know it was the one to his mother that really counted, but I'm
touched that he kept it for both of us.
"It was the last thing I told him when he walked out the door -- 'No matter what else you do, get your degree."'
O'Neal's teammates expressed their support, and don't seem to
mind that he'll miss a game.
"It's good for him to go get that diploma, he might need it for
a job application," Rick Fox said. "We're going to have to
conduct business as if he's in foul trouble. I think he's setting a
huge example for a lot of kids and athletes."
"I think it's good for him, congratulations, that's a great
accomplishment," Kobe Bryant said. "I think at this particular
time, it's more important than a game."
When asked if the opponent had been San Antonio, Utah or
Portland instead of Vancouver, Jackson replied: "We didn't even
consider that when we talked about it this summer."
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