Shaq, Shaq, He’S The Man

“Shaquille O’Neal has played as well this year as anybody who has ever played,” Bill Walton said in an interview with Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune:

“I voted for Shaq as most valuable player of the year. I voted for Shaq for defensive player of the year. I voted for Shaq for most improved player of the year.”

Add Shaq

And this from Lakers forward Rick Fox: “He’s in another league. His game is not fair anymore.”

Why bother playing?

“The NBA playoffs do not hold the same fascination these days, rather like being an in-law at a family reunion,” Bernie Lincicome writes in the Chicago Tribune.

“You know the faces, you know the foibles, but you have to make an effort to care.

“So when the Lakers get the big prize sometime in June, we shall try to feel good for the Zen master, Phil Jackson, for he then shall be certifiably a great coach and not just the quirky conductor of the Michael Jordan Express.

“Here’s how I see it:

“The Knicks beat the Pacers in the East and the Lakers beat Portland in the West. The only question is if the Lakers will lose one game or none.”

A vote for reason

Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post, on John Rocker: “We have become a nation obsessed with celebrity. And if somebody reaches that celebrity status by being notorious, then so be it.

“… We stopped being discerning a while ago when it comes to celebrity worship. Seems we can no longer tell the difference between 15 minutes of fame and 15 minutes of shame.”

It isn’t brain surgery

Montreal Gazette columnist Jack Todd wasn’t pleased to see the Sports Network in Canada hire deposed New York Rangers general manager Neil Smith as a game analyst.

“On any given Monday afternoon, there are 352,561 guys sitting in Montreal taverns who know more about hockey than Neil Smith - and more about money too,” Todd wrote.

We weren’t aware there’s any broadcast analyst who really knows what he’s saying.

The last word …

“Nice of the Broncos to pick Jarious Jackson in the seventh round the other day. If they hadn’t, Notre Dame would have had one fewer player drafted than Hofstra and Harvard. Wake up the echoes? Try waking up the recruiting coordinator.”

- Jim Armstrong in the Denver Post.