<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Only days after Shaquille O'Neal indulges in one more public dissing of the Lakers, leveling insults at Jerry Buss, his former teammates, and, for good measure, the entire city of Los Angeles, the L.A. Times sports section chooses to run a front-page puff piece on the Diesel's Miami-inspired weight loss and training regimen. What were you thinking? Far worse than the choice and timing of that article, however, was the editorial decision to allow giant "before" and "after" pictures of Shaq to nudge aside a truly moving and thought-provoking article by J.A. Adande about the baseball team at Santa Monica High. Shaq could learn a thing or two about generous and tolerant human behavior from these kids. Ellen Smucker Los Angeles * Reasons for Phil Jackson not to come back: 1. He will be expected to do one thing, win, and now. Short of this, his mystique is, well, poof. 2. It's improbable to relive three rings in a row ? or anything close. 3. Besides those "two guys," the three-ring Lakers had Horry, Fox, Fisher, a healthy George, Shaw, Harper and others who fit in. 4. This team is hamstrung for the next three years. Why would Jackson test three more NBA years against his health? 5. He can keep everyone guessing about the Zen Master ? and laugh as he watches. Pete Sato Gardena * I don't see the point of all this fuss about Phil Jackson possibly coming back to the Lakers. With the current roster, and the salary-cap restrictions for the foreseeable future, the combination of Jackson, Larry Brown, and Red Auerbach couldn't get this team even close to the playoffs. Jack Wolf Westwood * Years of Laker pushing didn't get Shaq to lose weight, but Shaq admits that all it took was a nudge from Pat Riley to do the trick. Shaq then rips Jerry Buss for having the nerve to suggest that it took being traded to Miami to motivate Shaq to lose weight. What am I missing (other than that Shaq has turned into the Big Spinmeister)?</div> Source
In the past Shaq could get away with not being in shape because he was young and a monster. Now he is getting older and if he never lost weight, he proably wouldn't have been able to play this season with much effort.
