Imago
Jan 19, 2025; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Former NBA player Shaquille O’Neal sits courtside during the first half between the Florida Gators and the LSU Tigers at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
Imago
Jan 19, 2025; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Former NBA player Shaquille O’Neal sits courtside during the first half between the Florida Gators and the LSU Tigers at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
Everybody in America loves football! Or do they? That’s a debatable question. A significant portion of the population are avid football fans. When they’re not watching the games, they’re talking about them. Shaquille O’Neal appears to be one of them, as he once even considered a career in the NFL. With the Super Bowl approaching, the excitement and tension are high, but not for O’Neal’s eldest daughter.
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Why do we think that? Amidst the celebration of the Super Bowl and the thrill of who will clinch the title between the Chiefs and Eagles, Taahirah openly expressed her opinion on sports. She is rather excited about Janet Jackson’s latest concert tour. Sharing a picture from the concert, she wrote, “because f**k that football game.”
The concert is being held at the Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas. It began on December 30, 2024, and will run through May 31, 2025. For Taahirah, her priorities were clear. It’s perfectly fine to not like something that everyone else does. After all, there are plenty of Taylor Swift fans who didn’t even know about the NFL.
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Football is incredibly popular in America, and the fan base of NFL players is massive. After Swift started dating Chiefs star Travis Kelce, many of her fans began tuning in to the sport, further adding to its already immense following.
Taahirah also shared several snaps and snippets of herself enjoying the concert while grooving to the music. What would her father think, who seemingly has a love for the sport. After all, he played football and almost ended up playing in the NFL?
Shaquille O’Neal chose NBA over NFL
O’Neal’s love for football is well known. It wasn’t basketball that the 4x NBA champ had initially wished to play. Considering his physique and skills, he would have been a formidable player on the gridiron.
He himself had a similar opinion. However, he chose basketball. Why? Well, recalling his childhood, O’Neal once shared that his father came home one day with a newspaper that had an interesting story.
The headline was about Atlanta Hawks center Jon Koncak. The story detailed that Koncak had signed a $15 million deal over three years. O’Neal immediately knew what he had to do. He was dominant in both sports but chose basketball because of how lucrative the offers were. “I didn’t think I had enough for football, so I switched to basketball,” the Los Angeles Lakers legend said on The Big Podcast.
Fascinating. But wasn’t so for O’Neal’s opponents, who got torched by the basketball legend dual skills in one place.
Written by
Edited by
Masaba Naqvi