It’s well known that Shaquille O’Neal was 7’1″ and 300+ lbs of fury when he got mad. Backboards and an NBA pro or two have been at the receiving end of his anger. Off the court, it was mostly furniture. The Big Aristotle has taken out the anger of defeats on anything from the locker room to his mansions. These days, Shaq looks back on his temper tantrums with humor. With the benefit of hindsight, he knows he accomplished a great feat to get over his violent tendencies. And the credit for that goes to his children.

JJ Redick returned the favor of The Big Podcast by dragging Shaq to The Old Man and the Three podcast so he could ask the hard questions. When Redick mentioned that he couldn’t imagine the kind of media coverage O’Neal would get in today’s NBA, Shaq agreed. “So in Orlando, when I first got to LA, if I lose a game, I tear my house up.” Those would be some wilder headlines than it was in the early ’00s. But it’s a thing of the past. “I had to stop when I started having children and which actually helped me.”

The biggest benefit was that O’Neal learned to put a game behind him when he returned home. Before he was a dad, he admitted he was horrible to everyone around him because he was obsessed with the game. While all his kids had a grounding effect, Shaq has mentioned before that Taahirah gets most of the credit for toning him down before the other kids.

Having children made him understand the impression and impact he had on those close to him. The dad of six said he’d go “f**king crazy” when he lost a game. He’d think about his missed shots and free throws and instead of venting in the gym, he’d destroy windows, TVs, and the furniture. But when his first child, Taahirah, was born, “Soon as I walk in the door I had to turn that off.” Looks like fatherhood has a positive impact on him and helped him curb his destructive impulses. But he racked up the number of instances of violence quite a bit before he became a father.

Shaq’s notorious temper tantrums

One of Shaq’s infamous explosive tantrums was after the Lakers were swept by the Spurs in the 1999 playoffs. O’Neal had come close to a title one too many times and this one before his first championship just stung. O’Neal got so frustrated, he reportedly trashed the restroom and pulled out five urinals off the wall. Mr Logo, Jerry West confirmed the story and revealed that he talked Shaq down from his anger.

Another memorable one for the Lakers Legend was during the 1996 Olympics gold medal game against Serbia and Montenegro. Though team USA emerged victorious, Shaq was limited in playing time to 5 minutes and couldn’t get over the apparent snub. He was so mad at his reduced minutes that he drove home directly in his uniform, and threw his gold medal out the window onto the highway!

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There was another time he confessed to Kobe Bryant that he was so mad his Lakers teammate won a fifth ring that he destroyed his house.

These would be viral stories if Shaq was in the NBA these days. But he admitted to Redick that his overly competitive tendency didn’t completely die down after retirement and kids. Today he just picks fights with NBA players on TNT. Well, whatever keeps Shaq busy, as long as it isn’t ripping the place apart.