Having established himself as one of the most accomplished NBA players of all time, it’s easy to forget that Shaquille O’Neal actually gave football a shot in his youth. In 2017, Shaq would sit it down with Deion Sanders and expand upon his NFL aspirations. The interview ended with O’Neal talking about what his touchdown celebration would’ve looked like.
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“What I would do of course, is I would get the ball and go to the goalpost and dunk it with two hands and I would try to bring the goalpost down. That would be my signature celebration. Just try to bring the whole thing down.”
Paying homage to his basketball career, Shaq came up with a hilarious proposition and it had everything to do with his innate ability to tear down basketball rims.
24 years ago, during the 1992-93 season, the Big Aristotle was a rookie in the NBA. He had an exceptional season and even made the All-Star team that same year. However, the highlight of the season came in the game where he absolutely obliterated the rim with a dunk encapsulated within the realm of absurdity.
Fortunately for Shaq, no matter how funny his answer was, dunking on the goalpost would have made for a great celebration. After all, the same year he spoke with Sanders, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell eased the restrictions on celebrations. This led to the creation of a lot of fun ones, one of which could have even been the iconic dunk, only this time on the goalpost.
Shaq may not have had an NFL celebration, but he did have an iconic NBA one
Shaquille O’Neal may not have gotten to do an iconic NFL celebration, but he did have an iconic NBA one. Going back to the 1999-2000 NBA season, Shaq pulled off an iconic celebration in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. After throwing down a monster dunk following an iconic alley-oop from Kobe Bryant, Shaq turned to the crowd with amazement in his eyes.
Pointing to his son Shareef O’Neal in the stands, the four-time NBA Champion started running in excitement with his hands up in the air. In fact, he even described the moment as the proudest in his career on an episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls back in 2016.
It isn’t exactly the most orthodox of celebrations, but neither is ripping down a goalpost. Nevertheless, it’s nice to know that the celebration holds a special place in Shaq’s heart.
