Athletes at all levels are tremendously superstitious people, and they often have pre-game rituals in place to ensure the best possible performance during games. Shaquille O’Neal too was a partaker in this age-old athletic indulgence. The Laker legend was famously quoted saying his pregame ritual consisted of eating 2 turkey club sandwiches, french fries, pineapple soda, and 4 hours of sleep. But his mother Lucille once revealed that her son had another pre-game ritual, one that involved her and was an adorable change of pace from his usual tough guy personality.
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She sat down with Sheinelle Jones over 5 years ago and discussed how she made time for her son, despite being a mother of 4. Lucille revealed how it was important to Shaq that he be able to see her during his games as a child, so she’d make sure to wink at him from the stands and give him a smile. Lucille revealed that they did this till he got into the NBA, and then they tweaked their ritual to fit the demands of the league.
Even as a professional, Shaq was younger than his counterparts, having joined the league at 19. Lucille confessed she traveled with him for the entirety of his rookie season, and would give him a piece of gum before the games, followed by a kiss. They held this tradition for a year, and then he eventually told her that he could take care of himself. She recalled,
“I used to wink my eyes at Shaquille, he could see that far. So I gave him a wink and a smile, and he would play his game. But by the time he got to the NBA, we had a ritual. I’d give him bubble gum, and then I’d give him a kiss, and then I’d say, ‘Play your game.’ As a grown man, but he went to the league early, he was 19, and I travelled with him for the first year.”
Shaq’s pre-game ritual with his mother showcased the 7-footer’s soft side, a welcome change, given he was an unstoppable force of nature whenever he stepped onto the floor.
However, Lucille revealed that she and Shaq had another custom during his playing days, but this was something the big man didn’t enjoy a lot, and eventually asked her to change.
Shaquille O’Neal’s free-throw situation
A notoriously bad free-throw shooter, Shaq shot a dismal 52.7% from the free-throw line over his career, and his mother knew that this was a cause of great disappointment to him. She spoke about how she attempted to improve her son’s free-throw shooting by providing him with some motivation. As she revealed on ‘Sway’s Universe’, she’d hold up a sign that read ‘bend your knees’ whenever Shaq went to the FT line and tried to make eye contact with him to let him know about how he should go about his shots. She said,
“I got a sign one day, and I was holding it up in the arena. it said, ‘bend your knees, bend you knees.’ So we would have eye contact, but he told me one day ‘I don’t need that sign, I would like for you to not put it up anymore.’ I said, ‘Don’t worry about that, just play your game, and have fun. just have fun.'”
Unfortunately, the Lakers legend didn’t like that, and that tradition soon stopped. She instead would just tell him to have fun, almost indicating to him that he knew the best way to fix his issues, and her tips were just from a maternal concern point of view.
