Did you know that Dario Saric is from the same town as the late, great Drazen Petrovic? Did you know that O’Neal is technically an Irish name? Most importantly, did you know that due to the colonial nature of United States history, there are towns all over America that share a name with their European counterparts? For Shaquille O’Neal’s family, a common name is all two Dublins share.
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Ireland is a beautiful country, full of lush, verdant fields and hills and the foggy beauty of a land with so much left to be discovered. Dublin is a bustling city with a growing music scene and a shocking amount of heart for a town with under 600 thousand people. Shaq would suit it, like an urban legend with a now public facing persona.
Dublin, Georgia, by comparison, is proof that name, image, and likeness do not carry over from sports. While it can boast some wildlife, the terrible, swamp-like weather and general dilapidation of the town itself leaves much to be desired.
Shaq has visited both Dublins, as he went into on the Big Podcast, but has more appreciation for the latter than most would expect. His Irish “heritage” is not as pertinent to him as his familial connection to Georgia.
“I’ve been to Ireland,” started Shaq, “but my O’Neals … come from Dublin, Georgia. My daughter took a trip to Dublin, Georgia, and she was mad as s***. There was a plantation … and inside the main part of the house, they had a picture of me.”
Adam Lefkoe responded with what many were thinking, “You know some racist white guy is just like, ‘I knew his pappy’s pappy.'” Shaq remembered his daughter having a similar reaction, as “she wanted to buy it. She wanted to buy it and burn it down.”
Shaq is not a Georgia native. He was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. He lived in Louisiana while attending LSU. However, his mom, Lucille, was born down in Dublin to a struggling household before moving up north and having Shaq at just 17 years old.
The O’Neal family has had a difficult life, by and large, and the return to Dublin showed that it has been that way for generations. For Shaq, however, the new era of the O’Neal family started with him, and he will surely continue to foster the family tree and protect his kids from what he and his relatives saw.
