“The Greatest of the Universe”: Shaquille O’Neal Using Queen’s Song to Lay Claim to ‘GOAT’ Title Resurfaces on Reddit

Shaquille O’Neal has often weighed in on the GOAT debate. Someone of his caliber can easily be a top prospect for the title. However, Shaq has time and again spoken about wanting the Most Dominant Ever tag attached to his legacy rather than the GOAT label. But at one point in time in his career, Shaq hilariously claimed the GOAT title by singing a Queen song. The clip of the Big Aristotle singing his version of the “Princes of the Universe” recently resurfaced on Reddit.

Shaquille O’Neal has been one of the funniest players in league history. Even though many analysts regarded Shaq as “unserious”, his on-court as well as off-court antics often left everyone in splits. The Los Angeles Lakers legend’s interactions with the media were especially hilarious to watch. An amusing personality, the 2000 Most Valuable Player once entertained an interviewer by butchering one of Queen’s most popular songs.

Shaquille O’Neal once indirectly called himself the GOAT

During his stint in the NBA, Shaq once regarded himself as the GOAT in a hilarious manner. In the middle of an interview, the 7-feet-1 big man sang Queen’s “Princes of the Universe”, but made a slight modification to the iconic number.

Shaq switched the word “princess” with “greatest” as he praised himself. O’Neal sang “Shaq, haa, he’s the greatest of the universe”. Take a look at the video that was posted by u/Based_and_JPooled on Reddit.

Shaq, haa, he’s the greatest of the universe
by u/Based_and_JPooled in nba

If the time period of the interview is around the 2003-2004 or 2004-2005 season, then “Superman” had already built a pretty stacked trophy cabinet. Apart from being the league MVP in 2000 and winning two scoring titles, O’Neal also won 3 Finals MVPs during the Lakers’ three-peat from 2001-2003.

Certainly, the Diesel was already an established all-time great. Only two Centers were ranked above him – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain – even before he won a fourth title.

Shaq wasn’t always in a fun mood

Not always was Shaq in a funny mood. Every once in a while, O’Neal would vent out his frustrations on the hardwood, as well as during the postgame conference.

Shaq would not think twice before being rude with his words, cussing out teammates or opponents. Have a look at the compilation of the heated moments from his near-two-decade-long career.

Looking at his altercations from the video, it is safe to say that you wouldn’t want to be on Shaquille O’Neal’s bad books.