Shaq, You And 'Errbody' Else In LA Need To Stop Hatin' On Houston

Shaquille O'Neal opened his mouth and inserted his size 22 foot in it by joining in the chorus of Los Angeles sour graping after Dwight Howard let the world know he's taking his basketball talents to our end of I-10 next NBA season.

The peeps in LA are hatin' because it's the first time in their franchise history a superstar player in his prime left Los Angeles to play ball elsewhere. 

The fact he's leaving LA for Houston and about to sign a contract with the Rockets was a blow to their massive civic basketball egos in addition to the fact they were in the position of having to beg Howard to stay there in the first place. 

The Rockets at times have been an NBA thorn in the side of the Lakers.  In the four appearances the Rockets have made in the NBA finals (1981, 1986, 1994 and 1995) the 1981 and 1986 NBA Finals ones were at the Lakers expense.  

The 1981 one was embarrassingly so as a 40-42 Rockets team that barely qualified for the NBA playoffs knocked them out in the first round powered by Moses Malone and Calvin Murphy.  The 1986 one was a 4-1 Western Conference Finals domination courtesy of Hakeem and Ralph Sampson that was deliciously satisfying to all of us who packed The Summit and sports bars around the city to yell "Beat LA!" at the top of our lungs. 

And what was even more satisfying for Houston Rocket fans was that the 1981 and 1986 Rocket playoff knockouts of the Lakers kept them from repeating as NBA champions.  

Now Dwight Howard has left La La land for H-town.

Shaq knows about the '95 Rocket NBA title run since he watched us get the trophy in H-town at his and the Orlando Magic's expense and repeat as NBA champions. 

Shaq got his Two Minute Hate on for Howard's departure from the LA Fakers Lakers by not only saying he couldn't handle the bright lights of LA, but dissed Houston by calling us a 'little town.'

Dude, you once owned a house in the Houston 'burb of Sugar Land.  And isn't the mother of one of your kids a Houstonian?

Yeah, we're a 'little town' of 2.2 million people you probably still have your hate on for because your Orlando Magic got swept by the Rockets in 1995 and Hakeem Olajuwon pwned your behind in that series.

And I never will forget Yao Ming's 2003 rookie year and that first game y'all played against each other at Toyota Center.  Yao stuffed your first three shots attempts in a game the Rockets eventually won 108-104 despite the 31 points you scored. 


But let me school you on a few more things about my hometown that you should already know since you played two years of high school ball in San Antonio and won the 1989 state title at 3A Cole High. 

It is at 600 square miles larger than Los Angeles which is only a measly 469 square miles in size, not including Lake Houston which adds another 28 square miles.  It is the fourth largest city in the United States, the county seat of Harris County and the largest in Texas.  It is as your ESPN and TBS employers will tell you the tenth largest TV market in the country.

Houston is also like LA considered a global city with a diverse population.  Only New York City has more Fortune 500 companies headquartered here than Houston does.  There are 92 foreign consulates here in metro Houston, of which only two other cities have more.

And I'll also point out my 'little town' is home to the Texas Medical Center, the world largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions along with NASA's Johnson Space Center, which ensure the first words spoken by a human being from the moon in 1969 wasn't LA.

I could point of the long list of people like Beyonce, Dan Rather, Tony winning actress Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, NFL Hall of Famer Darrell Green, Michael Strahan, Michael Dell of Dell computers, Isaiah Washington, Loretta Devine, Jaclyn Smith, Yolanda Adams, Randy and Dennis Quaid, AJ Foyt, NBA Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler and Rep. Barbara Jordan who were born or raised here including our current mayor Annise Parker. 

I could go on but I'd need another post to detail all the notable peeps who were born and raised in my little town' of Houston.

And by the way DL Hughley, these are just some of the centers who have donned a Rocket uniform, Hall of Famers Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone and Hakeem Olajuwon for starters and Yao Ming, Ralph Sampson and Otis Thorpe who was on the 1994 championship squad.   

So Shaq, you and 'errbody' else in LA need to stop hatin on Houston.   Even Stevie Wonder could see that Dwight Howard was a bad fit offensively and chemistry wise for the Lakers like you were when you got traded to Phoenix by the Miami Heat.

I have far more ammo to use to slam LA with than you ever could come up with to diss Houston.