Shaquille O’Neal.Photo:The Big Podcast with Shaq / Youtube
The Big Podcast with Shaq / Youtube
Shaquille O’Nealis giving some advice toJason Kelce— from one center to another.
The NBA legend, 51, chatted with the Philadelphia Eagles center, 36, during a new episode of hisThe Big Podcast with Shaqthis week. He offered the fellow big guy some retirement advice, sharing that he made “dumbass mistakes” involving his family in the past.
“My advice to you is that if you are going to retire, accept it,” O’Neal told Kelce. “Enjoy your family, brother. I made a lot of dumbass mistakes to where I lost my family and I didn’t have anybody.”
“That’s not the case for you,” he added. “So enjoy your beautiful wife, enjoy your beautiful kids and never dwell on what we had.”
“But again, the way I was raised. F— up, man up, and deal with it.”
O’Neal, who hassix children, shares four of them with ex-wifeShaunie O’Neal: sons Shareef and Shaqir and daughters Amirah and Me’arah. He also shares daughter Taahirah with former girlfriend Arnetta Yardbourgh and stepson Myles, from Shaunie’s previous relationship.
The four-time NBA champion has said in recent years that he’s now ongood termswith his former partners. InShaq Uncut: My Story, his 2011 book, the basketball great admitted to not being the “best partner” to Shaunie, whom he split with in 2009 afterseven years of marriage.
“At one time, my ex-wife Shaunie and I were happy, but I admit it — I was a guy,” O’Neal wrote in his book. “I was a guy with too many options. Choosing to be with some of those women, well, that’s on me. In my mind, I never did it disrespectfully, but obviously I shouldn’t have done it all.”
He added: “You know as well as I do relationships are about maintaining … It wasn’t the big stuff, it was the small stuff, and that’s my fault. I had things to do. I was trying to win, trying to make some money. I admit I wasn’t the best partner. I just didn’t know how. I’m learning now.”
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Shaquille O’Neal.Kimberly White/Getty
Kimberly White/Getty
As previously reported, Kelce opened up about theprospect of retirementwhile on O’Neal’s podcast, when he revealed that he’s “still figuring it out.”
“I think I’ll have an answer in the next couple weeks,” Kelce explained.
“I think if I still want to play, I’m going to play,” he elaborated. “I think right now we’re not far enough away from the last game. It’s emotional, it’s a long season, the end of the season quite frankly, awful. So I’m just going to take some time, rest, recoup and then figure it out.”
The 13-year NFL veteran also revealed on theGreen Light with Chris Longpodcast last week that he found the idea of retirement to be both “exciting” and “daunting," adding that it’s exciting to “think about possibilities.”
“It is exciting to be able to lose weight, feel good, and not physically fight for my life every day,” he said. “I think it is also daunting. It is anxiety and at the end of the day, it is the unknown.”
During an episode of hisNew Heightspodcast with brotherTravis Kelce, the star player also revealed that his decision to play again will be based on “whether I want to do it” and if he can ultimately “endure that again.”
source: people.com
