Vandal scribbles expletive on O'Neal's ball

[Deep Thought]

Friday, March 21, 2003
Updated: March 23, 4:38 PM ET
Vandal scribbles expletive on O'Neal's ball

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ESPN.com news services

LOS ANGELES -- The Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal left Sacramento with a spoiled souvenir of his 20,000th career point -- someone scribbled an insulting expletive on the ball used when he reached the milestone.

The unknown culprit apparently got to that game ball sometime after Lakers public relations director John Black had grabbed it just before halftime of the rival Kings' 107-99 victory over Los Angeles on Thursday night.

O'Neal, booed by the Sacramento crowd at halftime when his accomplishment was announced, said he hoped no one connected with the Kings' organization was responsible.

"History was made last night. You can't take that away from me," said O'Neal, the 28th player in NBA history to reach the plateau. "I hope the Maloof family (Kings' owners Gavin and Joe Maloof) doesn't condone this kind of action.

"I will not hold the city of Sacramento responsible, but whoever did this shows no class. I'm not mad at all. I know the Maloofs allow a lot of stuff. If they do condone this, I'll be very disappointed in that organization."

At least for O'Neal, the vandalism added fuel to what already is a heated rivalry between the Pacific Division foes.

"This is one thing I won't forget, and I'll see you soon," O'Neal said.

The Kings are at the Lakers on April 10.

Black said the Lakers sent the ball back to the Kings.

Said O'Neal, "I told them to keep the ball, I don't want it anymore. Send it to (NBA commissioner David) Stern, so he can see what goes on in certain places."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

If you ask me, Phil Jax prolly did it to motivate him.

 

[Ethereal]

I don't think a fan could have gotten their hands on the ball. I think we have some poor sports amongst us, and I doubt anyone in the Lakers organization would do this. Thats fucked up though, his 20,000th point and this in return. I would have sent the shit back to SAC too. Shaq should have signed it then sent it...

 

[gimpypimp]

The unknown culprit apparently got to that game ball sometime after Lakers public relations director John Black had grabbed it just before halftime of the rival Kings' 107-99 victory over Los Angeles on Thursday night.

If the public relations director for the Lakers had the ball, what did he do with it? How did someone get to the ball and write on it?

You would think that the ball was a little more guarded...especially one so important. Sounds fishy to me.....

 

[RaginHomosexual]

If you ask me, Phil Jax prolly did it to motivate him.

ha

 

[Cranky]

What was written on it?

 

[WiCkEd]

yeah i heard about that,it aint surprising..shaq is probably the most hated nba player in sacramento.

 

[Deep Thought]

On the local morning show today, I heard them say someone wrote, "Shaq's an asshole" on it. Supposedly everyone who had access to the ball will be subject to handwriting analisys over the next couple of days.

 

[JIM HAT]

haha that's funny!

 

[Young Bull]

CZAR DID IT!!!!

shit, you never know. It was probably kobe or someone else on the squad.

 

[Deep Thought]

I'm tellin' you, I think Phil Jax did it.

 

[I. Cold]

CZAR DID IT!!!!

lmao!

but seriously, what the fuck was written on the ball?

 

[gimpypimp]

On the local morning show today, I heard them say someone wrote, "Shaq's an asshole" on it.

 

[Ethereal]

Shaq talked shit on numerous Kings players, the Kings are heated rivals, they go into Arco, and you guys are saying someone on the Lakers did it? buahahahaha. Lets be serious now, if it wasnt someone within the Kings organization, then it was most certainly a fan.

 

[Deep Thought]

From the Sac Bee:

Milestone ball defaced

By Marcos Bretón -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Saturday, March 22, 2003

The Los Angeles Lakers were angry when they left Sacramento on Thursday night, but it wasn't just because they lost to the Kings 107-99.

On a night Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal scored his 20,000th career point, the Lakers said they were upset because someone at Arco Arena had defaced the game ball presented to O'Neal by writing "Shaq is an asshole" on it.

"It's one thing to support your team, but to write on a ball that's going to go on someone's mantel is not cool," said John Black, the Lakers' director of public relations. "Who knows who did it?"

The marred basketball -- and an ugly post-game verbal confrontation between O'Neal and a man thought to be a friend of Kings guard Mike Bibby -- marked a new low in the rivalry between the Kings and Lakers.

Kings officials did not learn of the vandalism until Friday morning, but once they got word, they immediately asked the Lakers to ship the ball back to Sacramento so handwriting experts could analyze it.

"I think it's very unfortunate that someone would do something so idiotic," Kings owner Joe Maloof said. "We're going to do everything we can to get to the bottom of it."

Kings officials said the handwriting of a dozen or so Kings employees who work courtside will be tested once they get the ball from the Lakers, who indicated they would ship the ball to Sacramento early next week.

O'Neal said Friday he hoped the Maloofs would not tolerate what happened to his game ball.

"History was made last night," O'Neal said of becoming the 28th player in NBA history to score 20,000 points. "You can't take that away from me. I hope the Maloof family doesn't condone this type of action. I will not hold the city of Sacramento responsible, but whoever did this shows no class. But, am I mad? I'm not mad at all.

"I know the Maloofs allow a lot of stuff. If they do condone this, I'll be very disappointed in that organization.

"But, this is something I won't forget, and I'll see you (the Kings) soon."

Officials at Arco Arena wondered aloud if a fan might have been responsible. Or if there was something else at work here.

"Nobody is saying it, but we don't know where the ball went when it went into the Lakers' hands," said Troy Hanson, director of media relations for the Kings.

"We're going to look into it, but there is nothing to say a fan couldn't have gotten hold of it. The balls are kept at the scorers' table at halftime, and there is usually someone always there. But if somebody looks away. ... We can only test so far."

Black said he noticed the writing on the ball when he took possession of it from NBA referee Danny Crawford. He added that no one else touched the ball at the conclusion of Thursday's game but him and Crawford.

That raises the possibility that O'Neal's ball was tampered with at halftime, and somehow three NBA referees and two teams of players didn't notice any writing on the ball for the entire second half.

Hanson said he couldn't rule out that someone defaced the ball in the moments after Thursday's game. "But (Black) was pretty adamant that he took the ball from (Crawford) right after the game."

As the mystery of O'Neal's ball unfolded, Joe Maloof attempted to calm the vitriol between the two fierce Western Conference rivals.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Lakers, and this doesn't sit right with me or my brother Gavin. ... We won't tolerate this in our organization."

Despite O'Neal's often public insults of the Kings in general and Bibby in particular, Joe Maloof had decided heading into Thursday's game that the Kings' organization should acknowledge O'Neal's scoring milestone during the game and to award him the game ball afterward.

Angered that Bibby was chosen to Team USA over Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson, O'Neal earlier this week called Bibby "a Cub Scout."

O'Neal added that Bibby hadn't done enough in his career to warrant a national team selection.

O'Neal had also previously stoked the Kings-Lakers rivalry by publicly referring to the Sacramento team as "the Queens."

Though Bibby refused to take O'Neal's more recent bait, the insults angered Bibby's teammates and Kings fans, who booed O'Neal at every turn Thursday night, especially when it was announced that he had scored his 20,000th career point.

After the game, as O'Neal walked to the Lakers' team bus, he was verbally accosted by a man in a restricted area, where only friends and family of Kings players can congregate.

"Did (the man) go too far? Probably," Black said. "The issue had to do with Shaq's comments toward Bibby. He obviously took issue with what Shaq said."

Black and Kings officials said that while words got heated between O'Neal and others, no physical contact was made.

Hanson said the man was escorted without incident out of Arco Arena -- and that he was "a friend of a player."

Though Hanson wouldn't confirm it was a friend of Bibby's, he wouldn't deny it, either. "You can probably guess whose friend he was," Hanson said.

 

[JIM HAT]

"But, this is something I won't forget, and I'll see you (the Kings) soon."

Shaq sounds like hes gonna get crazy at the next game... they will still get beat
AGAIN

 

[Deep Thought]

Also from the Sac Bee:

Petrie overcomes an illness, then gets hit with Ball-gate

By Martin McNeal -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Sunday, March 23, 2003

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie was in bed for about two weeks with pneumonia and has just begun to feel well again.

And now he has to deal with Ball-gate?

"I'm feeling good," Petrie said before Saturday night's Kings-Portland Trail Blazers game at the Rose Garden. "I'm ready for my next illness."

Petrie wasn't as enthusiastic in discussing Ball-gate. The Los Angeles Lakers claim that someone in the Kings' organization defaced the ball given to center Shaquille O'Neal to celebrate his scoring 20,000 career points Thursday night in Sacramento.

"Weird?" Petrie asked. "I don't know. I really don't know much about it. I suppose it happened, I guess."

Petrie wasn't saying the ball was defaced by a Kings employee, and he wasn't saying it was not.

"When the 'Zen-ite' (Lakers coach Phil Jackson) is around," Petrie said, "strange things tend to happen." (<-- See? I'm not he only one who believes.)

Two Kings questioned whether the tampering occurred.

Center Vlade Divac said he hoped no one within the organization mishandled the ball.

"I'd have some serious questions about whether that happened because I can't see when it would have happened," he said. "I shot free throws, and I know I would have seen it if it was there.

"Now, if that did happen, somehow, we're crossing the line. Nobody's perfect, and I guess we're all crazy people in this country."

Forward Chris Webber said he didn't believe anyone in the Kings organization did it.

"I didn't see anything on that ball during the game," he said. "They are just looking for stuff now. That's all that is."

Said one member of the Kings, jokingly: "It was Team Dime that got to that ball," referring to Mike Bibby, who wears No. 10. O'Neal criticized Bibby's selection to the U.S. national team the week before the game.

 

[WiCkEd]

i dont know,i aint saying i believe this, one way or another...but it seems that this country is conspiracy thoery happy...everything is a conspiracy these days..isnt anybody guilty anymore..some employee could have easily put that on the ball...why not,it isnt like shaq is liked in sacramento..somebody would have seen phil go get the ball and vandalize it,in a stadium full of employees and laker haters (fans)...did you all forget a couple of years ago they burned a laker jersey on the court before the game....this organization,has shown disrespect to l.a. before...

 

[Deep Thought]

Ailene Voisin: Scolding and scalding, and all over a Spalding

By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Not that further evidence was needed, but the game has changed. Gone is the day when a coach could turn to a player and say, with complete confidence, "Pass the ball and good things will happen."

Totally old school.

Very, um, passé.

In the new-age NBA, or at least in ancient Arco Arena, passing the basketball can lead to differing, even troublesome results. Place the ball in the right hands, and the stat crew scribbles in another assist and field goal. Give the ball to the wrong person? Say, a misguided fan who confuses loyalty with low-class, mean-spirited behavior?

Let's just say that what happened during and after this latest Kings-Lakers encounter -- from Ballgate to Blame Game -- precipitated another round of verbal exchanges, inflamed an already-heated rivalry, indirectly caused Shaq to criticize his own general manager, prompted an extensive internal investigation and sent Joe Maloof seeking shelter.

"I hope Shaq accepts our apology," the Kings co-owner said Tuesday, only half-jokingly, "because that guy could take me and dunk me."

Now that the Kings' inquiry is complete, this much is known: During a fourth-quarter timeout Thursday, the ball ended up in the hands of a fan who used a ball-point to scrawl "Shaq is an (expletive)." At the end of the game, referee Danny Crawford handed the ball directly to Lakers publicist John Black for safekeeping and posterity (O'Neal's 20,000th point).

As Black walked toward the locker room, he noticed that the ball had been defaced, reducing a memorable occasion into a hoops Whodunit. Accusations flew between franchises, and everyone was a suspect, ballboys, statisticians, friends, fans.

There were murmurings from L.A. about an inside job. A few Sacramento players suggested the Lakers marked the ball themselves to make the Kings look bad. Vlade Divac voiced "serious questions" about whether the incident even transpired. Geoff Petrie quipped about strange happenings "when the Zen-ite (Phil Jackson) is around."

O'Neal, meanwhile, unaware the Lakers had shipped the ball back to Sacramento for hand-writing analysis, chided Mitch Kupchak for not presenting him with the ball during a ceremony Friday at the Staples Center.

Geez.

It was a fan, OK?

"I'm absolutely certain that neither of the organizations was involved," a somewhat contrite Petrie said Tuesday. "We have some video that suggests who it was and, independently, we have received information from very credible sources that confirm who we believe was responsible. Joe, Gavin and I sent a letter to Shaq, expressing our apologies and offering redress for the incident."

According to Black, all is forgiven. Sort of. Maybe. Check back next month. "I don't feel good that people who know me would even infer that I would have done something like that," he said from Atlanta, "but I'm glad the issue is resolved. From the Maloofs on down, I have always said that the Kings are a first-class franchise. We never thought it was someone in their organization."

While Joe Maloof mulls an appropriate punishment for the courtside culprit -- "I really don't know what to do because we can't prove it's him exactly" -- anyone can connect the dots, consult a map, and refer to a seemingly endless list of possibilities: (1) lock the miscreant in a room with a 24-hour cowbell clanging and no room service; (2) force him to watch one of Shaq's feature films without intermission; (3) make him run around Arco until he drops; (4) order him to endure 5 p.m. traffic on the 405 for consecutive weekdays; (5) feed him spoiled burgers and dessert; (6) insist that he repeatedly view the Game 4 film and diagram Robert Horry's buzzer-beating three-pointer during last year's Kings-Lakers conference finals.

And if all else fails to placate the Big Fella, the Maloofs can always comp him at the Palms and urge him to undergo a lobotomy. In other words, to somehow forget, if not forgive.

"I like Shaq, I really do," said Joe. "I want him to know that we do not condone that kind of behavior, and that we respect the fact he scored 20,000 points. Every once in a while, this rivalry gets out of control, with all the stuff going back and forth, and that was not fun. That was embarrassing. But, sorry, no free drinks. He has to pay like everybody else. We'll put him in the best suite, but he has to pay full price."

Pause.

"All those comments about Mike Bibby make it seem like he's panicking," Joe added, laughing. "He must be feeling that we're the better team. They have enough problems right now. Why are they always talking about us?"

I wonder.

 

[Deep Thought]

Kings' co-owner hopes O'Neal accepts apology

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ESPN.com news services

The Kings finally know who the culprit was who defaced Shaquille O'Neal's game ball.

Sacramento has deduced it was a courtside fan -- and not a team employee -- who scribbled an insulting expletive on the game ball, the Los Angeles Times reported in Thursday's editions.

"I hope Shaq accepts our apology," Kings owner Joe Maloof told the Sacramento Bee, "because that guy could take me and dunk me."

The game ball marked O'Neal reaching the 20,000-point plateau in his career.

Kings season ticket holder Greg Rogers witnessed the event and told the Sacramento Bee what happened.

"It was a timeout in the fourth quarter, and the referee put the ball down," Rogers said to the newspaper. "There were two guys seated in the front row seats opposite the Kings bench. They were with a boy about nine or 10. One of the guys grabbed the ball and handed it to the boy. I was watching with my wife. I said, 'Hey, that's neat. I'll bet that kid loves this.' Then one of the guys took out a pen and wrote on the ball. My wife and I saw it. A few seconds later, the kid tossed the ball back to the ref."

Rogers told the Sacramento Bee he could pick out who wrote on the ball out of a game film.

"I'm surprised he doesn't come forward," Rogers told the newspaper. "A lot of people want to shake his hand."

The culprit apparently scribbled the expletive sometime after Lakers public relations director John Black had grabbed it just before halftime of the rival Kings' 107-99 victory over Los Angeles on March 20.

O'Neal, booed by the Sacramento crowd at halftime when his accomplishment was announced, said after the game he hoped no one connected with the Kings' organization was responsible.

"History was made last night. You can't take that away from me," said O'Neal. "I hope the Maloof family (Kings' owners Gavin and Joe Maloof) doesn't condone this kind of action.

"I will not hold the city of Sacramento responsible, but whoever did this shows no class. I'm not mad at all. I know the Maloofs allow a lot of stuff. If they do condone this, I'll be very disappointed in that organization." The Lakers host the Kings on April 10.

"This is one thing I won't forget, and I'll see you soon," O'Neal said.

 

[shadow]

"Shaq's an asshole" thats so lame, if your gonna deface something of his at least make it good. write "shaq your a fat slob, who cant even shoot a jumper, and have to be within 5 feet of the hoop to make a basket" that would of been better