After 36 years of prime NBA coverage from the sidelines and inside the arena, TNT’s “Inside the NBA” show has come to an end. Well, technically, it has ended only as an individual show covering the NBA on TNT, but the show will go on, produced by TNT and distributed by ABC/ESPN’s networks, going into next season. Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and the entire ‘Inside the NBA’ crew celebrated their farewell from the network.
Following their last broadcast of the Playoffs (Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals), a video went viral on social media where the Big Diesel was seen wiping tears from his eyes while the TNT producers presented the show’s crew with custom-made rings. After this video, Shaquille O’Neal appeared on ‘The Pivot Podcast’ and claimed that those were not tears of emotion but rather a trigger of allergies. While it may seem like a joke to fans, his reasoning for not crying definitely makes you think twice.
“No, I wasn’t crying. First of all, I don’t have emotions. I was raised by a drill sergeant, so I don’t have…So I have allergies and my eye leaks a lot, so like right now it’s leaking, so I was going like this. So, of course, when you have that moment, it makes it look emotional, I don’t get emotional. Am I sad that the show is leaving? Yes but I’ve been programmed to do something new after every four years. So I’ve been with Inside the NBA for 12 years, that’s three military terms, and now it’s just time to do something else.”
“But if you look at the reality of the situation, we all re-signed, we’re going to be there, we’re shooting in the same place, everybody’s coming back, the name and the title are going to be different. Only thing I’m concerned with is we’re going on a bigger network, will they be able to handle our shenanigans? Can Charles talk about fat women in San Antonio? Can we talk about people’s hairlines and, you know, make them cut their hair? That’s the only thing I’m worried about, but it’s a new beginning, it’s a new challenge, and I’m hoping it’s something that we can step up to.”
“I was raised where I’m not allowed to have emotions, I only cried twice…. three times. Grandmother’s death, father’s death, and sister’s death, and not because I was sad, [but] because I forgot to tell them thank you.”
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O’Neal grew up with a military background and claims that his upbringing was a major factor in developing his ability to be cold and not have emotions. Not equating the two incidents, but another time when Shaq cried was when Kobe Bryant passed away.
Life makes you feel a roller coaster of emotions. No matter how hard O’Neal tries to put up the farce that he does not have emotions, we refuse to believe him. His philanthropic deeds are enough proof that he feels emotions of empathy and sympathy. At the end of the day, O’Neal may deny it, but he is soft at heart, or has at least grown soft with age.
