Huh? What? Who?

Going undercover
Shaq helps task force track Internet sex predators
Posted: Wednesday May 25, 2005 2:50PM; Updated: Wednesday May 25, 2005 2:56PM

MIAMI (AP) -- He's Shaquille O'Neal, the world's largest undercover officer.

O'Neal, who is currently leading the Miami Heat against the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals, has joined a Department of Justice task force that tracks down sexual predators who target children on the Internet.

The 7-foot-1, 325-pound center was recently sworn in as a U.S. deputy marshal and, on the Saturday afternoon before the Miami-Washington playoff series, O'Neal spent six hours with Miami Beach police investigators helping with cases.

Miami Beach Police Chief Don De Lucca says O'Neal is becoming familiar with the techniques and software the officers use to track down the predators. O'Neal spends countless hours on his home computer, logging into the police network and learning the ropes.

"I put a lot into it, and when I am done playing, I plan on going undercover and then being the sheriff or chief of police somewhere, either Miami or Orlando, I don't know yet," O'Neal said recently. "Everyone knows the love I have for the people who defend the streets and the people who defend our country, the armed forces, the Army, Navy, Marines. I want to do something like that, help the community.

"And I want to do it the right way, like everybody else, not just a famous figurehead that gets a job because he is a famous basketball player. I want to really learn the business."

Raised by a stepfather who was an Army sergeant, O'Neal has been interested in law enforcement since he was a teenager. Two of his uncles also worked in law enforcement.

While playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, O'Neal went through the police academy and became a reserve officer with the L.A. Port Police. When two Los Angeles police patrol cars were burned during celebrations for the 2000 Lakers NBA title, O'Neal wrote a personal check for $42,893 to replace one of the vehicles.

During the 2000 offseason, he rode along with the Orange County Sheriff's Office in Florida. They recovered three stolen cars and made a handful of arrests.

After being traded to Miami, O'Neal contacted Miami Beach police about becoming a reserve officer. He drops by the department regularly for one-on-one instruction, speaks to De Lucca at least once a week, and is a few training hours shy of being certified to make arrests, conduct search warrants and carry a .40-caliber pistol.

"Shaq's interest in police work is very real," De Lucca said. "I've always said law enforcement is a calling, and I believe Shaquille has been called.

"He'd be a great undercover guy. Obviously, we're not going to send him out to buy dope, but he can do surveillance, he can do Internet crimes. He has an incredible thirst for information, he's street-smart, and he's a communicator and leader. I just hope it's not my job he comes after, or I'm in trouble."

Teacher's pet
O'Neal receives master's degree in business
Posted: Saturday June 25, 2005 6:01PM; Updated: Saturday June 25, 2005 7:47PM

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) -- Shaquille O'Neal returned to the Forum on Saturday, not for an NBA game, but to pick up his MBA.

The man who once called himself the Big Aristotle was the tallest and most famous of the 2,200 University of Phoenix graduates at the arena. But O'Neal said he was simply getting ready for the real world.

"It's just something to have on my resume [for] when I go back into reality," the 7-foot-1 Miami Heat center said before picking up his master's in business administration. "Someday I might have to put down a basketball and have a regular 9-to-5 like everybody else."

O'Neal played with the Los Angeles Lakers at the Forum until the team moved to the downtown Staples Center in 1999. Championship banners and the gold-and-purple jerseys of retired stars still hang on the walls.

"Sports for me has always been, you know, fairy tale life. And this right here is real life," he said of his degree. "This right here means more."

O'Neal left Louisiana State University as a junior in 1992 to turn pro, and made good on a promise to his mother to graduate, earning a bachelor's in business from LSU in 2000.

For the University of Phoenix, a national for-profit college that caters to working adults, the Big Graduate did online work, and, before he was traded, attended classes several days a week at a West Los Angeles campus. Fellow students weren't intimidated, he joked.

"They would all say, 'You're not like we thought you would be. You're not as smart as we thought that you would be,"' O'Neal said.

O'Neal, who left the Lakers following a well-publicized feud with Kobe Bryant, said his job experience came in handy in the classroom.

"I used my basketball experience working with different egos, to get everybody to work together," he said.

But O'Neal likes to be in charge. He previously took courses at a police academy and said he'll aim for another degree, in criminal justice. He hopes to eventually work as a sheriff or police chief and said he met some people in those top positions with advanced degrees.

"I wanted to have the same type of knowledge that they had," he said.

O'Neal worked with classmates to design mock sneaker and cell phone companies, though he already had more than a little experience in the business world from product endorsements, his own clothing line and forays into movies and music.

The degree, he said, "solidifies that I'm a businessman."

The Big Executive is ready to take on Bill Gates and Donald Trump.

"I could always go and have a conversation with Mr. Gates or Mr. Trump. But now that I have this," he said, "I can really have a conversation with them on the same level that they have their conversations."