Seems even the top-level, elite athletes (and probably others in different fields) look for things to motivate themselves to great heights… and may even do a little mental trickery on themselves to make it happen. Watching “The Last Dance,” we’ve seen how MJ sometimes would “invent” things that may or may not have come from other players – directed at him – to motivate him to be an even better player.
Now Shaquille O’Neal is also talking about motivation and some of the things he did to crank up his motivation and desire to play better. Recently, he’s “come clean” about a story he’s told for some time…but that now he admits was not really factual.
In Jordan’s case, there was a story on “Last Dance” how me created – for himself – a story of being dissed by LaBranford Smith. Apparently that never happened, but Michael used it in his own head to push himself harder.
As for Shaq, he’s told the story of how – when he was a kid – he was denied an autograph by San Antonio Spurs David Robinson. O’Neal has said that he used that incident as a reason for him to play even harder against Robinson when he got the opportunity in the NBA. Well… not so fast. Now that both Robinson and Shaq are both long retired from the game, O’Neal has ‘fessed up about the story. .
On a recent Zoom conference call with a ton of big-name former NBA superstars, Shaq apologized to Robinson and admitted that the entire story was something he made up.
“David, I want to say I apologize for making up that rumor,” O’Neal said. “David took all my shine when he came to San Antonio, so I hated him for that. And then first couple of years he used to kill me, so I had to make up my rumor to get mad. … He used to sprint up and down the court. I used to be like, ‘God bless, slow down.’ So, I made up a scenario. ‘Oh, yeah, when I was 13 you didn’t sign my autograph. I’m mad now.’” (Thanks to CBS Sports for the quote.)
Robinson also had a part of the story. He talked about it on the call, and said Shaq had admitted to him that the story was made up when the pair talked as teammates on the 1996 US Olympic basketball team.
“We were on the Olympic team,” Robinson said. “We were sitting on the plane together and I said, ‘Shaq, man, what is this stuff about me not signing an autograph?’ He was like, ‘Man, I’m sorry about that. I made that up.’”
For those that remember their Shaq-history, you’ll already know that the young O’Neal played high school basketball in San Antonio. At the time, Robinson was the biggest name in town, much-beloved for his super-clean image and awesome on-court skills. Did that push Shaq to make up the story?
“David was just so nice and respectful,” O’Neal said. “He’s just a nice guy. I’m not a bully. You have to piss me off for me to get mad. David was, ‘Hey Shaq, how ya doin’? How’s your family?’ So nice and … so I had to make something up just to make me mad, and then when I came down to San Antonio and the fans start booing me — Oh you’re booing me in my hometown?… and then it was like a hatred thing for David and the Spurs. But it was all made up.”
Plenty of people – from sports to business to everyday life – need to find their motivation. The thing that pushes them to greater and greater achievements. If you need to make something up in your head to help, is that so bad? Hard to say. Just be sure you’re ready to take responsibility for it if you get called on it years later!