As you probably remember, O’Neal made a bet with Inside the NBA co-host Ernie Johnson just before the college football National Championship. Johnson – a University of Georgia alum – talked about his team winning the big game for the second year in a row. Shaq took issue, and wagered Johnson it would be the TCU Horned Frogs that would win it in what would have been an all-time shocking upset.
Still, that was not to be, as the Bulldogs plowed the hapless Frogs and won the title. That led to Shaq’s paying off the first wager, by eating some frogs legs on live TV. Now it should be noted that some people actually enjoy a dinner or snack of frogs legs, and the ones given to Shaq to eat were nicely prepared and fried.
Even O’Neal’s buddy Sir Charles reported – as the world watched the big man munching out on the legs – that frogs legs were “good eating.” So we’d have to say, no big deal for that particular bet and the payoff for losing.
Now comes the next wager. Along with his regular duties on Inside the NBA, Shaq is also a co-host of a new program – also all about hoops – called TNT Tuesday. The wager came on a recent episode of the show surrounding a game between the Philadelphia 76ers’ and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Shaq told co-host Candace Parker that 76ers superstar Joel Embiid would finish with 50 points. Or? Or the big man would get “baby hairs” on his head. The bet came at halftime, when Embiid had already scored 26 points, so O’Neal was pretty confident about his decision. However, while the Sixers won, Embiid fell short of 50 as he finished with 41 points.
So, for those that don’t know, baby hair is a little hairstyling “thing” that adds a wisp of curly hair to the center of the front of the hairline. Honestly, we here at the offices of the ShaqFu Radio blog have never heard of such a thing… but we admit, we’re not much for hairstyling fashion.
Still, our man Shaq is a man of his word, so he had some fake baby hair applied to his giant-sized skull, in time the next show. Needless to say, it was pretty hilarious. Even more so when the hair fell off, right there on live TV!
Always calm under fire, Shaq just went on with his commentating duties, just like nothing was happening… It just made the scene more and more funny.
Shaq has made more than a few wagers in his time with fellow broadcasters and friends. Maybe he should rethink – or at least more carefully consider – his betting strategy. And yet maybe again, it’s all part of the funny, interesting show.