The Last Shootaround

Today at the Garbage Minutes World Headquarters, we let Shaq play one last game with some of his old friends...

* See if you can name all nine players and their teams.  Leave a comment.

** Playing with toys is just as much fun at 28 as it was at 8.

Coaches.

Interesting piece on SI.com about the 20 best coaching spots in college football.  Some take-aways...

• This takes into account the recent troubles at Ohio State...yet they're still the #2 most desirable coaching spot.  Says a lot about their fan base and athletic department, no matter the corruption.
• Speaking of corruption, USC sits at #11 despite their two year bowl ban.
• Five out of the first ten programs are from the SEC.

Crazy Canucks

Best fans in sports?  Possibly.

Cover of the Day

Today at 1 pm Shaq officially retired.  Today we honor his first SI cover, from 1991...back when the LSU center played second fiddle to Duke power forward Christian Laettner.  Remember, Laettner was picked over O'Neal for the only collegiate spot on the Dream Team for the '92 Barcelona Olympics.  Four NBA titles later, safe to say Shaq made up for that in during his illustrious 19 year career.  Best of all, we'll never have to watch him shoot another free throw ever again.

Entertaining read from the Wall Street Journal on all five of Shaq's NBA stops.

Popular?

Think Messi is well liked in Argentina?  They like soccer stars even more than we like American Idol winners...

With the first pick...

Good Luck Nick already stole the show at the NBA Lottery several weeks ago.  In a couple more weeks, David Stern will stand at a podium during a prime-time TV slot to announce the Cleveland Cavaliers first pick.  Kyrie Irving or Derrick Williams will get showered with love and attention when their name is announced.  Slightly different than sitting in the back of class at Notre Dame...

First off, how different is the Draft from the days when you went No. 1?
 
Austin Carr: Oh, man! That’s like night and day! I found out when I was in Art History class that I was the No. 1 player picked. I was sitting in the back of the class. It was about 3-something in the afternoon. That’s when I found out. My agent called.

Great Sports Town

Atlanta lost its hockey team to a Canadian city (again). The Flames left Atlanta for Calgary in 1980 and now the Thrashers are heading to Winnipeg, former home of the Jets. Atlanta is a terrible sports town, and having more teams in Canada is a great thing for the NHL and the sport of hockey. Judging from some of the playoff crowds at the Hawks games this year, maybe the Atlanta ownership group should see if Winnipeg could use a basketball team as well.