THE_REAL_SHAQ: Born to Twitter

The Big Man Goes Micro

“It’s hard being the NBA’s sex symbol, but somebody has to do it.” - Shaquille O'Neil"

"I'd like to be known as 'the Big Aristotle.' It was Aristotle who said excellence is not a singular act, but a habit." - Shaquille O'Neil

“I knew I was dog meat. Luckily, I'm the high-priced dog meat that everybody wants. I'm the good-quality dog meat. I'm the Alpo of the NBA.” - Shaquille O'Neil

I've been watching Shaq for a long time. I remember when he dominated at LSU. I remember when he came into the league with the Magic and tore his way through 3 hot seasons. Then, I remember the buzz when he got traded to the LA Lakers. As a die-hard Laker fan, I still miss The Big Aristotle and wish he was never traded to Miami. We'd have at least 2 more championships by now. Minimum.

But do you want to know what the greatest consistency has been throughout Shaq's career in these places--and as he traveled on to Miami and Phoenix?

Dominating the game? Probably. Missing free throws? Maybe. Having some hilarious quotes? Definitely.

Shaq is a quote machine. A media master. If he wasn't a baller, he could definitely get a job as a copywriter with any ad agency he wanted. There are even tons of sites devoted to Shaq quotes.

This translates perfectly to the world of microblogging, so it's no surprise that Shaq has taken Twitter by storm. With Shaq's first tweet on November 18th, he unleashed himself on the Twitterverse. Within 48 hours, he had 7,000 followers. At the moment, he is showing 13,786. Twitterholic currently ranks him as the 47th most followed person on Twitter.

But I'm calling it now: the Kevin Rose's and the Robert Scoble's of the world better watch out-->Shaq is going to beat you at your own game to become the most followed person on Twitter.

Why? Well, he's a bigger star, so there's that advantage. Shaq is a household name. But his Twitter Bio says it all: VERY QUOTATIOUS.

You can't escape the Shaq charm. So you might as well start following Shaq right now.