Retired Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal is reveling in the fact that Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is getting revenge on the New England Patriots by taking the Bucs to next Sunday’s Super Bowl.
O’Neal noted the Patriots allowed the 43-year-old Brady to leave for another NFL team after having been with the team for 20 years, leading them to 10 Super Bowls and six NFL titles.
“The way he came in. … This is his 10th Super Bowl and [to] play with a franchise and then the franchise kinda [says], ‘Oh, you’re old, bye!’ and he said, ‘Okay, you don’t wanna take care of me, after all, I did for this city? Watch this!'” said O’Neal.
“[Then he] goes to another a city, promises them a Super Bowl and delivers??? Wooo!!!”
O’Neal, whose interview was done in part to plug his pre-Super Bowl television program, “The Shaq Bowl,” no doubt had similar emotions after the Lakers traded him to the Miami Heat in 2004.
In his second season with the Heat, O’Neal played a key role in helping the Heat win the franchise’s first title.
Brady is seeking to win his seventh Super Bowl ring, but faces a formidable task against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Patrick Mahomes is in his fourth season with the Chiefs and the signal-caller is already following in Brady’s formidable footsteps. Like Brady, he’s hoping to win his second Super Bowl in that four-year span, an incredible accomplishment for any quarterback.
It seems clear that O’Neal will be rooting for Brady and the Buccaneers for the Feb. 7 Super Bowl, if only because that will make Brady’s revenge against the Patriots even sweeter.
