Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

orca1946 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:36:17 GMT

Nothing wrong with more people looking at our sport !!

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

pwolf66 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:59:43 GMT

Did anyone else think his swimming was a little like Paul Wolf's...? :bolt: WTF? Here I am minding my own business and I get hit with a drive by. Nice, Chris, very nice. I'd say you'd pay for that but I'd have to catch you first.

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

TRYM_Swimmer — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:33:18 GMT

I missed this one, but caught the beach volleyball. Shaq was pretty destroyed in that one. Not even close. Good they got a little more parity in this one.

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Chris Stevenson — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 06:23:39 GMT

I thought Shaq was hilarious. And pretty darn brave to do something like this on national TV, so far out of his natural element. Did anyone else think his swimming was a little like Paul Wolf's...? :bolt:

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:01:32 GMT

details of the event for people who didn't see it.... It's all over youtube...........

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:30:05 GMT

Definitely a SCY setup - you can tell most easily from the ladies' splits in the medley relay. Phelps was clearly pacing himself to ensure a close finish. But whatever it lacked in realism, it was great marketing for the sport, and highly entertaining. Would be interesting to hear from any Bal'moreans who attended in person?

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

__steve__ — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:37:05 GMT

Still very impressive for Shaq. He probably has a 50M pool in his house to swim in though.

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:58:19 GMT

details of the event for people who didn't see it.... They did three races at a Baltimore university pool, SCM. Shaq was in a LZR for the first two races, and in briefs for the third. Bob Bowman coached Shaq. 1) Phelps swam 50m, Shaq swam 25. Phelps also got a 5 second head-start. Shaq beat him by a stroke (23.14 & 24.03). 2) Phelps swam a 200IM, Shaq swam the anchor leg of a relay medley, with three female swimmers as teammates (don't remember the names: two olympic gold-medalists & a WR-setter). They went Fly-Back-Brest-Free, so the backstroker on Shaq's team got to start off the blocks & SDK. Phelps edged out Shaq at the end. 3) I think this one was Phelps to swim 75, Shaq to swim 50. Phelps won. And yeah, Phelps was in a leg cast (from a car accident), and didn't look to be swimming all that hard, even at the end of the races. He didn't SDK much off the walls.

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:47:09 GMT

We just watched it. The show was pretty funny - they kept it entertaining. It looked like Phelps wasn't swimming as fast as he could have, although it was filmed when he had an ankle injury. It looked like he had to dolphin kick for the breaststroke leg of his IM.

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:34:02 GMT

details of the event for people who didn't see it....

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:20:22 GMT

Saw the show and I gotta say I was pretty impressed with Shaq. We all thought he was going to just fail, but he was actually a pretty competent swimmer for someone who probably never swam before this competition. Props to Shaq. Now let's see how Phelps shoots a basketball.

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:16:59 GMT

What race did they do and how big of a head start did shaq get?

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:02:40 GMT

That was very entertaining. The ladies were moving along pretty fast. The producers must have timed it just right for a neck and neck finish. The underwater camera momentarily caught Phelps slowing down with his hands when he went into the wall on the backstroke flip.

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:50:14 GMT

Damn, I kinda wanna see this....

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:46:44 GMT

That was pretty entertaining! You could tell Phelps was a bit slow. It seems he was basically just kicking with one leg and just keeping the injured ankle afloat. When he was doing his SDK's he was only moving one foot so, he was deff at a disadvantage. Entertaining though!:applaud:

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:37:08 GMT

I don't get this show. If you choose the right handicap, anyone can beat anyone at anything.

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:27:20 GMT

Here's the episode, thanks to @NatalieCoughlin who tweeted it. Hulu - Shaq Vs: Season Finale - Watch the full episode now.@@AMEPARAM@@www.hulu.com/.../bAdBuPiX1V6NFJD1e8B83g@@AMEPARAM@@bAdBuPiX1V6NFJD1e8B83g

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:46:34 GMT

I just watched this today. Shaq and Phelps were both great. They made the show very entertaining. Lots of great smack talk and pre-race build up. It's cool to see how well Shaq researches everything. You can tell that he does his homework and learns everything he can about both his competitors and the sport he is competing in. I am sure that quality helped him get where he is in basketball. Shaq did pretty well in the pool considering how little he trained. If he tightened up his streamline and got rid of that scissor kick, he would be pretty fast.

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:25:59 GMT

I too saw the show. I was very impressed with Shaq. Just think how fast he could go if he spent a few weeks in the pool. His times were not bad at all with no streamline whatsoever and that huge wide-leg kick of his. Phelps looked like he was going slow on purpose in the IM. It wasn't just his ankle. His backstroke looked terrible and he popped to the surface on every turn. His freestyle looked fast enough when he wanted it to be. Staged nicely though all around. Shaq was funny and seemed to appreciate Bowman's help. Notice he called him "sir?"

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

pwolf66 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:58:23 GMT

I believe they were racing scm? And Shaq went 38+ for a fifty from a push. He may be the only guy in the world who kicks worse than me. But with a few corrections and a months practice, I think he'd be down close to 30 seconds! That setup is scy. Maybe on that time, heck the guys 10 feet tall!!!!

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:38:51 GMT

Phelps must have been hurting pretty bad - those times were not very good.

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:07:04 GMT

You should be able to view the last episode here. Phelps always get these little injuries which trip up his swimming every once in a while. Heck, when he broke his wrist, he actually used that to improve his kick... he'll probably get out of this bum ankle better than ever.

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:24:59 GMT

Yeah, I caught the breaststroke DK-ing too. You could tell they tried not to show too much of it, especially since *** is already his weakest stroke. It was fun to see Shaq win a race, even if it was heavily handicapped. He had me and my brother rolling on the floor every few minutes with his remarks. Interesting that a guy Shaq's size still can't match what Phelps has for lunch. I was a little disappointed they didn't show more underwaters of Phelps swimming, obviously... not very much to see in the way of technique... guess we'll just have to continue relying on the legendary freestyle multi-angle video. And I can swim faster than Shaq! :D

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:12:49 GMT

ehoch You may be right about the pool length --- but Phelps 38 second for a 75 sounds way too slow.

RE: Michael Phelps to race Shaquille O'Neal

Former Member — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:09:12 GMT