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Shaquille O'Neal is a huge football fan, as most of you already, but since his team, the Dallas Cowboys, isn't in this year's Super Bowl, Shaq says he is pulling for the L.A. Rams.
Shaq's Super Bowl pick might come as a shock to many because the Cincinnati Bengals have two LSU alums -- Ja'Marr Chase and Joe Burrow.
Shaq explained why he is cheering for the Rams on The Big Podcast:
“It doesn’t matter to me who wins. I’m not going for the Cincinnati... I’ll go for the Rams because of my connection with Odell Beckham Jr. I’m happy that two fellas from my alumni, of my alma mater LSU... I just wish them both well.”
The reason for the connection is that Shaq and Odell Beckham Sr. were college roommates at LSU, which is why he is a Rams fan for this Super Bowl.
Shaq, also, claims the younger Beckham learned most of his on-the-field moves from him.
Shaq also said in a 2021 interview that football was his first love, and he compared his play on the basketball court to how he played football.
“I’m a football player first,” the former Los Angeles Lakers star said in the interview. “I never even thought about basketball until my father showed me an article where [former Atlanta Hawks center] Jon Koncak was making a lot of money, because my idol was ‘Too Tall’ Jones before it was Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And I used to love to hit. I used to love beating people up. So I brought the football mentality to the NBA when I played.”
Ed "Too Tall" Jones played defense for the Cowboys back in the 70s and 80s.
Shaquille O'Neal's thoughts on the Super Bowl and his Cowboys
Shaq has been very vocal about his Dallas Cowboys and what he thinks the team should do next if they want to make it to the Super Bowl, and that's make a coaching change.
He thinks Jerry Jones should hire former Cowboys great Deion Sanders, who now coaches at Jackson State.
Shaq has been making a lot of noise about lately the Cowboys, especially since they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the San Fransicio 49ers.
But since that won't be happening again this year, he is throwing a HUGE party in L.A. where the game is taking place, and it's open to the public.
Maybe, one day, Shaq will be able to celebrate the Cowboys being in the Super Bowl again.
