“You have to see this,” my buddy told nine-year-old me. “He shatters the backboard with his dunks.” The exact exchange was chattier, but you get the point.
Never mind this didn’t happen every time he dunked the ball, let alone every game. It was still a damn impressive feat. He was a giant among other giants. As a kid, I thought a juggernaut wrecking backboards was the coolest thing ever. As you may have guessed, the player responsible for kindling my love for basketball was not a Sixer, or even Michael Jordan, but then-Orlando Magic center Shaquille O’Neal.