Quote of the Day (Shaquille O'Neal, on Halle Berry)

"So when I was young, I used to stutter. She's the only woman that makes my stuttering come back."—Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal, on his reaction to seeing Halle Berry coming down the stairs during a Los Angeles Lakers-New York Knicks game, quoted in Antoinette Bueno‍, “Shaquille O'Neal Recalls When Halle Berry's Beauty Completely Stunned Him at the Free Throw Line,” ETOnline, Sept. 22, 2021

Well, that’s not the end of the story. At the free-throw line, Shaq turned Coach Phil Jackson apoplectic at something other than a referee when he called a completely unnecessary timeout in this game to urge teammates to get him the ball, as Ms. Berry would be watching him.

But, in the end, the Lakers coach couldn’t have minded too much. O’Neal, whose 52% career free-throw percentage made him one of the worst shooters from the line in NBA history, managed to make his this time as he felt himself watched by the actress.

I burst out laughing when I heard this anecdote on my car radio last week. It was such a typical Shaq thing to say and do, wasn’t it?

Speaking of Ms. Berry and sports…congratulations are due on her directorial debut, Bruised—a movie in which she also stars as a single mom who works as a mixed martial arts fighter. If the film is good, let’s hope the Oscar-winning actress gets another shot behind the camera in her future.

(The image accompanying this post was taken of Ms. Berry in Hamburg, Germany, on Aug. 5, 2004—right around the time she left such a vivid impression on Shaq.)