Shaquille O’Neal has made his feelings for Chris “Mad Dog” Russo well-known.
Late last year, Shaq took issue with Russo’s labeling him as the fifth-best center of all time. He had little regard for the longtime sports media personality then, even claiming to his co-host Adam Lefkoe on The Big Podcast with Shaq that he had no idea “who the ****” that was.
Shaq now knows who Russo is and doesn’t believe we should ever hear from him again about anything related to sports.
Unprompted, O’Neal took aim at Stephen A. Smith’s cohort on First Take surrounding a sports media discussion that was prompted by Lefkoe during a recent episode with Cam Newton.
He wanted the audience to understand, so he referenced “G-14 Classification,” a term with no real-world meaning. This phrase, popularized in the movie Rush Hour, was used humorously to poke fun at Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker). In Shaq’s eyes, if you were a great athlete like himself or Newton, they both have the G-14 classification to say whatever they want.
Russo, on the other hand, has been declassified by O’Neal.
“Since high school, college, and the pros, we’ve been there and done that,” established Shaq. “So, when we say something, don’t ever take it personal. Like, (Cam Newton) knows how to be a pressured quarterback in the Super Bowl. He knows all that, so he’s allowed to speak on that. But a lot of times when he speaks, people get sensitive. A lot of times, when I speak, people get sensitive, but you need to understand G-14 classification.
“Now, so a lot of dudes, who have no G-14 classification, like ******* ‘Mad Dog.’ Like, what the **** do you know about quarterbacks? What the **** do you know about being a big? So, shut the **** up, Mad Dog. Stick to the traditional media. When it comes to sports, you don’t know what the **** you’re talking about; I do. See all this writing on the wall? That’s ******* me. All he (Newton did); that’s him. So, that’s what these players and people have to understand. We have G-14 classification. I can show my badge and have a ******* meeting with the president of the United States because I have G-14 classification.
“And all you fans, y’all don’t know what the **** we know; you don’t. You can’t watch TV and ******* see some **** and think you know what we know. You can’t do it. It’ll never happen.”
So, Russo has no “G-14 classification,” and Shaq clearly doesn’t respect his opinion when it comes to sports. That’s especially true when considering that the former established the latter as the fifth-greatest center of all time behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon, and even Moses Malone.
We don’t think Russo will be getting a podcast invite anytime soon.
