Shaquille O’Neal has earned many nicknames during his NBA career: “The Diesel,” “The Big Aristotle,” “The Big Daddy” and, since his move last year to the Phoenix Suns, “The Big Cactus.”
He might be getting a new one: “The Big Tweet.”
The New York Times reported on Thursday that O’Neal had opened an account on Twitter.com this week and begun sending out the 140-characters-or-less messages to more than 1,000 followers.
O’Neal’s Twitter messages may have come as a surprise to some users of the micro-blogging service because for the past several months an imposter has been “tweeting” in O’Neal’s name, the Times said.
It said the tweets from the fake “Shaq” were the creation of Ward Andrews, a 33-year-old Suns fan. His messages are archived at twitter.com/notShaqONeal.
O’Neal’s first message on Tuesday made it clear that the 7ft1in center of the Phoenix Suns and four-time NBA champion was now in charge.
“This is the real SHAQUILLE O’NEAL,” it said.
“There can only be one me,” the real O’Neal added in an interview with the Times.