Shaq says he's retiring on Twitter (AP)

[The Question]

Shaquille O'Neal says on Twitter that he's "about to retire." O'Neal sent a Tweet shortly before 2:45 p.m. saying, "im retiring." It included a link to a 16-second video in which he says, "We did it; 19 years, baby. Thank you very much. That's why I'm telling you first: I'm about to retire.

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[key2win]

Good bye Shaq. You should have retired 3 years ago instead of hanging on too long. You will always be remembered for your Magic, Lakers, and first year Heat days. Thanks for helping L.A. win 3 Championships.

[gladdyontherise]

Shaq you will be missed (well Shaq pre 2007-08) Thanks for helping the Pistons win a title!

[JesRey]

Shaquille O'Neal Announces Retirement

Shaquille O'Neal has just announced that he will be retiring after a 19 year career.

He just released a video on his twitter feed.

"We did it," said O'Neal. "Nineteen years, baby. I want to thank you very much. That's why I'm telling you first, I'm about to retire. Love ya. Talk to you soon."

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One of the greatest big men to ever play the game. Hopefully the Lakers will have a ceremony to retire his jersey this upcoming season. I'm very grateful that I was able to witness Shaq and Kobe win 3 championships in a row.

We will see the Big Diesel in the Hall of Fame very soon.


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[tndcollectables]

without his tweets and interviews i thought he was retired.

[wheeler281]

Shaq Diesel was what was good in the NBA... A great character on and off the court... Look forward to seeing him in the HOF. Like most big man they break down and he was hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.

However we all would do the same thing if give a multi million reasons

[Baseball Nut]

And a Tweet ends it. Shaq announces his intention to retire.

If any of you are still asking the question "Why bother having a Twitter Account?" this should make it clear.


In this day and age of instant information, there is no more need for press conferences. A 19 year career can come to an end with a simple tweet. Here is one from Shaquille O'Neal just moment ago.


im retiring Video:http://bit.ly/kvLtE3 #ShaqRetires


Done.


This is the way the world is going, this will become the norm. Our lives will be shared 24/7. We will instantly know the things we want to know about without delay, no pomp, no circumstance. No one can stop it.


So if you don't have a Twitter account, it's about time you get one. And when you have one, make sure you follow us @AllAboutCards.


Congrats to Shaq on an amazing career. Here is the brief video that was included with Shaq's Tweet.





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[Chris P]

Shaq's Hangin Em Up

So of course the big news of the day is Shaq announcing his retirement after 19 years in the league. After an injury plagued season in Boston, Shaq is calling it a day after a remarkable NBA career. Shaq is one of the most unique NBA Superstars to ever play the game, and also one of the most dominant. The stats speak for themselves and I'm not going to delve into those as everyone basically knows Shaq is arguably a top 10 NBA player of all-time. I'm going to focus on what Shaq meant to me personally. Shaquille O'Neal definitely helped jumpstart my collection and help get me excited about card collecting. I've mentioned several times on how Shaq basically started just as I was getting into the hobby. On my countdown 4 cards of Shaq from the 92-93 season are in the top 100. When you're a little kid, (I was 7 when Shaq entered the league) you stand in awe of larger than life personalities, and that's exactly what Shaq was to me. This superhuman powerhouse of a basketball player. The guy could literally tear rims down by sheer force of his rim rattling dunks! He took the hero torch from MJ and was THE guy for me. I wanted Shaq everything so bad, I had the shoes, basketballs, even cassette tapes (Shaq Diesel representin!), and most of all I wanted the cards. My budget was understandably limited, so I couldn't just go out there and spend the "big bucks" on his rookies, I had to try the old fashioned way...pack ripping. So I ripped pack after pack hoping to pull the big guy, and though I only pulled his Fleer and Topps rookies, they felt like the biggest pulls of my life at the time. Even base cards of Shaq felt special to me. There was no one like him, and even though I was bitter when he left Orlando for LA (that truly ripped my heart out, I thought that Penny/Shaq would be a modern day Magic/Kareem) I would eventually get over it and realize and appreciate that I was watching one of the last dominant true centers in the league play the game and I wasn't going to take it for granted. When guys like MJ, Malone, and Barkley retired, I didn't watch their entire careers so it doesn't hit me as hard as it does Shaq, since I kinda grew up with him. Thanks for the memories Shaq, and who knows, without you, I may have never fully embraced and loved this hobby as much as I do today...that to me is an impact. Next week, I'll be commemorating Shaq's retirement with Shaq related card postings all week.

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[B.I.G.Poppa]

Big Shaq finally retires. Man i'm gonna miss that guy, hope he stays on in the NBA in a staff position or something.

[bakemeister52]

Good to see him retire! He needs to stay in basketball like B.I.G.Poppa says.

[wheeler281]

agree with the both of you there.. He is one that needs to stick around.

[ac-n-mike]

a GREAT ambassador for the NBA... and dare I say possibly the BEST ambassador the NBA has ever seen

he needs to stick around in some way

[schwood]

Shaq had a great career, but not so great year with the Celtics. With that said, he was always one of my favorite non-Celtics players. So, until this year, I had nothing of his to collect. But...now I do! Thanks Shaq for giving me some of your cards to have in my collection!

Awesome! As this is what collecting is all about!