The lights went out, the courts darkened and a media day already like no other in Cavaliers history was cancelled after just two hours.
Maybe with LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal, Cleveland has too much superstar power.
The duo’s first public appearance together as teammates was cut short Monday when the electricity went out at the Cavs’ fabulous suburban training facility, forcing the team to improvise for O’Neal’s interview and re-schedule the event for a later date. While it might seem the high-profile James-O’Neal pairing could seemingly overload any circuit, high winds were blamed for the outage. Even before the building dimmed at 3:41 p.m., it was already evident that James and O’Neal are the NBA’s newest marquee act.
More than 150 media members swarmed on Cleveland Clinic Courts for their first chance to talk to the larger-than-life all-stars, whose road trips with the Cavs this season may be more look more like one of U2′s world tours than, say, back-to-back games in Detroit and Indianapolis.
Look out, here they come.
“Day One of the madness,” Cavaliers guard Mo Williams said, surveying the horde of cameras, microphones and reporters.
The Cavs acquired O’Neal in June, shortly after they were eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Orlando Magic. Cleveland, which won 66 regular-season games and 10 in the playoffs and still came up short of a title, had tried to land the big man from Phoenix before the all-star break but general manager Danny Ferry wasn’t able to complete a deal until after the season.
Hello Shaq,
I know you can’t honor all the request of your many fans, however, I am the huggest Shaq fan on planet earth. I have been trying to meet you since 1994. If I had only one request before I die, it would be to meet Shaq, get a picture and autograph, I am hopeful that this request will be granted someday before I die.