The first season is already done, but rumor has it that ABC will be airing a second season which will include Shaquille’s attempt to take down some of the top poker players in the world.  The news of Shaq’s venture into the poker world broke from professional poker player Phil Hellmuth’s Twitter account.  According to Hellmuth, Shaq is trying to beat him, Mike Matusow, Chris Ferguson, and Erik Lindgren in a game of Texas Hold’em. Shaq may have his hands full with this group since they’ve all been playing poker for years, and have won numerous World Series of Poker bracelets among the four of them.  Phil Hellmuth alone holds a record 11 WSOP gold bracelets, and is widely considered to be the world’s best texas hold em tournament player.  Chris Ferguson has 5 bracelets including one that came when he took first place in the coveted WSOP Main Event.  Matusow and Lindgren have combined to win 4 bracelets in their career in addition to numerous other tournament titles. In short, this may be Shaq’s toughest challenge yet since he is known far more for his athletic ability than for his poker skills. Still, it will be fun to see Shaquille take on the top poker players in the world because we’ll get to see how he handles the pressure of playing big-time poker.  Shaq will showcase his poker abilities in season 2 of “Shaq Vs.”

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.

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The Cleveland Cavaliers, in a bold stroke aimed at winning the championship, acquired O’Neal from the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, in a stunning trade that will have ramifications across the league.

The deal sparked a swift reaction from the Orlando Magic, which acquired guard Vince Carter from the Nets hours after the O’Neal trade became official.

O’Neal, a 15-time All-Star, will join LeBron James, the league’s reigning most valuable player, to form one of the most powerful tandems in the league. The Cavaliers were already an elite team — winning an N.B.A.-best 66 games last season — but one that was missing star power, or reliable scoring, beyond James. That will no longer be a problem. Even at 37, O’Neal remains a threat in the low post. He averaged 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds for the Suns last season, played in 75 games (his highest total in four years) and was named to the all-N.B.A. third team.

“Our goals are aligned with what our players want, including LeBron, and that’s to win a championship and win it next year,” Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry told reporters in Cleveland. “We don’t want to be patient.”

With O’Neal, Cleveland has an answer to Orlando’s Dwight Howard, who bulldozed through the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals. Continue

When Dwight Howard broke the shot clock with a monster dunk in the Eastern Conference Finals, it brought back fond memories of young Shaq.

On April 23, 1993, in one of the most famous basketball plays of all time, Shaquille O’Neal brought down the basket on a dunk while playing the New Jersey Nets.

He didn’t just bring it down—he slammed it down. The metal support snapped in half, and O’Neal couldn’t get out of the way before the 24-second clock crashed down on his back.

It was shocking. It was all over the news. Here was a guy like we’d never really seen in the NBA. We’d seen big centers, but nothing like this 300-plus-pound monster who was so powerful and merciless that even the equipment couldn’t stand up to him.

And he was a rookie. Continue

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Shaq’s endorsement of Enlyten’s products comes just after it was reported in the New York Times that Syracuse University’s basketball team was being given Enlyten electrolyte strips by its trainer to help replenish the players’ electrolytes and assist in their hydration in their recent 6-overtime win over the University of Connecticut.

“Enlyten’s signing of Shaq and the New York Times article reporting Syracuse basketball team’s use of the Enlyten strips proves that HealthSport’s strip technology has gained acceptance not only with NFL athletes and teams, but is now being used by major college basketball programs and one of the greatest NBA basketball players of all time. Shaq, as a product spokesman, should expedite growth for Enlyten and begin to increase HealthSport’s revenue in the very near future,” stated Hank Durschlag, CEO of HealthSport, Inc.

About HealthSport, Inc.

HealthSport, Inc. (http://healthsportinc.com) is a fully integrated developer, manufacturer and marketer of unique and proprietary branded and private label edible film strip nutritional supplements and over-the-counter drugs. HealthSport’s wholly-owned subsidiary, InnoZen, Inc. (http://www.innozen.com), is the preeminent formulator, developer and manufacturer of edible film strips that deliver drug actives through buccal (between the cheek and gum) absorption. InnoZen’s proprietary edible film strip delivery technology is superior to any other competitive edible film strips currently available on the market. InnoZen has five patents pending and has developed numerous trade secrets which it incorporates in the development and manufacturing process of edible film strips.

Forward-Looking Statements in this news release are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, and uncertainties and actual results could differ from those discussed. This material is information only, and is not an offer or solicitation to buy or sell the securities.

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com