Shaquille O'Neal's Newest Nickname: The Big Mouth

Do you remember the old Shaquille O'Neal?

The one that always had a funny one liner ready when reporters crowded around his locker. The goofy kid whose comedic timing was almost as great as his post-up game.

What happened to that Shaq?

These days, reporters are crowding around his locker for another reason. The Big Aristotle has suddenly shown the world a new persona: The Big Mouth. 

From Chris Quinn to Kevin Garnett, nobody is safe from O'Neal's criticism.

Shortly after being traded from the Miami Heat to the Phoenix Suns, Shaquille immediately started throwing his former teammates under the bus.

"We have professionals who know what to do. No one is asking me to play with Chris Quinn and Ricky Davis. I'm actually on a team again," said the newest Sun. 

Pat Riley responded, "It's sad he says those things. It's really a shame he would insult those people like that because they gave him care. They cared about him. He can do whatever he wants to me but those men, they tried. That upsets me more than anything."

He would later go onto describe how defenses would leave Quinn and Davis to stop him from getting the ball. He basically humiliated these two men through the media.

Sound familiar? Shaq has a history of doing this. No matter what, Shaq's current team is the best team that he's ever been on and he's happy as hell to be there. The quote is always similar, "I'm very happy to play for this great coach and with these guys. It's going to be great blah blah blah." Then when he leaves, he trashes them.

He did it in Orlando (Penny Hardaway), Los Angeles (Kobe Bryant), and now in Miami.

When asked about Hardaway, Bryant, and Wade during his stint with the Heat, Shaq said, "The difference between those three is in "The Godfather" trilogy. One is Fredo, who was never ready for me to hand it over to him. One is Sonny, who will do whatever it takes to be the man. And one is Michael, who if you watch the trilogy, the Godfather hands it over to Michael. So I have no problem handing it over to Dwyane."

It's definitely obvious that O'Neal has a history of saying whatever he wants, no matter who it affects or offends.

But it's not just his former teammates he has been talking about lately. It's some of the top players around the league. 

For example, let's look at his recent comments about Dwight Howard. After Howard won this year's Slam Dunk contest largely in part because of his popular "Superman dunk", the Orlando Magic center was dubbed Superman by some. However, Shaq coined this nickname years ago and despite the fact that the nickname has barely stuck with Howard since the All-Star break, O'Neal still felt the need to say something.

"Superman is still mine," O'Neal said last week. "He [Howard] has to do something first to be called Superman. Anyone can win a slam-dunk contest. The real Superman is dead. He was assassinated by Pat Riley [in Miami]."

So let's get this straight. When he went to Miami, he stated that Pat Riley was the best coach he had ever played for, a clear knock on his former Laker coach, Phil Jackson. Now that he is in Phoenix, he is disrespecting Riley?

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