Shaquille O'Neal: Why ESPN Isn't the Right Fit for the Big Shaqtus

Shaquille O'Neal Has Teased A Possible Job With ESPN, But Does He Belong There?

From the moment Shaquille O'Neal announced his retirement, fans have wondered what he would do next.

Shaq isn't a man who is going to sit on his couch and eat junk food all day, even if his physique would lead you to believe otherwise.

Naturally, he was going to find something to do and that could be television work. 

Since his retirement, O'Neal has been tweeting nonstop and one tweet today hinted that ESPN was interested in signing him to a deal, conceivably to work through the rest of the NBA Finals and possibly beyond.

While ESPN is the leading sports network in America, it isn't the right fit for him and his larger-than-life personality. O'Neal would be the only jokester in a room with Stuart Scott, Jon Barry, Magic Johnson and Michael Wilbon.

I actually got a little sleepy just thinking about those four talking in the same room.

If O'Neal wants to go to a place that will harness his personality and talents, there is only one real option for the Big Shaqtus, and that's NBA TV and TNT. 

There is no better studio crew than Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith. If you put Shaq in that environment, he is going to have people to play off of, and that would lead to plenty of comedic moments in the studio.

If he is thrown in there with a bunch of boring stiffs in a suit, it's just going to flop, making O'Neal look like a total scrub in the studio. TNT has done a great job with basketball coverage, and the addition of Chris Webber has been a breath of fresh air.

Putting O'Neal in that studio, with those characters, will lead to great debate, great humor and entertainment for TNT's millions of viewers.

Do the right thing, Shaq, go to a place where your talents will be nurtured, instead of squashed under the mountain of mediocrity that is ESPN's pregame show.