JANUARY 15, 2016: Officer Bobby White, a cop in Gainesville, Florida gets a noise complaint about some kids playing basketball in the street. When he gets there, he shoots them. Just another day on the force.
I’m kidding, of course — this cop was one of those (vast majority of) badass policepeople who doesn’t, in fact, suck. So instead of hurting anyone, he asked the kids to keep it down, and if he could join them for a game. He even promised to come back with some friends for a pickup game later on. The move was so sweet, the video of it went viral and was even picked up by some news stations:
But no one would guess what happened next. The video went so viral that it caught the attention of retired B-ball superstar and 2016 Basketball Hall of Fame nominee Shaquille O’Neal…who decided to take matters into his own incredibly large hands.
JANUARY 23, 2016: Officer White approached the same kids after pulling up with a fleet of police cars, and (with a huge grin etched across his face) asked them: “I told y’all I was gonna bring some backup, right? You guys ready? You bring your good game?”
The kids were ready, they said.
“You think you can take these guys, right?” White asked, gesturing at the dozen or so officers that had gotten out of their cars. “Well, I brought some other backup as well.” The door of the one police SUV that had pulled up opened, and a 7’1″, 345-lb. man who led the league in field goal percentage for half of his career stepped out.
The freaking-out began. “Holy crap, you’re huge!”
The game brought lots of cheering and jeering, and it was obvious that absolutely everyone was having a blast , just playing basketball on the street with one hoop, eight kids, and a whole pile of cops. Oh, and Shaquille O’Neal. In the end, Shaq offers the boys a simple challenge: make a shot on their basket from the other side of the street, win $100. He gave each kid two chances — all but two kids nailed it on their first try. The two who missed their first shots both hit the second without a problem. Shaq didn’t seem to mind paying out the $800.
With it, he passed out the message: “Stay out of trouble. Listen to your parents…I’m from the same neighborhood y’all are from, I grew up just like this. So only you can change this. You can change it through basketball and showing respect to your parents. Now, I’m a man of my word, but don’t ever take money from another stranger, you understand?”
“You know how much money I made? …$700 million. You know how I did that? I respected my peers, I listened to my mommy and daddy, and I focused on school. That’s all you gotta do.”
Thank you, Shaq. Thank you, Officer White. We all need a reminder of what cops and kids and playing basketball in the street and real American success stories should be all about.
(Images, incl. Featured Image, courtesy of Gainesville Police Department via Facebook)
