On Wednesday I asked the Lakers blog faithful to share their nicknames for Shaquille O'Neal after he joined the Boston Celtics as well as for the Miami Heat's "Super Team" featuring LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. My plea for everyone to keep the comments clean and tasteful was met with sneers, laughs and eye rolls because of the rightful assertion that asking a fan to talk trash isn't exactly the most sportsmanlike thing to do. Though this doesn't exactly keep us immune from getting on James' supposed "enemies list," at least there were plenty of comments appropriate for print.
"1. Creep and the Miami Meat 2. The Big Putrid and the Green Slime" -- Jon K
"The Three A-ME-gos featuring DUH-wayne, ME-Bron and RU-Paul. I like Shraq, the Big Green Ogre. That's funny." -- puddle
"What about Three Blind Mice? Once our defense kicks in, they won't be able to throw a pea in the ocean (RIP Chick). Snaq? Who?" -- Don't Blame Del Harris!
"For Miami Trio-- THE AXIS OF EGO. For Shaq--THE BIG BANDWAGONNER" -- lone star laker fan
"Boston - Grandpa Shaq; Miami - We're taking our egos to South Beach" -- LDM
"Shaq - The Big Leper or The Big Leperchaun; Heat - The Ringwraths, the 3Me-Egos, the Super-Egos" -- Konster
"Shaq: The Big Minimum. Heat Big 3: The Persuader, the Traitor, and the Canada Hater." -- Logo44
"Snaq = Refried Green Bean OR just "Green Bean" if you wanna get cute. Meame = The Three Stooges OR Miami (c)Heat" -- Jell-O is Jiggling
"Shaq -- The Big Leprechaun; Miami -- Sound Machine -- because all we've heard is talk" -- Bryant
"Shaq's name is Froghopper. The name for the Heat 3 is Miami Thrice." -- Jason
"The Big Underachiever & the Three Pendejos" -- Bill
--Mark Medina
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Top photo: Lakers fans don't view Shaquille O'Neal in the same light as they did during the Lakers' three-peat from 2000 to 2002. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times
Lower photo: There were plenty of creative nicknames for the Miami Heat's Super Team, which includes LeBron James. Credit: Hans Dery / Reuters