first use of the term i found was in 1995, before Nelsons use (against Rodman in 97) http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1995-10-26/sports/9510260095_1_shaquille-oneal-hack-foul
Thanks! I guess then technically Hack a Shaq was originally referencing the hard fouls he endured rather than the soft intentional fouls that are common in today's NBA. Cool find on that article!
I like Shaq. He's funny, entertaining, talented. In a sense, he's a jack of all trades, and master of none, save the hardwood. He's got a passive-aggressive approach to things and I have to think it's why he didn't choose to focus on the free throws. Finishing his degree at LSU was for his mom and kudos for that. That was a great thing for him to do. He's earned a lot more since then....although he doesn't seem to know why he's doing it....he's talked about a career in law enforcement, being a lawyer, he's a rapper, actor, video game designer, MMA, investor, Freemason. He's very generous with his time and money and seems to be living a hell of a life. Nothing wrong with any of that.
Hack a Shaq first happened in O'Neal's sophomore season at LSU. It wasn't because Shaq was so bad at the line, it was because he was unstoppable in the paint. SEC big men were getting embarrassed inside and resorted to flagrant fouling ever time Shaq got the ball. The referees had never really encountered such a dominant big man before and they felt like they couldn't just foul out everybody on the floor. One SEC ref actually was quoted as saying that Shaquille was powerful enough to handle it since he made many of the baskets anyway. It was a major reason that Shaq went pro early with Dale's blessing. There was a real danger he would be hurt. Sometimes three men would just start holding him and slapping his arms. He was intentionally tripped a few times.
I recall the hard fouls at LSU but wasn't sure of the phrase. Looks like the Orlando article during his 2nd year there may have coined it (and not have been related to the intentional foul strategy).
Arkansas was the king of the hack a Shaq with Oliver Miller, that fat bastard was no match for Shaq one on one, then again no one was, but they were the first team I remember actually triple teaming him, and really beating him up.
It's nice knowing the greatest big man in history and the greatest small man in history both played basketball at LSU.
