Not Even Shaq Is as Big as This House

Before the Miami Heat defeated the Orlando Magic, 117-107, Sunday night, Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald sat down with Grant Hill, Orlando’s five-time NBA All-Star.

Not surprisingly, the talk turned to Shaquille O’Neal and, in particular, to Shaq’s house.

“Well, it’s big,” Hill said. “You better carve out a couple of hours. It’s probably the biggest house in central Florida. And he’s added something on to it this summer. Very long house. A wall of fame with just about every Hall of Fame football, basketball jersey. He has everybody -- Walter Payton, Joe Montana. Top of the top. I could go on for days.”

The most impressive aspect, other than the fact that access to Shaq’s office can be gained only by using Shaq’s fingerprint?

“His garage,” Hill said. “He has two. But I’d go through one to get to the basketball gym at his house, and the garage is as big as my house. Seven or eight cars. Motorcycles. Every imaginable toy.”

Meanwhile, in Shaq’s doghouse: “As if the Christmas Day showdown between the Lakers and the Miami Heat needed any more fuel,” observed Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times, “now come rumors that Shaq’s dog once made an unwelcome sniff at Kobe’s pooch.”

Trivia time: Who is the oldest NFL player to rush for 1,500 yards in a season?

Beyond the paint: In his final column for the Guardian after 21 years as the English newspaper’s golf correspondent, David Davies bemoaned the technological advances that have led to shots traveling farther.

“The combined result has been a more pleasant game for the average hacker, but also the outmoding of the classic courses when used by the game’s best players, who now simply hit the ball too far,” Davies wrote. “They have had to lengthen the Old Course at St. Andrews, for instance, which is rather like redecorating the Sistine Chapel in nice pastel shades with a roller.”

Spartan fare: “A pool started by San Jose State fans about the school’s next football coach includes Rick Neuheisel’s name,” wrote Bud Geracie of the San Jose Mercury News, who added: “Which is fine as long as it doesn’t include Rick himself.”

Hot legs: A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last week alleges that Vincenzo Costa suffered “personal injuries, physical disability and physical and emotional distress, pain and suffering” after being hit in the head by a soccer ball kicked into the crowd by Rod Stewart during a concert at the Hollywood Bowl in August.

Costa’s wife, Rita, also a plaintiff in the suit, alleges that the injury cost her the “companionship of her husband.”

If Stewart, a onetime player and avid soccer fan, can hit the ball that hard at age 59, perhaps the Galaxy should take a look.

Trivia answer: Curtis Martin, 31, of the New York Jets, this season.

And finally: Minnesota Coach Mike Tice was in agony during the final seconds of the Vikings’ 28-27 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday. “Tice,” wrote Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, “looked as though he was aging faster than your average opposition candidate in Ukraine.”