SHAQUILLE O'NEAL: Vaccines, Parenting, and Being a Good Man
[00:00:00] Shaquille O'Neal: I could tell any NBA player how to get to that level. Cause it's what I know. And a lot of times these guys on TNT, they get mad at me.
[00:00:07] Oh, you're hating.
[00:00:08] No, I'm not hating.
[00:00:09] I've done everything that you getting ready to do. I've done everything on that level. So I'm just giving you a blueprint of how to get to that level.
[00:00:17] So, it is a little bit of both who you know and. What you know.  
[00:00:21] Travis Chappell: What's going on everybody?  
[00:00:58] Today I'm making friends with the legend himself, Dr. Shaquille O'Neal.
[00:01:03] This is a full circle moment for me guys, because when I started my podcast back in 2017, the first iteration of my show, one of the first names, if not the first name that I wrote down on my dream guest list was Shaquille O'Neal.
[00:01:15] Because when I was growing up, I was a big basketball fan, a big Lakers fan, and really a Shaq fan. So I had, you know, my friend had the Kobe jersey and I had the Shaq jersey, and, uh, Always pr, you know, we'd lower the basketball hoop in the driveway down to seven feet. Pretend like we're Shaq and Kobe.
[00:01:29] And I was always Shaq, he was always Kobe. I had Shaq bobbleheads and jerseys and pictures and murals painted and all these different things going on. And then, what was interesting, as I was such a basketball fan growing up, but then becoming a business person in my early adult life was I was making the transition to business when Shaq was making the transition out of basketball and into retirement. And for him, retirement has been even busier it seems, than when he was playing basketball.  
[00:01:50] He's got, hundreds of franchises that he owns. He makes tens of millions of dollars a year on endorsements on being a host on, , NBA TNT with charles Barkley and that whole crew. And so there's, there's an infinite number of things that we could have talked about.
[00:02:01] And I'm sad we only had about 20 minute, 15, 20 minutes to talk. But I was just happy to have any conversation with the guy . Because I've looked up to him in so many different regards, over my lifetime. And then watching him master so many different areas of life. Even just the fact that he went back to school to get an earned doctorate after he'd never had to work again, is something that I deeply respect.
[00:02:21] He's a sworn sheriff, in Florida. , forget the county or, jurisdiction or whatever. But he's actually like a sworn member of the sheriff's department there. Just super interesting guy. Seems like a really good dad. Seems to have great relationships with the kids. So we talked about the one message that he would put out to the entire world if he had the opportunity to have a video go viral enough that everybody in the world would see it, what would be the message that you'd put there? We talked about that.  
[00:02:43] We talked about how to raise kids in this environment today. And we, we actually covered quite a bit of ground in just the short 15, 20 minutes that we had with them. So I hope that you enjoy listening to this interview as much as I enjoyed recording it.
[00:02:53] And, listen, don't judge me if I , appear nervous and shaky. It's because I really was nervous and shaky , which is, rare for me at this point because I've interviewed almost every other dream person on my list. But Shaq was just such a big one that I, couldn't have myself. So, this has been a really, really fun, conversation for me.
[00:03:07] I hope you enjoyed as well. Without any further ado, please enjoy my conversation with Shaquille O'Neal..
[00:03:13] Well first off man, welcome to the show, thanks for taking a couple quick minutes here.  
[00:03:16] Shaquille O'Neal: I wanna say thank you for paying the money for the charity, going towards cancer research. I appreciate it. anything helps. The Pump Foundation, they've been doing this for years.
[00:03:25] We actually started in the game together, so they've been doing a lot of great things for their family. So I wanna thank you on behalf of the Pump Brothers. Appreciate you very much. Yes, sir.  
[00:03:35] Travis Chappell: A hundred percent a friend of mine from, third grade, we went to all of elementary school, junior high, high school together.
[00:03:41] She was 28 years old and she just passed from cancer, about two weeks ago. So it's very much been in the forefront of my mind for sure. And I appreciate all the work that you guys are doing with that. So thank you so much for, being willing to take some of your time to make sure that those things are being.
[00:03:58] I know we got a couple minutes here, man. So, uh, I wanna take, a second just to say thanks, but also, ask a couple of quick questions. First of all, there's just a question that I, that I've asked a lot of people that have come on my show, so I'm curious to hear, what you would say to itwith all the division and polarity and stuff that's in the world right now, if you could have.
[00:04:14] One video that you knew would go so viral that everybody in the world would see it, what would be the message that you would put on that video?  
The Definiton of respect and Why it's so important for Shaq
[00:04:23] Shaquille O'Neal: You know, a lot of times when I go viral, I don't plan to go viral
[00:04:31] I would give people the definition of respect, and then try to tell a story behind it. I realize that everybody's different so you may say your panels behind you are black. And I might say, because I see anything different that they're dark gray. We don't have to argue and fight over it. Just have to respect each other's opinion.
[00:04:49] So I'm able to stop time and be different sides. So like you got a lot of people. Vaccine. Should I take it or not? I understand people's thoughts. Cancer has been around for years. You don't come up with a vaccine for that. HIV's been around, you don't come up with a vaccine for that. All of a sudden, next thing comes, now you have a vaccine.
[00:05:11] Now you wanna make us take it. Understand the people that don't wanna take it. I understand the people that do wanna take it. The problem right now is that everybody has a voice. Everybody has a say so and everybody thinks they're right. And you might be right, but if I'm. And you think you're right, I'm not going to try to change your opinion of what you think is right.
[00:05:31] So to answer your question, I would do a video about disrespecting each other and respecting, you know, respecting people's thoughts and respecting people's mindset. I'm never going to make you do anything that you don't want to do. I'm never gonna try to convince you to do something that you gonna do.
[00:05:46] It's not my place in life. My place in life is to respect you as I expect you to respect me. And I think if we go back to that, a lot of these problems we have start to diminish.  
[00:05:57] Like people, me all the, oh, you just like the cops. You just like the cops. I, everybody respect when I get pulled over, I already know what they're going.
[00:06:05] Got my hands on the wheels. Here's my license, my registration, turn, get out the car. Okay, no problem. Cause I ain't got nothing in my car that's going have me brother Jack, when we get out the car for your safety. Cool. Put my hands behind my back. Cool. So you know, I'm not being, so again, I think respect would be the only thing that I would talk about.
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Hard on the boys, soft on the girls, Shaq expandds on his parenting advice
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[00:06:23] Travis Chappell: It seems like you garnered a really deep level of respect because of how your parents raised you. And specifically your relationship with your dad, it seemed like that was a high value of his as well. I'm a relatively new dad myself. I got a two and a half year old and a 10 month old at home, and so, I ask people all the time of what their best parenting advice would be.
[00:06:44] So with the context of it, seeming like the relationship you had with your parents being good and the relationship that you have with your kids also being really good.  
[00:06:52] What's some parenting advice that you could give?  
[00:06:53] Shaquille O'Neal: Yeah. Boys or girls?  
[00:06:55] Travis Chappell: One of each.  
[00:06:56] Shaquille O'Neal: Okay. Hard on the boys. Soft on the girls. When you have a little boy and he does something, you can go, stop it. He's a boy, young man. He can take it. If you do that to a girl, you have to pull out a lot of cookies and a lot of hugging and lot. So I had to learn that. Cause I'm, I'm one way stop and the girls would be devastated. I remember one time I grabbed my hand, put my baby's hand and spank my hand.
[00:07:19] Don't do like, but I don't do that. My daughter cried for about three minutes you definitely have to treat the boys different from the different girls and you.
‍Society is changing. These kids are changing. These kids are growing up rebels, they're hard. You just have to, you have to be the friend slash parent.
[00:07:38] When I was growing up, my parents were not friends. They were the parents. So now you have to like, you know, do both and it just always show 'em that you love 'em, show 'em that you care and you know, teach 'em what your parents taught you.  
Who you know or What You know, Shaq's view on networking and skill improvement
[00:07:49] Travis Chappell: Yeah. Instilling strong values and morals. It seems like a really big part of that process.
[00:07:54] I've interviewed probably about four or 500 people on the show at this point, and one question that I've always asked everybody, cuz it's a show about, how to build better relationships in life and how to get around people that, that fire you up and feed you instead of people that drain you. I'd love to hear your answer to this question. Do you believe that who you know or what you know is more important in life in general and why?  
[00:08:19] Shaquille O'Neal: Depends on what aspect you're talking about. In business, it's about who you know, right? For example, I'm sitting at a table one day and it's just these gentlemen are talking papers, lawyers, and one of the gentlemen has a kid, two kids, and they recognize me.
[00:08:36] I'm playing with them they, leave their table, come sit with me. We're eating, playing kitty games. Boom, boom, boom. At the end of the night, the gentleman comes up and says, brother, I'm at a lot of superstars. Nobody has treated my kids like you treated my kids. Thank you very much. My fans blah, blah, blah. I want tell what we were talking about over there.
[00:08:54] I was like, okay. Said, and this was like in 90 seconds something. He's . Like, we're gonna be doing something called Google. We'd like to give you the opportunity to invest. And I didn't know what he was talking about, but he is this, that search engine in the future type boom, boom, boom, boom. I said, I don't really understand, but.
[00:09:10] You call my guy. Sure, he'll understand. So he called my guy and I invested in Google. I forgot about it. And then 10, 15 years later, there was an article that came outta one of the Google's first investors. So when it comes to business, it's, it's who you know when it comes to experience and things that you're good at doing.
[00:09:28] It's what, you know, like me, I could, I could tell any NBA player How to get to that level. Cause it's what I know. Yeah. And a lot of times these guys on TNT, they get . Mad at me. Oh, you're hating. No, I'm not hating. I've done everything that you getting ready to do. I've done everything on that level. So I'm just giving you a blueprint of how to get to that level.
[00:09:48] So, it is a little bit of both who you know and. What you know.
[00:09:53] Travis Chappell: Love the answer, man. I know, you gotta get going. I don't wanna take up too much of your time. So, I'll just say thank you. I gotta tell you, I I texted Matt Barnes, he's a, a business partner of mine, in my software company.
[00:10:02] He's investor.  
[00:10:04] Shaquille O'Neal: I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna give you two, I'm gonna give you two more questions cause you got two beautiful babies. So go ahead.  
[00:10:09] Travis Chappell: Okay.  
[00:10:09] Thank you so much. So this question would be more about, life in general. My wife Jackie and I, who's, she's sitting right over here.
[00:10:17] She wanted to sit in on this. He said hi.  
[00:10:20] Shaquille O'Neal: Lemme see her. Hi Jackie .  
[00:10:23] Jackie: Hi  
[00:10:24] Shaquille O'Neal: Travis. You got two babies with a 19 year old. You should be ashamed to yourself. .  
[00:10:30] Travis Chappell: I got away with it man.  
[00:10:33] Jackie: Great to meet you.  
[00:10:34] Travis Chappell: We're starting a new podcast called Figuring It Out. And it's basically kind of our journey from growing up in a super strict kind of religious bubble to, kind of creating values and, and morals that we want to build our family on. And we're calling figuring it out because obviously we haven't figured it out and, but we just want to kind of bring people along the journey and help people understand that it's always, it's a constant journey.
[00:10:56] It's something that, that happens, throughout life and you're not ev probably ever going to figure it out, but the whole journey kind of comes together in that. My question for you on that is, what are some things that you've done or that you'd recommend people doing, for them to be able to figure out a strong set of values for them to live their lives by?
[00:11:14] Almost like rules for life for you and your family that you would've abide by things that you want your kids to value, things that you want to be known.  
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The 3 jobs every man has: Protect, Provide and Love
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[00:11:22] Shaquille O'Neal: So when it comes to man versus woman, man has three jobs. PPL :Protect, Provide, and Love.
[00:11:30] When it comes to marriage, you all have to realize that certain things will happen, right? You gonna have a disagreement or argument. You can't let that pester on.Sometimes as a man, you just have to say, okay, and sometimes as a woman you just have to have, okay, so you have to have rules. Like me and my wife had a rule. If we argue on Thursday. Just leave it on Thursday. And then you have to realize that sometimes you will. Agreed to disagree like she thinks: don't teach him how to catch baseball today. And you're like, no, I want to learn how to play baseball. And you just argue. And then, you know, argue leads to fighting and fighting leads to, you know, y'all don't need that.
[00:12:07] Family is something that we need to keep together. The divorce rate is way too high. I think it's up in the eighties, and you don't want that. You don't wanna have to come visit your wife and your babies cause of little stupid constant arguing. So develop rules. Another one of my rules as if we couldn't figure it out, we'd have to have a love session.
[00:12:26] We just, you know what I mean? We just, all right. You, you said, you said, I said, you said, now let's just have a date night and let's just start all over.  
[00:12:33] Your rules of how you raise your family or your. Whatever that is. But as a man, when it comes to family and woman, ppp, protect, providing love, most men can give you two outta three.
[00:12:45] Or you look like a man that can give three outta three. You're doing a podcast with your wife. She's very gorgeous. I can tell you. Love her. You got two babies. So just remember those things. Protect, provide and love, and just say, okay, you know, just say, okay. Sometimes cause women are special being.
[00:13:02] They're emotional, they're sensitive, 97% of the time they, all right, so before you snap back at her, just stop time and be like, no. What? She's right. Maybe I was a little too hard on Junior I'll soften up. You right honey. Love you. And then let it go.  
How to stop a disagreement turn into a fight, Shaq's advice on marriage
[00:13:17] Travis Chappell: Well, this has been awesome, man. I, I appreciate you taking a little bit of extra time with, with me and the audience today.
[00:13:21] Thanks so much for taking the time. If there's anything else that, that we can do for you or continue to help support, this particular charity, then we will definitely be doing that. So thank you very much for the time.  
[00:13:30] Shaquille O'Neal: No, you just take care of your hot wife and those two gorgeous babies and go to sleep at night.
[00:13:35] I know you don't want no more babies.  
[00:13:38] Travis Chappell: Yes, sir. Will do. Will do. 100%. Thanks so much.  
[00:13:41] Shaquille O'Neal: All right, brother. Talk to you. /  
[00:13:43] ​