Shaquille O Neal

PHOENIX -- The Diesel cometh, once more. As always, you could almost feel the ground tremble as Shaquille O'Neal changed teams Wednesday, becoming a Phoenix Sun, however improbable that was. Not that it matched O'Neal's reception in Orlando in 1992 when he got off the plane wearing Mickey Mouse ears, or Los Angeles in 1996 when Lakers general manager Jerry West compared signing him to the birth of his children, or Miami in 2004 when Shaq squirted the crowd at a rally with a water gun.

Shaquille O'Neal's trade from Miami to Phoenix has been the biggest news in the sports betting world this week and the deal has forced oddsmakers to adjust the Suns' postseason numbers. According to Bodoglife.com, the odds on the Suns winning the Western Conference before the trade were 5-2; after the deal they improved to 2-1. The odds on Phoenix winning the NBA championship before the trade were 4-1; now they are 7-2.

Shaquille O'Neal, learning a new offense and working his way into shape after a hip injury, is unlikely to play when the Phoenix Suns visit the Golden State Warriors tonight. After returning from Oakland, the team will decide whether O'Neal will play against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night in Phoenix. "I want to be a little more in tune before I step out on the court, because as you watch this team without me, they're like a great flowing machine," O'Neal said after practice Tuesday.

While Fidel Castro's decision to step down after nearly five decades atop the Cuban government has left the communist country's political future in doubt, at least one crown jewel of the revolution -- baseball -- figures to be unaffected by the transfer in power. "This announcement is a formality, is no surprise in Cuba, and should not affect baseball at all," said Peter Bjarkman, a pro-revolution author who maintains a website devoted to baseball on the island.

PHOENIX -- Shaquille O'Neal wrestled and writhed, diving for the ball all over the court and trying to squeeze a few more gallons of diesel from a body running as much on adrenaline as on muscle memory. In his first appearance as a member of the Phoenix Suns and first game since Jan. 21, O'Neal sometimes looked like the dominant Shaq of old. Sometimes he looked just plain old, lumbering upcourt while the game around him accelerated to a breathtaking pace.

Finally, a rivalry indeed renewed. The NBA Finals sputtered out a week ago, failing to live up to past Lakers and Celtics lore. Leave it to Shaquille O'Neal, part-time center, part-time rapper, to pick up the pieces -- or the microphone -- and poke and prod at the embers of a feud with Kobe Bryant that had all but died out some time ago. "You know how I be. Last week Kobe couldn't do without me," O'Neal freestyle-rapped Sunday at a New York nightclub in footage shown on TMZ.com. The reference?

Apparently, the Maricopa County Police Department can do without Shaq. Sheriff Joe Arpaio wants Shaquille O'Neal to return his special deputy sheriff's badges to the Arizona county because of profanity and a racially derogatory word the Phoenix Suns center used while mocking Kobe Bryant in a freestyle rap video that surfaced Monday on the Internet. "I do believe in free speech, but I don't believe that in law enforcement to use this type of language is proper," Arpaio said.

LAS VEGAS -- Famously, or infamously, back in the early days of his career, Kobe Bryant was an aspiring rapper, even releasing an album. There will be no picking up a microphone again for him, however. Bryant's response to former teammate Shaquille O'Neal's lambasting him in an obscenity-laced rap freestyle at a New York nightclub? No response. "I didn't take it any kind of way whatsoever," Bryant said Saturday, before declining to take any more questions on the topic.

Guess who's coming to dinner. If a Lakers Spectre rises over the West, lots of people saw it coming, including the Phoenix Suns, who blew themselves up in advance. Junking the offense no one could guard but which was comprised of Munchkins, the Suns acquired Shaquille O'Neal, who's still a 7-footer, even at 36. It was a bombshell that still reverberates and Shaq's Suns haven't even played Kobe Bryant's Lakers yet this season.

The truth? He can't handle the truth. Kobe Bryant wouldn't accept a version of events that differs from his if a shaft of light illuminated his Newport Beach neighborhood and angels presented it to him on a DVD with a heavenly choir singing in the background. But since he brought it up ...