It’s on! In Episode 2 of “Shaq vs.”, Shaquille O’Neal takes on 2-Time Olympic Gold Medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in a game of Beach Volleyball. The rules were 3 games to 11 points with rally scoring using a Women’s regulation Volleyball net. The height of the net in a women’s regulation game is 7’3″. Shaq is 7’1″ so when he challenged Misty and Kerri, he said that he didn’t need any handicaps (seeing as that he had the height advantage) unlike the premiere episode with Ben Roethlisberger where Shaq asked for a distance handicap. The stakes are if Shaq loses, he has to wear a pink speedo that says “Shaq” on the rear and parade them around so to speak (basically he has to take a walk on the beach with them on). Before this match, it was mentioned that Kerri & Misty had won 108 consecutive matches. So who will win this “battle of the sexes” match?
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
When this episode was filmed, Shaq felt that he had the advantage as both Misty and Kerri haven’t played in a year. Misty was recovering from an achilles tendon injury (which happened during Season 7 of “Dancing with the Stars”) and Kerri recently had a baby. During the show it was mentioned that it had been 2 and a half months since Kerri had given birth. She looked amazing for just having a baby 2 and half months ago. Her metabolism must be to the roof because you would have never guessed that she had a baby before they filmed this episode.
It’s training time!
Misty and Kerri tell Shaq that he can choose any partner for their match. Shaq chooses Olympic Gold Medalist Todd Rogers (aka “The Professor”) to be his partner. Rogers and his teammate Phil Dalhausser (aka “The Beijing Beast”) were the Gold Medal winning team that won in the Beijing Olympic Games. Both Rogers and Dalhausser along with fellow AVP players Dain Blanton and Eric Fonimoana helped train Shaq in preparation for this match-up with Misty & Kerri. As added preparation, Shaq visits tennis pro Serena Williams in order to get advice on how to beat Misty & Kerri. Serena Williams suggests to grunt in order to intimidate his opponents. Serena then takes Shaq to a tennis court and hits some volleys to him and she says to him to grunt every time he makes contact with the ball. Shaq is not exactly light on his feet so it is amusing when Serena served him some volleys that made him run around the court. After the grunting lesson, Shaq and Serena play some air hockey and Shaq is able to score a point and he actually prances out of the house in celebration of his small victory. Quite hilarious! Misty made a funny flip cam video on her preparation for this episode of “Shaq vs.”. She also previews the pink speedo that Shaq has to wear if he lost. Check out the video below.
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On to the match!
In the beginning the men and women went point for point. Shaq hit a lot of one handed flicks over the net, and some were successful but they were hit so light (or high) that the ladies were able to spot them easily. Both Misty and Kerri were able to have some good spikes and a few blocks against Shaq which was awesome. How many people can say that they stuff blocked Shaquille O’Neal? Misty and Kerri take the 1st set with a score of 11 to 6. In the second set, the ladies obtain an early lead and then Shaq calls a time out. In an effort to get into Kerri’s head, Shaq asks for a substitution and invites Kerri’s husband, Casey Jennings, who is also a professional volleyball player to help him rally against the women. It doesn’t help. Kerri even got a good block on her husband and the commentators on the replay reel said: “wife just blocked hubby” [on national television]. Hilarious! After losing a few more points, Shaq asks Todd Rogers to come back. The men tried to rally back but even after a few good digs by Shaq, the women were able to win the match in straight sets with a score of 11-8 in the 2nd set. If you think about it, what a blow to the ego for Todd Rogers and Casey Jennings to lose to Misty & Kerri as well but good sportsmanship was definitely demonstrated throughout the match.
The women said earlier in the episode that they wanted Shaq to eat dirt, and he really ate some dirt (figuratively speaking) on some of the plays. I would have to say that this episode was even more entertaining than the premiere. If you missed the episode or want to watch it again, you can watch the full episode on ABC.com. The episode closes with Shaq taking his walk of shame in his pink speedo. One word: Priceless!
MKCSpeaks 