Shaquille O'Neal joined the Boston Celtics this season and for their opening game, the team traveled to New Hampshire to the Verizon Arena in Manchester to play the Philadelphia 76ers. It was Shaq's first ever visit to the Granite State and the local sports writers were thrilled. On local sports page editor, wanting to show a marked contrast with the 7-foot-1 325-pound center featured a full photo of Shaq next to...the world's smallest horse.
Einstein, a miniature pony, was born in New Hampshire last spring amid much fanfare. And the newest star of the legendary Boston Celtics, the man who has won four NBA championships, has his own reality television show and has been known to perform rap in front of live audiences, fell in love.
“How much I like dat horse," O'Neal said in a Twitter message to New Hampshire Union Leader sports writer Kevin Gray.
Matching up the two was a brilliant move. It also became a media firestorm that threw open the garage doors and everything came pouring out, except Einstein. It seems Einstein's owners, Charlie Cantrell and wife Dr. Rachel Wagner of Tiz A Miniature Horse Farm in Barnstead, N.H., have no intention of selling the little fellow to anyone. That includes Paris Hilton, who had apparently also expressed an interest in owning the 47-pound 1-foot-8-inch tall pinto pony. Both those garage doors got closed quickly.
That didn't stop the story from going viral, as stories such as these are wont to do. News of the wishes of both celebrity greats hit the sports blogs right away, despite the fact they were slamming up against the Brett Favre sexting scandal. Which would you rather read about...Favre's rants or the Celtics center with size 23 shoes looking to take home the 20-inch pony as a bet? At one point, someone even incorrectly blogged that Hilton and O'Neal were in a bidding war for the pony! Not so. Never happened.
Einstein is far from alone or lonely on his little farm. Cantrell recently brought in two new friends: two dwarf Nigerian goats named Eleanor and Isabel. Reports are the three get along famously. And as for Shaq's longings for a little one, Cantrell has re-opened the garage door on that one and offered to introduce the “Big Shamrock” - Shaq's newest nickname as the newest Boston Celtic – to a breeder of other miniature horses in hopes he'll find one that he is as drawn to as he was to Einstein.
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