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David Beckham is now being taunted by a true American sporting icon.
Shaquille O’Neal, the NBA basketball legend, has challenged Beckham to a game of “soccerball” in a new all-star reality TV series, Shaq Vs, in which the hoop king takes on his sporting peers at their own game.
Shaq will swim against Michael Phelps, the Olympic champion, fight the former world boxing champion Oscar De La Hoya and challenge Serena Williams to a set of tennis in the Disney series.
“Dear david beckham,” tweets Shaq. “I kno u heard about my Shaq Vs show, anyway u will never score a goal on me, I challenge you lil man.”
With no reply forthcoming, O’Neal upped the ante. “David beckham I kno u hear me, dnt be scared, dnt make me call u out, u will never score a goal on me.” And finally: “Dnt make me tweet to 2 million people that yur scared of shaq, u betta respnd, if u scared get a dog.”
The challenge comes after Beckham was fined $1,000 by football officials in the US for an altercation he had with an LA Galaxy fan during a match against AC Milan last week.
Beckham challenged one drunken fan after abuse from spectators who feel he betrayed them by playing for AC Milan while on contract to LA Galaxy.

Here’s what happened: Artest missed the first two team buses (the ones for players, coaches and team personnel) from Houston’s hotel to the Staples Center and barely made the third and final bus, which was reserved for business staff, sponsors and friends of the team. These stunned people watched Artest sprint to the bus right before it left, jump on and take one of the remaining seats … yes, wearing only his underwear. Owner Leslie Alexander happened to be sitting on the bus and witnessed the whole thing. And you wonder why the Houston Rockets didn’t make any effort whatsoever to bring back Artest.
For instance, Artest routinely walked around in his underwear in public places: the Rockets’ team bus, hotels, you name it. People around the team barely flinched after a while. Before Game 7 of the Lakers series — only the biggest game of the entire season — they finally flinched.
We are laughing our asses off at the thought of Les Alexander’s face when Ron got on the bus in his tighties. Definitely a nice, priceless mix of shock, anger, embarrassment, bewilderment, etc.SOURCE:ESPN.COM

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham has bemoaned the insults that were hurled at him by a fan wearing an England shirt during the game against Kansas City Wizards.
According to La Repubblica, the England international received abuse by one fan who continued to verbally abuse the midfielder and his wife Victoria during the game.
Beckham, known for his professionalism, has now shrugged off the irate ’supporter’.
“That fan shouldn’t really be wearing an England shirt, considering the shameful things he said about my wife. Perhaps he is not from England,” the player told the press as reported by La Repubblica.
The former Manchester United man has not had it easy in terms of his relationship with the Galaxy fans following his return to the USA after spending six months on loan with Milan.
Beckham has made it clear he would like to return to playing in Europe once his spell with the Galaxy expires at the end of the year.

Terrell Owens strongly criticized NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Sunday for his handling of Michael Vick’s reinstatement.
Owens said Vick deserves an immediate second chance in the league and that the commissioner would be wrong to suspend him again.
In pointed comments to ESPN, Owens suggested Goodell is not being sensitive to the price already paid by Vick, who last Monday completed a 20-month federal sentence for his dogfighting conviction.
“The commissioner needs to go sit in jail for 23 months,” Owens told ESPN.
Earlier, Owens told reporters that the potential for a new suspension for Vick was “ridiculous.” The NFL denied an ESPN report on Thursday that Goodell was set to suspend Vick for an additional four games.
“No decisions have been made,” spokesman Greg Aiello said.
Owens said he wants other NFL players to come out in support of Vick. “The guy’s already suffered so much,” he said. More details of Owens’ comments here.

Police sources said that Dixon – the man who generated national headlines last year when he claimed to have been shot by NFL star Marvin Harrison – was found leaning against his Toyota Camry in Fairmount yesterday morning, moments after a triggerman’s bullets tore through his chest, stomach and arm.
Someone wanted Dwight Dixon dead, wanted it bad enough to get up close and riddle him with seven bullets in broad daylight.
Dixon was alive, barely, but once again at the center of a puzzling police investigation.
After a lengthy investigation, which found that Harrison’s gun had been involved in the April 29, 2008, shooting, the District Attorney’s Office announced in January that it wasn’t going to charge Harrison in the crime.
Although eyebrows raised yesterday when word leaked that Dixon was shot on Girard Avenue near 28th Street, just two blocks north of Harrison’s bar, Playmakers, investigators said they had no evidence to suggest Harrison’s involvement and had no suspects, sources said.

Police have detained a Malaysian woman who allegedly stabbed her husband in the chest for coming home late after watching a soccer match between Manchester United and Malaysia.
The man had promised to come back immediately after the match in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday evening, but his wife was “very angry” when he returned after midnight, district police chief Abdul Jalil Hassan said Tuesday.
The woman stabbed him twice in the chest with a kitchen knife and then took him to a hospital, where a doctor reported the incident to police, Abdul Jalil told The Associated Press.
“He was with friends after the match, so that’s why he came home late,” Abdul Jalil said.
The man was recovering in the hospital and police have not decided whether to charge the woman with any offense.
The English Premier League champions defeated Malaysia 3-2 on Saturday in their opening match on a preseason Asian tour.

Federal agents have arrested a convicted felon for allegedly providing the gun later used to kill ex-NFL quarterback Steve McNair, The Associated Press learned Friday.
Two law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case, said the suspect was arrested by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives agents.
Federal prosecutors in Nashville planned to announce the charges at a press conference later Friday.
McNair was shot to death on July 4 at his condo by his 20-year-old mistress Sahel Kazemi, who then turned the gun on herself. Police have said Kazemi bought the gun in a private sale from a person they haven’t identified.
Police announced in a news conference last week that Kazemi purchased “a fully loaded nine millimeter pistol from a private individual” who met her in the parking lot of the mall where she worked at a Dave & Busters restaurant.
Kazemi met the person when she was trying to sell her car. She mentioned to him that she was looking to buy a gun and he told her he had one for sale, police said. The sale took place two days before McNair’s shooting.
Authorities believe McNair was asleep when Kazemi put the pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. She put two more slugs into his chest and a fourth bullet into the other side of his head before shooting herself.
McNair, a married father of four, walked away from the NFL last year. “Air McNair” was known as a gutsy quarterback who played through serious injuries and led his Tennessee Titans to a Super Bowl.
Though the gun sale in question did not involve a licensed gun dealer, the ATF recently warned all gun dealers in Tennessee that they must still comply with federal gun laws despite a new state law aimed at easing such requirements for weapons manufactured and sold in-state.

The Rockets reinforced their injury-depleted center position Tuesday, acquiring the rights to David Andersen from the Atlanta Hawks for $2 million in cash and a protected second-round draft pick.
Though the 6-11, 245-pound Andersen is very different from Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo, his predecessors at center with the Rockets, the team believes he can fill in for Yao by bringing a versatile game that should fit well with Rick Adelman’s motion-based offense.
Though he does not have the size or low-post abilities of Yao or the defensive prowess of Mutombo, Andersen, 29, averaged 11.1 points and 4.1 rebounds for FC Barcelona last season and has been a key part of several of the best European teams of the past five seasons.
He was one of the players general manager Daryl Morey had been targeting when he said last week that the Rockets were more likely to fill their center void through a trade rather than free agency.
“David is a top center in Europe who is an offensively-skilled 7-footer,” Morey said. “He has been a European champion multiple times. He is a very well-rounded player who possesses good offensive skills and a very good shooting touch for a big man. David is a versatile post player who should fit well in coach Adelman’s system.”
A native of Carlton, Victoria, in Australia, Andersen averaged 6.5 points and 4.5 points for the Australian national team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“He’s a 7-footer that is really, really skilled,” Rockets director of player personnel Gersson Rosas said. “He is a very consistent shooter from an international 3-point range that we think will translate. A lot of pick-and-pop, a lot of opportunities to spread the floor. He’s an average athlete, but a guy that runs well. He can pass out of the high post or low post. He has a strong post game, not as much back-to-the-basket. He has a lot of winning qualities. I think he’s going to have some challenges defensively, like most guys making the transition.”

Former New Jersey Net star Richard Jefferson bailed on his stunning fiancee — pulling the plug on his posh Manhattan wedding at the 11th hour without even alerting some of the guests, The Post has learned. The cold-footed forward’s decision to ditch onetime Net dancer Kesha Ni’Cole Nichols was so last-minute that some of his oblivious friends had already shown up last Saturday at the swank Mandarin Oriental in Columbus Circle for the $2 million wedding that never happened. Jefferson — who was traded in June to the San Antonio Spurs — dumped Nichols just before the weekend, according to sources. She immediately called her family and friends to say the ceremony was off. But Jefferson waited much longer, his friends told The New York Post.
The would-be bride was stunned, but “not entirely caught off-guard,” by Jefferson’s unsportsmanlike conduct, according to a family friend.
“She just wants to keep this as quiet as possible and move on. She’s doing just fine,” a Nichols family insider said.
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