Believe in Twitter

I ran into a great story on an NBA blog I follow. check it out.

Whenever a celebrity has a blog, or a Twitter feed, or even writes a column -- you have to wonder: Is this really the celebrity writing?

Shaquille O'Neal's Twitter feed has been vouched for every which way. But that didn't stop Phoenix's Jesse Bearden from doubting. It was something he and his friend Sean had debated many times. Jesse writes about what happened next on his blog a Foot and a Half.

"You realize that 'The Real Shaq' is probably a 5-4, white, 14-year-old emo kid who's getting his jollies from the attention, right?" I asked him.

"I don't know. I think it's really him"

Today Sean and I were discussing rumored trade situations over IM, and the possibility of Shaq being traded to Cleveland.

"Well, I just got a twitter from The Real Shaq, and he's at 5 & Diner right now," Sean informed me.

"Let's go then" I said, assuming that I'd finally put this "Real Shaq" crap to rest.

Twenty minutes later we were pulling up to the restaurant and looking for the big black truck that he's rumored to drive around town. "Maybe that's it" Sean said, pointing at an older, but nice van and laughing. As we pulled up I saw the Superman symbol on the grill.

Maybe that is it?

We went in, and to my surprise the MDE (Most Dominant Ever) was sitting in the corner booth by himself. We gave the man a nod and "Hey" as we walked to our table and were soon whispering back and forth like 12-year-old girls at the seventh grade dance.

"You go talk to him" I said, while tugging nervously on my dress.

"No, you go talk to him" Sean replied while flipping his hair.

We placed our order, and spent 10 minutes trying to work up the sack to go say something.

"Should I tell him I'm glad he's sticking around?"

"Go tell him you're his twitter buddy."

"Should I ask for a picture?"

Given another two or three years, I'm sure we would have worked up the nerve to go talk to him, but before that could happen Sean's iPhone buzzed with a "tweet" from Shaq.

I feel twitterers around me, r there any twitterers in 5 n diner wit me, say somethin

[Editor's note: You can see this on Shaq's Twitter feed right now.]

"Hey" Sean said, with a slight bit of confidence.

Returning to our hushed whispers I asked Sean, "Should we go talk to him now?"
"I don't know, should we?"

"Yes, you should" a very deep voice entered our conversation from two booths over.

We quickly hopped up and rushed over like like two eight-year-olds who had just heard the ice cream truck pass by.

The rest of the story goes just like you'd like it to. O'Neal was extremely gracious, and a little gadget-oriented. He tipped about 6,000%, and everyone went home happy. Worth reading the whole thing.

And by all means doubt all kinds of things. But I, for one, will never again doubt the authenticity of Shaquille O'Neal's Twitter feed.