Jim Rome has made a career out of pissing off athletes, so it should come as no surprise that he helped himself to a large glass of haterade when discussing the career of Shaquille O’Neal. Rome said that the Shaqtus wasn’t as dedicated to the game as Kobe, and encouraged the Celtics not to sign the man behind Kazaam. Shaq certainly seemed to feel that those were fightin’ words, and needed to vent his frustrations to three million people via the internet. Suffice to say, we’ve got a good ol’ fashioned Twitter war on our hands.

When TV host Jim Rome criticized O’Neal’s career, said he wasn’t as dedicated as Kobe and warned the Celtics not to sign him, O’Neal picked the biggest club he had to retaliate — Twitter.

Among the things he said to his three million followers at The Real Shaq:

Those that dnt respect your hard work, its ok, make em respect u as a person.

If u wanna see shaq box jim rome live on espn. I do if he wins ill donate my salary to a charity of his choice

And forget the back and forth jim rome, I challenge u to a boxing match, live at espn studios, show the world if u can bak up the tuff talk

Jim rome, I am happy with my career and the legacy that I have left behind, obviously u r not happy wit yur legacy I 4got u have no legacy about –USA Today

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Uncoached put together a gallery of the media’s ten best servings of humble pie, though this classic was strangely absent. But my all-time favorite did make the cut: a goatee-less Jim Rome getting shoved off the stage by an angry (and clearly provoked) Jim Everett, best known for his days of quarterbacking the “Los Angeles Rams.” And for nearly punching out Rome on his earlier ESPN2 show, entitled “Rome Is Wetting Himself Whilst Covering His Face For Protection.” I think that was it.

We might even call this our Huge Video Of The Day. Still have one phone line open. Here’s your chance to get in, clones. Remember to have a take, don’t suck, or you will get run.

Sports by Brooks found this candid Eric Wynalda interview conducted by Christian Franek of the soccer blog Fulham USA, and it's pretty sweet.  For the soccer fans out there, the entire interview is worth a read for Wynalda's passion for and criticism of US Soccer, but for the sake of brevity I'll skip to the highlight, in which Wynalda — arguably the best striker in American history — makes a brief but memorable tangent while discussing ESPN's power to promote soccer.

"You will never get a guy, in me, who is more of a believer in the American player. Jim Rome can suck my dick! And he should be very afraid, because I’m the kind of guy, if I get too many drinks in me, I will club his ass."

And I would love, love, LOVE to see this.  Athletes beating the shit out of media windbags — especially meathead pot-stirrers like Jim Rome — simply doesn't happen often enough.  It would be a great way to toughen up soccer's image, plus Jim Rome gets busted in his goateed mug.  Win-win.

And Wynalda might just be the asshole crazy enough to do it.  Right after he metaphorically disemboweled Bruce Arena during last year's World Cup, he went into a Bristol back alley and disemboweled a hobo, "just to keep things balanced."  I mean, I hope he did.  I fucking hate homeless people.  No, I can't spare some change.  The quarters are for laundry, and the pennies are wishes.  Dimes and nickels I keep because you smell bad.