Robert Popa, a resident of Pacific Palisades, passed away June 3 at the age of 41. Robert was born March 22, 1968 in Romania. His family emigrated to the Philippines, then to the United States, where Robert spent his teen years attending the famed Stuyvesant High School in New York City. After high school, Robert attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he received both a B.S. and an M.S. in nuclear engineering. Robert was drawn to the West Coast with a job at General Atomics in San Diego before going to work for Parsons in Pasadena. While working at Parsons, Robert attended law school at Southwestern University, receiving his J.D. in 1996. He worked at Fulwider Patton and Irella & Manella (where he met his wife, Palisades resident Mimi Chiang-Popa) before joining the law firm of Ladas & Parry in 2003. He was made a partner of that firm in 2007. Robert was an intelligent, resourceful man, well liked for his bright and cheerful personality. He was an accomplished photographer and enjoyed surfing, motorcycling, gourmet vegetarian cooking, and woodcarving. He is survived by his wife Mimi, son Marius and stepdaughter Georgiana.
Palisades resident Wallace Leifer wears his official NASA Apolla Launch Team jacket. Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
When retired civil engineer Wallace Leifer was invited to the 40th observance of the Apollo 11 lunar mission at the Griffith Park Observatory in mid-July for his design of the landing gear for the Lunar Excursion Module, he was expecting a nostalgic reception from those who remembered the momentous event. ‘I was surprised that the enthusiasm was among the kids, 10-year-olds, who were fascinated by the whole thing. When I showed them my workbook that contained the design drawings, specifications, and photos, they said, ‘They [Grumman] let you keep that?’ Leifer arrived at Grumman in 1966, a 25-year-old man working in the design department, which at that time employed some 400 at the Long Island plant. For three years, he focused his work on the lunar module or LM, designing small but important elements such as the pulley system that lowered and raised the basket the astronauts used to collect moon rocks, and a crash bar attached to the triangular window to protect the astronauts from bumping their heads against the window upon landing. Before Apollo 11, with LM 5 aboard, could be launched, two preliminary missions’the first manned flights of the LM’provided tests under space conditions as opposed to ground simulations, of the performance of the rendezvous radar, which guided the LM back to the command and service modules, its communications, life-support systems and separating and docking techniques for the two space vehicles. Looking back to what was, in 1969, state-of-the-art interspace technology, Leifer, 65, is incredulous as how primitive it seems. Not only were all his calculations arrived at by slide rule, accompanied by beautifully rendered drawings, the lunar module was shaped more like a bucket than a rocket and was sheathed in heat-resistant gold Mylar that resembled an unwrapped Christmas present. Leifer’s daughter, Lorin, has a special connection to the moonwalk. For that project, her dad hid a photograph of her aboard so her image would appear on the moon. Then the realities of the aerospace industry, including the termination of the moon-exploring Apollo program and the loss of Navy contracts, forced Grumman to cut 30,000 jobs. Leifer says that he was prepared to move when he got his pink slip. ‘I got a job at New York Telephone in the building design department,’ he says. He began a migration, first from New York to Atlanta in the early 1970s, working for AT&T, and eventually to California in 1986 to work for GTE, and the Southern California Gas Company. He and his wife Francesca Muller have lived in Pacific Palisades for 16 years. Retirement meant Leifer would devote his leisure to real estate and painting. Leifer has always enjoyed drawing and painting. ‘My dad painted and my uncle was head of the Delahanty School of Drafting in New York City,’ he says. Now, Palisadians can view his paintings of the Italian Riviera, local beaches and Parisian life at Jessica Miller at 857 Via de la Paz. Miller, whose eclectic shop boasts objets d’art and other assorted treasures, has dubbed Leifer artist-in-residence. ’I became acquainted with Jessica through my wife, a very good customer,’ Leifer says, laughing. ‘I have even figured out what to do with the candelabra she bought. I light it and watch ‘The Tudors’ on HBO.’
Dr. Wally Ghurabi (right), medical director of the Nethercutt Emergency Center at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, and Jay Smith, who suffered a heart attack last October and credits the Nethercutt team for saving his life. Photo: Thomas Neerken
Within 61 minutes of arriving at the Nethercutt Emergency Room at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center following a heart attack last October, Jay Smith was recovering in the intensive care unit. A cardiac catheterization team had quickly unblocked an artery in his heart and had inserted a stent that kept the artery open. Smith, a Pacific Palisades resident, certainly benefited from the fact that SM/UCLA is designated as a special receiving center for heart-attack patients. The designation came from the Department of Health Services and Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency after the hospital met established criteria for best practices in heart-attack care. The center has a 24-hour cardiac catheterization team. In retrospect, the 69-year-old Smith said he should have left for the hospital sooner that nearly fatal day last October. He woke at 4 a.m. and felt tightness in his chest, but after going to the bathroom, decided it wasn’t that serious and went back to bed. The semi-retired toy inventor awakened two hours later and the tightness in his chest was still there. Smith got up and looked up his symptoms on Web MD on the Internet. He found that it could either be an allergy or coronary artery disease. Deciding it wasn’t either, he returned to bed, sleeping until 8 a.m. When he awoke, the tightness was finally gone, and he went to exercise at the Bel-Air Bay Club. As soon as he started, the tight feeling returned, and he walked home and told his wife, Susan. She insisted that he visit the family doctor, Richard Kennedy, who is located about 10 blocks from the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. Smith wasn’t in a hurry. ‘I showered and changed,’ he said. ‘The tightness was there, but it wasn’t a real pain.’ He explained that the pain felt more like a muscle soreness that comes when one has exercised too much. At the doctor’s office, he was given an EKG and Kennedy asked Smith to tell him on a scale of 1 to 10 how much his chest hurt. ‘One,’ Smith remembers telling his doctor and noted, ‘it was hardly noticeable.’ However, based on the test results, Kennedy told him he was having a heart attack and sent him to the emergency room. ‘They were like an army on me,’ Smith said, recalling how doctors inserted a catheter into a groin artery and snaked it to the heart, breaking up the blockage. ‘I was partially conscious during the procedure,’ he said, ‘but it didn’t hurt.’ Afterwards, Smith spent two days in the intensive care unit, and an additional day in the hospital. ‘I got in early enough [for treatment] so that I felt pretty good,’ he said. Afterwards an echocardiogram determined that Smith had ‘dodged a bullet,’ meaning that he had been treated fast enough that there was no damage to the heart muscle. He was later told by doctors that with heart attacks ‘minutes are muscle,’ which means the faster the blockage is dealt with, the less damage is done to the heart muscle. Smith urges others who feel something strange in their chest not to wait like he did, but to call paramedics immediately or go straight to an ER. ‘You’re way ahead of the game getting in there quickly,’ he said. If he could do the day over, which he now describes ‘like a bad day at the office,’ Smith would have called the paramedics while still at the gym. ‘The goal is to get the patient’s blocked vessel open within 90 minutes of the first electrocardiogram indicating a heart attack,’ said Dr. Wally Ghurabi, the medical director at the Nethercutt Center. ‘Paramedics who perform the EKG in the field can transmit the results to our center, where our emergency physicians can then activate our Cath Lab before the patient arrives.’ Smith and his wife have two grown children: Stephanie, who is a documentary film director, and Spencer, who manages the open checks division of Hanover Media Insight Services.
Students Chindaree Senturia and Annette Baker (left) belly dance with Stephanie Kanan (center) at her home studio. Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
When belly-dancing instructor Stephanie Kanan asked me to shimmy, the coin belt jingled around my waist as I attempted to shift my hips from side to side, while making subtle come-hither moves with my arms. Instead of appearing smooth and sexy like Kanan, I looked and sounded more like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, tromping through snowdrifts. Like most Palisadians, I know that 30 minutes of exercise at least four times a week is recommended for good health, but I get bored with my standard workout. So when Kanan, the co-owner of Oasis Palisades, a health spa in the Marquez neighborhood that offers acupuncture, herbal consultations and a variety of massage treatments, said she was offering belly dancing lessons, I signed up. The Palisades resident told me that she started dancing in 1985, while working as a medical assistant for Dr. Pearl McBroom, the first black female cardiologist in L.A. She saw an advertisement about learning to belly dance and decided to give it a try. ‘My hair was dyed and I had about a 16 piercings in my ears and one in my nose,’ Kanan recalled. ‘The teacher, Angela Buttery, opened the door, took a look at me and thought about it for a minute, before inviting me in.’ Belly dancing is considered to be a feminine, womanly dance and Buttery was initially taken aback by Kanan’s punk appearance. After taking lessons for a few months, Kanan started rehearsing as many as three times a week with Buttery’s troupe, A Thousand and One Nights Dance Company. She was invited to join, and subsequently performed at weddings and Middle-Eastern restaurants like Moun of Tunis (Hollywood) and Koutoubia (Westwood). Belly dancing, which has been traced to Egyptian tomb paintings as far back as 1300 B.C., finally surfaced in the United States during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, when the dancer Little Egypt made her debut. The dance made its way into silent films, and some credit Hollywood for adding the flowing veils, which hadn’t been documented before the 1900s but are now popular with dancers throughout the world. Kanan danced for more than 20 years before taking a break in 2005 from the troupe. For the next four years, she taught individuals and at girls’ night outs. ‘We’d have belly dancing classes and martinis,’ she said, laughing. After Oasis Palisades opened in 2007 (with co-owner Antonia Balfour), Kanan began realizing how much she missed belly dancing, and decided to offer more formal classes. The morning I showed up there were two other women in the class. One had been taking classes for several months with Kanan, the second student was experienced and had studied with several teachers. ‘Belly dancing is for women of all ages and all sizes,’ Kanan said, explaining how it places an emphasis on abdominal muscles, hip moves and chest moves and is characterized by smooth, flowing, complex and sensual movements of the torso, alternated with shaking and shimmying. I was given a coin scarf to wrap around my hips because that body part becomes like a percussion instrument, with the coins adding sound and glitz as the hips move. ‘Different body parts are isolated,’ Kanan explained as she showed how the upper body moves while the hips stay still. After we practiced arm motions, Kanan demonstrated different hip movements. A figure eight is just like it sounds, with hips moving in a slightly circular motion back and forth. Trying to do it smoothly without moving the upper body, I realized how hard it is to isolate just one part of the body. We next learned a simple shimmy, which meant that when we swayed side to side with our hips, the coins jiggled. That move wasn’t a problem, but when we were asked to walk forward continuing the shimmy, I realized I could walk and I could shimmy, but not do both at the same time. Kanan also showed us several upper-body and shoulder moves with the emphasis on smooth execution. After one particularly vigorous upper-body move on my part, Kanan explained that belly dancing is not meant to be ‘in your face,’ that subtlety is the intent. Putting all parts of the body through different but simultaneous movements reminded me of trying to pat my head and rub my stomach at the same the time. Kanan made it look effortless. All in all, the music, the camaraderie and the dance moves added up to maximum fun, while still working up a good sweat’and with a little more practice I’ll be able to shimmy and walk at the same time. Call: (310) 612-9741 or e-mail: info@oasispalisades.com.
New Edition of Topanga State Park Map Charts Adventure for Hikers, Wildflower Aficionados
Hikers stroll across Temescal Ridge Trail with a clear view of the Queen’s Necklace and Santa Monica Bay. Photo by Jim Kenney
In 1999, the Temescal Canyon Association (TCA) created a map of Topanga State Park, replete with photo-illustrations, hiking trails and handy facts. Ted Mackie, owner of Palisades Bicycles and TCA treasurer (his wife, Carol Leacock, is the longtime president of TCA) recalls how the map came to be. ’State Parks wanted to do a map and they didn’t have any money,’ Mackie says, ‘so TCA fronted the original printing. We hired a cartographer and paid all the costs.’ ’Ted was the one whose idea it was to create the map,’ says map photographer James P. Kenney, also a Palisadian. ‘He was the one who had the initiative. The idea was to provide a needed service and to raise money for TCA, an environmental group. It was very successful and it’s been reprinted a few times.’ This summer, Mackie and Kenney have reunited to update the map, which has sold 25,000 copies since its release a decade ago. Currently in production at Post Printing on Via de la Paz, the Topanga State Park map will improve on the original. While essentially containing the same information, the 2009 edition features additional hiking trails and eight new color photographs by Kenney. These images, shot with both 35 millimeter film and digital cameras, are ‘representative of Topanga State Park,’ Kenney says. ‘A casual hiker or a hiker who is there all the time would see things representative of the park. Since I have been hiking these trails for 35 years, I had a good idea of what to look for.’ That includes such sites as the Temescal Canyon waterfall, Camel Rock, Temescal Gateway Park, Backbone Trail, Los Liones Canyon and Will Rogers State Historic Park. Retailing at $3, the maps will be available next month at Trippet Ranch, Will Rogers Park, and at such local businesses as Palisades Bicycles, The Letter Shop and Village Books. But in the meantime, enjoy this preview.
Anthony Poulos throws a strike for the PPBA 12-year-old All-Stars last week at Cooperstown Dreams Park in New York. Photo: Shelby Pascoe
The Palisades Patriots, a 12-year-old PPBA All-Star squad, was one of 104 teams that participated in last week’s Cooperstown Dreams tournament in Cooperstown, New York, site of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The tournament opened with several skills competitions. In the “Around the Horn Plus,” nine Patriots caught and threw the ball to each position in an impressive 25.17 seconds, good enough for seventh place. Hudson Ling circled the bases in 12.6 seconds in the ‘Road Runner’ event (taking seventh). Matt McGeagh hit one home run and two balls off the wall in five swings in the ‘King of Swat’ and Anthony Poulos competed in the ‘Golden Arm’ competition. On August 2, the Patriots mercied the Boylston Lions of Massachusetts, 14-1, then beat the Pirates from Cinnaminson, New Jersey, 9-4. The next day, Reece Pascoe singled home Jack McGeagh with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Lynbrook Cyclones of Long Island. That afternoon, Palisades knocked off the Bloomington Bandits of Minnesota, 7-3. Palisades’ final day of pool play resulted in a loss to the Stingers of St. Petersburg, Florida, and a 13-2 win over Willmete Grey of Illinois. Palisades was seeded 23 in the playoff round and faced the Coral Springs Seadogs in its first game. It was no contest, as Anthony Poulos allowed one hit and struck out four batters in six innings for a 9-0 victory. Half an hour later the Patriots were back on the diamond to take on the No. 10-seeded and heavily-favored Boston Black Jacks. Jonathan Sington pitched a three-hitter as Palisades advanced to the Sweet 16. Next, the Patriots took on the seventh-seeded SoCal Lumber Kings (a club team from Temecula) and led 4-1 after two innings before ultimately being eliminated, 9-5. The Patriots consist of Matt and Jack McGeagh, Ling, Pascoe, Poulous, Matt Douglas, Bryant Falconello, Daniel Hakman, Tyler McMorrow, Kevin McNamee, Nicky Rivera and Jonathan Sington and coaches Rick McGeagh, Sam Falconello, Gary Hakman and Rick Poulos. They finished 7-2 and ninth overall–by far the highest finish ever by a Pacific Palisades team. “This was a tremendous experience for all of our players and coaches,” Head Coach Rick McGeagh said. “We were living the dream. I am so proud of not only how they played but how they acted. We received numerable compliments from our competitors and we truly represented our Palisades community with pride.”
Anthony Poulos throws a strike for the PPBA 12-year-old All-Stars last week at Cooperstown Dreams Park in New York. Photo: Shelby Pascoe
The Palisades Patriots, a 12-year-old PPBA All-Star squad, was one of 104 teams that participated in last week’s Cooperstown Dreams tournament in Cooperstown, New York, site of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The tournament opened with several skills competitions. In the “Around the Horn Plus,” nine Patriots caught and threw the ball to each position in an impressive 25.17 seconds, good enough for seventh place. Hudson Ling circled the bases in 12.6 seconds in the “Road Runner” event (taking seventh). Matt McGeagh hit one home run and two balls off the wall in five swings in the “King of Swat” and Anthony Poulos competed in the “Golden Arm” competition. On August 2, the Patriots mercied the Boylston Lions of Massachusetts, 14-1, then beat the Pirates from Cinnaminson, New Jersey, 9-4. The next day, Reece Pascoe singled home Jack McGeagh with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Lynbrook Cyclones of Long Island. That afternoon, Palisades knocked off the Bloomington Bandits of Minnesota, 7-3. Palisades’ final day of pool play resulted in a loss to the Stingers of St. Petersburg, Florida, and a 13-2 win over Willmete Grey of Illinois. Palisades was seeded 23 in the playoff round and faced the Coral Springs Seadogs in its first game. It was no contest, as Anthony Poulos allowed one hit and struck out four batters in six innings for a 9-0 victory. Half an hour later the Patriots were back on the diamond to take on the No. 10-seeded and heavily-favored Boston Black Jacks. Jonathan Sington pitched a three-hitter as Palisades advanced to the Sweet 16. Next, the Patriots took on the seventh-seeded SoCal Lumber Kings (a club team from Temecula) and led 4-1 after two innings before ultimately being eliminated, 9-5. The Patriots consist of Matt and Jack McGeagh, Ling, Pascoe, Poulous, Matt Douglas, Bryant Falconello, Daniel Hakman, Tyler McMorrow, Kevin McNamee, Nicky Rivera and Jonathan Sington and coaches Rick McGeagh, Sam Falconello, Gary Hakman and Rick Poulos. They finished 7-2 and ninth overall–by far the highest finish ever by a Pacific Palisades team. “This was a tremendous experience for all of our players and coaches,” Head Coach Rick McGeagh said. “We were living the dream. I am so proud of not only how they played but how they acted. We received numerable compliments from our competitors and we truly represented Pacific Palisades with pride.”
Judy Tarre hits a volley as husband Mike watches in last weekend’s Husband & Wife Championships at Riviera Tennis Club. The couple won the 120 consolation title.
The third annual USTA Combined Age National Hard Court Husband & Wife Championships were held last weekend at the Riviera Tennis Club and, just as in previous years, local duos ended up winning on their home courts. There were three age divisions with the couples’ combined ages of 100, 120 and 140 years. Doubles teams came from all over the country–Massachusetts, Texas, Las Vegas and, of course, California. Riviera members Mike and Judy Tarre showed resilience in winning the 120 consolation title, defeating Heather and John Fiscalini of Lemoore, California, 6-4, 7-5, in the finals. The Tarres suffered a tough 6-1, 6-2 first-round loss to Laura and Art Thomson of Centennial, Colorado, but rebounded to advance through the back draw. Meanwhile, in the 140 division, Palisadians Joan and Larry Baker won the bronze ball for third place. The match of the tournament was their three-and-a-half hour 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 first-round victory over Gretchen and Larry Huebner of Fresno. The Bakers went on to beat Janie and Leon Fenwick of Chatsworth in the third-place match–a win that was especially sweet for Joan, as her first national championship ball came on her 75th birthday. Already, local players have made quite a mark on the growing event. In 2007, the Tarres reached the quarterfinals of the 120 age division while fellow Riviera members Mani and Noushin Morshed took third place. Last year, longtime Palisadians and Riviera members John and Barbara Leonard won bronze balls in the 140 division. Riviera Tennis Director Pam Austin once again ran the tournament.
Mexican national team star Iris Mora scored the winning goal with four minutes left as the Blues won their second straight W-League championship last Friday in Washington, D.C. Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
In a championship game eerily similar to last year’s final, the score was the same and so was the outcome–a 2-1 victory for the Pali Blues, who were able to defend their W-League crown on Friday night at the Maryland SoccerPlex. The Blues held off a spirited Washington Freedom side to improve to 26-0-3 in their first two seasons and net Coach Charlie Naimo his third W-League title in four trips to the finals. He won with the New Jersey Wildcats in 2005. “It feels so good to have two undefeated seasons, and I am so happy for our girls,” Naimo said. “It’s such a fantastic feeling, and you couldn’t ask for any more effort than what has been given by this team all year.” Mexican national team star Iris Mora tallied the game-winner in the 86th minute off of a cross from Kirsty Yallop and the Blues held off a furious Freedom charge in the final seconds. Mora was named the finals MVP after scoring the decisive goal and bending a corner kick into the penalty area for Kendall Billingsley’s tying goal in the 37th minute. Blues defender Jenny Anderson-Hammond cleared a ball away at the goal line in the second minute but the home team struck first 11 minutes later. A foul gave the Freedom a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box and midfielder Sandra Matute’s perfect strike curved around Pali’s defensive wall and into the net for a 1-0 lead. “No shock, she’s been getting it done all season,” Naimo said of Mora. “Last week she had a goal and two assists in the semifinal. She’s found a way to get a point in every single game and it’s no surprise to me. Iris was the one I envisioned pulling us through this one and she did.” While his players can take a well-deserved rest, Naimo’s work is only half done. He also serves as general manager for the Blues’ sister club, the L.A. Sol of Women’s Professional Soccer. The Sol have secured a spot in that league’s inaugural championship game next Saturday, August 22. Friday night’s game was televised live on Fox Soccer Channel and Blues General Manager Jason Lemire organized viewing parties at Mogan’s Caf’ on Palisades Drive and Barney’s Beanery in Santa Monica. The Blues became the third club in W-League history to claim back-to-back championships, joining the Raleigh Wings (1998-99) and Boston Renegades (2001-02).
Former Lakers Center Shaquille O’Neal Visits Palisades to Endorse MicroFueler
Basketball giant Shaquille O’Neal was the “center” of attention for last Thursday’s MicroFueler demo at the home of GreenHouse CEO Chris Ursitti. Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Throughout his storied pro basketball career, Shaquille O’Neal has referred to himself by so many nicknames he can hardly keep track of them all. Some of his favorites are “Superman,” “The Diesel,” “Shaq Fu,” “The Big Elvis” and “The Big Aristotle.” Now he’s adding one more to the list. “The Big Ethanol,” he joked after witnessing the new MicroFueler in action last Thursday in Pacific Palisades. “I heard about this through a friend of a friend and the more I found out about it, the more I knew I wanted to get involved and learn how it works. I asked ‘If we can take waste and do something good with it–show me!’ And they did.” Yes, O’Neal has officially gone green as one of the first investors in the revolutionary in-home micro-refinery system that turns organic waste into a high-performance ethanol fuel for cars. O’Neal was unable to attend the initial public introduction July 30 but wanted to appear in person for the “encore” at Chris Ursitti’s house in the Alphabet streets. Ursitti is the CEO of GreenHouse, the San Diego-based energy company serving as exclusive distributor of the MicroFueler in California and Arizona. GreenHouse plans to begin commercial distribution in late October. “This isn’t about me, it’s about this baby right here,” O’Neal said, playfully tapping the refrigerator-sized MicroFueler unit as he pumped ethanol into a truck parked in the driveway. “Now I’m part of yet another winning team. I’m getting one of these installed at my house, too.” A model for sustainable energy, the MicroFueler produces 100 percent ethanol using carbohydrate waste products from plentiful sources like spent beer yeast, algae and cellulose–and for about two-thirds the cost of gasoline. Using patented semiconductor technology, it produces the fuel from a liquid feedstock and pumps it into your car right at your residence. GreenHouse delivers the raw materials and maintains your home-based unit as part of its service package. “We’re delighted to have Shaq on board,” Ursitti said. “He cares about our environment and our future. Sure, he’s got all the money he could ever want, but he’s taking the lead to ensure that his children–all of our children–will live safer, cleaner lives and be more environmentally responsible.” A 15-time All-Star, four-time NBA champion and three-time NBA Finals MVP, the 7-1, 325-pound center currently resides in Florida but was in Los Angeles to shoot an episode of his reality TV series called “Shaq Vs.,” which premieres next Tuesday on ABC. Shaq will compete against other star athletes in their sports–like Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps, grand slam tennis champion Serena Williams, boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya, baseball slugger Albert Pujols and Super Bowl-winning quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. “I think it’s a show America will want to watch,” he said. “I’m up for the challenge, I want to win, and it’s getting me in shape for the season, too.” Proving that the kid in him has never really left his giant body, the self-proclaimed MDE (“Most Dominant Ever”) flagged down an ice cream truck smack dab in the middle of an interview and bought ice cream sandwiches for Ursitti’s daughters, Amanda (10) and Layla (7). “I saw this huge guy waving and I couldn’t believe it was him,” said Jamal Bell, the 29-year-old ice cream vendor who admitted he is a longtime fan of both O’Neal and the Lakers. “He paid for it all and gave me a tip–a huge tip!” So what did Shaq order for himself? “He got the Big Dipper,” Bell said, laughing. “It’s the biggest one!” O’Neal, 37, was traded from Phoenix to Cleveland in June and is looking forward to playing alongside reigning league MVP LeBron James. “I can’t wait,” he said. “Look how many games they won last year without me, what 63? (Actually, Cleveland won a league-best 66 games). I should be able to get them another five at least.” When asked which team he considered the favorite to win the title next season, however, “Shaq Daddy” didn’t mince words. “The Lakers, no doubt,” he said, speaking candidly. “Re-signing Lamar [Odom] was huge and they brought in [Ron] Artest. They’re the champs until they get beat, but I really think we [Cleveland] can give them a run for their money.” Appearing as relaxed and fun-loving as ever, O’Neal cracked jokes to reporters and insisted he harbors no resentment toward the Lakers–the team he powered to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000-02. O’Neal was traded to Miami after the Lakers lost to Detroit in the 2004 Finals and, two years later, helped the Heat win their first title in franchise history. “Yeah, I’m happy for Kobe [Bryant], I’m happy for [Coach] Phil Jackson,” O’Neal said, grinning from ear to ear. “And I’m happy for L.A.–one of my favorite cities in the world.” Enjoying his last few weeks of vacation before reporting to Cavaliers’ training camp September 15, O’Neal is one happy dude. Happy with his new team, his new show and his new nickname. To learn more about the MicroFueler, read the “Fueling for the Future” story in this week’s Real Estate section.
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