For city kids, The Game has nothing to do with Harvard vs. Yale.
It's Shaq vs. Michael.
'Shaq is The Man,' said Windell Davis, 15, taking a break fromplaying one-on-one with his friend, Keya Gunter, on the courts atTown Field in Fields Corner in Dorchester.
Gunter, 21, begged to differ.
'Shaq can't stand next to Michael Jordan. The man can't evenshoot free throws!'
Davis, wearing Shaquille O'Neal's jersey, waved him off and calledfor the ball.
'Man,' he sniffed, 'you just got back on the bandwagon.'
'I never got off the bandwagon,' Gunter protested. 'I never leftthe Bulls. Michael got off the bandwagon.'
And so it goes. From Charlestown to Chinatown. From Southie tothe South End. From Roxbury to West Roxbury. With the Celticssafely in their graves for 1995, the ongoing NBA playoff seriespitting the Orlando Magic against the Chicago Bulls is big stuff withyoung people in a supposedly neutral city.
The teams are led by men who are not just basketball icons, butmarketing machines. They hawk sneakers, soda and hamburgers -- inshort, stuff that means something to anyone too young to vote.
It is often said that too many young people don't have opinions.Everyone, however, seems to have an opinion about Michael vs. Shaq.Perhaps because they seem so different on and off the court.
Shaq is power. Michael is grace.
Shaq is in yo' face rap. Michael is silky smooth R&B.
Shaq is Pepsi. Michael is Gatorade.
Shaq is Reebok. Michael is Nike.
Michael is McDonald's. Can Shaq be that far off from signing amultiyear deal with Burger King?
'Shaq can't shoot threes,' said Omar Cruz, 14, of Dorchester.
'Shaq,' retorted 13-year-old Milton DeSoto, 'can dunk all overMichael.'
Tia Holiday, 13, of Roxbury, said she sides with Jordan because hehas a better all-around game. 'Michael can do more things. He's notjust one-dimensional. You've got to have more than one thing inlife.'
Put 11 kids in a room at the Dorchester Youth Collaborative andask for a show of hands: eight Michael, three Shaq.
Jumping ability is admired. 'Michael's got more rise,' explained16-year-old Jason Simpson of Dorchester.
But O'Neal's backboard-breaking power appeals to some. 'I don'tgive Jordan no kinds of props,' said Jose Martins, 14, whichtranslated from kidspeak means he doesn't like Mike. 'He needs to goback to baseball. Shaq will back you up till you can't go back nomore, and then it's over.'
Bruce Seals, the athletic director at the Col. Daniel Marr Boysand Girls Club in Dorchester, said he has noticed how many kids playout the matchup between Jordan and O'Neal.
'I see the kids lean toward Michael, because they can emulate moreof the things he can do,' said Seals, who played for the NBA'sSeattle Supersonics. 'But the year and a half Michael took off toplay baseball hurt him, especially with the younger kids. Shaq isthe '90s player. Michael is the elder statesman.'
Many kids, meanwhile, do not choose their favorites based solelyon performance on the court. Wearing a Chicago Black Hawks hockeyjersey, 15-year-old Sparkle Henderson of Dorchester declares herselfonly mildly interested in the basketball games themselves. Nike ads,she contends, are more creative than Reebok ads. 'At least the onesthat Michael is in,' she said.
Melissa Khomlasaben, 14, considers Jordan's ads materialistic,while 'Shaq gives some positive messages.'
Older kids seem to be more judgmental of O'Neal, chastising himfor paying too much attention to his endorsements and not enough tomastering the art of free-throw shooting.
Artis Edmondson, 15, of Dorchester, says he can't imagine being asbig as the 7-foot-1-inch, 300-pound O'Neal but knows he wouldpractice with a bit more tenacity than the Shaq. 'How can I like apro when I can shoot threes and free throws better than him?' heasked.
If the generational breakdown has older kids siding with Jordan,so does the gender breakdown. Girls, in general, seem to like Mike.
Except Relisha Jones. The seventh grader at the Grover ClevelandSchool has her entire room festooned with O'Neal paraphernalia.
'Coach' Willie Maye, the sports director at WILD-AM, says thatyouths are notoriously fickle when it comes to their favorites, butthat Jordan and O'Neal seem to transcend all that because they are somuch a part of popular culture.
'When Shaq came on the scene, you saw kids all over wearing baggygear, oversized shorts,' Maye said. 'Michael's stuff istop-of-the-line, funky stuff. Kids know this.'
Kids also know this matchup will be back.
'The Celtics, I don't know if they'll be back in the playoffs fora while,' said Jaron Clifton, 15, of Dorchester. 'Michael and Shaq,they're like money in the bank.'
