Big man Shaq's monthly bills = whopping $1.3 mil

Maybe it's just me, but no matter how much money you make, how is it smart to spend 72% of your monthly income when you really don't have to?

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20080127-9999-1s27gallery.html

UNION-TRIBUNE

January 27, 2008

It takes a big man with deep pockets to spend $1.3 million a month – on expenses so extravagant they'd make Paris Hilton jealous.

Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal is that man. Consider his monthly expenditures:

$156,116 on mortgages.

$110,505 on vacations.

$60,417 on gifts.

$26,560 on babysitters.

$24,300 on gasoline.

$22,190 on maids.

$17,220 on clothes.

$12,775 on food.

On top of that, the tax man gets his share: O'Neal, 35, pays about $500,000 a month in income taxes.

The details of O'Neal's checkbook were revealed this month as part of his ongoing divorce from Shaunie O'Neal, reports The Miami Herald. They filed in September to end their five-year marriage. The couple has four children, and each partner has one child from previous relationships.

But don't worry about O'Neal's financial well-being – he has plenty to pay the bills at his Star Island mansion and beyond.

O'Neal is the second-highest paid NBA player, behind the Boston Celtics' Kevin Garnett, at $20 million a year. He listed his monthly income at $1.8 million – $1.6 million in Heat salary and $220,000 in business investments and endorsements.

On top of his basketball duties, the 7-foot-1, 325-pound O'Neal also is a reserve Miami Beach police officer. But O'Neal's not getting rich as a cop – he volunteers for that duty.

TRIVIA TIME

Name the 2007 men's Final Four participants.

CLINTON ROOTING FOR GIANTS

Former President Bill Clinton will pull for the New York Giants in their Super Bowl matchup against the undefeated New England Patriots.

“They're the underdog, and they're my home team. But I'm glad the Patriots are undefeated, and I'm glad that teamwork from both teams is back at the center of professional sports,” Clinton told about 400 people Thursday in an elementary school auditorium in Barnwell, S.C., as he campaigned for wife Hillary.

Clinton at first joked he wouldn't answer the question when asked by a member of the crowd during a campaign stop because “New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are Hillary's three best states.”

He said it also was a tough decision to make because he plays golf with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and considers him a friend and “remarkable man.”