The city of Boston is one of the most winningest cities in American sports history. There have been some historic franchises in the city and some legendary players. And the fans are known to be very loyal to their teams. But another thing Boston is known for is its hostility to rival teams and sometimes, its own. However, NBA legend Shaquille O?Neal who knew about this and had heard stories of racism was once left stunned by how nice the people were.

Boston fans are known to be very hostile and the latest example was last season’s playoffs. Their team was going against strongly disliked former players like Kyrie Irving, Draymond Green, and others. And they did not condone them. In fact, the crowd kept heckling them.

And some even have allegedly resorted to racism in the past. LeBron James has stated that the city he hates the most is Boston. And that’s because some fans have allegedly displayed racist undertones in the past. Even when Shaq came to Boston, he had heard about the stories and the hostility.

Shaquille O?Neal was surprised how to see how nice the fans were

Shaquille O’Neal signed with the Boston Celtics for the 2010-2011 season. He was in the later stages of his career, and wanted another chance at the title. So he signed with the Celtics in what would be the final season of his career.

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As it turns out, he had heard stories and felt the hostility when he came to play as an opposing player. But that quickly changed after he visited the city. He said, “The crazy thing is, I didn?t know people were this nice.”

Shaq was pleasantly surprised by how nice the fans and people were. And one of the reasons was that he wanted to be more involved with the fans. Often, Boston fans complain that their star players are inaccessible to them.

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But Shaq wasn’t like that. He went to Harvard and nearly joined a class but he couldn’t because of his schedule. But he did interact with students and often visited bars in the city. And Boston fans appreciated this. Shaq was also a serial winner, something that the Boston fans love as well. It couldn’t work out with the Celtics for Shaq, but he did get his stories about the city cleared up.