DJ Diesel at Progressive Field
On Saturday, June 22, I went to the Guardians game with my friend Todd at Progressive Field. I'm not going to start writing about every single baseball game I go to, or at least not today, but somewhat uniquely, this ballgame had a concert after it. Obviously we had to stick around to see DJ Diesel spin records and entertain the crowd.
If you've never heard of DJ Diesel, perhaps you've heard about him under another name. He went by Shaquillle O'Neal at his old job as an NBA Hall of Famer. So we had a basketball player DJing after a baseball game.
A very large sound system with some impressively large speakers had been preassembled on a stage that was then was towed to the area around second base. Fans who'd procured the appropriate bracelet were granted field access to go stand on the infield next to this stage.
After a long pause Shaq entered the field wearing a black tank-top. Intellectually, I was aware that he was listed at 7'2" and 350 pounds during his play career, but usually when I saw him in action he was on a court with other very large individuals. Maybe they weren't as large as Shaq, but they weren't so completely outclassed by him. Seeing him surrounded by normal sized people made him look even more gigantic. To put it in perspective, I'm pretty sure the tallest close friend I have clocks in at about 6'7", or half a foot shorter than Shaq. And that friend is skinny. Seeing the endless supply of fans being pulled on to the stage to take selfies with Shaq just drove home how big he really is. He calls himself the biggest DJ in the world, and by inches and pounds and fame who is going to argue with him?
The volume was turned all the way up and the crowd was enthusiastic, but the music didn't do a lot for me. There were a lot of "club mixes of songs beloved by middle aged white people” (ex: Don’t Stop Believing) while Diesel repeatedly said "Hands up!" into the microphone. Occasionally he'd change it up and yell "Pay Attention" instead. After about 15 minutes of that we decided it was too hot for us to tolerate music that uninteresting and Todd and I headed out. Someone I work out with was also there and said the whole set continued in that vein for quite some time. I'm glad Shaq's retirement option is working out for him, but it didn't do much for me.
If you've never heard of DJ Diesel, perhaps you've heard about him under another name. He went by Shaquillle O'Neal at his old job as an NBA Hall of Famer. So we had a basketball player DJing after a baseball game.
A very large sound system with some impressively large speakers had been preassembled on a stage that was then was towed to the area around second base. Fans who'd procured the appropriate bracelet were granted field access to go stand on the infield next to this stage.
After a long pause Shaq entered the field wearing a black tank-top. Intellectually, I was aware that he was listed at 7'2" and 350 pounds during his play career, but usually when I saw him in action he was on a court with other very large individuals. Maybe they weren't as large as Shaq, but they weren't so completely outclassed by him. Seeing him surrounded by normal sized people made him look even more gigantic. To put it in perspective, I'm pretty sure the tallest close friend I have clocks in at about 6'7", or half a foot shorter than Shaq. And that friend is skinny. Seeing the endless supply of fans being pulled on to the stage to take selfies with Shaq just drove home how big he really is. He calls himself the biggest DJ in the world, and by inches and pounds and fame who is going to argue with him?
The volume was turned all the way up and the crowd was enthusiastic, but the music didn't do a lot for me. There were a lot of "club mixes of songs beloved by middle aged white people” (ex: Don’t Stop Believing) while Diesel repeatedly said "Hands up!" into the microphone. Occasionally he'd change it up and yell "Pay Attention" instead. After about 15 minutes of that we decided it was too hot for us to tolerate music that uninteresting and Todd and I headed out. Someone I work out with was also there and said the whole set continued in that vein for quite some time. I'm glad Shaq's retirement option is working out for him, but it didn't do much for me.