UPDATE: Shaquille O'Neal

Alright puppies, since everyone and their baby momma have already discussed Shaq's shack in Miami falling out of escrow, Your Mama figured we better jump on the band wagon because we have a few tidbits to add.

Back in 2004 seven foot something b-baller Shaquille O'Neal and his wifey Shaunie paid $18,800,000 for a mammoth mansion on Star Island where celebrity residents include Rosie O'Donnell, Grammy winning Gloria Estefan and P-Diddy (or Puff Diddy or Papa Daddy or whatever name he's going by nowadays).

A couple years later, Shaq and Shaunie were on the fritz and headed towards dee-vorce court (they've since reportedly reconciled) and th waterfront estate went back on the market with a coma inducing asking price of $35,000,000 which was later reduced to $32,000,000.

Many reports, including the always informative South Beach Real Estate Blog, reported that bed hopping dee-vorcee Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez bailed out of a deal to purchase the property.

Then along comes late 2008, the asking price has dropped again to $29,000,000 and the O'Neals are tuckered out from trying to sell their real estate white elephant so they agreed to sell the 19,440 square foot behemoth for a reported $19,000,000. A few flicks of the well worn beads on our bejeweled abacus reveals that, if true, the O'Neals agreed to accept $10,000,000 less than their already reduced by $6,000,000 asking price, which is surely the equivalent of a real estate gut punch.

Your Mama hears through the gossip grapevine (but can not confirm) that the fickle minded buyer was real estate developer/Broadway musical producer Peter Fine. Google him children, Your Mama is too damn hungover to explain his biographical details.

The house has returned to the market with an even lower asking price of $25,000,000, but honestly children, if they were willing to take nineteen from Mister Fine, what numskull would offer them a penny over $18,000,000?

Everyone but Your Mama already knew that Mister and Missus Shaq have already left Miami and decamped to Arizona where he plays for some team out there, the name of which Your Mama can't be bothered to look up.
Anyhoo, as Your Mama is inclined to do, we did a little digging to see if we could suss out any information about Shaq's new shack in the AZ. Turns out, and according to reports, the big man is leasing a palatial mansion in posh Paradise Valley (pictured above). A peep into property records indicates the sprawling single story residence sits on an approximately two acre parcel on the Arcadian sounding Mockingbird Lane and measures 8,238 square feet–some reports say 9,400 and listing information says 8,981.

Listing information Your Mama dug up on the internets indicates the Santa Barbara/Mediterranean style manse includes a main house with 4 bedrooms and 4 full and 2 half bathrooms and a detached guest house with another bedroom and bathroom. Other amenities include a gore-may kitchen, a media/game room, wine cellar, a resort-like swimming pool and spa, more than 4,000 square feet of covered patio space, a chipping green (whatever that is), a sport court with a basketball hoop (natch) and garaging for 5 cars.

The home had previously been leased to someone named Emmit Smith who was a running back (whatever that is) for the Dallas Cowboys.