"Shaquille O'Neal doesn't know how he'll spend the retirement that he formally announced Friday.

Basketball's original "Superman" has plenty of options. He might accept a job as a television basketball analyst. He might run for sheriff in Orange County or Lake County one day. He might join a group that hopes to buy an NBA team or bring an NFL team to Los Angeles.

But O'Neal knows he will attend Orlando Magic games. And when he does, he hopes to see Dwight Howard in a Magic uniform for years to come.

"I read his comments the other day," O'Neal explained, "and I thought that those were the correct comments for him to say: 'I don't want to follow nobody. I don't want to follow Shaq. I want to make my own path.'

"And I agree," O'Neal continued. "So hopefully he lives up to those comments and he stays here. I'm going to be watching. I'm going to be right there on the front row watching, and hopefully he can get two, three or four championships because he's a fabulous player and he deserves a ring if he works hard."

O'Neal, of course, won four NBA championship rings.

He also scored 28,596 points, collected 13,099 rebounds, captured three Finals MVP awards and received 15 All-Star Game selections.

There won't be any more of any of those now.

Friday's formal retirement announcement, which O'Neal held inside his Isleworth mansion's basketball gym, featured a mix of heartfelt thank yous and thoughtful remarks about his place in history. But no event hosted by O'Neal would be complete without his trademark sense of humor.

Just after he launched into his opening remarks, a friend handed him a cell phone."