TOMS RIVER, N.J. — The hulking figure lay on its side in the long grass, partially mummified by a tarp and some bubble wrap. Brian Hanlon recognized it as soon as he saw the face.
“There’s Shaq!” he cried.
Indeed, there was Shaquille O’Neal, even larger than life, frozen mid-dunk. Hanlon rapped on the copper-toned torso. It was hollow as a PVC pipe.
This was just a polymer cast of the real statue of O’Neal — that 900-pound monument of bronze and granite stands proudly outside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La., where O’Neal played his college games for L.