When @THE_REAL_SHAQ

hits your town for a road game against the local NBA squad, there’s only one thing to do: Fix your eyes on his Twitter feed and don’t lose focus. Sooner or later, the Big Aristotle is gonna drop his location and start giving away tickets. And when he does, you grab your phone and run like you’ve never run before. Today he was at the Red Star Café—just seven blocks from our Portland studio.

Pencils were dropped. Doors were slammed. We ran like the wind. We crossed against traffic. And, while we missed out on the tix (by about 15 seconds, no joke! we were nos. 4, 5 and 6… tix went to the first 3!!!), we met the legend. Honestly, he’s the dude. Ain’t nothin’ like him. All big and suave, he was impeccably groomed and smelled like a gentleman. Check the photographic evidence and cheer for the Man tonight: