As reported in Bob Matthews’ Sports Exchange Blog (affiliated with the Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle newspaper), Shaquille O’Neal of the Miami Heat NBA team is in the midst of a divorce. Details of his monthly expenses have been leaked to the press. Some of the numbers are rather interesting:
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He pays $156,116 per month on mortgages. (Precalc question: assuming he owns one home, and this is the first payment on a 15 year mortgage at 7% APR, what is the value of the house?)
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He pays $26,560 per month on babysitters; nearly $1000 per day. He could staff a small day care center on that sort of budget.
But the one that really stands out for me is gasoline: he spends $24,650 each month on gasoline.
He works in Miami; presumably the cost of gasoline in Florida is no more than $4 per gallon; that gives an estimate of 6000 gallons of gas per month, or 200 gallons each day.
A 1958 Edsel will get 10 mpg on the highway; it seems safe to assume he gets at least that much. (Hummers reportedly get 20 MPG, but presumably a stretch Hummer doesn’t fare so well. When you’re 7’1″, you’re likely to drive or be driven in a vehicle of that sort. I can’t see Shaq in a Prius. Or an Edsel, truth be told.)
How does one man consume enough gasoline to drive (at least) 2000 miles per day? How fast does he drive? How many hours a day is that behind the wheel? And just how many stops at the corner gas station is that? Seems like he (or his driver) must spend an inordinate amount of time looking for gas stations, if you’ve got to fill the tank on an hourly basis.
I got me a car, it’s as big as a whale [gets 2 MPG]
and we’re headin’ on down
To the Love Shack [mortgage: over $200 per minute]
I will never hear that song the same way again.
360 
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