Last week Shaquille O’Neal hosted the 2nd Annual GM All-Car Showdown at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. The invite-only event showed off athletes’ and celebrities’ custom cars. There were a lot of Hummers in the house: Dwyane Wade showed off his white 2004 Hummer H2, Shaq had his Black 2005 Hummer H2 Stealth, and James "Lights Out" Toney repped his silver 2004 Hummer H2. Eric Dickerson, comedian Carlos Mencia, Macy Gray, and Sean Avery (L.A. Kings) all had Hummers as well. Corey Dillon took it back to the old school with his blue 1966 Chevy Impala as did Terrell Owens with his midnight blue 1966 Pontiac Firebird.

Corey Maggette came out on top, winning the "King of Bling" and "Best Interior" titles for his blue raspberry 2003 Cadillac Escalade ESV. Macy Gray won "Best Exterior" for her Hummer and Shanna Moakler of "Meet The Barkers" won "Best Old School Car" for her seafoam green 1953 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. A $2,500 donation was made in each participant’s name to a charity of their choice and $20,000 donation was made to Maggette’s Flight 50 Basketball camp based in Chicago.

Other people in house included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Funkmaster Flex, Ja Rule, and Gabrielle Union. The crowd was also treated to performances from Fat Joe, Keyshia Cole, Ciara and DJ AM.

Shaq Loves Beef

Before hosting the 2nd Annual GM All-Car Showdown in Los Angeles, Shaq had some choice words for the newly drafted L.A. Laker, Andrew Bynum. In a previous interview, Bynum invited comparisons to Shaq, but with an exception-- he said he can make free throws. Ouch! Shaq responded in the L.A. Times:

"Tell him Shaq doesn't respond to juvenile delinquents without a college degree," O'Neal said about the 17-year-old rookie. "Tell him to get his degree and we can talk. In the meantime, he should call me Dr. Shaq because I'm working on my PhD."

Shaq, who earned his master's earlier this year from the University of Phoenix, said he plans to go for a doctorate in psychology, criminology or sports psychology.

ESPYs Come and Go Without Much Fanfare

Although there has been big buzz around the ESPYs the past few years, it was pretty much on the periphery of everybody’s minds this year. Last year, Denzel Washington, Tom Cruise and Sharon Stone showed up. But no one with that high caliber stardom, besides Oprah, even batted an eyelid this year. There weren’t very many parties, either. The biggest one came the night before the taping of the show last week at the Playboy Mansion. According to ESPN’s Page 3, Kevin Garnett and Tyronn Lue were seen hanging outside the mansion waiting for shuttle buses while Miami Heat point guard Damon Jones was chatting it up with a couple of Playboy bunnies inside the mansion. Dwyane Wade was also in the house posing with bunnies that were big-time fans. Jerome Bettis, Donovan McNabb, Amare Stoudemire, and Braylon Edwards were also at the party while hip-hop legend Biz Markie worked the two turntables.

Other athletes were hanging out at the Lost Canyons Golf Club as part of the ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic. Packers’ Ahman Green, Cardinals’ Betrand Berry, Patriots’ Rodney Harrison were all on the green trying their best to get that little white ball in a cup. Ben Roethlisberger, Marshall Faulk, Jerry Porter and 49ers’ rookie Alex Smith also were at the club with James Worthy and John Havlicek, who were the only hoopsters present.

Iverson Gives Back… and Beatdowns?

Over the weekend Allen Iverson hosted his Celebrity Summer Classic 2005 softball game in the Bowie area of Washington D.C. in an effort to raise funds for his charity, the Crossover Foundation, which partnered with the National Fatherhood Initiative to increase the awareness of absentee fathers and the effect it has on children. A team of celebrities that included Iverson, Vivica A. Fox, and Juan Dixon (of the Washington Wizards) played against the staff of D.C. radio station WPGC.

The weekend before, Iverson was in Hampton, Va. with his streetball team, I3, playing in the 7 Cities Streetball Classic. Impressed with the amount of kids that showed up to watch the tournament, after the final, in which his team won, Iverson stuck around and signed autographs for more than 100 kids, but according to the Hampton Daily Press, heeded a warning to adults.

"This is for the kids,” Iverson shouted to the crowd. “I don't want to see any adults in line. I want the kids to tell me what they want."

Later that night, Iverson hosted a Linen & Lace soiree at Crabbers Restaurant & Sports Lounge that was apparently pretty tough to get into. According to our TPL spy, it was so tough to get in that security at the door took to beating down a few folks.

"[Iverson’s] security, not the club Crabbers but his security beat up at least four people, three guys and one female," our spy said. "We were watching his security run and beat his party goers, even the ones that were willing to pay after his security jacked up the price to get in."

Crabbers said that there were no incidents that took place in or outside of the club during Iverson’s party.

Legal Roundup…

NBA players Gary Payton, Sam Cassell and Jason Caffey are on trial in Toronto facing charges of assault after Adrian Cimpean claims the trio jumped him outside of a Toronto strip club in April 2003. One witness said the charges are "ridiculous" since the fight last "two seconds" and was broken up after the first punch was thrown….

Miami Dolphins tight end Randy McMichael was arrested and charged with battery last week for allegedly hitting his wife and giving her a bloody nose. Witnesses say they saw McMichael throw his wife away from his car several times during an argument. McMichael’s wife, Cawanna McMichael, said the contact was an accident and she got in his way while he was throwing her belongings out of his car. McMichael was released after posting a $2,200 bond…

Tennessee Titans top draft pick, Adam 'Pacman' Jones surrendered to Tennessee police last week on charges of assault and vandalism stemming from a nightclub altercation. According to club owner Robert Gaddy, Jones grabbed him by the shirt, hit him and broke his necklace after Gaddy asked three of Jones’ friends to leave club because they were “smoking drugs.” Jones was released after posting bond.