FanHouse RonySeikaly

It's the off-season, and some of the NBA's biggest stars are looking to unload real estate. We have photos, and we'll be sharing them in our House of the Day series.

With Shaquille O'Neal's (just about) cross-country switching of teams last season -- and maybe due to the divorce proceedings that were eventually halted -- his place in Star Island, Florida recently hit the market. The asking price is $29 million, and when you look at the specs it's easy to see why.

The home sits on 2.5 acres, and besides the fact that it's located on an exclusive artificial island, it has such amenities as a tennis court, a dock, a guest house, an indoor basketball court, and a pool complete with Superman logo (naturally). Oh, and there's the sentimental value of owning the house originally built by Rony Seikaly, which is really something that you can't put a price on. A couple more photos after the jump.

Question: who would win a game between the expansion Miami Heat and the current Miami Heat? Now that Dwyane Wade is back, I'll give the edge to today's squad (but I'd trade an old Shaquille O'Neal for a young Rony Seikaly any day of the week).

What about today's Heat versus the expansion Charlotte Hornets? That's a different horse altogether; don't sleep on Kelly Tripucka and Rex Chapman, it'd probably be closer than you think.

Dan Le Batard, who conducted the original interview with Tim Hardaway that sparked the entire thing, did another interview recently with Rony Seikaly, another former Heat player. Seikaly ... is fantastic. Among the highlights:

• Seikaly's personal philosophy on sexual preference: "Whatever tickles your bone."

• Brings up Marv Alberts' past sexual indiscretions.

• Seikaly, and I think this is the most bizarre part of the interview, says that 60% to 70% of the women who play professional sports are lesbians.

• Seikaly says he was once hit on by a gay teammate. "One of my teammates was, I don't know if he was bisexual, but I definitely know that he was after men. ... That person made a move on me. I was like, "wait a minute, I think you're barkin' up the wrong tree, my friend ... I just played it off like, 'this can't be happening.'"

• Of the gay teammate, he said his advances were "very smooth." Seikaly has amazing will power.

• Seikaly wouldn't reveal the identify of the gay player, but he did say, "Don't be mistaken, that it's soft, or it's this white guy who's not grabbing rebounds or blocking shots. You'll be surprised. Other way around."

While trying to adjust to the idea that Seikaly isn't gay ... yeah, see, that's what we need. No disrespect to John Amaechi, but the guy who drank tea in the locker room before games doesn't shock the world when he reveals he's gay. When a hard-nosed, thugged-out, board-banging, shot-swatting gangsta comes out of the closet ... then we start breaking down barriers.

I've always liked Rony Seikaly (that's weird, I know). But he's a solid guy. When Magic Johnson returned to the NBA after announcing that he was HIV-positive, no one wanted to work out with him, and no one would practice with him ... until Seikaly took the court and asked Magic if he wanted to play some on-one-one.

Seikaly and Magic played against each other, all out, sweating, pushing, banging ... with no awkwardness from Rony. It meant the world to Magic.

I miss Rony Seikaly.