Here's a Funny Story About Shaq, the Magic, and Marilyn Manson Hanging Out in a Bar During a Blizzard Back in 1996

Who knew Shaq and Marilyn Manson were friends back in the 1990s?

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Grantland just put up an excellent oral history of the Magic teams from the 1990s that featured Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway. It's super long, but it includes all kinds of cool anecdotes and stories from those teams and will leave you wondering what Orlando might have been able to accomplish if Shaq hadn't left the team for the Lakers in the summer of 1996.

One of the crazier stories within the oral history involves Shaq, most of the Magic roster, the cast of Sesame Street on Ice, and Marilyn Manson. According to several players from the 1995-96 Magic team, Shaq & Co. were forced to land in Allentown, Penn. prior to a game against the 76ers in early 1996 because of a snowstorm. By the time they checked into a Holiday Inn not far from the airport, there were several feet of snow on the ground. So a handful of Magic players made their way to a local bar, and things got interesting.

"I went to my room and lay down and [Magic center] Joe Wolf called me and said, 'Hey, let's go get a burger or have a beer or something,'" former Magic center Jon Koncak remembers. "We go down to the bar and half the team's already there."

"We walk in [the bar], there's three groups: Marilyn Manson and his people, Sesame Street on Ice, and us," former Magic coach Richie Adubato says. "What a mixture. Shaq goes in and he knew Marilyn Manson. He goes in and he picks him up in the air like he was a toothpick."

From there, the Magic, Manson, and the cast of Sesame Street on Ice proceeded to eat and drink everything in sight before the NBA eventually called and told the Magic that they needed to make their way back to Orlando. It sounds like it was quite the scene.

You can check out the rest of the Grantland oral history here. It's well worth your time.

Send all complaints, compliments, and tips to sportstips@complex.com.

[via Grantland]

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