It wasn’t the most historic Battle of the Sexes that a Long Beach athlete has ever won (Billie Jean King will probably never relinquish that title) but Misty May-Treanor and partner Kerri Walsh took down Shaq on his show Shaq Vs. last night, putting the big fella in his place…for a few minutes at least.

The premise of the show is that Shaq, undoubtedly one of the most unique athletes in American sports history, takes on other great athletes in their natural sport.  He played QB against Steelers starter Ben Roethlisberger, and in addition to taking on May/Walsh, he’ll be racing against Michael Phelps in the pool later in the season.

Shaq started off dismissing the unparalleled duo of May/Walsh, both because of their recent one-year layoff, and their gender.  “They’re still just girls,” he told his trainer when their two gold medals were pointed out.  He refused a handicap (because of his “male bravado-ness”), and even said he hoped the Olympic heroes didn’t “mess up their nails too bad.”

Misty, for her part, got in a dig, when she pointed out that Shaq “will be the tallest woman—I mean, man—that we’ve ever played against.”  She also came out for her introduction (“from Long Beach State University”) wearing Lakers warm-ups.

In the end, of course, it wasn’t even close, as May/Walsh swept Shaq and Todd Rogers.  Not the most competitive, intense, or rewarding win—but a win nonetheless.