A lot of people are screaming for his hide right now. But for me, this is just Charles Barkley being Charles Barkley. By now, don’t we all know he’s not exactly Mr. Perfect? He’s a gambler, a carouser, a drinker and a guy who stays out late enough to find trouble once in a while. Is that news to anyone? It certainly shouldn’t be. His track record is clearly established and he did warn us all several years ago that he wasn’t a role model.
But does that make him any less effective in his job as the jokester on TNT trying to explain the nuttiness of the NBA to us? And really, does it matter much what he does on a night off in Arizona?
I have to tell you, though. I’m biased here. Several years ago, when Steve Brandon, Kerry Eggers, Jim Etzel and some trusting souls at Nike were trying to get the Oregon Sports Awards off the ground, we were desperate for a “name” to help draw attention to the show. Kerry took a chance and called Charles to see if he could help us out.
Barkley said, “Sure — but I hate flying commercial, could you get me a charter somehow?” Harvey Platt of Platt Electric was kind enough to make those plane arrangements for us — as long as Charles would agree to a couple of Harvey’s employees going along for a chance to meet their favorite player.
Well, Charles said, “Great — love to have some company on the flight.” Bottom line, the fans enjoyed being regaled by Barkley on the flight and the guy came to Portland and did a sensational job of speaking at the show, signing autographs and giving every interview he was asked to give. He was delightfully charming.
For free. Just the plane ride up here. The Oregon Sports Awards have since taken off and become a real sports happening and I’ve always felt we owe Charles a lot for his help. So that’s part of the reason I’ll cut him some slack here.
Besides, I can’t help myself — I just like the guy.
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Tags: Charles Barkley, Dwight Jaynes, Harvey Platt, Jim Etzel, Kerry Eggers, Oregon Sports Awards, Steve Brandon
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