- 23 hours ago
The Round Mound of Rebound, Sir Charles Barkley
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00:00I'll see you next time.
00:30This is going to be an all-round! Unbelievable! Don't believe what I just saw!
00:47Hello, I'm Chris Fowler for SportsCentury.
00:50On his 22nd birthday, Charles Barkley dunked with such force and fury that he moved everything.
00:57The stanchion, the backboard, the basket.
01:00There was a 23-minute delay while workers restored and realigned what Sir Charles wrought with his earthquake.
01:06And it seemed to sum him up.
01:08Everything he did or said tended to the extravagant and outrageous.
01:13He dared you to ignore him.
01:15That was rarely possible.
01:17I can't think of too many more things more fun than covering the Dream Team, and particularly Charles Barkley in Barcelona.
01:29He was the king of Los Ramblos. That was the big party street in Barcelona.
01:34Charles was the life of Barcelona.
01:36Only Charles could have 5,000 people following him all over the place.
01:41He would go out and talk to people who were pretty unfortunate.
01:44And I remember one homeless woman who never asked him for anything.
01:47He just one day stuck a wad of bills in a bag.
01:52Best of times was Charles rolling down the Ramblos.
01:55The worst of times was when he would elbow an Angolan.
01:58I don't know anything about Angola, but Angola's in trouble.
02:03Barkley, a little contact, just a little elbow to send a message here.
02:07The little guys from Angola, they were out of control.
02:10They were throwing elbows as well.
02:12Exactly.
02:12Charles being a competitor, he's going to throw an elbow back.
02:15I asked him whether that was in keeping with the Olympic ideal, and he said,
02:19it's the ideal of the playground. This is the way you play.
02:22I said to Michael, I said, Michael, why don't you have a talk with Charles?
02:25Get him calmed down a little bit.
02:27He said, we've tried it.
02:30It was kind of hilarious political satire.
02:33I mean, what could be funnier than him elbowing this guy,
02:37and then when called for, he said, well, who knows, he could have had a spear or something.
02:42You have the idea of one way or another, he might cause an international lesson.
02:46If Charles Barkley's colorful behavior kept opponents and state departments on edge,
02:52he helped motivate the greatest collection of basketball talent ever assembled
02:56as the U.S. Olympic team coasted to goal.
02:59I thought of all of the players, he left the rock room with the most fire.
03:05He was really, really determined not to be embarrassed and not to lose that gold medal.
03:10He was definitely our MVP during that Olympic run.
03:15And still today, you sit there and watch him and say,
03:17how did a man his size be able to do the things that he did?
03:21Out or down your throat like Barkley.
03:24Here he comes.
03:25Isolation play, plus he's got things to say.
03:29Banging wide to the board.
03:30Oh, Lord, the glass belongs to the top of the glass.
03:33Come on.
03:34The round now, the rebound.
03:37Along the baseline.
03:38All right, two more.
03:39He's got 56 points.
03:41I mean, people talk about who there'll never be another.
03:43I think it'll be a long time before there's a 6'4 guy who can do what Charles Barkley did.
03:47Inch for inch, the greatest rebounder ever in the NBA.
03:52Smallest man ever to win the rebounding championship.
03:55His ability to dominate games physically at that height
03:58is something that I don't think anybody has really done before or since.
04:03Desire.
04:04He did the desire and a big old butt.
04:07What?
04:08He was just telling me, you know, you shoot the basketball and I'm going to get every rebound.
04:11And I tell you, he would get every rebound.
04:14His pure desire and his love for the game.
04:17Um, you know, he became an overachiever.
04:23Boards were only part of Barkley's game.
04:26One of only four players with 20,000 points, 12,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists.
04:32He performed not only to win, but to excite.
04:36I think that part of Charles Barkley's contribution
04:39is that he understood what he was doing was entertaining.
04:43That you came and you wanted a show.
04:44I saw him kiss a guy when he made a game-winning shot.
04:49I saw him shoot free throws with his eyes closed.
04:53I saw him knock out mascots by the dozens.
04:55The biggest thing that Charles wanted was attention.
05:01And he got it as a basketball player, but that wasn't good enough.
05:05Charles Barkley was a fat kid who grew into a great basketball player.
05:10And I think he's very grateful for any attention that he gets.
05:13Charles liked to be surrounded by people and liked to have them react to what he was saying and doing.
05:20It was such a mix of good and bad and logic and illogic.
05:27It was a walking mass of contradictions.
05:30His thing is that you could never understand who he is.
05:33So, trying to rationalize the things that he does, you'll never be able to do that.
05:39My idol a lot of times is Charles Barkley.
05:41I wish I could say what he says.
05:43I know a person like to tell all y'all out there who are bastards to kiss my big black ass.
05:48You know, you're enough that Charles Barkley gets in trouble because he tells the truth.
05:51He's a bad official.
05:53He's been bad the whole time I've been in the league.
05:55I hate he f***ing came back.
05:57I have heard him say things that I would kill anybody else if they said it.
06:01I would kill him in writing.
06:02I'd kill him on TV.
06:04But because it was Charles, you kind of just like, you laugh.
06:07And you don't want to laugh, but it's funny.
06:10That was a really, really boring game.
06:11I talked about playing like crap, but I couldn't get motivated.
06:14I ain't gonna lie.
06:15The guy used to read the newspaper on his way to every game just so he could have analogies to use off the front page.
06:22The sexual harassment stuff would really get to the point was absurd.
06:25Oh, Paula Jones would be lucky if somebody would want to touch her ugly ass.
06:30Charles just came out and spoke what was on top of his mind and gave you almost that Muhammad Ali feel.
06:35Damn, Marley.
06:36Oh, my.
06:37Damn, damn.
06:37I'm just like every other woman in Phoenix.
06:39Can I have you?
06:40That same sudden smoothness that kind of makes it good for the air.
06:45It's kind of like the difference between Ali and Tyson.
06:48Ali could say the same thing Mike Tyson said, but I'll eat your choice.
06:51And he'd have everybody laughing.
06:52You know, Tyson says it and it's like they want to put him in the same design.
06:57You know, some people can't tell a joke.
06:59Barclay can tell a joke.
07:01Oh, that ESPN news.
07:04Y'all still trying to rip people off with that old f***ing station, aren't you?
07:07I don't think I've ever said anything that nobody else has said.
07:10But if you're a regular person, you're giving your opinion.
07:15If you're famous, you're opinionated or you're controversial.
07:18He inspired more discussion over the importance or the lack of importance of role models in athletics than any single individual I can remember.
07:32I am not a role model.
07:34Charles had said it.
07:34All I did was, you know, tighten up the language a little more and take a couple of four letter words out.
07:41Parents should be role models.
07:43What he was saying was take responsibility for your own children.
07:46You know, I'm not your daddy.
07:48Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids.
07:56Barclay said what everybody ought to be saying.
07:59Don't wait for a professional athlete to mentor your child because he or she is a celebrity.
08:04He got this before anybody else.
08:06You're not something because you wish you weren't.
08:11He was very much a role model, whether he cared to admit it or not.
08:14There are so many single parent families looking for help in raising their kids.
08:21And if he was going to duck that responsibility, that did make me angry.
08:27In retrospect, if the league had control over it, the league would never have let anything like that happen.
08:32I think that the reaction to I am not a role model suddenly cast him as the heel, the villain in the world wrestling basketball sweepstakes.
08:45I feel sure over the years that he didn't get the commercial spot because of his personality.
08:50But it works both ways, I'm sure.
08:53He was in Space Jam.
08:56That's good enough.
08:59He's gotten some because of his being outspoken.
09:02Anything less will be uncivilized.
09:05There's a lot of athletes that hire people to go out and work for them to make you think they're a nice guy.
09:11Charles is really a nice guy, but he'd rather think that he's a jerk.
09:15That was part of his charm, but that was also part of his curse.
09:20Before the 1995 All-Star Game in Phoenix, Barclay's playful impulse to shock burned the media wires.
09:27I've been working on a sport magazine story on Charles for about two, three weeks.
09:34This big German guy sticks his microphone in and he says, we're doing a story on NBA grubies.
09:40The gruby thing is a sick subject and you guys will get a f***ing life.
09:46What the f***?
09:47That's not it.
09:48And Charles just looks down at me and he goes, that's why I hate white guys.
09:53And when the thing was over, I said to him, you don't hate white guys.
09:57And he goes, no, I'm just f***ing with you.
10:00Sun's response to the last comment about white people was to say ESPN is a news organization trying to make news out of a non-story.
10:06Charles Barkley, who a spokesman, called it a non-story.
10:09The NBA had no comment.
10:10It was just a momentary lapse of stupidity for a moment.
10:15Charles being Charles, trying to be funny.
10:17And it wasn't funny.
10:18He got a lot of hate mail.
10:19It was really, it was really brutal.
10:21I think this certain segment of the population could not accept him.
10:25What they didn't realize was this pretty good heart that Charles had.
10:29He would frequently call our PR guy and say, I'd like to go to Children's Hospital.
10:36But if I see a camera crew or anybody from the newspapers, I'm not going in.
10:41The Celtics were playing the Sixers and Barkley dove out of bounds for this loose ball and missed me by inches.
10:48And I was very pregnant at the time.
10:51And then afterwards, as I was walking out, he pulled me aside and he said, can I be serious for a minute?
10:56You really shouldn't sit there. I'd hate for anything to happen to you or your baby.
11:00Charles Barkley did some things which even those of us who really like him couldn't possibly justify or rationalize.
11:09But he gets a relative pass on a lot of that because generally he's so pleasant and outgoing.
11:16Spitting at people, throwing people through plate gas windows.
11:20I used to smile at it, but like most other people, I would say, why would Charles do that to himself?
11:26Don't start fights with Charles Barkley.
11:32Charles Wade Barkley was born in Leeds, Alabama to Frank and Charsi in February of 1963.
11:39I really don't like to talk much about Charles' father.
11:45We separated when Charles was not even a year old.
11:49I know one time he hit her and I told him that I'd take his wife and baby home with me.
11:57A plenarian could whip harder than any man could ever whip.
12:02Charles was about 14 or 15.
12:05And he said to me, Granny, your mama ain't gonna never have to work no more because I'm gonna play with fish in the basketball.
12:14I heard him say he's gonna play with Dr. J.
12:17And everybody laughed at him and called him names.
12:19That's exactly what he's doing.
12:21Really much use for a 5'10 fat point guard.
12:26I started doing these drills to get my legs stronger, jumping over his fence, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
12:33At night when all other kids might be out on a date, Charles would be on the basketball court.
12:39And the people in the projects would tease me every night.
12:43By the time we start to go to sleep, we hear that boop, boop, boop, boop, boop out there on the basketball court.
12:49I wasn't the most highly recruited player on my team.
12:53So I realized the only way I was gonna get the ball was get rebounds.
12:58So going into my senior year, I wanted to get 20 rebounds a night.
13:02That was my goal.
13:02Averaging 18 rebounds and 19 points as a 6'4'' high school senior, Barkley was recruited nationwide.
13:11He chose nearby Auburn, where he grew out instead of up.
13:15We weighed him in October 15th at 232 pounds.
13:19By the end of his freshman year, 278.
13:22You couldn't get it off of him.
13:24You could break the plate.
13:26You could monitor his eating habits.
13:29I even sent coaches with him to class and to the dynamo.
13:34They go and they play a ball game.
13:37They give him a post-game sandwich or snack.
13:41Charles somehow smuggles three giant pizzas into his room.
13:47When I first saw Charles, I looked at this big guy.
13:54This big guy can't play.
13:56And he dunked him.
13:57And I looked at this guy like, how can this big guy put all his weight in the air?
14:01He's kind of like the bumblebee, I would say.
14:03The bumblebee, aeronautically, ain't supposed to fly.
14:06He got his little round with little bitty wings.
14:08This guy ain't supposed to jump.
14:10Averaging 14 points and 10 rebounds in his first two seasons at Auburn,
14:15the outsized Barkley drew more jeers than cheers.
14:18I'm Charles Barkley of Auburn Tigers.
14:21Here I feel my nickname.
14:22The bread truck.
14:23The love boat.
14:24The hood world.
14:25The crystal kid.
14:26Which is myself a favorite.
14:28The wide loathom lead.
14:29The ton of fun.
14:30The good time blimp.
14:32And my favorite is the round mound of rebounds.
14:34I went to this place to play that holla fat boy, fat boy.
14:37He was a big kid.
14:39Some of the Tennessee people had gotten down on those pizza to deliver two pizzas to Charles on the court before the game.
14:45But the scorn of road crowds paled in comparison to the problems between Barkley and head coach Sonny Smith.
14:52Sonny pushed Charles in places that he'd never been and didn't want to be pushed in.
14:59Sonny told Charles he could ever play and practice should be a great play.
15:02He told Sonny, well coach, you know, when the bright lights come on, I play and that's all that counts.
15:08He wanted to practice but not practice hard.
15:10Instead of rotating across and taking a charge, Charles would rotate across and just knock the guy up in the stands.
15:16So I ran at him.
15:17I swung at him.
15:18And I get him in the chest right here.
15:20He just backed off and said, coach, don't hit me anymore.
15:24Let him smile and he's really a good kid.
15:26It doesn't matter how well you do in practice.
15:29Everyone has their practice warriors who don't actually do stuff in the game.
15:33It matters how well you do in the game.
15:35He's just got to work a little bit more in his work habits and a little bit more desire in practice.
15:43So let me tell you something, son.
15:44You've got a world of ability, but I watch you in practice today and you're just going through motions.
15:49Listen to your coach.
15:50Your coach loves you.
15:51Your people here love you.
15:52Listen to them.
15:53They're trying to help you, man.
15:54I think once Sonny realized that he had somebody who was a little bit different, I think they came closer together and I think it made Auburn a better team.
16:02As a junior, the Rotund forward helped lead Auburn to its first NCAA tournament appearance, scoring 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds a game.
16:13After the Tigers lost in the first round, Barkley was invited to try out for Bobby Knight's 1984 Olympic team.
16:20He was the best player on the floor.
16:22You know, better than Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing and everybody who was on that team.
16:27I remember Coach Knight asking him to come back to minicamp within five pounds of his best playing wage.
16:32And then Charles came back and hadn't even touched the basketball.
16:36Come time for the first cut, Bobby Knight got up there and started talking.
16:42The first name he called out was Charles Barkley.
16:47We were like, man, if he's cut, then well, I'm cut.
16:51If Knight didn't appreciate the cut of Barkley's jib, the NBA certainly did.
16:57In the 1984 draft, Philadelphia selected him number five, behind Akeem Olajuwon, Sam Bowie, Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins.
17:06The Philadelphia 76ers select Charles Barkley of Auburn University.
17:12I said, I want to play for 10 years and get 10 rebounds a night and make a million dollars.
17:20And those were my three goals because I want to just take care of my family.
17:23He played for 16 years, averaged like 12 rebounds and made well over a million dollars.
17:34So I think he did pretty good.
17:37Coming out of high school and I achieved all those goals.
17:42Tipping the 76ers training scales at 272 pounds, Charles Barkley was not a perfect fit for a team that had won the 1983 NBA title.
17:54Initially, I wasn't that excited.
17:56You're talking about someone under 6'5", playing a power forward position in the NBA.
18:02There wasn't anyone like that.
18:04Here comes this brash rookie onto a team that already has Moses Malone, that has the elegant Julia Serving, that has all these established stars and veterans.
18:14One would look at the other and say, do you believe this kid?
18:17A guy who liked to have fun, a guy who had enormous skills.
18:21And some of the parts of the game were a little too easy for him.
18:25But under the guidance of center Moses Malone, Barkley began to make his mark, not only on the league, but on some of its players.
18:34Charles' idea of a fast break was to get the ball himself, get up such a head of steam, find a way to finish that off with a dunk.
18:42And I think the idea of a big man having this kind of 94-foot game without a guard, without an outlet pass, is pretty unprecedented.
18:56He had the ability to grab the rebound, handle the ball, and break the press by himself and go down and get a layup.
19:02And then there's this string of bodies laying in his wake.
19:06I had made it in my mind, a guard might draw one charge on me, but he's only going to draw one.
19:12If a guard had the guts to stand in front of me one time, I was going to try to kill him so he would only do it once.
19:21In his second season, Barkley averaged 20 points and 13 rebounds.
19:25But Philadelphia was eliminated in the semifinals of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
19:30Then, on draft day, Barkley lost his mentor, and Malone was moved to the Bullets.
19:36In two deals, the 76ers obtained Jeff Ruland, Cliff Robinson, and Roy Henson.
19:42The darkest day in the history of the franchise.
19:46Jeff Ruland lasted five games before his knee gave way.
19:49Those trades were actually made for Charles.
19:52It was our intent at that time to try to build a team around Charles.
19:57They completely freed Charles up.
19:59Charles became absolutely a huge major star because he had freedom.
20:07This has become kind of Charles Barkley's team.
20:10This has become, if not the greatest show on earth, at least the noisiest show on earth.
20:14Barkley for three!
20:16Oh, no!
20:19Barkley remained irrepressible over the next four seasons.
20:22In 1990, he averaged 25 points and 12 boards, and finished second to Magic Johnson in the MVP voting.
20:30On the next-to-last game of the season, he took the Sixers to their first division title in seven seasons,
20:36in a brawl-filled matchup with the defending NBA champion Pistons.
20:40See, about the trade, next, next four years after they traded, next three years after they traded Malone,
20:51they didn't get out of the first round.
20:53So, it's kind of like, they didn't, they didn't actually build the team.
21:00Charles was like, I'm so sick of Bill Lambeer, so he wrote a note.
21:07Dear Lam, f*** you.
21:12Love, Charles and Rick.
21:14We knew throughout the whole course of the game that we were going to get into some kind of an altercation
21:18between Mahorn and myself and Barkley.
21:20And Charles was so mad, he'd gotten ejected from the game,
21:33that he'd ripped the urinal off the wall.
21:35I'm just looking at this hole in the wall, this water shooting out,
21:37it looked like a fire hose was behind it.
21:39Of the $155,000 in fines levied by the NBA,
21:43$20,000 was billed to Barkley.
21:46The fallout from the...
21:47Beginning of the end of Barkley's tumultuous stay in Philadelphia.
21:57In March of 1991, against the New Jersey Nets,
22:01Charles Barkley was the target of another's brashness.
22:05There's this one guy behind the baseline who was getting on Charles through the whole game,
22:08and it got progressively worse.
22:10Barkley, it just apparently had had enough.
22:13I kind of watched him gather his spit together and just let it fly in the direction of the heckler,
22:21just standing right really behind my door.
22:23The next thing I remember is Charles just spitting, and I got wet.
22:26I was like, oh my God, what just happened?
22:28He said, man, it's the worst thing I've ever done.
22:30I went too far this time.
22:32And I never heard him say that any other time, before or after.
22:36Two days later, I got a phone call from Charles Barkley,
22:41and he said that he was basically sorry and he would like to speak to my daughter.
22:45Even if I had to spit on that guy, he didn't deserve it.
22:49No matter how ignorant he was, I had to be bigger than that.
22:52Lauren taught me a great deal,
22:54and I think the best thing that ever happened was the way she treated me.
22:58Barkley was fined $10,000 and suspended for one game.
23:03Chastened but unbowed, he redirected his anger at teammates and management.
23:09When he wanted to tell you something, he would tell you.
23:11And either you were mentally tough enough to take it,
23:14or you would just wilt under, you know, his pressure.
23:17If you missed five or six jump shots in a row,
23:19he would tell you that your jump shot had gone on vacation,
23:22and he might then label you with the name vacation.
23:24Harold Katz is the one that everybody blames, who was the owner at that time.
23:29Brought in players that just couldn't play and couldn't win.
23:32Charles' favorite joke is, you know,
23:34he asked for Shaq, and they brought in Charles Shackelford.
23:37After losing to the Bulls in the 1990 and 91 playoffs,
23:41Barkley's eighth season in Philadelphia was his roughest.
23:45Rick Mahorn was gone, and the media was closing in.
23:48He was doing anything he could to get himself traded,
23:51and he was also extremely frustrated.
23:52But it started with, in training camp,
23:54saying the Sixers would keep Dave Hoppin' on the roster
23:57because they wouldn't have 12 black guys.
24:00I said, some people might be offended by an all-black team.
24:03And when I woke up, the next day, it's like,
24:06Barkley's saying they're only keeping a guy because he's white.
24:08There's always been some form of racism.
24:11Well, people never discuss it. It's 1991.
24:14If nobody ever discusses it, they're never going to get sobs.
24:16I thought they were racist to me in Philadelphia.
24:18The press wasn't.
24:19I wouldn't listen to other athletes in Philadelphia.
24:21Barkley grew up in Alabama,
24:25and his family, I assume, grew up in Alabama.
24:28If he's saying something's racist,
24:31it's probably racist.
24:33He knows racism.
24:35They would say,
24:37Hey, we are really not good enough.
24:40We need to get better.
24:41But when I was said,
24:42the headline would be Barkley and Bass's teammates.
24:45He had finally decided that he was going to stop worrying
24:48what people thought of his comments,
24:50his responses to questions were.
24:52Stop thinking about it and say what you feel,
24:56say what you believe,
24:57and if you have to defend it,
24:59then defend it.
25:00He filmed a commercial,
25:01Day of a Game.
25:02Questioning gets around to Charles.
25:04Maybe filming a commercial,
25:07the Day of a Game,
25:07is not a good idea.
25:09Charles announces in a booming voice,
25:11I'm a 90s nigger,
25:13which means I can do whatever I want to,
25:15whenever I want to.
25:16People say Charles Barkley is a racist.
25:19How can he be a racist?
25:20He's married to a white woman.
25:22Marrying Maureen Blumhart in 1989,
25:25and...
25:25Yes, but that logic doesn't...
25:28doesn't work out all the time.
25:32But yes.
25:33Fothering daughter Christiana that same year,
25:35the couple was not appreciated
25:37in every precinct of the city of brotherly love.
25:40The society here,
25:42for whatever reason,
25:44some small segment of that society
25:46wasn't ready for an interracial marriage
25:49that involved one of their heroes.
25:51Some people said some things
25:53that were cruel and I know it bothered him,
25:55and they never said it when he was around.
25:57He didn't outwardly show signs
25:59of being affected dramatically by that.
26:01Did it bother him inside?
26:03I would bet you that it did.
26:04In his autobiography,
26:06Outrageous,
26:07Barkley left little unsaid.
26:09But when it exploded in bookstores
26:12in late 1991,
26:14the author tried to look the other way.
26:16Phones went up,
26:18and one of the chorus was Charles Barkley.
26:21And Barkley said,
26:22Bill,
26:23I was misquoted in that book.
26:26You claim to have been misquoted in your autobiography.
26:30Dave,
26:31I, I, I, I, I...
26:33At the time,
26:37I thought this could be litigation history.
26:39A man sues himself for libel.
26:41Ha, ha, ha.
26:43That December, Barkley made headlines again after getting involved in a skirmish outside a Milwaukee bar.
26:50Although acquitted six months later by a jury, the damage was done.
26:54The 76ers sent him packing.
26:57They said, not guilty.
26:58And I ran out to the courtroom and I got a phone call from my agent.
27:02He's been treated.
27:03I said, where am I going?
27:04He's going to Phoenix.
27:06And I was racing to the airport to catch a plane.
27:08And I remember, I said, I don't care how much it costs, free drinks for everybody on the plane.
27:14I think he realized that he wasn't going to get a championship ring had he stayed in Philadelphia.
27:18And I think he desperately wanted an opportunity to play for a championship.
27:22So I think the team really did him a favor in accommodating him.
27:25You're making a trade with Phoenix.
27:27I feel like the Sixers just want to...
27:28He would have never gotten to the finals in 15 years with the guy named Jordan in his conference.
27:47He had the wrong way out.
27:48He put me out there, making sure the playoffs, and lose.
27:52And I couldn't take that because I knew there were bigger things for me.
27:56Charles Barkley was the biggest figure of any kind, sports or otherwise, ever to hit Arizona.
28:04It was really Charles Barkley comes to Hooterville.
28:07I took him upstairs in the balcony of America West Arena.
28:11And I pointed to the ceiling.
28:14I said, that's what you can do for the Phoenix Suns.
28:19You can bring them a championship.
28:20Coming off a gold medal with the dream team in Barcelona and burdened with the expectations of nothing less than a championship ring,
28:29Charles Barkley played at the top of his game during his first season with Phoenix.
28:33It was a great timing for Phoenix that Charles had played in the Olympics before.
28:37Charles was in fantastic shape when he showed up in training camp that year.
28:41And it just carried over throughout the entire season.
28:44What Charles did was give us a confidence that we didn't have before.
28:48And more times than not, he carried us through.
28:51Barkley holding it with five, with four, with three.
28:54Looks up and he scores it!
28:56He scores it!
28:57Averaging 26 points and 12 boards, Barkley won his only MVP by carrying the Suns into the 1993 NBA Finals.
29:06Waiting for him were the champion Chicago Bulls and his close friend.
29:12I can't express the depth of me and Michael's relationship as far as him being my brother.
29:20He's always been there for me.
29:23Always behind closed doors.
29:26Sometimes I dream that he is me.
29:30I just want to be like Chuck.
29:32I mean Michael.
29:33Michael was always good at flashing his rings and letting Charles know that he didn't have any.
29:42And he wasn't going to get any.
29:44Maybe only a friend could do that.
29:46I think it's important for Barkley to be around Jordan because he feels it elevates and cultivates him in some way.
29:53Jordan watched him on TV one day and called him up and said,
29:55You've got to start dressing right.
29:57You're a black businessman in America here.
29:59Put on a suit.
30:00Michael doesn't need to cultivate friendships.
30:04And I think it was part of this irrepressible Barkley nature.
30:08Charles was able to say things that Michael might have felt like saying, but they were coming out of the mouth of Charles.
30:15I remember Jordan saying, I wish I could say some of the things that Charles Barkley says.
30:20Is America going to love you as much as George by the end of this?
30:23Love me?
30:24Oh, I'm their worst nightmare.
30:27A brother who won't be quiet.
30:29The Bulls and Jordan provided Barkley and the Suns with a nightmare of their own, winning the first two games in Phoenix.
30:36But Sir Charles answered in game three in Chicago.
30:39This was the moment when, wait a minute, I can be on a par with Michael Jordan.
30:45I can be the best basketball player in the world.
30:48I'm going to play this one to the hill.
30:49Barkley would not let his team lose.
30:55Every overtime, every timeout, he was like, come on, come on.
30:58He was patting the guys in the back and he was just willing them to victory.
31:01Barkley's 24-point, 19-rebound performance in game three brought the Suns back into the series.
31:07After the Bulls responded by winning the fourth game, Barkley scored another 24 points as the Suns took game five.
31:14The Bulls have to schlep back to Phoenix.
31:17They're in a foul mood and the Suns have the lead late.
31:22The Bulls have made up their mind that they were not going to let me score.
31:25And we got a turnover, a missed jumper, another turnover.
31:31With Phoenix leading 98-96 with 14 seconds remaining, Barkley made a questionable decision.
31:38The Suns got two.
31:41The Suns got two.
31:42Charles went for the steal and Pippen started to drive.
31:46I could see Horace Grant open on the baseline.
31:49And before I could even turn around, he just hot potato right back out to Paxson.
31:53And I just went, please miss.
31:55Please miss.
32:01Had Charles played more conservatively, maybe they would have won.
32:09Although Charles outwardly might not have expressed to everyone his emotions about losing that series,
32:22inwardly, there was no one that hated more to lose to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls than Charles Barkley.
32:28You want to say it was a great year, but you feel so bad right now.
32:36I know he must have thought, you know, if I didn't beat that guy this season, I don't think I'm ever going to.
32:42In the 1993 finals, Charles Barkley, at 30, looked towards an uncertain future.
32:51Charles was so motivated that that was going to be the year.
32:54His body was breaking down a little bit.
32:57He didn't quite take care of himself in the offseason, you know, the way he should.
33:02Because he was so good and so gifted, Charles really didn't believe that he had to keep his body in shape and work at it.
33:08Charles was playing golf, eating pie and ice cream, and having a good old time in the offseason.
33:13But when the fourth quarter came, Charles wanted to win as bad as anybody else.
33:17With elbow, back, and knee injuries, Barkley considered retirement in each of his last three seasons with the Suns.
33:24I'll tell you the same thing I told the team out of the game.
33:29More than likely, I played my last game.
33:32There was a couple times that he announced his retirement, but we all just kind of waited to see and hoped that he'd come back for the next year.
33:39I convinced him that he was given a gift, and we needed him very badly.
33:45Barkley stayed, but after blowing 2-0 playoff leads to the Rockets in 1994 and 95,
33:52the sunny atmosphere in Phoenix darkened.
33:55Much of the drama fell on Barkley and Kevin Johnson.
33:58Charles and I got along as players.
34:00We had different interests.
34:02I don't know if we both tried as hard to make the relationship work.
34:05You know, there's a story of Charles saying,
34:07KJ, come to the strip club with me, and I'll go to church with you on Sunday.
34:10And, you know, KJ lived, fulfilled his end of the bargain, and Charles said,
34:13No, I'm not going to church.
34:15In August of 1996, 16 days after Barkley won his second Olympic gold medal,
34:20he was traded to Houston.
34:22If he was still effective on the court, his relationship with the public was increasingly tenuous.
34:28When a woman in Scottsdale tore up his autograph, he poured beer over her head.
34:33Three other incidents in which punches were allegedly thrown resulted in no punishment for Barkley.
34:39You can't talk to Charles and tell him,
34:42All right, Charles, don't put yourself in a position to where you can get in trouble.
34:46You've got to be kidding.
34:47Charles Barkley's Charles Barkley.
34:49That's part of his persona.
34:51I opened my Marley Sports Grill in 93, and I remember he used to come in after games,
34:57and we'd have to put Monsies around his table, because there'd just be crowds of people,
35:00you know, 8, 10 deep, just standing there looking at him.
35:02He was a very accessible guy.
35:05Allowing access, you also get some people whose objective is not friendly.
35:13I've seen other athletes in these types of situations.
35:16They just say, oh, you know what, we better get the hell out of here.
35:19This is a no-win situation.
35:21Charles wasn't able to see that.
35:23He couldn't walk away because it's not in Charles' nature to walk away.
35:26He interpreted that as a sign of weakness or vulnerability.
35:29That's what made him appeal to the working people.
35:33He wasn't a saint.
35:35He was just Charles.
35:37And if he rubbed in the wrong way, he had the right to get mad.
35:41In October of 1997 in Orlando, a party came to a crashing end.
35:47The little guy said something to Charles.
35:49Charles followed him outside.
35:51All he said was, hey, you're going to give me some respect.
35:53And he pushed the little guy against the wall and just happened to have some mirror there.
35:58When Charles pushed him, the little glass fell on the floor.
36:01And, of course, the little guy acted like he was dead at that point.
36:05This is the victim, 20-year-old Jorge Lugo, moments after being released from the hospital.
36:09He's banged up after he was tossed through a plate glass window at Phineas Fogg's.
36:14Eyewitnesses say it was Houston Rockets player Charles Barkley who did it.
36:17Let there be no conflict in America.
36:19If you bother me, I'm going to whoop your ass.
36:22I threw him through the window.
36:24So they asked me that I have in the room.
36:26The biggest Charles Barkley is, if he threw him through a glass plate, he would be in a wheelchair.
36:34Regressed.
36:34Regressed.
36:35I said, yeah, I regret that we were on the first floor.
36:37That's about it.
36:38I wish we were on, like, the third floor so he could have failed.
36:40Barkley settled with Lugo for a reported $75,000 and paid a $320 fine to an Orlando court.
36:49Although he received no suspension from the NBA, the league threatened to cut short Barkley's career unless he secured a bodyguard.
36:57He doesn't have a posse.
36:58He doesn't have a bunch of people.
37:00He would come to things by himself.
37:02And finally, the league said, you can't do this anymore.
37:04You know, they made it very simple.
37:06I mean, they're going to retire or get security.
37:10And that's pretty simple.
37:12I meet 50 people a day.
37:14So I probably met, you know, a million people.
37:18And a million have been great.
37:20Five or six have been really bad.
37:22I wouldn't trade that for the world.
37:25I don't mind those six or seven negative things because I meet the most incredible people.
37:29I think Charles, it's one of his greatest traits and it's one of his worst is that he just wants to be a normal person.
37:35And unfortunately for him, he can't be a normal person.
37:38Back on the court, Barkley's drive for that elusive championship ring was fading, despite Akeem Olajuwon and Clyde Brexler at his side.
37:47Then, in January of 1999, Scottie Pippen replaced the retiring Brexler.
37:52We had this thing called the Breakfast Club, him dreaming.
37:54And Scottie would work out.
37:55They would lift every morning and get their bodies right.
37:58I see that Charles and Scottie have a very good relationship, the way they talk and joke around.
38:06But when Pippen demanded to be traded after the season, Barkley fumed.
38:10Having deferred part of his salary so the Rockets could obtain Pippen, he demanded an apology.
38:15I gave up more than anybody to get Scottie.
38:18And for him to want to leave after one year just disappointed me greatly.
38:22That's his opinion. He's a very selfish guy.
38:25What?
38:25He doesn't show me the desire to want to win.
38:28I probably should have listened to Michael when he said that Charles never will win a championship because he doesn't show any dedication.
38:34Look, he had the dedication to be a team leader, a bus driver, as he would say.
38:43Scottie didn't have that.
38:45Sure, he had rings, but Charles Barkley would have ten of Michael Jordan.
38:51If anything, you owe me an apology for coming to play with this song back, bud.
38:58Michael called me for Monaco.
38:59Oh, that's the thing, that's the thing.
39:00Hey, man, you know I would never say anything bad about you.
39:03Whatever Scottie said is BS, BS, let that go.
39:06And don't worry about it.
39:07Three days after bashing Barkley, Pippen became a Portland trailblazer.
39:12But in the wake of Pippen's exit, there remained the question, why hadn't Barkley won a title?
39:18I think he wants to be seen in the echelon of the Jordans and the Byrds and the Magic Johnsons.
39:26But in my mind, he was one step short of that single-minded drive.
39:30Winning to Michael was like Vince Lombardi.
39:33It was everything.
39:35And maybe it wasn't everything to Charles.
39:37That didn't mean he didn't want to win.
39:38But he might not prepare himself.
39:42There's no question that his lifestyle, I think, had some detriment on his level of play.
39:49Could he have kept himself in better shape and got into bed before closing time once in a while?
39:54Yeah, he could have.
39:55But that's the way he attacked life.
39:58There's so many things going on to winning a championship.
40:00Charles Barkley was not the reason why teams did not win championships.
40:03He's always said, you know, that's not going to define me if I never won a championship.
40:06But I think it really bothered him.
40:08And I think it bothered him really throughout his career.
40:12I don't know if it will ever haunt him.
40:13I think he's such a good-natured human being that he's going to let it go.
40:17But I think deep, deep, deep down in his heart that if he ever won a championship,
40:21he would have felt totally complete as a player.
40:25No.
40:28Charles Barkley announced in the fall of 1999 that the upcoming NBA season would be his last.
40:34But if he had any reservations, they would be shattered early in the year in Philadelphia.
40:40Maybe eight minutes into the game, Tyrone Hill drove the baseline.
40:45And Charles was playing defense.
40:47And he went up to block the shot.
40:50When he landed, it was a sharp crack of sound.
40:53What happened?
40:54He's grabbing that knee immediately.
40:56You didn't hear a shriek of pain.
40:58But you saw the end of a career.
41:01You knew without question that it was over.
41:04He cried when he went back to the locker room.
41:07I said, well, how did you hold back with all that pain?
41:09He said, my daughter was watching in Phoenix.
41:12And I didn't want her to see me in pain.
41:16It's sad, you know, to see him cry like a little baby.
41:19I mean, he was just crying.
41:22And I told him, God don't make no mistake, baby.
41:25And have him for a reason.
41:27It was supposed to happen like this.
41:28It was supposed to end in Philadelphia.
41:31I really believe that in my heart.
41:33But it wasn't quite the end for Barkley,
41:36with 37 recovered from his torn left quadricep
41:39enough to enter the Rockets' final game of the season.
41:41You could tell that he wanted to get back on the basketball court.
41:44You could tell that he wanted to, you know, get one more rebound.
41:47You could tell he wanted to, you know, score one more bucket.
41:49U.G. Norris going to the basket, lays it up, misses it.
41:53Ridley.
41:54And one.
41:56And one.
41:57Charles Barkley retires from the NBA.
42:00Barkley moved on to television.
42:03And the weight of his words and his body became topics for discussion.
42:07He's like, well, you can weigh me on the air or whatever.
42:09I don't care.
42:10You can't say that on television.
42:13Now this is, now stand still, Chuck.
42:15Your weight tonight, 337.
42:17I didn't realize I was fat.
42:19I was fat.
42:21Now I'm chubby.
42:22I'm trying to get the big bone, then back to my plan weight.
42:27Huh.
42:28Meanwhile, Barkley keeps alive a rumor that he will one day pursue another job.
42:33Governor of Alabama.
42:35Charles Barkley says, I still want to be governor,
42:38but not until I'm 45.
42:40He wants to help kids, and he believes if he can get on TV,
42:44if he can offer the message that here I am,
42:46a kid from a single-parent household,
42:49mom was on welfare,
42:50in Leeds, Alabama,
42:52and look what I did.
42:53I've been on both ends.
42:54I've been rich, I've been poor.
42:56And I think we need to get more politicians in there who are not concerned about helping to any group,
43:01just helping to everybody.
43:03I love when he told his grandmother that he had become a Republican.
43:08And she said, Charles, you know, how can you be a Republican?
43:12The Republicans are for the rich people.
43:14And he said, you know, Grandma, I'm rich.
43:15It's officially time to bring you home.
43:23God has obviously blessed me beyond my wildest expectations.
43:28And I don't think, he said,
43:33I'm going to give you all this power and money and fame and everything,
43:37and when you retire, I want you to sit at home and just have a big house,
43:41some cars, and have a lot of money.
43:43I never grew up expecting to be Charles Barkley.
43:47I've never had a job.
43:49I think, knock on wood,
43:51I got more money than I could ever spend in my entire life.
43:54I met presidents, I met kings,
43:57and it's only because of basketball.
44:00That's it.
44:01It's only because of basketball.
44:04Good on you.
44:06Anyone can score if they shoot often enough,
44:09Charles Barkley liked to say,
44:11but rebounding is the true measure of a man and his work ethic.
44:15In the spring of 2001,
44:17Sir Charles talked of rebounding himself.
44:20Finding nothing that fulfilled him like basketball,
44:23he talked about returning to the NBA
44:25and renewing his quest for a ring.
44:28As is usual with him,
44:30no one knew what to expect.
44:32For SportsCentury, I'm Chris Fowler.
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