Sir Charles Article on MSNBC--Francis gets ripped a new A!

Interesting article on "The Quad that Frauded the Great Blob" (Sorry guys, just a little fun)--Rips into Fan perception on Stevie, though. And completely unfair, as well.

Sir Charles will be missed

Love him or hate him, Barkley was an original




Dec. 8 — I loved Charles Barkley's determination to speak his mind. I hated the fact that he spoke it. I adored Barkley's fiery approach to basketball. I loathed that he erupted so often and got thrown out of games, hurting his team in the process.


I ADMIRED HIS will to win. I was disappointed that he never won it all.
I appreciated his honesty. I was appalled by his honesty.

I applauded his respect for the fans. I deplored his contempt for the fans.

I liked having him in the NBA. I'm glad that he's gone.

Check that: On second thought, I wish he could stay around just a little longer.

If it seems that my feelings are mixed on Sir Charles, you're a brain surgeon. The man is a walking — correction: now hobbling — contradiction. If he were any more two-sided, he'd be duct tape. Among his contemporaries, perhaps only Bill Clinton will be remembered as someone who both riled the populace as well as seduced it.

And that's OK.

In a society where political correctness has sanitized and homogenized our public figures, Barkley stood out as his own man, a pillar of originality. He is one of those rare individuals whose passion never dipped even after he unlaced his high-tops. There was very little difference to him between shoving aside an opposing power forward en route to a thunderous two-handed slam, or tossing an obnoxious barfly through a plate-glass window.

So when the legacy of Charles Barkley is discussed, let's not quibble with the minor detail that he never won an NBA championship. Don't hold the recent rips at Scottie Pippen and Mike Mathis against him. Remember that all his fines — which, if added together and applied to the federal budget, surely would help to keep Social Security solvent — came out of his own bank account and eventually wound up in the hands of a charity.


But for all his missteps and slips of his tongue, Charles Barkley never really hurt anybody but Charles Barkley.

This season was to be his last. Now, it's already over. In a freakish happening, Barkley tried to block the shot of the Sixers' Tyrone Hill on Wednesday night, and actually ruptured a knee tendon on the way up, not the way down.

This 1999-2000 season was a waste anyway for Barkley. His team, the Houston Rockets, is a mess. Center Hakeem Olajuwon, on his last, aging legs anyway, is out with yet another injury. Pippen is gone, having failed to fit in with Barkley and his mates. The team's best player is rookie Steve Francis, a selfish punk who knows as much about team play as Nick Saban knows about loyalty.

For Charles, this season already was over. Now is as good a time as any for Barkley's career to officially end.

On top of the timing, the placement was ideal. He broke down in Philadelphia, where he entered the league. Way back in 1984, the junior out of Auburn came into the NBA as the Round Mound of Rebound, a chubby phenom who played a rough-and-tumble style despite his relatively diminutive (6-foot-6) stature.

He wowed hoop junkies during the 1984 Olympic Trials — with the exception of Bob Knight, the coach of that U.S. Olympic team, who felt Barkley's defensive skills were as deficient as his offensive prowess was astounding. Although he wouldn't be an Olympian, he would certainly be an effective pro.

After eight seasons in Philly, he was traded to Phoenix and spent four seasons trying to turn that franchise into a dynasty. The closest Barkley ever got to a ring was the 1993 NBA Finals in his first year as a Sun. Phoenix lost to Barkley pal Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, four games to two.

Meanwhile, while Barkley was producing double-doubles, he was also knee-deep in trouble. Earning ejections. Criticizing the league. Sparring with reporters. Spitting on fans. Woofing with opponents. Denouncing the commissioner. He was a one-man gang bent on self-destruction, as brutal on his own image as he was on those who tried to guard him.

That's why it's hard to get a grasp on Barkley, to develop an understanding of what he's all about. Yes, he seemed to love the game. Yes, he appeared to play hard every night.

But he also had a disregard for everything around the NBA. The fans, the media, his fellow players, no one escaped his wrath. If you annoyed Charles, you heard about it. If you rubbed him the wrong way, he'd rub you back.

He made it hard to like him. He made it hard not to.

Barkley was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. The list is debatable, to be sure, but Barkley deserved to be mentioned among the greats.

What he doesn't deserve is to be maligned because he never won an NBA title.

Julius Erving would not have won his only NBA championship in 1983 if Sixers owner Harold Katz had not gone out and spent money for Moses Malone. If the Portland Trail Blazers had taken Jordan instead of Sam Bowie, the Chicago Bulls would still be searching for their first title. The Blazers with Jordan? Who knows for sure?

There are magnificent players like Nate Thurmond, Walt Bellamy, Calvin Murphy, Dave Bing, Sidney Moncrief, Pete Maravich, Bob Lanier, Bernard King, Lou Hudson, Dan Issel, Connie Hawkins, Artis Gilmore, George Gervin, Walter Davis, Adrian Dantley, John Stockton and Karl Malone who never won an NBA championship.

It's not a hideous disfigurement on a sparkling career. It's simply an unfortunate void. It takes the right team at the right time to win it all. It takes a group of superior talents who are willing to put aside personal glory for the good of the whole. It takes a season free of serious injury.

It takes luck.

OK, so Charles Barkley didn't leave the league wearing a ring. He surely didn't leave wearing a halo, either. Yet despite the constant battle between Good Charles and Bad Charles, one truth stands out:

He was an original, and there will never be another one like him.

For that, he deserves a round of applause.

And a chorus of catcalls.

He probably wouldn't want it any other wa




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"I would like to thank... everyone... for their contriboootions" Hakeem accepting his MVP award at the 1999-2000 NBA Finals.