Early on, Dan and I were proud to make Charles Barkley our first entry in the Mantheon because of his comfort with his man-self, at least compared to other athletes, his unheard of outspokenness, also compared to other athletes, and his shocking-for-a-jock, in-your-face-Pat-Robertson homophilia, also (and obviously) compared to other athletes but also compared to most not-gay male public figures in general. We also noted that, at times, Sir Charles can also be a pig and an oaf and a brute and a boar.
As the new NBA season begins, one can catch some of both sides of Charles on TNT Network’s Inside the NBA, a discussion/highlight show that has prompted at least one other sports on-air personality (can’t recall who right now) to say, more or less, that it’s high praise indeed to Charles & co. that so many NBA fans and media want to watch the after-show more than the game.
Recently I caught some of bad Charles playing giant sleazy uncle when talking with a tiny (at least next to Barkley) blonde guest TV actress (Please forgive me, but I can remember neither her name, nor the name of her show, a sitcom about an attractive single woman with five male buddies, as best I could gather. Inside sometimes has non-hoops promo guest spots – Ali G. stopped by recently as well.) about how men and women really can’t ever be "just friends."
Barkley gently tutored her that boys may pretend to be your pals, but, when it comes down to it, they really just want to get in your pants. Nervous laughter all around. He said this as he and four other lumbering giants towered over her as they stood on their studio’s make-shift basketball court. A brief discussion ensued, in which actress and co-hosts playfully disagreed with Charles, who shook his head as if they knew he was right but they just had to say the "correct" thing. Barkley did qualify the statement by adding that a guy could, maybe, be friends with an “ugly girl” but no one as pretty as she. As is protocol on the show, the actress then gamely attempted a few free throws.
Well, we never said he was perfect. If you’ve never seen or read the works of the former Round Mound or Rebound, and happen to take a look some time, please be prepared to take the good with the bad – he’s only a man after all.
(Addenda, 12/5: The sitcom noted above is called "My Boys" and the actress is one Jordana Spiro. The promos, which have been playing A LOT lately on TNT – okay, I admit it, I got hooked by an episode of "The Closer" the other day. That Kyra Sedgwick really does something to me. call it a show about "a girl who’s one of the guys" or something like that, and then they quote a magazine, maybe Spin?, as calling the show "The Real Deal!" So run don’t walk to TBS and catch that one, kids, and then be sure to tell me all about it, because I’m not touching it with a ten foot penis.)
