Charles Barkley Rips Oklahoma City Thunder on TNT About Claiming Sonic History

As much as Sonic fans despised golf-challenged Charles Barkley when he was an 11-time NBA All-star playing for the Phoenix Suns during the mid 1990’s, it’s hard to hate on a guy who just defended jilted Seattle basketball fans on national TV, three years after ethical stalwarts David Stern and Clay Bennett’s embarrassing dog and pony show.

Sir Chuckles took issue with fellow TNT/NBA tv co-host Matt Winer’s claim that Oklahoma City is “7-2 all time at home against the Nuggets in postseason playoff appearances.”

Several moments after dropping that statement to a gasping studio crew, viewers heard a clearly disgusted Barkley break in and say “Hold on a second!  Whadda you mean seven and two all time against the Nuggets?!?”

A surprised and defensive Winer responded “Well they were in Seattle,” at which Barkley barked “That doesn’t count!  You can’t take another city’s stats!”

Cameras pulled back showing co-host Greg Anthony, nodding with Barkley’s argument.  Anthony calmly asked  “Whose jerseys are hanging in the rafters at Oklahoma City?”

Barkley screamed “Nobody’s,”  and then later scoffed that “You know me and Michael Jordan had about 50,000 points.  You’re going to  count Oklahoma City with Seattle’s stats, so I’m going to count Michael Jordan’s scoring points with mine!  We’re from the same era.  We covered the same ground. You just lumped Oklahoma City with Seattle together!”

Barkley then went on to claim his best game ever was during the 1994 Western Conference Finals against the Sonics, a game in which the Seattle faithful still refer to as a “thrown game,” due to the disparity in foul calls during the first three quarters, which led to blockbuster NBA Finals television ratings.

Still, it’s difficult not to love the guy for finally injecting some common sense into this Seattle situation.

Charles Barkley has quickly become the most beloved TNT host the network has to offer.  And it’s not only TNT where the “Barkley Effect” has been noticed.

Two years ago the Golf Channel ran a series with golf teaching legend Hank Haney, in which Haney set out to fix Barkley’s stop and go golf swing hitch.

The series ended inconclusive about whether Haney got anywhere with the famed “Round Mound of Rebound” and five-time First Team All-NBA power forward, but the ratings have never been matched by follow-up pupils Ray Romano and Rush Limbaugh.

Barkley adds a vein of player humor mixed with an everyman’s view on all things political, and Barkley is not known to be one who sits idly by while thoughtless comments are made by otherwise unassuming co-hosts.

But that’s what we all love about him—the fact that he could go off at any moment, and that he voices opinions that the rest of us are already thinking.

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Being a Seattle Supersonic fan since the days of Bob Rule and Spencer Haywood, I’m about ready to send Barkley an invitation to my good-guy Sonic pal club.

It was refreshing to hear the power forward singe the airwaves with criticisms about what went down in Seattle three years ago.

Especially since Seattle is still without a team, while a pompous commissioner still pats himself on the back for what many consider the greatest injustice to a city in the NBA’s history.

Now if we could only get Barkley to deal bad guys Howard Schultz and Clay Bennett a few cheap-shot elbows like he did in the SNL skit where went one-on-one against the fake kid dinosaur Barney!

Read more from the same author at:

Ghost of Supersonics Hovers over NBA, Kings Move http://bleacherreport.com/articles/667824-seattle-supersonic-situation-haunts-david-stern-clay-bennett-and-the-nba-today