The ever-so opinionated Charles Barkley went on yet another one of his infamous rants while on the Dan Patrick Show. Given how volatile of a personality Chuck is, it was surprising to hear him disavow feuds that take place between players who have retired. As always, DP got the scoop firsthand.
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It’s perfectly normal for athletes on opposing sides to have a staunch hatred towards one another. “I don’t respect him; so I don’t have anything to say about the guy,” said Scottie Pippen when speaking on Isiah Thomas.
Sports, at the end of the day, is one of the few endeavors in life where the destination rings sweeter than the journey. Most times that is.
Magic Johnson and Larry Bird’s rivalry carried the 80s which was then superseded by Michael Jordan’s disdain for the Detroit Pistons. To this day, MJ’s Bulls and Isiah’s Pistons cannot stand one another despite all of their players being in their 50s and 60s.
Chuck, while on the American Century Championship golf course, spoke on these feuds existing to this day. “Dude we 60 years old. If you’re 60 years old and still fighting, you’re a punk. Anybody fighting past 25 is a punk.”
Quite the fiery take from the Chuckster to say the least. What makes this hypocritical isn’t something he said in contrast to the aforementioned statement a year ago or even a couple weeks ago. He said something in direct contrast mere seconds before this.
“Popeye Jones [answer to who he’d beat up for two minutes if given a chance], ‘cus Popeye Jones was the one player who dominated me every time I played against him. I would love to just knock the hell out of him for two minutes.”
Clearly, the 62-year-old Suns legend still holds a bit of fire within his heart regarding the beatdown he got from Popeye. Now granted, it doesn’t seem like he’d actually square up with Popeye if they were face-to-face but to say this and then immediately backtrack to condemning any sort of beef is fairly comical.
Perhaps he’s trying to turn over a new leaf. Historically, he’s had beef with a litany of individuals in and around the NBA. Ranging from his ‘bus driver/bus rider’ ordeal with Kevin Durant to him angering the entire city of San Antonio, the ’93 MVP is no stranger to some profanity-laced banter.
