Sitting down with Ernie Johnson in the Steam Room, Charles Barkley has given us some really insightful stories. The Steam Room is back and in the first episode, the guest is none other than Ben Affleck. In the basketball circle, Ben is a hot name at the moment.
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His movie “AIR” is the latest big flick to be centered around basketball but this time it is centered around Nike Executives. Of course, the story is about how Nike won the battle to sign Michael Jordan, thus cementing its legacy.
He talks about how it is to work with MJ and then Ernie asks Charles about his first encounter and Barkley’s story is amazing.
“His name is Michael Jordan”: Charles Barkley’s tale about his first encounter is incredible
On the podcast, it is simple. Mention Micheal Jordan once and Charles Barkley starts talking, “When I went to the 84 Olympic trials, we had 120 people and we go 120, 100, 80, 60, 40, 20, 16. So I spent the whole time and me and Michael (Jordan) for some reason clicked.”.
Barkley then talks about how he was cut. He says, “For some reason, I got cut so I’m going to the airport with John Stockton, Karl Malone, Tara Porter, and myself”.
And then the good part, Charles talks about how dejected he was and why even his own belief was starting to waver after seeing MJ. He told his coach, “There’s a guy, he’s about an inch taller than me he can outrun everybody, he can outjump everybody, his name is Michael Jordan”.
That was enough. Barkley had for the first time in his life met a player who was far superior to him.
How did Charles Barkley know he was beaten?
Human nature is easy to predict sometimes. When you hear another player talk about his opponent in high regard, it is either respect or defeat. There is one way to tell, by the tone and the words used.
When describing Michael Jordan, Barkley had this to say, “I’ve never seen a guy run that fast and jump that high”. That is an indicator enough.
If you regard your opponent to be so superior that you think he is beyond superlatives, you have lost. Charles’s tone and language said it all.
