I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It - Charles Barkley [71]
I guess I just want guys never ever to take for granted how unbelievable our lives are, how much influence we have and how much impact we can have. Man, I want to see guys maximize their impact after athletics, not throw it away while they’re still playing on entourages and silly crap. So my story isn’t complete yet. In ten to fifteen years, if I’ve helped some struggling people build something good, then it’ll be a complete story.
To me, this is all connected if you want to try to fight poverty and illiteracy and racism. The legacy of slavery is that nothing was passed down. We’re still at the point where a successful black person is taking care of, or at least helping out, the previous generation in his family, instead of the other way around. You ain’t got many black kids having college paid for by a trust fund. We still don’t own much of anything. Most of the blacks who are successful don’t own stuff. It’s athletes and celebrities. We’re not able to provide an economic path for the next generation.
Just look at a few examples in sports. Jerry Colangelo, the owner of the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks, brought his son Bryan aboard years ago. Jerry is the CEO of the Suns, Bryan is the president of the organization. I’m not trying to accuse Jerry of nepotism. But it’s just like Jeremy Schaap coming into broadcasting largely because of his late father, Dick. Or it’s like Joe Buck following Jack Buck or Chip Caray following his father, Skip Caray, and both of them following Chip’s grandfather and Skip’s father, Harry. It’s the family business. Even if they don’t own it, they own a stake in it. I love working with Ernie Johnson, Jr., who’s a damn hardworking guy, and he would be the first to tell you how much he owed his father, Ernie Johnson, Sr., who was the broadcast voice of the Atlanta Braves for so long. With damn few exceptions, black folks don’t have that in industries that produce wealth or ownership. It wasn’t until I was playing for the Olympic team and met Bishop Desmond Tutu that I even considered the impact I might have overseas because of my athletic career. It didn’t really cross my mind until he brought these little South African kids wearing our basketball jerseys telling us that there were no black men in positions of huge influence where they live.
So, as much as it pained me to watch Ali get beat like he did in his last few fights, it’s not the sports stuff that matters as much in the end. There will always be great players here and there, in this sport or that sport. And we all love seeing that and celebrating it and debating it. But those of us who were given these great talents and unique gifts by God have to speak up and put it out there, even if it isn’t popular, even if it isn’t politically correct all the time. If the playing is all you’re going to do, you’ve missed the boat. I may be wrong, but I doubt it.
About the Authors
Charles Barkley is a studio analyst for TNT’s Inside the NBA, a regular contributor to CNN’s TalkBack Live and a frequent color commentator. Named one of the fifty greatest NBA players of all time, he was selected to eleven All-Star teams and won the NBA’s MVP award in 1993. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Michael Wilbon is a Washington Post sports columnist and the cohost, with Tony Kornheiser, of the ESPN show Pardon the Interruption. He lives outside Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2002 by Charles Barkley
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Published in the United States by Random House, Inc.,
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