Charles Barkley, a former NBA basketball player and a current analyst for the television program Inside the NBA, is my hero. Garnering the monikers “Sir Charles”, “Chuck”, and “The Round Mound of Rebound”, Barkley has established himself as one of the most dominant power-forwards in NBA history. Not only that, Barkley teamed up with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and various other NBA superstars to form the Dream Team which competed in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. By the end of Barkley’s 16-year NBA career, he had 23,757 points (22.1 ppg), 12,546 rebounds (11.7 rpg), and 4,215 assists (3.9 apg). He is my hero not only because of his domineering style of play on-the-court, but also of his colorful, humorous, and candid personality off-the-court.

I am also a basketball player too and just like any other individual who is passionate about this sport, I want to be the best that I can be. In order to do that, I must practice and try to go to the courts every single day for at least 2-3 hours. I constantly watch tapes of NBA legends such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Charles Barkley and imitate their moves. Jordan has an amazing jab-step, Johnson made flashy passes that wowed the crowd, Barkley is known for bringing the ball coast-to-coast and and jamming down the ball with force. Basically, I try to mimic their moves and they have been very useful to me in games. Think about it, if professionals use a certain move that is effective, why wouldn’t it be useful in a high-school or college setting? But enough about me, let’s talk about Sir Charles Barkley.
Barkley was born and raised in the town of Leeds, Alabama and attended Leeds High School. By his junior year, Barkley was only 5’10’’ and weighed 220 pounds and he failed to make the varsity team. Over the summer, Barkley grew to 6’4’’ and earned himself a starting position on the varsity team. Barkley averaged 19.1 points and 17.9 rebounds per game during his senior year while en-route to a state championship. Despite the significant improvement, Barkley garnered no attention from college scouts until he played against Alabama’s most highly recruited player, Bobby Lee Hurt, during the state semifinals. Barkley scored 26 points during that game while a recruiter from Auburn University watched the game. The recruiter, dazzled by Barkley’s play, said that he saw "a fat guy... who can play like the wind".
Barkley’s basketball career soared to greater heights when he played for Auburn University under head coach Sonny Smith. Barkley struggled to control his weight but despite his short and burly frame, he was an instant crowd pleaser by energizing the fans with posterizing dunks, blocking shots, and grabbing monster rebounds. He played the center position throughout his college career despite his 6’4’’ height, but he led the SEC in rebounds every year. Barkley was a rather unconventional player too. Instead of passing the ball to a point guard after grabbing a defensive rebound, Barkley would dribble from one end of the court to the other and usually finish with a dunk. He forwent his senior year of college in order to go play in the NBA.
The Philadelphia 76ers drafted Barkley as the fifth pick of the first round in the 1984 NBA draft. Initially, before the 76ers drafted him, the organization asked him how dedicated he was to the team and they requested that Barkley lose lose 10 pounds in one month. Barkley did so and dropped from 300 pounds to 285 pounds. However, the salary cap during that time was tough and the team only offered him a $75,000 contract for one year. According to Barkley, this was “chump change” and the night before the draft, he went on an eating binge of “2 big ol’ steaks, a big plate of french fries, ate like a whole cake” and another binge the next of morning of “10 pancakes, a pound of bacon”. Essentially, Barkley was trying to eat his way out of Philadelphia. By the time of the draft, Barkley was 302 pounds. The manager of the 76ers who was shocked said, “You didn’t lose 15 pounds, you gained like 10 pounds!”  Barkley joined a veteran team comprised of Moses Malone, Maurice Cheeks, and Julius Erving; Malone took Barkley under his wing and taught him how to manage his weight as well as his money. According to Barkley, Malone was very influential to his successful NBA career.  
Barkley continued to dazzle fans just as he did during his years in college. When Erving retired and Malone traded to another team, Charles Barkley undoubtedly took over as the team’s leader and he led the team in scoring for his eight years in the Sixers. Barkley made numerous All-Star appearances also. When Magic Johnson retired after testing positive for HIV, Barkley wore the number 32 to honor him. In response to the media’s concerns for other players who may contract the disease from Johnson, Barkley stated, “We're just playing basketball. It's not like we're going out to have unprotected s*x with Magic.”
During one game against the New Jersey Nets in 1991, Barkley spat on a fan who was saying racial slurs. However, the spit landed on a little girl. Barkley was immediately suspended and fined without pay, but Barkley and the little girl and her family eventually developed a friendship with each other, with Barkley stating that he would provide tickets to future games. This spitting incident garnered national controversy and Barkley was vilified for it. Upon his retirement, Barkley stated in regards to the spitting incident, “"I was fairly controversial, I guess, but I regret only one thing—the spitting incident. But you know what? It taught me a valuable lesson. It taught me that I was getting way too intense during the game. It let me know I wanted to win way too bad. I had to calm down. I wanted to win at all costs. Instead of playing the game the right way and respecting the game, I only thought about winning."
Despite having eight dominating years as a Sixer, Barkley’s last two years with the team was not ideal. The team was not very good and was losing a lot. Desperately wanting a win, Barkley requested a trade but during that time, Barkley was selected to be on the 1992 USA Men’s Basketball team, a.k.a The Dream Team. Before the team’s debut against Angola, Barkley said, “I don't know anything about Angola, but Angola's in trouble.”
Charles’ words came true as USA defeated Angola by 68 points. During the game, Barkley created more controversy by elbowing one of the Angolan players named Coimbra. Barkley claimed that he elbowed Coimbra in retaliation after being hit by Coimbra during a fast-break. Coimbra, on the other hand, said that he never even touched Charles Barkley during the game. After the game, Barkley made another outrageous comment, “Somebody hits me, I’m going to hit him back. Even if it does look like he hasn’t eaten in a couple weeks. I thought he was going to pull a spear on me.” Despite this little setback, Barkley was still very popular amongst the Spanish crowds during his time in Spain.
After returning back to the United States with a gold medal, Barkley finally got what he wanted: a trade. Barkley was traded to the Phoenix Suns and once he got there, he once again became the main man. The Suns was already an elite team and when Barkley arrived, he led the Suns as the leading scorer (25.6 ppg) and rebounder (12.2 rpg) to the Finals in which he would square off against Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. The Finals went to a Game 6 but Barkley could not topple the defending champions. This was Barkley’s one and only Finals appearance in the NBA; he never won a championship. 
Staying true to his capricious attitude, Barkley created more controversy in a 1993 commercial with Nike. In this commercial, he stated that athletes should not be considered role models. In Barkley’s perception, parents should be role models instead of athletes because many of those kids look up to people who they cannot become. “Kids can't be like Michael Jordan” according to Charles Barkley.
During the 1996-1997 NBA season, Barkley was traded from the Suns to the Houston Rockets. Barkley’s career with the Rockets was not as successful as it was with the 76ers and the Rockets since he was plagued with multiple injuries and was unable to play for a long time. He still overcame this setback by becoming the second leading scorer of the team by averaging 19.2 points per game. Barkley’s career seemed to have ended prematurely when he injured his quadriceps tendon in 1999 when he was 36 years old during a game against Philadelphia. Not wanting this game to be his last game, Barkley returned four months later to play his final game, ironically, against the 76ers. Barkley’s goal for that final game was to grab one rebound, but he got more than that: he grabbed his rebound as well as a putback. Immediately following that basket, walked off the court and retired from his 16-year Hall of Fame career.
After his basketball career, Barkley joined TNT as a basketball analyst in Inside the NBA. He has been an analyst since 2000 and he continued to entertain people with humorous antics. For example, Charles Barkley told Kenny Smith that he would “kiss [his] a**” if then-rookie Yao Ming scored 19 points in a single game. Yao Ming did so and during a segment on the show, Smith brought in a donkey into the studio which was later followed up by Barkley kissing the rear end of the donkey. Charles Barkley is also infamous for his awkward, unorthodox golf swing. While in mid-swing, Barkley hesitates for a second before hitting the ball. Barkley garnered criticism in a more recent antic during the 2013-2014 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. Barkley made a comment about the “big ol’ women” of San Antonio and how the city should be a “goldmine for Weightwatchers”. Barkley rubbed some more nerves to the inhabitants of San Antonio by saying that “Victoria definitely a secret down there [San Antonio]. They can’t wear no Victoria’s Secret down there, it’s a secret!”. There are just too many funny things that Charles Barkley has done in his broadcasting career that it would be impossible to list all of them in this piece of writing.
Again, Charles Barkley is known for his flamboyant personality. Here is a list of some of his funniest, but honest quotes:

• After retiring from basketball "I'm just what America needs - another unemployed black man.” 
• Charles Barkley on his thoughts before retiring "I remember sitting down with the Rockets and saying, 'Yeah. I'm going to retire.' They said, 'Well, we'll give you $9 million.' And I said, 'You got a pen on you?'"
• Charles Barkley on being called fat “"That is starting to hurt my feelings. I don't mind skinny people making fun of me, we all do that, but I don't want fat people making fun of me."
• "Every time I think about changing a diaper, I run a little bit harder and a little bit faster to make sure I can afford a nanny until my daughter's old enough to take care of that herself."
• Charles Barkley on his grades during his years in Auburn "All I know is, as long as I led the Southeastern Conference in scoring, my grades would be fine."
• Charles Barkley on Tonya Harding’s comparison to him "I heard Tonya Harding is calling herself the Charles Barkley of figure skating. I was going to sue her for defamation of character, but then I realized I have no character."
• Charles Barkley on the prices in Monte Carlo “This place is a trip. The people here are very neat, very friendly and very well dressed, but you can't stay here for long. Things cost too much. If you're an alcoholic, this is a good place to come because a beer can cost you $40. You can't afford to be a drunk here.”

Some people hate him; some people love him. I am one of the people who loves Charles Barkley. Despite the numerous meltdowns that Charles has experienced throughout his career, I admire him for his style of play but most of all, his personality. I really want to be like him. I want to be brutally honest while being funny at the same time; but the problem is, I do not know how to. So, do YOU like Charles Barkley or not?