Charles Wade Barkley Essay, Research Paper

Charles Wade Barkley is an American Professional Basketball Player,

known to fans as “Sir Charles”. He was born in Leeds, Alabama and later

attended Auburn University where he started basketball and was named

Basketball Player of the Year in the South Eastern Conference. He left

college in the same year (1984) to be a part of the NBA.

Charles Barkley was a top scorer and rebounder in the NBA. He

worked hard to be in the NBA and had many awards like the NBA Player of

the Month Award and the Most Valuable Player Award in the NBA . He

was also a member of the “American Dream Team” that won a gold medal

at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Leigh Montville reports

in Sports Illustrated that {Barkley now ranks fifth in the NBA and is trying

to get better every day. Barkley showed that he was still one of the NBA’s

best . After contemplating retirement in the offseason, Barkley stayed in the

Phoenix Suns and was as good as ever, particularly in the second half of the

campaign. He already ranked second in the NBA Playoff history with 456

rebounds. Barkley is also the shortest player in the NBA in rebounding.}

Barkley’s fans are crazy about him and don’t care what he thinks of

them, they still like him and want him to be the best. They know Barkley

has a kind heart and is a pretty good person deep down. Rick Reilley,

author of Sports Illustrated, Feb. 1993 in his report said that {Barkley

doesn’t even think about his fans, but they do care about him and think of

him a lot. Barkley spares nothing and no one. He offers no apologies. He

always thinks that he’s right and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks about

him. After all this, he has the kind of fans no one else probably had. They

could probably even risk their lives for him.}

One of the severe injuries Charles got was off his back. Neff Craig

says in Sports Illustrated that {because his back was vulnerable, he had

problems playing and was even considering retirement for the season. He

had a hard time with it until he got over it by having a surgery and by

undertaking a program of stretching and weight training.}

Barkley says “You don’t have to be perfect to be a good role model

and people shouldn’t expect perfection”. He says “We all don’t choose to be

role models, we are chosen. Our only choice is to be a good role model or a

bad one”. He also surprisingly said that he loves being a good role model

and tries to be a positive one. Karl Malone in an article “One Role Model to

Another” of Sports Illustrated reports that {Charles Barkley is a kind of a

person who doesn’t care what people think of him. He said “There are days

when I don’t want to pose for a picture with every fan I run into, when I

don’t feel like picking up babies and giving them hugs and kisses. Those

are the days when I just try to steer clear of the public. I know what’s right

or wrong and I know what I am doing”. He doesn’t want people to mind his

business, he wants them to mind theirs.}

Neff Craig in Sporting News reported that {Barkley honors his

teammates. He says that it’s true his relationship with his teammates has

eventually soured, but says that he has always been a player’s player, a

teammate’s teammate. Charles says “I would always be there for them no

matter if they be there for him or not”. He honors Magic Johnson, and in

the 1991-92 season, he switched his uniform numbers from 34 to 32 in

honor of him getting retired from the NBA contracting HIV.}

I would never knock someone for saying what he thinks of me or

someone else. If Charles doesn’t consider himself a role model, that’s

certainly his right. But I think he’s a role model —- and a good one too.

Charles is a very good and innocent person deep down. The thing I like

most about him is that he doesn’t really care what people think of him, he’s

not scared of anyone and has the guts to knock someone out just because he

thinks the person is showing off. He is pretty good with almost all of his

teammates and tries to be even better. He is one of my best players in the

NBA and I hope he remains the same in the coming years.