Charles Barkley - Mouth of the South

Charles Barkley decided to go off on the state of Oklahoma Thursday night during a TNT interview with soon to be Rookie of the Year Chris Paul of the New Orleans/OKC Hornets. Barkley asked Paul if he had a chicken and some cows yet and did he live on a farm? When Paul tried to complement the city and its fans Barkley said, “I know you don’t have an alarm clock, you just wake up when the chickens make noise.” When Paul suggest that Barkley come to Oklahoma City to see for himself what it was like Barkley shot back that the only brothers in Oklahoma played for the Sooners and the Hornets and that Oklahoma wasn’t a place for black people.

Charles didn’t you grow up in Alabama one of the last states to embrace racial equality? In fact you’re from Leeds Alabama a community of less than 10,500 people that is 82% white. I know you have heard chickens in your day!

Don’t forget you are the guy who was so fat when you played that you earned the nickname “Round Mound of Rebound.” You were supposed to try to make a comeback with Jordan but you couldn’t put the jelly donuts down long enough to pick up a basketball.

Don’t forget that no one understands what you are saying unless they have a box on their television that can interpret sounds that come out of the nose. For some reason you have lost the ability to speak through your mouth and everything you say appears, or at least sounds, like it is coming out of your nose.

Finally, don’t forget where you came from, the per capita income for Leeds, Alabama in $18,573. 13.2% of the population and 10.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 22.6% of those under the age of 18 and 10.8% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Before looking elsewhere to criticize why don’t you try looking at your home town? Don’t just look do something about it.

As far as Oklahoma City is concerned you still have an open invitation to visit. You will find that we actually are a modern city with an international airport and everything. We even have one of those NBA teams that you get paid to talk about and they are doing pretty good but don’t take my word for it. Ask the Lakers, the Heat, or the Spurs. They all thought that Oklahoma City was a small country town as well until they came here and were wowed by our crowd and beaten by our team.