Barkley’s ‘girly’ dig ludicrous
Charles Barkley has said some outlandish stuff on the desk of TNT’s Inside the NBA, but Thursday night’s rant might have topped them all.
In a discussion about the Golden State Warriors, the former NBA MVP said he didn’t enjoy the basketball product that comes out of Oakland, Calif.
“Maybe I’m old school, but I’m never gonna like that little girly basketball where you have to outscore people,” Barkley said. “I’m biased against girl basketball. I love Geno Auriemma, one of my favorite coaches, I love women’s basketball, but I don’t want it in the NBA.”
Despite the fact that Barkley said he both did and did not enjoy women’s basketball in the span of 25 seconds, he also looks a bit silly when comparing it to the “oldschool” basketball he played.
In three years under Steve Kerr, the Warriors have had defensive ratings of 101.4, 103.8 and 104.4. Barkley, in 16 seasons, only played on two teams with a defensive rating below 105 (1996-1997 and 1998-1999 Rockets).
Each of Kerr’s three years in Golden State has seen the team as a top 10 defensive squad, a feat that Barkley’s teams matched only twice in his 16 seasons. In fact, in 10 of his 16 seasons, Barkley’s teams were in the bottom 15 in defensive ratings.
Then there’s the sexist tone of Barkley’s comments.
While nobody can fault him for not liking what he perceives as an offense-only style of basketball by the Warriors, the derogatory nature in which he used to describe them as “girly” is offputting.
While Barkley seems to have become a headline creator at this point of his career, there’s got to be some kind of acknowledgement that this ham-fisted attempt at demeaning the Warriors ranged into sexist, not to mention factually incorrect, territory.