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Charles Barkley: The Source Of Reason When It Comes To Race and LeBron James

I don't know when it happened, but we now rely on none other than Charles Barkley for levity when confronted with the idiocy that is LeBron James.  Barkley has kept his mouth shut, for the most part, this summer since being asked if he, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan would have come together.  His answer, like the rest of theirs, was simple: Hell no.

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Now comes LeBron's latest verbal vomit - that race played a role in how the masses received his pathetic attempt at reality TV.  Can LeBron really be serious?  That's what it has come to because he's still getting crushed with it.  Now, if you criticize LeBron James, you are a racist.  Nice.

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Anyway, Barkley was asked about this very subject, and in typical Sir Charles fashion he failed to disappoint with his answer.

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Courtesy of Sports Radio Interviews:

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"Sometimes you just say he’s making bad decisions and you’re like okay, he’s gonna get it together. Then he makes more bad decisions. The thing that’s interesting about LeBron ... Magic, Michael, and myself, we said we wouldn’t have did it. That’s not a criticism. We were asked a question. I don’t want to play with Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, or Michael, I want to beat them. That’s strictly basketball. The only criticism I’ve heard about LeBron and it was my biggest criticism, that decision thing was just stupid. It was stupid.

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The second thing when they all came out there dancing around on stage, that was silly. That’s the only thing I’ve heard LeBron get criticized about. That has nothing to do with race. That’s what makes this last thing so stupid. That’s stupid. The only criticism of LeBron has been the decision and the one hour of our life that we can’t have back.

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And ESPN, oh my God. Oh my God. To go down to training camp and report everyday is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen. I’m watching yesterday and one of the guys actually said LeBron looked fierce in practice. I’m like fierce in practice? What the hell does that mean? He was fierce in the second day of training camp. You’re like come on man, he really didn’t say that did he. This summer with LeBron and all the stuff that went on is like a bad movie. You just can’t make this stuff up."

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Exactly right, Charles.  This isn't just about Cavs fans, all NBA fans are going to have to deal with this, and the fact that LeBron had to stoop to saying race played a role in the way people reacted to his 60 minutes of self-loving made many hate him even more.

Photographs by spatulated, Triple Tri, and chrischappelear used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.