His Barkley

Ever since big athletes got into bed with big advertising, athletes have been careful championing controversial causes lest it besmirch their brand name. Michael Jordan may be the best known athlete since Muhammad Ali, and yet, he rarely spoke out on anything controversial. In this respect, he's no Jim Brown, a former star NFL running back, who made comments about society. He's no Arthur Ashe, the consummate statesman. He's no, well, Muhammad Ali, who was against the Vietnam War.

Similarly, when Augusta forbid women from joining as members, Tiger Woods had little to say. When Kelly Tighlman said fellow golfers should take Woods to a back alley for a lynching, many people, including Tiger Woods came to her defense. Indeed, Tilghman has become pretty good friends with many a reporter and athlete, and being an attractive woman, probably of good personality, reporters as significant as Michael Wilbon prefers to shift the blame to Golf Channel for somehow not reprimanding her immediately, making them, in his eyes, equally complicit in the act. Tilghman made an error of judgement because she's my friend. Golf Channel should have known better! (Perhaps, Golf Channel is filled with with folks like Tilghman, who should also have known better).

For all this, the athlete that is willing to put his head out there, from time to time, is one Charles Barkley. Unlike Jordan, who often stayed sequestered in his hotel, away from potential incidents, Barkley liked to go out in public, out to bars, even when that meant some guys wanted to shake it up with him. Barkley would have none of that.

As an African American, Barkley long held a Republic affiliation, which was a bit unusual. African Americans generally like the pro-Christian stances, belief in family, and so forth. Barkley has become increasingly disenchanted with Christian conservatives who have been more willing to judge others than to forgive.

And that's where Barkley has great insight. Jesus Chris was surprising in a number of ways, at least as prophets go. He wasn't a warrior. He didn't have multiple wives, nor even a wife. He believed in turning the other cheek. He believed in offering one's other cheek if one has been struck. Amazing! And, yet, the most religious are among the most judgmental.

Why?

Because of human nature. To be religious typically means living a particular lifestyle, trying to be good, trying to restrain oneself. It means, in a sense, sacrifice. And when religious folks look at the hedonistic secularists, they can't believe those guys are getting away with it. It's much like freaks and geeks finding they can't stand jocks, except freaks and geeks are exasperated that the average person finds sympathy in jockdom and not in what they do, where religious zealots feel secularists are sinners.

We castigate others because it makes us feel good about our sacrifices. Religion often does this in general because people are like this in general. They would rather say others are wrong rather than they are right. Politicians do this as well. Other politicians are wrong, rather than they are right. This may be why Obama, seemingly light on what he will do, is high on change. He wants to emphasize what's good, even if rather nebulously. What does Hillary do? She has no choice but to attack this message. Or at least, she feels this way.

She understands the way of politics. People hate more than they love. People are cynical. Most people feel they are positive, good people, but after a little digging, you see they aren't. They often justify this venom, this bile by wearing the cloak of religion, saying, hey, I'm religious, so I must be good, so if I hate, it's justified hate.

Now, to be fair, there's many a good religious person, that can forgive, that can tolerate folks that are different from them, but somehow, they seem a bit rare. They aren't the ones on school boards. They aren't the ones running for political office. They go on trying to lead good lives, in obscurity, even as they might be just as shocked at the bad behavior of those more outspoken.

And so it turns to one Charles Barkley to point out these things, and perhaps he will be scorned, or more likely, people will just disregard him, thinking he's just an athlete. Perhaps what's worse than to be labeled a threat is to be labeled crazy. Crazy Ron Paul! To be branded crazy is to be branded irrelevant. It's a message to everyone else. Don't think for yourself! If he's crazy, and you support him, then you're crazy! It was enough to erode a third of Perot's support when he dropped out. He was crazy!

Gotta hand it to Charles Barkley. He was always more fun to listen to than boring old Michael Jordan. Barkley may have no rings, but his accomplishments may end up being greater.