Charles Barkley has a gift of stumbling upon comedy accidentally and not even knowing it.
March Madness coverage is in full swing, and “Chuck” threw it all the way back to his early NBA playing days with a questionable anecdote.
The CBS March Madness Halftime Show crew, with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Greg Gumble, and Clark Kellogg, was filling time between the plethora of March Madness games when Barkley shared…a little too much.
What started out a nice gesture about how much work goes into the tournament turned into an odd story of how the “Round Mound of Rebound” used to clean his game-worn jerseys:
“I mean, there is so much stuff that goes into this. Shoutout to all the trainers also, and the guys who do all the uniforms.
To get these uniforms cleaned up and everything…I mean, I’m so old, we used to take a shower in our uniforms, cause you know, we flew commercial my first three years…”
Kenny Smith quickly cuts off Barkley right in tracks, calling a “timeout” in the conversation and saying there is no such “era” where players did such a thing.
“The Jet” even suggested that Barkley was making the entire story up. Kenny called him out and said:
“There’s no way that you were supposed to wash your uniform with it on. You’re making this up…No one in their right mind has ever done that.”
Clark Kellogg, fighting through laughter, implored Kenny Smith to let “Chuck” finish what he was saying. Probably not because he thought Barkley would rightly justify why he showered with his uniform on to clean it, but more likely to unravel the comedic moment.
Barkley continued:
“When I first got to the NBA, we flew commercial. So when you played the night before, and flew the next morning, when were you exactly going to get your uniform cleaned? You had to wash your uniform yourself.
So after the game, when you got to your room, you took a shower in your uniform, took it off, dried it, and took it with you on the commercial airline the next day.”
Greg Gumble fired off a Beverly Hillbillies joke at Barkley as the entire crew erupted with laughter. Clark hilariously told Kenny that the end of the story was the reason why he had to let “Chuck” finish.
The only person not laughing on the crew was Barkley, who was still in defense mode. He fired back at the chuckles and jokes thrown at him with:
“Well how are y’all cleaning y’alls uniforms? Y’all playing in funky uniforms?”
The crew responded with very reasonable answers, such as a washer and dryer cycle, or even cleaning the jersey without yourself in it.
Kellogg, in what I think was a seriously concerned moment, asked Barkley if he knew there were ways to clean the jersey without wearing it and showering in it.
In the grand finale of the clip, Kenny states:
“You don’t have to have it on!”
Charles replies:
“No, no, but it’s easier to do it that way.”
His response caused an uproarious release of laughter and caused Smith to even get up from his seat. Say what you want about Barkley, but you can always count on him for comic relief. You can watch the clip from CBS Sports below:
I like to think that all of the NBA veterans on the team kind of “pranked” Barkley when he was a rookie by saying this is how you wash your jerseys between games.
Barkley probably just took them at their word and lived by “shower washing” his clothes from then on. Hell, he might even shower in his suit tonight when he gets back to his place.
Never change Chuck, never change.
