Xavier Roger
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At halftime of the West Virginia-Maryland game in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Tournament on Thursday, analyst Charles Barkley was speaking about Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins, who has the disposition of sandpaper. He called Huggins a “tough, old bird” and fellow analyst Clark Kellogg did something probably many others who were watching did: laugh.
Maryland will face No. 1 seed Alabama, and Barkley warned that the Terps “gonna need a bigger boat.” Again, not exactly sure why, but I laughed.
Later, Barkley went full Barkley. Vice President Kamala Harris gave a postgame talk to her alma mater Howard University after the team’s loss to Kansas, and Barkley couldn’t help himself: “First of all, with Miss Harris, Vice President, honor to her, but get on that banking crisis run by these crooks in this country, right away.”
Yes, Barkley called the VP “Miss Harris.”
Barkley once told former Vice President Mike Pence to “shut the hell up.” So he’s an equal opportunity Vice Presidential commenter.
This has long been part of Barkley’s attraction as a broadcaster. There’s no filter. Sometimes it’s offensive. Sometimes he veers out of his lane like the driver of a car on an icy road. When it comes to basketball, he says things you and I would if we were on the set. He’s part player, part fan, part analyst, and part dude at the bar who will tell you to shut up with your stupid opinion.
Barkley is mostly known for his work on TNT for their studio show “Inside the NBA.” That’s become one of the most popular studio shows in the history of television. CBS basically hijacked some of that magic bringing Barkley and Kenny Smith, another former player, to the tournament. Barkley is Thanos and Smith is Captain America, a brilliant analyst with a sharp sense of humor, too, who wears turtlenecks under suit jackets and diagrams plays on the big board the way Steve Kornacki breaks down polls.
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He also brings a sense of introspection. The name of Alabama’s Brandon Miller surfaced last month in court testimony involving the capital murder case of former Crimson Tide player Darius Miles and another man, who are charged in the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Jamea Harris. Smith said on the Thursday broadcast that Miller needed to check his decision making.
“I always say, God gives you seven seconds to make a decision,” Smith said on one broadcast.
They are joined by Kellogg, a staple of CBS’ coverage, and Greg Gumbel, who began at ESPN in the 1970s, and has become one of the great legends in the history of the medium.
The games are the main event. They’re Michelle Yeoh but this group is Ke Huy Quan. They are dazzling, informative, eloquent, and endearing. They have everything you want in a studio show.
Well, not everything. There’s a glaring omission. Like having a solar system with no sun.
It’s inexcusable to not have more women as part of the various studio shows. This is the 21st century, after all.
The main show remains historic in another way. It is extremely unusual for a network to have one of its marquis properties led by an all-Black group. I’m not saying it’s unprecedented but it’s got to be close.
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In that way, CBS is showing it understands racial equity: college basketball has a significant number of people of color playing the game, and watching it, and reflecting that isn’t just the morally correct thing to do, it’s also good business.
There’s also a women’s tournament and women players and women who watch the games. Not having them represented on the main CBS set is too 1950s.
WNBA star Candace Parker has been a regular contributor to “Inside the NBA” for some time. She is part of a studio crew with host Ernie Johnson and is doing various shows throughout the tournament.
The Athletic reports: “Greg Gumbel will host studio coverage from the CBS Broadcast Center in New York, joined by Charles Barkley, Clark Kellogg, Kenny Smith and Wally Szczerbiak. Ernie Johnson will host studio coverage from WBD Studios in Atlanta alongside Jay Wright, Candace Parker and Seth Davis. Adam Zucker and Adam Lefkoe will also serve as hosts from New York and Atlanta. Nabil Karim will provide updates from Atlanta. Gene Steratore will serve as rules analyst throughout the tournament and will be on-site in Houston for the Final Four.”
Look at that list. That’s one woman and like 400 men.
Barkley will be on our televisions for a solid month and that’s like Christmas in March. He’s even built like Santa.
That’s a good thing.
Ignoring the women watching the games? Not so great.
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