When the cast appeared, however, the role of Charles Barkley was played by comedian Kenan Thomson and Sir Charles, well, he was a heavily neck-bearded Shaq.

Hilarious.

As sports sketches go on SNL, this one falls somewhere between the awesome Tim Tebow-Jesus one a few weeks ago and pretty much any skit Michael Phelps was involved with when he hosted. Not the best but certainly not the worst. You have to appreciate Barkley mocking Shaq’s monotone delivery filled with one-liners only he enjoys. And Keenan’s portrayal of Charles was spot on with a slew of “dummies” and “turribles” mixed in.

All in all, it was entertaining and if nothing else, provides fodder for next week’s, Inside the NBA.

Just last week, he joked on The Hot Clicks podcast with Jimmy Traina, that he was so fat at one point, he couldn’t even get on a treadmill to exercise. Suffice it to say, it’s quite a transformation for the big fella.

Tuesday night, Barkley appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and as usual, he produced some hilarious one-liners. Watch as he comments on guys who do impressions of him.

You gotta really hand it to the guy. He sucks, he knows it, and yet, he still puts himself out there for ridicule. In an alternate life, I’d love to come back as the man. He’s rich, bangs hookers in cars, gambles constantly, and only works like 100 days out of the year.

Mr. Barkley, I envy you.

Charles Barkley sings karaoke ( Frank Sinatra – My Way) [YouTube]

Yesterday, when asked to give his thoughts on the Heat from ESPN 1000′s The Waddle & Silvy Show”, he responded with:

“Listen, if the Miami Heat were playing the Washington Generals I would pick the Washington Generals,” Barkley said with a chuckle. “It’s something about that team that annoys me.

“They just a whiny bunch and I can’t root for them.”

How great would it be if TNT was airing the NBA finals? With a return trip to Miami assured with a Mavs Game 4 win, it would certainly make for compelling TV to see Chuck go toe-to-toe with some douches in South Beach.

Charles Barkley rips Heat, fans [ESPN]

Charles Barkley’s prediction of a Chicago Bulls series win isn’t going as expected. And Miami Heat fans are giving him a friendly reminder that they aren’t happy that he picked against their squad.

Here’s video of the TNT postgame following Game 3 where Barkley is being heckled with “F$%# You, Chuck”. He responds in kind with a double middle-finger.

Well played sir.

Should Barkley decide enough is enough and go into the crowd to beat some ass, he’ll have the services of broadcast partner Kenny “The Jet” Smith. I’m not sure that will help or hurt him in this situation. Truthfully, I think if you cornered Chuck, he’d much rather have a spindly Kevin McHale with that absurd 80″ reach should things get hairy.

Charles Barkley Gives Miami Heat Fans The Finger, And They Love Him For It [Sports Grid]

That this clip of Blake Griffin, from the Los Angeles Clippers and 2011 NBA Rookie of the Year, trying his best to be a part of id Software’s upcoming title, Rage.

Excuse my ignorance, but I have no idea who this guy is, and why he’s such a big deal, enough to warrant a cross-promotion of this kind. I obviously need to have a chat with our very own A. Isaac!

Anyhow, I stopped watching back when I was in high school, so the only names I really recognize are Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal. The latter of whom wasn’t content enough to be featured in regular ol’ basketball titles, hence why he would later show up in a fighting game…

I was also into Charles Barkley back in the day, and was a big fan of his title Barkley Shut Up and Jam! Again, it’s a basketball title. Though even better was the unofficial sequel, a JRPG called Tales of Game’s Presents Chef Boyardee’s Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa…

Yes, if you must know, Charles Barkley does make regular bi-weekly appearances in posts. However, in fairness, it’s not everyday you get a sports figure as polarizing and one who isn’t afraid to say what’s on his mind. There is no such thing as “pc” to Chuck, and that my friends, is what makes him so interesting.

Last night on “The Late Show with David Letterman”, Barkley was asked to talk about the upcoming NCAA tournament. Although Barkley is primarily an NBA analyst, his employer, Turner Broadcasting, bought the TV rights along with CBS. So good ‘ol Chuck had to brush up on his college teams lest he look like a complete dumbass during March Madness.

But that’s not all Letterman wanted to talk about with Barkley. The discussion of college athletes graduating came up and there was a candid discussion as to whether the universities have an obligation to help players get their degrees as opposed to just making them academically eligible. Letterman then asked Barkley when he himself graduated and naturally, the jokes just started rolling from there.

Barkley: “I’ve been thinking about going back to get my degree.”
Letterman: “Why not?”
Barkley: “You know Dave, the truth of the matter is, I’m just loaded.”

Needless to say, Barkley didn’t waste time responding to Packer calling him a jackass and telling him to shut the hell up. A sentiment that is shared by many.

Morgan responded in kind with this hilarious albeit controversial line.

“Now let me tell you something about Sarah Palin man, she’s good masturbation material. The glasses and all that? Great masturbation material.”

Not surprisingly, TNT spokesman Jeff Pomeroy issued this statement a few hours later.

“It’s unfortunate Mr. Morgan showed a lack of judgment on our air with his inappropriate comments

I realize that most people will say the comments are inappropriate, but in my humble opinion, it should be considered flattering. In fact, I think it’s a great pick-up line at the bar. “Hey baby, I’m whacking off to you tonight”.

Worked better than my last one I tell ya. “Is that a keg in your pants, cause I’d like to tap that”.

Last night during the Lakers-Thunder game, Chuck did exactly that showing off his version of the Dougie to the Staples Center crowd with an over-enthusiastic Chris Webber cheering him on.

And people wonder how this show won an Emmy.

Here’s some more famous incidents in the Wide World of Spitting.

Charles Barkley accidentally spits on young girl

Throughout much of his career, Charles Barkley was the bad boy of the NBA. His confrontations with players were a nightly occurrence and he even starred in the original “Malice at the Palace”. So in 1991, when a fan heckled him from the sidelines, Barkley responded, in kind, by tossing some spit in his direction. Regretfully, it instead struck a young girl. He was fined $10k for the incident and now calls it the dumbest thing he’s ever done in his career. We prefer to think it was all those times he folded to his best friend Michael Jordan, but that’s another issue altogether.

Roberto Alomar and the umpire

A called third strike in a 1996 game against the Blue Jays sent second baseman Roberto Alomar into a wild tirade. Umpire John Hirschbeck was the recipient of Alomar’s anger and while being separated, Alomar spit directly in his face. Alomar later defended his actions saying Hirschbeck had uttered a racial slur. MLB suspended him for five games the following season and Alomar was forced to issue a letter of apology to the umpire.

Keith Hernandez and the magic loogie

Perhaps no episode of Seinfeld is more famous than the Keith Hernandez “Magic Loogie”. If you recall, Kramer and Newman make a wild claim that Hernandez tossed some phlegm in their direction years earlier after a game. Jerry then explains to Elaine how absurd the story is and re-enacts the entire incident with hilarious Zapruder-like film as the background.

Channing Crowder and Le’Ron McClain

The aforementioned incident originally appeared to be sour grapes by Crowder after the Dolphins lost to the Ravens. But upon further review, McClain does seem to thrust his head forward as the two jaw at each other. Crowder’s body then goes “back and to the left, back and to the left,” before the officials intervene.

Victor Hanescu vs. Wimbledon spectators

Tennis pro Victor Hanescu was already frustrated with an apparent thigh injury during a third-round match at the All-England Club this past year. His frustration grew when he asked for the match to be called because of fading light and was denied by the chair umpire. So when spectators began cat-calling Hanescu, things came to a head. He looked in their direction and offered them a rather large present in the form of an impressive loogie.

Bill Romanowski and J.J. Stokes

Bill Romanowski was widely considered one of the dirtiest players in the NFL during his playing career. And frankly, the spit he laid on J.J. Stokes in December of 1997 wasn’t even the most grotesque thing he did to him that day. In a pile-up preceding the incident, Stokes accused Romanowski of pulling and grabbing his groin. Considering Bill’s rampant use of performance enhancing drugs, I think he was just jealous of the size of Stokes’ nuts.

See, all Charles needs to do is just swing one handed and/or close his eyes. Nothing else seems to have worked for him thus far and hey, if he can hit chips that close without even thinking, go right ahead.

On a hilarious side note, Barkley finished last in the American Century Golf Championship for the fifth straight year in a row. He recorded an amazingly bad -93 points. A full 177 points from winner Billy Joe Tolliver.

Of note though is that in 2016, the National Championship game will rotate between Turner and CBS. Fairly surprising that we will one day see a major sporting event televised strictly on a cable station.

But, if it means that we will somehow get Charles Barkley and the TNT crew (assuming Chuck’s arteries hold up another five years), I’m all for it. I’m so ready for Barkley to call Coach Calipari an a–hole. Now that’s must-see Tv.

CBS, Turner win TV rights to tourney {ESPN}

And while some might be amused with the nightly monologues of Jay Leno or David Letterman, I beg of you to think of any late-night personality who captures an audience better than Chuck.

How many tv guys do you know that can get away with calling their co-hosts a–holes?

First, shake weights and now this.  It’s only the first round and Chuck’s giving us some of his best stuff.  Oh yea, for the record, I think I know why he prefers blondes. After all, they do have more fun.

And just like his golf swing, the whole scene was extremely awkward

Via LarryBrownSports

And while the middle finger was amusing the conversation that followed it with Charles and Ernie was hysterical.

Ernie: “Hey do me a favor, say April Fools”
Barkley: “Fool?”

Awesome

I don’t know when this originally aired, but the Bill Laimbeer clip on Outside the Lines was fantastic. It talked about Laimbeer’s struggle to get a NBA head coaching job even though he had wild success in the WNBA and as a player.

Surprisingly, one of Laimbeer’s biggest supporters to get a job is none other than Charles Barkley. The two famously fought in the original Malice at the Palace in the early 90s.

Pretty sure in todays NBA, this would get you a one year suspension. Back then, it was just called a personal foul.

An absolutely hilarious little clip in the video below is when they talk about Charles Barkley breaking a toilet seat in the Palace Locker Room.

So Im guessing that Charles either had the runs or it was just a bad day at the office. Nevertheless, an epic video.

11. Jada Pinkett Smith will be on “as you’ve never seen her before,” which I can only assume means full frontal, double penetration, and with animals

10. If I don’t hear that Kyra Sedgwick *is* The Closer at least five times every hour, I might forget, and then I’d never know that The Closer seems to be the job description for a woman with rhino lips that should never, ever be seen on HDTV

9. Chris Webber needs to do jail time if he ever wants to have any respect on set

8. Stephen Bochco is still alive, which is good, I guess

7. That unfortunate black minstrel show that we hated during the MLB playoffs is still on the air

6. Frank TV is not, for which we can only conclude that the Obama Administration’s restrictions on tortue are taking effect

5. No matter how many jobs he stinks at, PJ Carlessimmo will always get paid to do something relating to the NBA, as part of his life-long payday for not suing everyone over the Latrell Sprewell assault

4. It really doesn’t matter which network has the telecast, in regards to camera work, because basketball just doesn’t have that many angles, space and quality celebrity poon to overtax a camera crew

3. One day, someone will out Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith as the great forbidden love story of our time

2. When someone tells you that their work is “very funny” and that “we know drama”, you are correct in assuming that there is more than a hint of desperate insecurity in those statements

1. You’re still happier watching the games here than on The World Wide Lemur, simply because Ernie Johnson doesn’t make you blind with hatred the way Stuart Scott does

If I was going to jail for three days, I’d sport a Nike workout suit too

By the way, Barkley’s sentence got reduced from 10 days to 3 days…is it me or do celebrities/athletes always seem to get these sweet deals?

Courtesy of our friends at NESW Sports is video of the hijinx and hilarity on the TNT set