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10 April 2019, US, Dallas: Basketball: NBA; Main Round; 81st Matchday; Dallas Mavericks – Phoenix Suns at Amercian Airlines Center. Legendary meeting on the occasion of Dirk Nowitzki’s last home game of his career. This is Charles Barkley speaking to Dirk Nowitzki. Photo: Philipp Hülsmann/dpa (Photo by Philipp Hülsmann/picture alliance via Getty Images)
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10 April 2019, US, Dallas: Basketball: NBA; Main Round; 81st Matchday; Dallas Mavericks – Phoenix Suns at Amercian Airlines Center. Legendary meeting on the occasion of Dirk Nowitzki’s last home game of his career. This is Charles Barkley speaking to Dirk Nowitzki. Photo: Philipp Hülsmann/dpa (Photo by Philipp Hülsmann/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Charles Barkley might have been one of the greatest power forwards of all time but he did not enjoy the same success outside the court. Barkley was embroiled in a number of controversies and he has a very outspoken personality. This helped in creating a number of unfortunate incidents with fans and hecklers.
In fact, Barkley was famous for his infamous “I’m not a role model” commercial. He said he is not a role model and he is not paid to be one, but to play basketball. Barkley and NIKE received a lot of backlash for this commercial. And then was that spitting incident which involved an 8-year-old girl.
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When addressing the incident, Barkley just says “I was trying to spit on anybody, to be honest with you but It was just stupid“. This was the biggest incident that affected Charles throughout his NBA Career
“I was angry,” says Charles Barkley
He adds ” When I first got into the NBA, I was angry… I’m gonna stick it to Miss Gomez, I’m gonna stick it to my dad, I’m gonna stick it to my high school. I’m gonna stick to everybody and shove it to their face,”
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Former professional basketball player Charles Barkley walks the grounds after the morning session during the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., on Thursday, July 13, 2017. The 34th annual Allen & Co. conference gathers many of America’s wealthiest and most powerful people in media, technology, and sports. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
He says he had the same attitude until his first three or four years. But the spitting incident happened, he changed himself. He says, “When the spitting incident happened… I remember sitting in a hotel room and I was like dude what the hell is wrong with you? What are you so angry about?”
He then realized that he was being angry at others for his mistakes. From that point on, he decided that he was not gonna be mad at anybody and he should show people his talent. Barkley says this was his turning point in his career. He adds that players like Mike Tyson and Dennis Rodman played like he did, with an edge. He adds in sports, it’s not a matter of if you go over the edge, its the matter of when.
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