Charles Barkely Interview with Chris Meyer on Fox Sports Net (FSN)

After going to church this morning and hearing a very insightful and true inspirational word from my pastor. The last thing I thought when I cut on my television after coming home from church was I would hear from Sir Charles better known to the public as Charles Barkley, an NBA All Star and soon be Hall Famer. Sir Charles, has always been known for his humor and blunt honesty but I never thought I would ever see Sir Charles speak so bluntly about many issues facing America today. Barkely has always been known for such comments as "I don't care what people think. people are stupid" and "You know it's going to hell when the best rapper out there is white and the best golfer is black." However Charles Berkley is more famous for saying, "He's not a role model, he's a basketball player." Despite all those comments, Sir Charles in a very in-depth and insightful interview with Chris Meyer of FSN, he spoke on various political and life issues that he holds dear to his heart. Therefore I just had to share this with the rest of the public cause if you seen the interview than you would gain more respect for the individual Charles Berkley than for the basketball player Charles Berkley. Some of the comments he made that I took to heart where first of all, let gay people get married, how does that affect me, let anyone who wants to get married get married, we're human beings not God so let God judge them. We as people shouldn't judge these individuals or try to stop them from living their life. Not these are probably not Sir Charles exact words but I am just summarizing his comments into what I took from his interview. Also Berkley went on to say that his greatest accomplishment wasn't playing basketball but was recently buying houses for Hurricane Katrina victims. He said a championship ring wouldn't mean anything if he couldn't show service and the gesture of giving them to others. Berkley's interview reminded me of the word in church today which dealt with Greatness. What is Greatness? Greatness isn't having any materialistic things but it is rather being able to have humility and to be humble in the process. Therefore, Berkley's comments in this interview showed me a side of a man who I admired from childhood days to now in a whole another light. Therefore, check out the excerpts from his interview and demand FSN to replay his interview to the world again cause it is truly a must see interview.


Excerpts from the CMI: Charles Barkley

Sir Charles does not hold back on CMI this Sunday. (Getty Images)

Charles Barkley (on his religious views): "Religious people in general are so discriminatory against other people and that really disturbs me. My idea of religion is we all love and respect. We all sin, but we still have common decency and respect for other people. So right now I'm struggling with my idea of what religion is."

Barkley (on his liberal views): "I'm a big advocate of gay marriage. I think if they want to get married, God bless them ... Gay marriage is probably one percent of the population, so it's not like it's going to be an epidemic. Hey, trust me, I'm never going to kiss you and say, 'Chris, you're sexy.' It's not going to ever be an epidemic."

Barkley (on America's view of gay athletes): "America is so funny, they're such hypocrites. That's the thing about being famous or being a jock - we get the blame for everythingÂ….But society in general discriminates against gay people; athletes in general would discriminate against gay people. Now if a gay guy can play, I want him on my team. Let's get that straight.""

Barkley (on racism in America): "If you're poor, you can change it. If you're black, it's not going to change. I'm a big advocate in what Bill Cosby says. We've got to do better as black people. Racism does exist. It's always going to exist."

Barkley (on the Republican party): "The Republicans have screwed up the country ... They use the word 'conservative,' which means discriminatory practices."

Barkley (on the Democratic Party): "They spent all their time criticizing George Bush. And I'm saying, ‘Shut the hell up.' They're criticizing a guy who can't run again, who can't get fired. So they spent the last two years criticizing him instead of saying, ‘Some things aren't right. This is our game plan.' And now we're two years away from the election and we have no solutions and no front-runner."

Barkley (on Hurricane Katrina): "I was really deeply disturbed by the Hurricane Katrina thing. So I said, ‘What can I do? I'm going to give them a million dollars.' I couldn't give it to the Red Cross because that's like throwing it down the toilet. So I bought a million dollars worth of houses for the people in New Orleans. That's probably, to this day, the greatest thing I've done in my life."

Barkley (on how he'd develop policy as Governor of Alabama): "I don't know anything about global warming. I don't know anything about a lot of things, but I would ask somebody and try to make a fair, honest decision for the majority of the people. Not the rich, not the poor, not the black, not the white. When you get elected to public office, you're supposed to represent everybody. Your job is not to take care of the rich or the poor or the black or the white. Your job is to take care of everybody."

Source: http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5920180