The Michael Jordan-Charles Barkley Divorce…Stop MJ!

Apr 7, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; TV personalities Kenny Smith (left) and Charles Barkley watch action from their set during the championship game of the Final Four in the 2014 NCAA Mens Division I Championship tournament at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Does anyone remember back in the days when Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were friends?

In a recent interview I watched with Yahoo! Sports Graham Bensinger, I could see the profound respect that Charles Barkley has for Michael Jordan.

He called him a brother, a mentor and a friend that he had learned so much from over the years. I mean Charles Barkley does not show this side a lot talking about a lot of people.

Come on now. Everyone remembers the Dream Team over 20 years ago, the NBA Finals in 1993, man they were even on Oprah for Christ sakes! Now it’s all over.

Now two of the most polarizing players of their era is now not on speaking  terms  any longer and it really is a crying shame…and totally wrong on one side of the equation.

I have a deep admiration for these two the way they carry themselves and use their traits in both of my jobs respectively.

As a Newscast Director at a  TV station, I use Michael Jordan’s competitive  spirit to be best that I can be. Directors are very competitive and they all want to known as the best in the station and in the business overall. Jordan always used anything that he could come up  with to get motivation to gain an advantage over his peers. I always admired that and tried to emulate his ways to stay at the top of my game as a Director which is a successful tactic that I have used for over 15 years.

As an Editor of this website, Pippen Ain’t Easy, I use Charles Barkley’s strong will and opinion as a blueprint to make my point when discussing basketball topics and giving analysis. There is a reason why TNT has the number one NBA analysis show that runs circles around ESPN. There is a reason why Charles Barkley is so popular. He makes an opinion and sticks by it. I adopted Barkley’s style and tried to emulate it here at Pippen Ain’t Easy which has slowly gained a following that I am blessed to have and don’t take lightly. Thanks to a controversial way of stating my opinion, it has sparked debate from great members of the Pippen Peoples such as Leroy Boyd, Road Dog and Jorge just to name a few. I have learned a lot about the game through these debates and I hope the Pippen Peoples learn as well.

This is why Michael Jordan in my opinion is wrong…DEAD WRONG! I know you are upset Mr. Jordan but it’s time to forgive. I mean, some of the San Antonio Spurs fans did. Let’s all move on and be friends again.

May 29, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs fans show a Charles Barkley sign against the Oklahoma City Thunder in game five of the Western Conference Finals of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

A few years back, it seems that Charles Barkley raised Michael Jordan’s eyebrows (aka pissed him off) by criticizing him in the way he was running the then Charlotte Bobcats now Hornets.

"“And the Bobcats—first of all, he’s doing  a much better  job. But a couple of years ago…I want to say three years ago—when they were vying for the worst record in the NBA history, Michael had  not done a good job. He took it personally.”"

Breaking News to Pippen Ain’t Easy! The man was right. I can tell you first hand. The Bobcats at the time finished with NBA’s all time worst percentage finishing 7-59. I was a radio correspondent for the Bobcats at the now defunct WGIV 103.3. I was responsible for weekly reports on how the Bobcats were doing. They were so bad, I had to change the format to a comedy form because listeners got tired of  me analyzing how the  team was getting blown out by 20 points every single night.

I have a  question for everyone. Has anyone heard of the Providence Steamrollers? Probably not. That’s why we are here at Pippen Ain’t Easy. Would you believe they had a better winning percentage than the Bobcats? It’s true.

Back in the 1940’s the Steamrollers finished with an 6-42 record with a .125 winning percentage.

Back in 2011, the Bobcats finished with a 7-59 record with a putrid .106 winning percentage. UGH! Even the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers were popping champagne after looking at that bunch. I mean that Bobcats team was so bad even THIS past year’s 76ers squad could go through their losing streak thinking things could be worse.

I think people lose track sometimes when writers and analysts criticize teams in their articles or on TV. It’s never personal. It’s a job as Charles Barkley mentioned…

"“…but I’m going to do my job, first and foremost. Because I can’t get on TV and be dishonest with people. They know when you are being dishonest and disingenuous. I’m going to do my job plain and simple.”"

I can relate to what Charles Barkley is saying. I ended up resigning from the position because the station was upset at the “Bobcats Bashing” that I did every week. Never mind that the Bobcats lost 55 of their last 57 games to finish the season. The station manager wanted to partner with the Bobcats. I wanted to keep my reputation as someone who had a clue about the game of basketball. Telling listeners the Bobcats were a good team wasn’t good for a reputation of a basketball correspondent, or a sane person.

Michael Jordan is historic with grudges that he carries. Ask Jerry Krause. You know what, pull up his Hall of Fame speech on YouTube and witness how deep-rooted those grudges can be. Only he has to take some credit for the awful way he ran the team before he hired Rich Cho.

For the record, he is not the worst owner in NBA history, shoot not even Bobcats history. That honor goes to the first Bobcats owner, Bob Johnson.

Bob Johnson made some major mistakes before Jordan bought the team. Johnson, the former BET founder left a colossal mess for Jordan to clean up before things turned around for the franchise. It’s cool that the name Hornets came back to Charlotte but don’t get it twisted, fans were just as thrilled to get rid of the name Bobcats. Bob Johnson did a masterful job of alienating the fan base.

Remember, Charlotte did make the playoffs twice in their short history as the Bobcats which included a berth last year and are considered favorites to do the same under the moniker of the Hornets.

Sure some people may say that Charles Barkley made these criticisms about Michael Jordan based on his NBA Finals loss in 1993. No. It had nothing to do with it. Barkley is one of the more entertaining and knowledgeable NBA analysts out there. Nothing is worth your creditability as an analyst.

Michael Jordan knows this. That’s why Jordan should let it go and mend one of the more entertaining friendships in sports.

Jan. 24, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA: TNT announcer Charles Barkley court side prior to the game between the Phoenix Suns against the Los Angeles Clippers at the US Airways Center. The Suns defeated the Clippers 93-88. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports