Charles Barkley considers role on controversial LIV golf tour – Houston Chronicle

I’m rooting for Barkley to acknowledge that line exists, before he lets Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson and Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman convince him otherwise. They want the world to believe that just because nobody’s paycheck is completely pure, degrees of impurity shouldn’t matter.

I’m rooting for Barkley, a man of proven decency and kindness that belies his “I am not a role model” bluster, to recognize what a crock that is.

But I’m beginning to worry he won’t.

“I said, ‘We have all taken ‘blood money’ and we all have ‘sports washed’ something, so I don’t like those words, to be honest with you,’ ” Barkley told the New York Post last week, detailing a dinner meeting he had with Norman in which they discussed the idea of him joining the Saudi-backed LIV Golf as a broadcaster. “If you are in pro sports, you are taking some type of money from not a great cause.”

One reason I’m rooting for Barkley is that he has a knack for finding a salient point even when he’s wrong, whether it’s about basketball analytics or about capitalism. He’s absolutely right when he suggests that the NBA and the NFL and Major League Baseball all have profited in at least some small way from injustice or human misery, as have most of us who live in the world.

I’ve bought sneakers from the global athletic-apparel giant with oft-criticized factories in China, and I’ve shopped at the chain discount store accused of labor exploitation in Bangladesh, and I’ve never once returned the portion of my paycheck covered by an advertiser hawking products I find unsavory. As Barkley might note, if every financial decision you make is 100 percent moral, you’re probably broke.

But I’m hoping Barkley can grasp the massive difference between working for a company such as the NBA or Nike that does business with objectionable regimes and accepting payment from an entity funded entirely by one of those regimes. LIV Golf doesn’t merely host a tournament in Saudi Arabia. It’s bankrolled by the crown prince-chaired Public Investment Fund, which is throwing around so much cash, it doesn’t even appear to be trying to turn a profit. The whole point is to “sports wash” the reputation of a country accused by human-rights watchdogs of politically motivated killings and torture.

It was significant for LIV Golf to get Mickelson, who signed up even after acknowledging to author Alan Shipnuck that the Saudis are “scary mother(expletives) to get involved with.” It was significant when they added players such as Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, who opted for Saudi riches even after it was clear they’d have to give up their PGA Tour membership to do so.

But neither Johnson nor Koepka are known for their personalities, much less having many original thoughts. By anyone outside of golf die-hards, they won’t be missed.

But Barkley, the beloved NBA Hall of Famer with the notoriously terrible golf swing? Adding him would be a major coup for LIV, and not because he’d be adding any trenchant shot-by-shot analysis. People love Barkley like they love few sports commentators who’ve ever been on TV, because he manages to be engaging and endearing even when making terrible predictions, or ripping on a spectacular city’s alleged collective weight problem.

See, another reason I’m rooting for Barkley to get this right is that I’ve always believed – in part due to countless stories from those who’ve long known him – that he’s as genuine as a celebrity can be.

Yes, he got in a bar fight 25 years ago. Yes, he’s received some deserved blowback for occasional comments on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” that have been insensitive and over the line.

But he’s no nihilist. He knows there are certain principles worth standing up for. And it’s never been hard to see the good in him, as a viral video from an event at Lake Tahoe proved this month.

Taking the microphone on stage, Barkley said, “If you’re gay or transgender, I love you. And if anybody gives you (expletive), you tell them Charles said, ‘(expletive) you.’ ”

So I’m rooting for Barkley to remember why he did that. Wasn’t it because he understood the importance of standing up to a bully?

I’m rooting for Barkley to research what the people who fund LIV Golf think of gay and transgender rights.

And when they finally make him an offer they’re sure he won’t be able to refuse?

There are two words I’m rooting for Barkley to say.