Charles Barkley on Letterman tonight

[Elwood P Dowd]

A re-run but still funny. Talking about his 5th book. Made a joke about how covering the all star game saved him from a hunting trip with Dick Cheney.

I remember talking to Charles when he was a fat 260-pound freshman at Auburn. Even at that weight, he could block shots by 7-footers. I remember a game against Kentucky around 1984 where he totally wore out the twin towers, a couple of 7-footers for the Wildcats. Charles was only 6-5. I would buy tickets on the lower rows behind the goal just to watch that guy and listen to his trash talk.

Every group of fans in the SEC had names for Charles - Pizza Man, Lard Truck, Blubber Boy, and Gut Truck. He was really about 30 pounds overweight his entire career at Auburn, but boy could he kick ass when he was on his game.

Charles never caused any problems when he played at Auburn. The fans and the people in town loved him. A few years ago I walked into a BBQ joint in Auburn and placed my order. I looked over the place, and everyone there was all crowded around the same table. It was Charles holding court and entertaining all the patrons. He was back in Alabama for some celebrity golf tournament or something and paid his old school a visit. And, he was eating voluminous amounts of BBQ.