Charles Barkley is one of the most outspoken and entertaining NBA legends. The 1993 MVP has made himself a famous name thanks to his bold claims and hilarious attacks on Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson.
Chuck has been making a lot of noise recently, attacking analytics and their use, claiming they were created to give jobs to people who didn’t feel useful with what they were doing in life.
Moreover, he compared analytics to one of the most famous practices in the world: yoga. Talking on The ETC podcast with Kevin Durant and Eddie Gonzalez, the 58-year-old made a big comparison between regular stats, analytics, yoga, and stretching.
“First of all, [analytics] are just stats. They just gave it a name. It’s kind of like yoga. Yoga’s nothing but stretching. They just call it yoga so they can charge more. I tell people, ‘Yoga’s just stretching. They give it a different name to charge you for it. The statistics, they change the name — ‘We’re gonna charge you for analytics now’ — and they just raised the price, but it’s nothing but stats.”
This is the most Charles Barkley take you could listen to today. The former Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns player is known for making these comments. He doesn’t have a problem speaking his mind regardless of who can be surprised or offended by his remarks.
He also talked about his retirement plans, saying he will retire from NBA on TNT soon, as he doesn’t want to die while he’s still working. That sounds good, but plenty of fans will miss Charles’ comments while roasting players and his colleagues.
His takes are memorable and it’ll be hard to get used to life without him under the spotlight. Still, we have to cherish the moments while they last and enjoy Chuck while we still can.
