As Usual, Barkley Is Life of Party

Spending nine hours with Charles Barkley is better than any amusement-park ride. Maybe even better than a $20-million space ride.

2:20 p.m.: Arriving from Phoenix on Tuesday, he is driven by limousine from LAX to NBC studios in Burbank to tape an appearance on the “Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

Sir Charles had agreed to do the Leno show to promote TNT’s NBA playoff coverage.

Barkley’s cell phone rings.

“It’s Tiger,” he announces.

“Hey, Bro,” he says into the phone.

The call from Dallas is temporarily interrupted when the car goes under the Sepulveda tunnel. Barkley calls Woods back.

Barkley talks about his three-hour workout that morning, promises he’ll spend another hour on a treadmill that evening, provides an update on his weight and wishes Woods good luck in this week’s Byron Nelson golf tournament.

“Hey, thanks for the support,” Barkley tells Woods at the end of the call.

Barkley then relates a story.

“Tiger and I were in Vegas playing golf not long ago, and he asked if I’d heard about the new super Kmart store being built there,” Barkley says. “And I said, ‘No, where are they going to build it?’ And Tiger said, ‘In the space between your ball and mine.’ ”

Woods’ golf game and Barkley’s weight are two significant stories these days. Barkley’s weight loss--he says he has lost 45 pounds, with an additional 25 to go--is significant because of Michael Jordan’s proposed comeback.

Barkley plans to join Jordan with the Washington Wizards next season.

A comeback was the furthest thing from Barkley’s mind before he got a call from Jordan.

“I had it made,” he says, “I was playing golf and drinking beer all day. I love doing that. I could play golf and drink beer every day and be perfectly content.”

The only things keeping Barkley from that daily routine were his flights to Atlanta from his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., to work on TNT’s “Inside the NBA.” It was two nights a week during the regular season, and it’s currently three times a week.

“I love my job,” he says.

And viewers love Barkley. He’s a natural, and certainly not afraid to be critical.

He recently said Vince Carter has been playing like a girl. He earlier called Rasheed Wallace a knucklehead. He said that on Wednesday night’s show he planned to rip into the Portland Trail Blazer players and into team management for firing Mike Dunleavy.

“I don’t get up in the morning thinking about saying anything critical,” he says. “All I’m trying to do is make sure the fans have a good time.”

Barkley had a chance to go to work for NBC but chose TNT.

“Some people thought it was for more money,” he says. “The money was the same.”

He earns reportedly about $800,000 a year.

“I was all set to go to NBC,” Barkley says, “but after going out to dinner with [Turner executives] Brad Siegel and Mark Lazarus, I knew I belonged at TNT. That was a great dinner meeting.

“They told me to just be myself. At NBC, there are the ties to the NBA and the league is always aware of everything that is said.”

(NBC spokesman Kevin Sullivan denied Wednesday that the network would have tried to prevent Barkley from being Barkley. “Why would you hire someone as great as Charles Barkley and tell him not to be himself?” he said. “The notion that we would censor our announcers is ridiculous.”)

“NBC had it all planned out for me,” Barkley says. “I would start out in the studio, then do some game commentating and some sit-down interviews. But I’m not conceited enough to think I could do game commentating right away.

“The studio work is easy. All you have to do is talk.”

Although Barkley has worked one game as a commentator and liked doing it, he says he doesn’t like to go to games.

“It’s tough emotionally,” he says. “I haven’t been retired long enough.”

3:10: After arriving at NBC an hour ahead of schedule, Barkley is escorted into his dressing room. There’s plenty of food on hand. Barkley, observing his diet, eats nothing.

He’s excited because the other guests are actor Dylan McDermott from “The Practice” and singer Tim McGraw. McGraw’s wife, singer Faith Hill, is with him.

“ ‘The Practice’ is the best show on television,” Barkley says. “My three favorite shows are ‘The Practice,’ ‘Law and Order,’ and ‘West Wing.’ ”

He and Turner Sports senior vice president Greg Hughes, who is spending the day with him, are invited upstairs to meet Hill. “I think Greg pulled a hamstring hustling up those stairs,” Barkley says.

6:10: After the taping, Barkley invites Hughes and a reporter to join him in trying to find a place to watch the Milwaukee-Charlotte and Laker-Sacramento games.

“But what about your workout?” he is asked.

“Missing one workout isn’t going to kill me,” he says.

The limo driver suggests Ribs USA in Burbank, although he warns it’s nothing fancy.

“Sounds like my kind of place,” Barkley says.

6:25: As the limo pulls up, Barkley is pleased. The place has peanut shells on the floor.

“Great,” he says as he walks in. “Just regular people, my kind of people, go to this kind of place.”

No one seems to notice him at first, but as the evening progresses a few people come over.

“How tall are you?” one lady asks.

“I claimed to be 6-6 when I played, but I’m only 6-5 1/2,” he says.

He decides it’s OK to drink a couple of light beers.

“I allow myself two beer nights a week, no more than four beers each night,” he says.

He is in a great mood. One reason is because of the arrival of a friend, Melisa Ann Carter, a nurse he knew in Houston who now lives in Los Angeles. It took several calls to persuade her to come to Burbank.

10:50: Carter, saying she doesn’t have to be at work until 3 the next afternoon, suggests that the group should go out for a night on the town.

Barkley is tempted, even though that would mean taking a morning flight to Atlanta to be there in time for Wednesday night’s TNT show.

“You don’t know how close I came to staying,” Barkley says as he climbs into the limo for the trip back to the airport. “But I’ve got to keep in training.”