Jackson’s Action a Flashpoint for Barkley

It has been more than a week, and people are still talking about the Super Bowl halftime show.

Charles Barkley, in town for Sunday’s NBA All-Star game at Staples Center, offered his perspective about the flap over Janet Jackson’s flash.

“I just have to sit back and laugh about it,” said Barkley, who was with his TNT broadcast partners at Universal Studios CityWalk on Monday and will be at the Magic Johnson Theaters in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza today. “America is a funny place. Should she have done it? Probably not. But it’s not like she started a war.

“Everyone is all offended now and bent out of shape. Give me a break. There are a lot of trashier things on television than what Janet Jackson did.”

Trivia time: Three previous NBA All-Star games have been in Los Angeles. Can you name the years?

Good reason: Ever wonder why Barkley is on television?

“I just do this job to cover my gambling debts,” he said on the air the other night.

Name game: From Mike Downey in the Chicago Tribune: “Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson now make everybody so nervous, don’t be surprised if the NFL threatens to take away the 2005 Super Bowl unless the host city, Jacksonville, agrees to change its name.”

And Jay Leno took this shot at the Jacksons last week: “I hope this one incident doesn’t in any way tarnish the good name of the Jackson family.”

It could’ve been worse: “I don’t see what the big deal is about Janet Jackson exposing her right breast for two seconds,” says reader Joe Kevany. “It’s not as if she pulled out a cell phone.”

A throwback: “Talk about a flash from the past,” says Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times. “Until Janet Jackson’s halftime performance, we thought the NFL had seen the last of tear-away jerseys.”

Hard to please: With the release of the movie “Miracle,” College Sports Television replayed its “Coach” show profiling Herb Brooks.

In that show, Mike Eruzione talks about Brooks’ mood after the U.S. hockey team’s victory over the Soviet Union in the semifinals of the 1980 Olympics.

“So we beat the Soviets Friday night, we go into practice Saturday morning, laughing and joking and having a great time,” Eruzione says. “Well, Herb comes and he flips out, screaming and yelling at us, ‘Who do we think we are? We don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone.’

“I’m sitting there going, ‘We just beat the Soviets, you know. Why is he so mad?’ ”

Trivia answer: The NBA All-Star game was at the Sports Arena in 1963 and at the Forum in 1972 and 1983. In ‘72, the West team, coached by the Lakers’ Bill Sharman, won, 112-110, and Jerry West was chosen the most valuable player.

And finally: “In 12 years, we’ll be getting ready for Super Bowl L,” points out Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle. “At least one expert will say the underdogs ‘don’t have a snowball’s chance in L.’ ”

Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.