Photo Credit: NBA.com
How Spiting On A Little Girl Sitting Courtside Changed Charles Barkley’s Life
“If you play on the edge it’s not a matter of if you go off, but when.”
On March 26, 1991, Charles Barkley, who at that time, was playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, was suspended for one game, without pay, and fined $10,000 by the NBA for spitting at a fan and using abusive language during a game against the New Jersey Nets.
Barkley and a racist heckler went at it throughout the whole game, but when Barkley (rightfully) tried to spit at the heckler, his spit unfortunately hit a different target, an 8-year old girl. After the game, Barkley told ‘The Philadelphia Daily News’:
“You do stupid things, and stuff like that happens, I just have to live with a stupid mistake. He was walking toward me, and I spit at him. I was tired, and I didn`t have enough foam in my mouth. It went everywhere. I made a mistake.”
Charles Barkley took the suspension like a man, apologized to the girl numerous times, even befriended the girl, giving her and her family tickets to a whole lot of future games.
In an interview with Graham Bensinger, Chuck explaines how this incident changed his life.
I really like Barkley. He’s always honest, his stories are very entertaining, and he is a great guy in general. This also would be an interesting video for DeMarcus Cousins to watch, even though he does not like Chuck.
