Canthook

Charles Barkley was a good basketball player. Anybody in the NBA fits that description, and Charles Barkley was better than most.

What's his real forte is, though, is being an entertainer. When he appears on Letterman, the ratings really shoot up. He's knowledgeable, and he's confident in himself - it ain't braggin' if you can do it, right? - and he's not afraid to laugh at himself.

He talks about playing golf. He was fairly good, it appears, when he just went out and hit the ball around, but when he decided to take lessons, he explains, he started to think too much about what he was doing, and instead of a smooth stroke, he became jerky, clumsy, and inept. It's not funny because bad golf is funny, but because he got worse by trying too hard, a mistake most of us have made at one time or another, not necessarily at golf.

Here, he falls prey to a practical joke. Does he get upset? No. He laughs along with everyone else - and that's one reason he remains popular long after age has ended his career as an athlete.

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