As is the case with any other major sports scandal, the opinions about Bountygate are rolling in at a rapid pace in the wake of the news breaking on Friday. Some are outraged while others consider bounties on opponents to be a part of the game. Not surprisingly, Charles Barkley is a member of the latter group. Not only that, but Barkley is outraged that someone would even come forward and rat out Gregg Williams.
“You have to be a punk to snitch that out,” Barkley said Monday on the Dan Patrick Show, according to Pro Football Talk. “That’s like giving a reporter an anonymous quote. That makes you a punk, if you do anonymous, but also, you don’t bring that out x amount of years later. I mean you don’t compete in it if you don’t want to be in it. But I’ve seen at least three or four well-known NFL players say all teams have bounties. So I’m glad they came to Gregg Williams’ defense. Because I’m pretty sure all teams have that.
“In the heat of an NFL game, when guys are trying to make tackles, you’re always trying to hit the guy as hard as possible. I think you always want to knock the best players out of the game. I want to get Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady out of the game. That’s better for my team. Do I want to hurt them? No, but I want to hit them hard. That’s better for my team.”
Coming from the guy who believes 20 percent of NBA fans deserve to be shot, Barkley’s stance is not exactly a shock. He did, however, provide some interesting information about bounties in the NBA, admitting that players took shots at opponents who were running up the score but were paid more than the alleged amounts NFL defenders have been paid.
“I’m a firm believer, if a guy shoots a three, that you knock his ass as far in the stands as you possibly can,” Barkley said. “We were getting beat by 30 or 40, I can’t remember, and the guy was shooting threes, running up and down the court, and I said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to hurt that guy right there.’”
Sir Charles would not say which player he was referring to in order to avoid “incriminating” himself, but he said the payment for fulfilling the objective was around $5,000. As PFT pointed out, there was an incident where Barkley and two other 76ers were ejected back in 1992 during a 136-84 loss to the Hornets — the worst loss in franchise history.
Not an NBA issue? No problem. Barkley will take the attention any way he can get it.
