NBA on TNT's Barkley admits to watching hockey instead of ‘boring' basketball game

With the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association both in the midst of their playoffs, it has come to light that a certain NBA on TNT analyst Charles Barkley wasn't a big fan of the Minnesota Timberwolves-Denver Nuggets game and admitted to be focused on the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings instead.

During halftime, the outspoken NBA legend was quoted as saying ‘I was watching hockey. Not gonna lie, this game is boring as hell'. Barkley, who is close friends with Wayne Gretzky has a history of talking about his earliest memories of watching the game. Born in Alabama, Barkley remembers the Birmingham Bulls of the defunct World Hockey Association.


It's my belief that having your basketball analyst admit that he was watching another sport while working is both bad for the NBA and good for the National Hockey League. It's no secret that professional athletes cross each other's paths from time to time and learning to appreciate another sport shows Barkley's growth as a person a former athlete and someone engrained in the culture of pro sports as a whole.


Sports analysts that can discuss multiple sports are in high demand and whether Barkley discussing the hockey game because he was genuinely bored or as a one off to fill air time is unknown, however like Bob Costas or Jim Nance if he feels comfortable speaking on sports other than basketball, maybe TNT/TBS can allow him to cross the floor once in a while to analyze hockey.