I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It (16 page)

So, as much as it pained me to watch Ali get beat like he did in his last few fights, it’s not the sports stuff that matters as much in the end. There will always be great players here and there, in this sport or that sport. And we all love seeing that and celebrating it and debating it. But those of us who were given these great talents and unique gifts by God have to speak up and put it out there, even if it isn’t popular, even if it isn’t politically correct all the time. If the playing is all you’re going to do, you’ve missed the boat. I may be wrong, but I doubt it.

About the Authors

Charles Barkley
is a studio analyst for TNT’s
Inside the NBA,
a regular contributor to CNN’s
TalkBack Live
and a frequent color commentator. Named one of the fifty greatest NBA players of all time, he was selected to eleven All-Star teams and won the NBA’s MVP award in 1993. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Michael Wilbon
is a
Washington Post
sports columnist and the cohost, with Tony Kornheiser, of the ESPN show
Pardon the Interruption.
He lives outside Washington, D.C.

Copyright © 2002 by Charles Barkley

All rights reserved under International
and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
Published in the United States by Random House, Inc.,
New York, and simultaneously in Canada by
Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

Random House and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Barkley, Charles.

I may be wrong but I doubt it / Charles Barkley; edited and with an introduction by Michael Wilbon.

p. cm.

1. Barkley, Charles. 2. Basketball players—United States—Biography. I. Wilbon, Michael. II. Title.

GV884.B28 A29 2003

796.323´092—dc21

[B]

2002029169

Random House website address:
www.atrandom.com

eISBN: 978-1-58836-274-2

v3.0