Pulling for Chuck

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Who is the biggest train wreck in popular culture today?

Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are always good guesses but, while the meth-pack is always interesting water-cooler fodder, mildly entertaining, and good for a nice wardrobe malfunction every couple of weeks, they have really toned it down in 2008.

That opens quite the void for the human flotsam making their living as TMZ paparazzi.

I just hope Charles Barkley doesn't fill it.

Barkley has always struck me as a guy teetering on the brink.

His basketball resume is without peer. "Sir Charles" retired as one of only four players in NBA history with 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists during his 16 seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets.

Charles Barkley was selected as one of the NBA's 50 greatest players in 1996.

Barkley was the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 1993 and the best player of the original Olympic Dream Team. He also was selected as one of the NBA's 50 greatest players in 1996 and enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

All that was secondary to his engaging personality, however.

If Barkley wasn't a basketball star, he could have been the world's best stand-up comedian. It was his unmatched wit that made his a star as an NBA analyst on TNT and a go-to-guy for virtually every national talk show when they needed a sound bite on the hot topic of the moment.

Many even speculated Barkley would eventually run for Governor in his home state of Alabama.

But, Chuck has always courted controversy. There was the spitting incident in New Jersey, the throwing of a patron through a window at a Milwaukee bar and his famous "I am not a role model" Nike commercial.

Most recently, Barkley sparred with Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James, telling "King James" to shut up instead of discussing his options when he becomes a free agent in 2010. James responded by calling Barkley "stupid."

Barkley is certainly a lot of things but stupid isn't one them.

That's why I don't understand why Barkley can defend losing millions of dollars on casino gambling by saying he has the money and doesn't plan to stop.

I don't understand why Barkley, by his own admission, carries a registered loaded gun in his car at all times.

And I sure don't understand why Barkley was arrested for driving under the influence in suburban Phoenix early Wednesday morning.

In 2005, Barkley released the book "Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man?", which was a collection of interviews with leading figures in entertainment, business, sports, and government. If he wasn't penning the book, Barkley might have been one of the first people featured.

I hope it always stays that way. Watching a celebrity fall from grace seems to be a cottage industry in America today.

Here's hoping "Sir Charles" starves the feeding frenzy.