Charles Barkley Would Root For Afghanistan Before He’d Root For Alabama

It will not surprise you to hear that Charles Barkley said an outrageous thing he maybe should not have said in the last few days. It will probably surprise you to hear that Shaq was not egging him on as he did so. Over the years Barkley’s best quotes have usually come from Inside The NBA where his tomfoolery is not only encouraged but matched by his coworkers.

But not this time! Barkley was on Sunday’s ESPN broadcast of USC vs. Auburn, his alma mater. At some point the College Football Playoff was brought up, which led to a classic Barkley rant that included quite the line about his hatred of Alabama borne from years of rivalry with Auburn. Transcription via On3:

“I can’t root for Alabama under any circumstances,” Barkley said. “I love Coach Saban. He’s been great to me. But I can never root for Alabama. Under any circumstances. I told you if they played Afghanistan, I’d be pulling for Afghanistan.”

Said only like Charles Barkley could. What an insane statement for the ESPN airwaves.

And yet that’s what college sports are all about, baby. This is undoubtedly one of the more milder ways Barkley has described his feelings about Alabama. I mean, if he’s willing to say this on a national broadcast, imagine what he would say over beers at the bar.

Safe to say that Michigan has a fan in Barkley on New Year’s Day. They are at least more palatable than Afghanistan to those outside of the East Lansing zip code.