
My Dad's Friendship with Charles Barkley - weitingliu
https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2018/12/14/lin-wang-charles-barkley
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muhneesh
I watch Inside the NBA almost religiously - it's such a perfect show
sometimes.

It's not your typical ESPN or Fox Sports commentary show where an anchor talks
about a player's "tenacious tenacity". It's a show that presents itself as a
place where four friends talk about a shared interest.

To accomplish this, they need to be comfortable talking to each other without
being confined to the sports equivalent of political correctness - to have
unconstrained degrees of freedom in criticism, humor and general skylarking.
This happens oftentimes to the point of controversy, with Charles usually
being involved at the center of any such controversy.

This story is beautiful, but to anyone that is a fan of Charles Barkley, it is
unsurprising. He's always been a beacon of genuineness through his time as a
player, as a commentator and this article simply extends that same light to
his personal life.

~~~
duxup
Actual chemistry between the folks on screen that produces results that seem
like ... actual chemistry seems really undervalued / rare these days.

I love reading / watching sports.... sports shows that aren't the sports them-
self are almost always so bad and wonky.

Inside the NBA is a noteworthy example of what it should be.

~~~
galeaspablo
It’s a jewel. One of my favorite moments and a sample of that chemistry for
the interested..

[https://youtu.be/uVcAazaigiQ](https://youtu.be/uVcAazaigiQ)

~~~
mobilemidget
SNL bits jewels too

[https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=snl+charles+bar...](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=snl+charles+barkley)

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mattzito
I had a very similar one-time experience with Charles Barkley. I was a regular
at the bar at the Ritz-Carlton on Central Park South in NYC, and was
introduced to Barkley by the bartender, who often connected solo
diners/imbibers with each other for conversation.

We had a nice conversation about NYC, vegas, gambling, friendship, etc. along
with a number of tequila shots. He was extremely down to earth while not
pretending like he was anything other than a world famous former basketball
player.

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dvasdekis
We should also never forget the classic gaming inspired by Charles Barkley -
Barkley, Shut Up and Jam![1], or the spin-off RPG, Barkley, Shut Up and Jam:
Gaiden[2]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Shut_Up_and_Jam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley_Shut_Up_and_Jam)!
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley,_Shut_Up_and_Jam:_Gaid...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkley,_Shut_Up_and_Jam:_Gaiden)

~~~
thedailymail
The plot of Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden sounds awesome:

"The game starts off in 2041, twelve years prior to the main part of the game,
in "post-cyberpocalyptic Neo New York". Charles Barkley performed a powerful
dunk called a Chaos Dunk at a basketball game, inadvertently killing most of
the people in attendance. As a result, basketball was outlawed and many
basketball players were hunted down and killed. In 2053, another Chaos Dunk is
performed in Manhattan, killing millions. Barkley is blamed for the Chaos Dunk
and is hunted by the B-Ball Removal Department, led by Michael Jordan."

(It just gets weirder from there)

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billforsternz
This is a lovely and charming story...but. The whole premise is that the
relationship between the suburban dad and the celebrity was somehow weird and
unbelievable. I see that, but it's a shame we can't turn the world on its head
somehow so that it would be just everyday normality. Celebrity culture has
elevated some people to a kind of otherness. But they're just people.

~~~
tptacek
The whole premise of the story is exactly what you say you wish it was.

~~~
billforsternz
I'll try one more time and then I'll let it go. I enjoyed the story, and only
wish it was less remarkable.

~~~
tptacek
That works way better.

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RcouF1uZ4gsC
>"Listen: As an adult — and you’re too young to understand this now — all you
want is your kids to be happy. That’s what you work for. To give your kids
everything in life."

This sentiment is common to all parents across race, culture, and religion. It
is one of the things that makes us human. So uplifting to hear how these two
very different people connected over that.

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a-wu
Listen to the narrated version of the article. It’s much more powerful hearing
the author and Barkley talk about Lin, especially when Barkley talks about how
he and Lin would talk about their kids.

~~~
antibland
Complete opposite experience for me. I found Lin's daughter's voice quite
grating and reverted to reading the text. The part that did me in was when she
gleefully enunciated "exclamation point exclamation point."

~~~
happytoexplain
I don't follow what you're trying to say about her "gleeful enunciation".

~~~
sizzle
Possibly regarding the intonation/inflection and pitch?

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bigtones
This was such a lovely story it made me tear up. Barkley does come across as a
really nice guy on television and his friendship with Shaq is legendary, so
it's great to hear confirmation that that is really the case. And Charles
words at the funeral were brief but genuine and warm. Great afternoon read.

~~~
pmart123
This happened to me too, but at work haha.

One thing that I always appreciated about Barkley growing up was his ability
to be sincere and relatable; he speaks from the heart.

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gwern
I was hoping to hear more about his cat litter work. What did he do? Did he
ever talk about it with Barkley? etc

~~~
sndean
> I was hoping to hear more about his cat litter work

Of course it could be a different Lin Wang working in this area, but it looks
like he has a few patents for new absorbent materials and related things [0,
1].

[0]
[https://patents.google.com/patent/US5849405A/en?inventor=Lin...](https://patents.google.com/patent/US5849405A/en?inventor=Lin+Wang)

[1]
[https://patents.google.com/patent/US7757638B2/en](https://patents.google.com/patent/US7757638B2/en)

~~~
nl
Cat Litter (and other absorbency products like diapers) are one of the most
competitive areas of consumer material science.

I read a great article about how there is continual pressure the shrink the
shelf space they take from super markets, and that has led to some pretty
interesting breakthroughs in science.

I can't find the article now of course.

~~~
gwern
If you ever refind that article, please send it to me.

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RickJWagner
Great article.

Charles Barkley is one of the few celebrities I respect. He believes in
diversity of thought.

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hiei
I met him a few times, his daughter went to my high school in Scottsdale.
Always such a nice guy, even though freshman were always collectively losing
their minds.

