Charles Barkley is in Minneapolis for the Final Four as part of CBS and Turner’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament, but he’s reeling a bit after the brutal loss suffered by his beloved Auburn Tigers.
Auburn lost on a late foul call, watching as Kyle Guy sank three free throws to give Virginia a one-point win over the Tigers to advance to the title game. Barkley’s reaction was, as one would expect, one of pain, but he did handle it pretty well on air and said he agreed with the call even if it was a miserable way for Auburn to lose.
That pain is still there, however, and Chuck apparently wants everyone else in Minnesota to feel badly about their basketball team too. Barkley hopped on stage at a Katy Perry concert put on by Capital One in Minneapolis on Sunday and proceeded to explain to the crowd that he was loving his time in the city, but he rarely gets to come because, as he so eloquently put it, “the Timberwolves suck.”
At the @CapitalOfficial #JamFest, Charles Barkley after praising his weekend in Minneapolis, quipped: “I haven’t been here for a long time, because the @Timberwolves suck … I hate to get personal, but the Vikings suck also.” Good times. pic.twitter.com/31XSzLJIhF
— Nate Sandell (@NSandell) April 8, 2019
He also said the Vikings suck as well, and, unsurprisingly, this was met with boos, as video from TMZ shows. Now, while a blunt assessment of Minnesota’s NFL and NBA franchises, Barkley isn’t necessarily wrong. The Wolves, after breaking their playoff drought a year ago, are back to being a mediocre squad after Jimmy Butler pushed his way out. The Vikings, meanwhile, made the NFC title game two years ago but struggled mightily last season after paying major money for Kirk Cousins, who did not fare especially well.
Still, usually when you’re praising a city to a large crowd you’d leave out the part about their teams sucking, but then again, this is what makes Chuck, Chuck.
