Charles Barkley Blasts Cleveland
 Thursday, May 28th, 2009  by Connie T.

On Friday, May 22nd, when the Cleveland Cavaliers played the Orlando Magic at home at the Q Arena in Northeast Ohio, TNT broadcast announcer Charles Barkley made a major faux paux.

The NBA camera panned out on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and one of the announcers asked if the glowing building was the Rock & Roll Hall.

"It ain't like it's not the only place to visit here," Charles Barkley said.

"That is so true," Kenny Smith piped in. "That's so true."

For one, as a broadcaster, you would think he'd know how to speak. Secondly, Cleveland, ecstatic over making it into the Playoffs and thrilled to bits over their hero, LeBron James, had to listen to Barkley and Smith put the whole city down on national television.

Lake Erie and all of its sites and recreation, the downtown Flats, the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field and the West Side Market, Public Square and the Cleveland Orchestra, the Botanical Garden and NASA's John H. Glenn Center (6,000 square feet of interactive exhibits), the Great Lakes Science Center with a 6-story Omnimax Theater, the Cleveland Museum of Art with original works by Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo and Vincent van Gogh...no, there is nothing else to see in Cleveland, Ohio at all. I could go on, but obviously culture escapes these two.

We took the initiative to send off a little letter to TNT and the NBA.

During the Friday, 5/22 Cleveland vs. Orlando game, Charles Barkley took it upon himself to insult the City of Cleveland by saying there is nothing worthy of visiting there besides the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

What I want to know is why Barkley and Smith would broadcast innuendo like this to millions of fans during Cleveland's home game in the Playoffs. Is it their goal to discourage domestic tourism during an economic decline that has been particularly harsh on Ohio? Because certainly viewers who have not been to the city may be less inclined to visit as a result of their commentary. Or are they really just that petty and spiteful?

It would be much appreciated by the innumerable Cavaliers, and Cleveland fans in general if an apology is issued on the air.

It's rude, unfortunate, and simply untrue.

Comments > >