Charles Barkley Made Perfect Sense, Find a New Slant

Charles Barkley has been everything Turner/CBS wanted him to be throughout the NCAA Tournament, which is to say he's been an entertaining television personality who may or may not have a deep grasp of the collegiate game. You put Barkley on television because he's unpredictable and there are precious few things still authentically unpredictable these days. Viewers tune in hoping he'll rip the NCAA or call someone an idiot or announce that he's running for public office or ... really anything is in play.

During halftime of Baylor's semifinal blowout of Houston, Barkley treated the world to his unique form of analysis, which included a fresh new take on the X's-and-O's vs. Jimmies and Joes classic.

Reader, let me tell you, without shame, that I've listened to this several times. And each time I flip-flop on whether it makes sense or not. In the end, it's fair to admit you can see the shape of the objective fact Barkley is trying to point out.

Baylor and Gonzaga have special players and are far and away the two best college basketball teams in the country. Which we've known for months and have been trying to find new ways to say.

Barkley's way certainly qualifies.

This is why he's in the fancy chair and the rest of us are studying his words like the Riddle of the Sphinx on a couch that desperately needs to be reupholstered.