Charles Barkley on Adrian Peterson: "Every black parent in my neighborhood in the South

Charles Barkley and Jim Rome discussed Adrian Peterson on CBS’s NFL pregame show today, and the conversation was a study in the contrast between different upbringings.

Rome: Right is right, wrong is wrong. It doesn’t matter where you’re from.

Barkley: I don’t believe that, because we spank kids in the South. There’s a question if Adrian Peterson went overboard, but listen Jim, we all grow up in different environments. Every black parent in my neighborhood in the South would be in trouble, or in jail, under those circumstances.

Rome said that there’s a difference between child rearing and child abuse, and that this was the latter. “I’ve had many welts on my legs,” Barkley said. “I’ve gotten beaten with switches.”

Barkley differentiated between beatings and “whippings,” while Rome noted the differences between when Barkley was raised and today; Barkley said that was fair, but ultimately they agreed to disagree. The conversation was very interesting and mature, and Roger Goodell will not have an enviable decision to make if a Texas jury that was raised similarly to Peterson and Barkley acquits the Vikings running back on his charges.