Barkley Has Fans Singing The Boos

Boo your lungs out. Give Charles Barkley your best shot. Chant in unison, all 14,000 of you.

Come on, let's hear it. A one, and a two and a "Barkley sucks. Barkley sucks. Barkley sucks."

Bring it on. Sir Charles loves every drop of your venom. He feeds on it. He takes each shot like Muhammad Ali rope-a-doping George Foreman.

Then delivers his own knockout punch.

"Myself and Danny Ainge thrive on that crowd," Barkley said after yesterday's Phoenix Suns' workout. "Me and Danny are the only two guys on this team who are flat-out crazy. I think it's exciting going into the other buildings and they're hostile.

"It's a great basketball environment up here and I just love it. Ninety percent of the fans here are great and 10 percent are idiots."

He rolls into the crowd after a loose ball and comes out of the crowd returning its curses.

He stands at the free-throw line and conducts the Coliseum's loon symphony in another chorus of "Barkley sucks." Then he drops in a free throw.

"Nothing bothers him," Phoenix center Oliver Miller said. "All he was talking about before the game, he said it was going to be a packed house, the fans were going to hate him and he's going to love it. All they do is make him play harder."

Barkley walks back on the floor for the second half and the lunatic fringe hurls insults and drinks at him.

"They dropped a beer on one of our coaches last night, which was brutal," he said. "They hit Scotty (Robertson). That's not right. How can they do something to Scotty?

"I mean, I don't mind if they throw something on Tom Chambers, or somebody, but not Scotty. You can throw beer on Lionel (Hollins) or Paul (Westphal). They're young and they can handle it. But Scotty?"

Barkley is the Suns' lightning rod. He absorbs all the heat and takes the pressure off his teammates.

Sir Charles loves the hostility. He could drop the game-winning free throw in the middle of an English soccer crowd. He could whistle through a fire fight.

Booing won't beat him.

"You don't come to the game to (harass) the players and use profanity," Barkley said. "You come to watch the game. But there is that 10 percent that comes to drink and (harass) the other players.

"If somebody curses me, there's a hundred percent chance they're going to be cursed back. It's not fair. It's not all the fans. But if one guy says something to you, you're going to say something back."

You curse him. He'll curse you. Then he'll slither around Shawn Kemp and rebound a missed Kevin Johnson free throw and score to give Phoenix a late 100-95 lead.

He'll do the dirty work. Barkley had 16 points, 16 rebounds and 4 steals in 42 leather-tough minutes Friday. He isn't scoring in MVP bundles. He isn't rumbling down the lane. Most of his points are coming from perimeter jumpers.

He is averaging only 17.3 points per game in the Western Conference finals. But the Suns lead the Sonics 2-1 and as Barkley draws Seattle's double-team attention, his teammates are making the Sonics pay.

"The Sonics are doing a good job on me. I have to give them some credit," Barkley said. "They double me every time I get the ball. I'd love to drive, but every time I get ready to drive, there's a guy coming toward me."

He is Phoenix's go-to guy. The ingredient the Suns never have had. The ingredient the Sonics still don't have.

"You've got to have a guy to go to," he said. "A guy who can make plays or create plays for other people. Like right now, I'm kind of a conductor out there, drawing double teams and allowing other guys to make plays.

"I think if you have a guy who, one hundred percent, you know they're going to double, it's definitely a comfort level for your teammates."

"Barkley sucks. Barkley sucks."

You really think that bothers him? Causes him to question his confidence? You really think he stands at the free throw line thinking, "Gee, where have I gone wrong? When did I lose their love? How can I get it back?"

Sir Charles is laughing at your crying game.

Barkley's going to stick a jump shot in your face. He's going to snatch a rebound out of Kemp's hands and giggle his way downcourt.

"The more hostile the environment the better," Barkley said. "As an athlete, there's nothing better than shutting these people up. Nothing better. I love that hostile environment."

Jeer him. Curse him. Howl yourself hoarse. You're playing Barkley's game. You're turning your house into his house.

"I wanted the crowd's attention on me last night and not on the team, so the other guys can go out and play," Barkley said. "I don't even think the crowd realized there was a game going on. They were so consumed with trying to mess with me. I can put them around my little finger."

He's rope-a-doping you. Figure it out. You can't beat him at this game.