Mike Celizic

Charles Barkley has always shown a practiced ability to say dumb things, but I always thought of him as a smart guy who knew exactly what he was doing.

So what’s a smart guy like him doing putting himself in a position in which a district attorney in Las Vegas can announce to the world that if Sir Charles doesn’t pony up $400,000 worth of gambling debts, the county is going to file criminal charges against him?

It’s important to point out that no charges have been filed, nor did Barkley do anything illegal. Acording to the D.A., Barkley spent two unprofitable days at the tables in the Wynn Las Vegas Casino. The casino did what casinos do best, which is separate people from their money, whether the customer actually has the money on hand or not. Barkley, the casino alleges, asked for four markers — loans — of $100,000 each over the two days. The casino obliged him.

According to a civil complaint filed by Wynn Las Vegas, Barkley has neglected to repay the $400,000. It apparently won’t become a criminal issue. Once the news broke, Barkley was tracked down at a golf outing, where he was undoubtedly amusing and amazing the paying customers with his unique swingus interruptus method of ball-striking.

“My mistake,” the Associated Press reports Barkley as saying. “I’m not broke, and I’m going to take care of it.”

That was about as well as he could handle it — no denials, no excuses, no whining, just, “Oops! I’ll take care of it.”

The problem for him is that it gets his name in the media in a negative light and makes people think that he’s got a gambling problem, which he has admitted is true. He has said that he’s dropped $10 million on various casino tables. While, as he’s noted, he can afford to lose that much, it doesn’t speak well for his perspicacity.

Barkley has talked for years about running for governor of Alabama some day. I don’t know about you, but I’d like my governor to be the sort who pays his bills on time and doesn’t throw money away for the same reason a dog licks its bits — because he can. That money he’s throwing around could be mine.

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Barkley knows athletes can get in trouble with gambling, too. His good buddy Michael Jordan has been raked through the tabloid muck for his gambling forays. Then there’s John Daly, who makes Barkley look like a low roller.

The standard line in such situations is to say that we’d think he’d have learned from the mistakes of others, including people he knows. We throw that one out there all the time. You’d think Roger Clemens would have learned about stonewalling Congress from the example of Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmiero. You’d think Barry Bonds would have learned about telling the truth to grand juries from the example of Marion Jones. You’d think A-Rod would have learned about the ubiquity of paparazzi from the endless examples of Britney Spears and other Hollywood stars.