Charles Barkley pled guilty and will spend 5 days in jail and pay a $2000 fine for driving under the influence in Scottsdale, Arizona. Once again, one of the greatest athletes has let down many of the young kids who see athletes as role models. Unfortunately, Charles Barkley is one in a long list of athletes who just can’t improve the image and reputation of Black athletes — an image already tarnished by others such as O.J. Simpson and Michael Vick.

Money and fame are certainly a good thing, but the minds of rich and famous athletes is not always logical. Charles Barkley was very involved in the Obama campaign and talked about running for Governor. All these dreams and ambitions are dead. The first enemy of the great athlete is money. Money means power. But money also leads to stupidity. As the Bamileke of Cameroon say, “He who is drunk from wine can sober up, he who is drunk from wealth cannot.”