Man: Yeah I'm excited about the Iron Bowl. War Eagle! Who are you cheering for?
Woman: Well, my son played basketball at Auburn for three years until he went pro, so War Eagle!
Man: Who is your son?
Woman: Charles Barkley
Followed was some overreacting by the man and who we think was his college aged daughter.
So yes, JP and I sat in front of the mother of Charles Barkley. If you aren't into sports, Charles played basketball for Auburn and then the NBA for 13 seasons. He was an All Star 11 times, MVP in 1993, and was ranked in the top 50 NBA players ever in 1996. Now you can find him on TNT as a commentator.
It was so interesting to listen to her conversations with the man over our 4 hour flight. From these conversations, I discovered that Charles' mom is a very humble woman who has not taken her sons fame to her head. She seemed just as proud of her son who coaches middle school basketball as she does Charles.
The man sitting next to her spent the entire 4 hours trying to impress her and trying to act cool. For example, "Yeah doesn't Charles play golf? I'm a member of this really nice country club. You need to have him call me the next time he is in town and we can play." Here is my favorite conversation between the two of them:
Man: Yeah, I just bought my mid-life crisis car. A porsche. Yeah I love that car.
Charles' mom: Yeah Charles tried to buy me a new car, but I told him I didn't need a new car. My 2004 Honda was running just fine.
I'm pretty sure that she was not impressed with the man.
In case, you were wondering how we knew this lady was really his mom and not just making it up:
1. The lady next to me, who is a hand therapist, knows Charles' mom because she treats her so she could verify.
2. She had several pictures of Charles in her wallet. She showed JP one of Charles when he was in college.
3. When we got our luggage, she was definitely being picked up by a driver... no not Charles like we hoped.
1 comment:
Haha wow! What a cool story!
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