INQUISITR.COM / Sports

Charles Barkley Disses Trump, As NCAA Brackets Are Presidential Tradition

By Amy Feinstein
Published on: 05:34 PST, Mar 13, 2017

Now that the brackets for the NCAA Tournament are in place, word has gotten out that President Trump won’t be filling out a chart. Taking part in the NCAA Basketball Tournament has become a presidential tradition, and people are asking questions about why Donald Trump is blowing off March Madness. Charles Barkley believes that Trump should have kept the tradition going, considering that both George Bush and Barack Obama happily got involved through ESPN with such a big American event, and even if the president doesn’t follow basketball, or understand how to fill out a chart, someone in his administration must.

Now, Charles Barkley has never been one to keep his thoughts to himself, about basketball or anything else, says the Inquisitr. Last year, when the Westboro Baptist Church went on another round of picketing at funerals because of tolerance for LGBT rights, Barkley stood up and put in his two cents. Barkley said he didn’t understand why those people think they speak for everyone, and he hoped someone would give them a beat down to shut them up.

Last month, ESPN invited Donald Trump to fill out his bracket live on air, as had been the tradition for years, but allegedly, the White House “politely declined,” says the Huffington Post. But Charles Barkley thinks that President Trump is making a mistake not participating in the tradition.

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After eight years with President Barack Obama, who was a big basketball fan, people are disappointed that the current president is not a sports enthusiast. Even if Donald Trump was uncomfortable doing his chart on the air, he still could fill one out for the record, just to play along, according to Barkley.

“He should do the bracket.”

And Charles Barkley is not only discouraged with Trump’s decision not to participate in the NCAA Basketball Tournament and chart. Barkley thinks that Donald Trump’s constant tweeting is weird, and says he is saddened by the Muslim travel ban, and the efforts to deport people.

“These are wonderful people.”

The Washington Post says that ESPN gave President Trump plenty of warning when they invited him back in February to do a chart for the NCAA Tournament. When Trump passed, ESPN put out a statement on the declined invitation.

“We expressed our interest to the White House in continuing the presidential bracket. They have respectfully declined.”

White House spokesperson Hope Hicks says that the White House might do something with ESPN in the future.

“We look forward to working with ESPN on another opportunity in the near future.”

ESPN said that they knew of nothing else coming up in the future, as the NCAA Tournament was the only thing they did with the White House. Andy Katz, the ESPN basketball analyst, says that none of this surprises him, because Donald Trump isn’t known as a college basketball guy, and that it was fun, particularly with President Obama because he was a fan, and followed the game. Obama didn’t always get it right, but he had fun with it.

“He wasn’t as dialed in to every player or team but had conversational knowledge to offer his own analysis on the NCAA tournament for the men’s and women’s game. Baracketology was a success because it was clear he was a fan of the sport and the NCAA tournament, like millions of other Americans.”

Not only did President Obama fill out a chart, and banter with the ESPN crew, he also made an effort to make an appearance at a game of two, for men’s and women’s NCAA basketball. Last year, President Obama made an appearance at an early round of the women’s NCAA Tournament at the University of Maryland to watch Princeton play.

Do you think President Trump should have made an effort to at least fill out a chart for the NCAA Basketball Tournament?

[Featured Image by Scott Halleran/Getty Images]

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