This is an opinion column.
He was on the sideline. Charles Barkley was surreptitiously observing as people lined up to receive a weekly food distribution in his hometown in Alabama.
“I kind of scouted from a distance, parked a ways away,” Barkley told me. “I was surprised, shocked really. People started lining up two hours in advance. I’m sitting here like, Man, I didn’t know we had people in Leeds like that — not that many. I was surprised that people don’t have food, to be honest. It was crazy. All these people in line — and I pretty much knew everybody. I was like, wow.”…