{"id":72740,"date":"2025-10-13T22:59:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T22:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/72740\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T22:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T22:59:07","slug":"sir-charles-ribs-bp-at-bruce-barkley-basketball-auburn-tigers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/72740\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Charles ribs BP at Bruce, Barkley & Basketball – Auburn Tigers"},"content":{"rendered":"

OPELIKA, Ala. \u2013 Charles Barkley<\/a> could not \u2013 and did not \u2013 pass up the opportunity to tease Bruce Pearl<\/a> Monday at their 10th annual Bruce, Barkley & Basketball Golf Classic Presented by YellaWood.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey fellas, I\u2019ve got the interview over here with the coach,\u201d Barkley joked, loudly asking questions of Steven Pearl<\/a> not far from where Bruce Pearl<\/a> was speaking to reporters outside the Grand National clubhouse.<\/p>\n

Minutes later, Barkley doubled down when addressing participants before they teed off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know y\u2019all are thinking, why is Bruce Pearl<\/a> here still?\u201d Barkley said, drawing laughter.<\/p>\n

For both Pearls, the whole-hearted support from Auburn basketball\u2019s most famous alum is no laughing matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot just this program but this university,\u201d Steven Pearl<\/a> said. \u201cHe\u2019s the greatest ambassador in the history of Auburn University, Auburn Athletics, Auburn basketball. For him to be so proud, through thick and thin, of this university speaks to the character of him and who he is, and really what Auburn represents. There couldn\u2019t be a better person to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruce Pearl<\/a>\u2019s recent transition from head coach to special assistant to the athletics director gives Barkley a sidekick in championing Auburn.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a two-headed monster,\u201d Steven Pearl<\/a> said. \u201cYou have him and BP doing it at the same time. There really couldn\u2019t be a better time for Auburn to have two of the greatest ambassadors in the history of the university out there doing the same thing at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three weeks away from his debut as Auburn\u2019s head coach on Nov. 3 vs. Bethune-Cookman, Steven Pearl<\/a> and the Tigers play an exhibition game Wednesday vs. Oklahoma State in Birmingham\u2019s Boutwell Auditorium.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to test some of our toughness and physicality and see who rises to the occasion,\u201d Steven Pearl<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

Bruce Pearl<\/a> gave his son some fatherly advice as Steven prepares to fill his father\u2019s hall of fame shoes, the same advice BP received from his mentor, hall of fame coach Dr. Tom Davis<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. 1, do what we did on the court. Play the way we played. You understand the system. That\u2019s going to be no problem with Steven,\u201d he said. \u201cThe second thing is be yourself. Steven needs to be Steven Pearl<\/a>. He\u2019ll continue to do the things we do, on and off the court, because that\u2019s how he was raised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barkley, who led Auburn to its first NCAA Tournament appearance before becoming an NBA MVP, two-time Olympic gold medalist and basketball hall of famer, reflected on what Auburn has meant to him over the past 45 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAuburn has affected my life more than anything,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very unique place. I did not know what a family it was until I got here. I came here to play basketball and that turned out to be one of the best decisions I\u2019ve ever made because I got to play right away and that obviously helped me become a better player.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the years, I\u2019ve realized what an amazing family it is. I\u2019ve been all over the world and had people screaming War Eagle at me, it\u2019s special. When you\u2019re in Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan or China and somebody\u2019s screaming War Eagle at you, it\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OPELIKA, Ala. \u2013 Charles Barkley could not \u2013 and did not \u2013 pass up the opportunity to tease…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[51663,51666,85,46,263,105,21439,51664,51665],"class_list":["post-72740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-auburn","tag-auburn-tigers","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sec","tag-sports","tag-tigers","tag-war-eagle","tag-wareagle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}