This is an incredible find from Paulsen of Sports Media Watch and the Sports Fan Journal. Today Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson will appear on TBS’s coverage of the Final Four. 22 years ago, Barkley was making his analyst debut with EJ for TNT’s NBA Playoff coverage. This video of Chuck shows his debut as a guest studio analyst for TNT during the 1992 NBA Playoffs.
At the time, Barkley was in the middle of his Hall of Fame playing career, yet here he is in a very small and dark studio with his future partner. It’s amazing how far studio coverage has come in 22 years.
At least one of them had more hair back then…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhBAe56i4zQ
Those early 90’s graphics and music are really something. Barkley offered some prophetic words by saying to Doug Collins, “You got a scam going. This is a lot easier than playing or coaching.” To this day there’s nobody that makes being a television analyst look so easy.
Barkley is so soft-spoken in this clip it’s almost jarring, but you see a few of the traits that would make him the most entertaining analyst of his day.
