(Please accept my apologies.  For some odd reason I was having technical difficulties updating The Nation over the past few days.  This post was originally intended to go live on Friday.)

It wasn’t more than 24 hours ago that I was having a water cooler conversation with my co-worker in the Highbrid Media (@HighbridMedia) office about how impressed I was that Charles Barkley had lost so much weight on Weight Watchers.  He pointed out to me that Chuck was wearing all black, a notoriously slimming color and shot on a black background.  None the less impressive.

But it may not come as a surprise that Chuck’s more interested at how easy the endorsement is for him, calling it a “scam.”  Never one to hold any punches, the former NBA great turned heralded NBA broadcaster was caught joking with his co-hosts, Reggie Miller and Kevin Harlan about the endorsement during a break in Thursday’s Miami Heat vs. Atlanta Hawks triple overtime thriller.

“I have to lose two pounds a week. I’m at 38 pounds now. They come and weigh me every two weeks. I’ve never missed a weigh-in. I’m never going to,” Barkley begins. “I’m feeling much better. But I ain’t giving away no money. … I’m not giving away no free money. I thought this was the greatest scam going — getting paid to watch sports — but this Weight Watchers thing is a bigger scam.”

One thing we’ve gotta understand about Charles Barkley is he is making waaaaay more money in retirement than he ever did as a player.  Coming from meager beginnings its important to keep that in mind.  He sees all this stuff as a scam.  He knows how hard he had to work to reach the NBA and its only now that he’s reaping the fruits of those labors if never in championships, now financially.