I flew into Arizona today and as I was waiting for my bags, guess how walks up to talk to me? He was one of the greatest basketball players to ever play and one of the worst golfers of our time. Got it? Oh and one of the great guys in this world….Charles Barkley.

I used to live in Scottsdale AZ and I would see Sir Charles every now and then out for dinner, so it’s been a while, but it was so nice to visit with him about football. First thing he asked me was about Jay Cutler going to Chicago and if that is a good thing?

Well I posted my thoughts yesterday to this blog so those who have signed up know how I feel and I basically repeated the same thing.

He was funny about it because he was focused on the draft picks as well. We then started to talk about the state of professional sports and the money the current players make and how there are so many players that care about just the money and after they get it they are done.

He was telling me Pat Riley used to tell him I need players that want to dominate voluntary activities. I am paraphrasing what Sir Charles said but the point is you need to have players that are driven by the passion and love for there sport.

My son Beau was with me and he is an excellent basketball player so I asked Charles to give him some advice on what fundamentals he should work on to be the best basketball player he can be.

What he said was very interesting, if your right handed make sure your left hand is just as good as your right hand in all things, shooting, dribbling, passing. Also work on your shooting everywhere on the court in all situations.

We then started talking about how very few players ever want to work on their weaknesses but rather focus all day on their strengths. Great players make weak things strong. I know this post doesn’t have a lot to do about football but I just love it when I run into down to earth people.