Round Mound walks away Honorable, and sometimes dishonorable, Charles Barkley was always fun

As I wake up this morning, I come to realize that something is missing. That something is the honorable (and sometimes dishonorable, but always fun) Sir Charles Barkley.

This season started with such promise for the Rockets. The cancer was gone. We finally had a point guard. Hakeem Olajuwon was in good shape. And the Round Mound of Rebound was on a mission to bring home a championship in his final season. But it was not to be and this season of hope ended on that cold (they were playing in Philly, not Texas) December night when Charles went down with a ruptured quadriceps tendon.

Or so we thought. The despair for this Rockets team eventually turned back into hope as we found Charles' successor, a brash young trash-talking rookie with the game to back it up, a guy by the name of Stevie Franchise. And we began to see Sir Charles' influence on this team as the cockiness shown thru, but they worked hard and had fun, even when they were losing. And now the future looks bright for the Rockets.

And last night we found out it wasn't over for Sir Charles either. He wouldn't let that freak accident end his career. He would walk off the court on his terms... and walk off he did to a standing ovation from the Houston crowd who loved him so much.

I have had a love hate relationship with Charles Barkley during his time here in Houston. Until this past year, I thought he hurt this team more than he helped them with his style of play and his controversial attitude. But this year, as the rebuilding process began, I saw that Charles was the one person I wanted these young players to learn from, even more than Hakeem.

His numbers are indisputable. One of only three players with 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists, Barkley has career averages of 22.3 points and 11.7 rebounds. He ranks 13th on the all time scoring list with 23,757 points and 15th on the all time rebounding list with 12,546. All this from a man who was many times 6 inches shorter than the man he was guarding.

The knock on Charles the last couple of years has been that he never won a championship. To that I say, neither has Ernie Banks or Karl Malone or Dan Marino or Ken Griffey, Jr. And Steve Kerr has more than one. Championships never has been and never will be a way to measure a player. Rudy said it best last night when he said Charles Barkley had the "heart of a champion" and it was only fitting that he end his career on the team that has come to epitomize the phrase.

I have long been a fan of Hakeem Olajuwon. He is what brought me to the Rockets oh so many years ago. And although I rooted for him because he was on my team, I can honestly say I was never a fan of Sir Charles Barkley.

But today, as I wake up with a heavy heart, I come to realize one thing.

I am a fan, a fan of the best little man to ever play this game. Charles, thanks for the memories. You will be missed.