Charles Barkley

The dapper doorman did not set out to class up the city single-handedly with his blinding-white nylon gloves. But since he has, and since I asked, Leroy Mickens II shares that the key to that gleam is a nightly soak in Dawn detergent, a morning scrub (one gloved hand washing the other), and air drying. "I have eight pairs, so I always have a spare with me if they get dirty," Mickens says between taking requests from guests at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel across from City Hall.

CHARLES BARKLEY says Donovan McNabb has never received the credit or respect from Eagles fans he deserves. Doubts he ever will. Barkley understands what a love/hate relationship with Philadelphia fans can be like. He spent his first eight NBA seasons with the 76ers. He played hard, played aggressively, said what he thought, didn't always think before he said it. Heard from everybody, at both ends of the spectrum, so to speak. But he was out and about then, and still is. Sixteen years after leaving the Sixers, completing his career with the Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets, he still maintains a home in the area.

"I don't look at myself as a peacemaker," Charles Barkley was saying earlier in the season. "I look at myself as an intimidator. Intimidation is important in this sport, and I can intimidate as well as anybody in this league. " Contrary to his tough talk, Barkley, the former 76er who'll lead the Phoenix Suns into tomorrow's nationally televised game against his old team at the Spectrum (Channel 3, noon), did, in fact, attempt to serve as a peacemaker during Tuesday's brawl-marred 121-92 rout of the visiting New York Knicks.

Leave it to Charles Barkley to do the unexpected. On the day the Sixer-turned-Phoenix Sun was announced the landslide winner in the NBA's Most Valuable Player voting, Barkley said he might just retire after this season. Barkley, speaking at a news conference, said the MVP award was an honor but would not mean as much as a championship. And if the Suns win the title this year, their star forward wouldn't rule out leaving the game. They have a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference final with Seattle.

NEW YORK - Ernie Johnson stood in front of the room with a microphone in hand. Jim Nantz - who, a little earlier, revealed he was taking painkillers for back pain and was "channeling his inner Charlie Sheen" as a result - was to his left. The NCAA tournament will be different this year. CBS Sports and Turner Sports are partnering to broadcast all the games in real time across four networks: CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV. The move is long overdue. No more screaming at the television after some mindless executive makes the inexplicable call to switch to a blowout rather than stay with a game that's close and exciting.

The team doctor says you have to rely on the patient. The team trainer holds his breath on every drive down the lane. And Charles Barkley himself isn't even sure he's doing the right thing. Despite the uncertainty - and the anxiety of some members of the organization - Barkley returned to action for the 76ers on Friday night after almost three weeks, and he says he'll play again this evening against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis (Channel 17, 6:05). "There are no guarantees," Barkley said.

Nearly a full year has sprinted downcourt and out the tunnel exit since Charles Barkley removed his 76ers jersey, issued a few more ultimatums and left the Spectrum for the last time as the greatest blessing/curse in the history of Philadelphia sports. Time goes by on a fastbreak, leaving little opportunity to look around. So while the Sixers have been schlumping toward their worst record in two decades, there's a lot we've been missing from Charles Barkley. He's been out there on Golf Standard Time, saying the same kinds of things that decorated his eight seasons in Philadelphia and doing some of the same kinds of things.

The roof wasn't on fire. Not like the old days in the Spectrum, when the flames that leapt from the passionate play of Charles Barkley roared through the stands and the city's heart melted. That was another time, but this was pretty good, too. The Sixers threw a lovefest for Barkley last night, officially retiring his number and raising it to the top of the First Union Center, where the player only visited as a guest. He's up there now, swaying ever so gently next to Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Bobby Jones, Billy Cunningham and Mo Cheeks.

For the first time in 10 years, the Most Valuable Player in the NBA is not named Bird, Johnson or Jordan. Presiding over this transition is a gifted forward who may have played his best basketball in Philadelphia but who is now playing his winningest basketball in Phoenix. "If this is all it took to get the award, I should have gotten traded sooner," Charles Barkley said yesterday when the league announced that he had easily outdistanced Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing to win this year's honor.

The U.S. NBA all-star team finally found a team it can look good blowing out. The Chinese entered last night's Olympic game with a deceptive 2-1 record, with wins over Angola, the weakest team in the Games, and Argentina, noted more for good steaks than basketball players. They lost to Croatia by 31. The United States, which has played without interest so far in running up a 3-0 record, turned on the jets and ran to a 37-point lead over China at halftime. The Dream Team went on to win, 133-70, before an Olympic basketball record crowd of 34,417, the first sellout at the Georgia Dome.

Q: Charles, I recently got back into shape after many years of neglecting my health. When I started exercising and eating better, I figured my husband might get the hint and join me. He hasn't, and I worry about his health. What's the best way to get him off the couch? —Exercising in Exton A: Nag, nag, nag. Nag him till he gets his big butt off the couch and starts shaping up. Leave him a carrot on his pillow. Start leaving newspaper and magazine articles on healthy dieting and exercising around the house for him to see. Talk to him about it. Seriously, there is so much information out there about maintaining a healthy lifestyle I just don't see why people wouldn't want to get on track.

The dapper doorman did not set out to class up the city single-handedly with his blinding-white nylon gloves. But since he has, and since I asked, Leroy Mickens II shares that the key to that gleam is a nightly soak in Dawn detergent, a morning scrub (one gloved hand washing the other), and air drying. "I have eight pairs, so I always have a spare with me if they get dirty," Mickens says between taking requests from guests at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel across from City Hall.

HEY MITT, you might as well concede the presidential election now — Charles Barkley says you don't have a chance. Barkley, a former Sixer turned NBA analyst and SportsWeek columnist, is already calling November's election in favor of President Obama. Barkley was part of TNT's broadcast team for Sunday's Celtics-Hawks game when the camera showed Romney, the Republican nominee, in the Boston Garden crowd. "Mitt Romney. Listen main man, we're going to beat you like a drum in November," Barkley said over-the-air.

Above all else, Villanova's Jay Wright took one thing away from last week's 3-day experience working in Atlanta as a studio analyst for the NCAA Tournament coverage on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. "As much as I enjoyed it, I learned how much I love coaching," he said. "And they said that to me when I left. They said they thought I did a great job, but we hope we don't have to use you again [next year]. And I said, 'Well I hope I don't see you either.' " This was the first time Wright's Wildcats (13-18)

DAVY JONES , who died last Wednesday, had been scheduled to appear at Wizard World Philadelphia in June at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, show organizers said yesterday. The Monkees singer and former Daily News Sexy Single was 66. Wizard World promoters expressed condolences to his family. Jones was a popular guest at the 2009 Wizard World Comic Con in New York and had been booked to appear at its conventions in Philadelphia and Chicago this year.   Car-wash blues Throughout his long NBA coaching career Larry Brown offered tips to many players, but we're told he is less generous with his tips at the Bryn Mawr Car Wash (931 W. Lancaster)

AS THOUGH dudes weren't already jealous a few years ago when former NBC10 anchor/reporter Jamison Uhler was dating then-Fox 29 anchor Kerri-Lee Halkett , we can now report that Uhler is seeing NBC10 meteorologist Sheena Parveen . Play on, Playa. Uhler, who now works at the ABC station in Tampa, Fla., met Parveen when she was worked in her native Tampa last year. The pair began dating a few months before Parveen started at NBC10. Sources say Uhler has been up here to visit her a few times since.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - today! - to Sir Charles Barkley. The controversial but well-loved former Sixers power forward, a/k/a the no-longer-so-round Round Mound of Rebound traveled quite a ways in his nearly 50 years, from Alabama to Philly, the court to the commentator's booth, Taco Bell to Weight Watchers. He's by far our favorite advice-giver in the DN's SportsWeek. But this week, the stars have some advice for him: Keep on keeping up your ends of deals, and you'll gain a whole new level of respect.

JEREMY LIN plays a week for the New York Knicks, sets all kinds of records and gets a special invitation to play in the Rising Stars Challenge game, which features rookies and second-year players during All-Star Weekend. The Sixers' Evan Turner is in his second year in the league and is a key contributor off the bench for a Sixers team that is surprisingly leading the Atlantic Division with a 20-10 record. But if the choosing of sides for the game is any indication, Lin and Turner are light years apart.

The sports world looks glamorous from afar. But remember, so does Heather Locklear. For all its glossy exterior, there is a seamier side to sports, one the public doesn't typically encounter. That dark world is populated by many whose jobs demand that only the bravest, lamest, dumbest, or most desperate need apply. Among them: Locker-room attendants: The plus side is they get an insider's view of pro sports. The downside is they get an insider's view of pro sports.

Late Show With David Letterman (11:35 p.m., CBS3) - Robert Downey Jr.; Rooney Mara. The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (11:35 p.m., NBC10) - Charles Barkley; Berenice Bejo; Amber Riley. Jimmy Kimmel Live (midnight, 6ABC) - Jane Fonda; Russell Brand; Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real perform. Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (12:37 a.m., NBC10) - Tina Fey; Tom Welling; Twin Shadow performs.