Charles Barkley

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.

PHILADELPHIA'S first beloved No. 34 is very excited about Cliff Lee 's return to the Phillies. "It's great for the Philly fans," Charles Barkley told us yesterday. "As a fan, I just think that you want a legitimate shot to win every year. "The Phillies for the next three or five years are going to have a legitimate shot to win, and that's awesome," said the Sixers legend, now living in Arizona. We asked if Lee's having worn 34, Barkley's old Sixers number, made him more fond of the pitcher, and it turns out it does.

Philly fans love Charles Barkley. Considerably less so when he's strolling through the Lincoln Financial Field parking lots an hour before kickoff wearing a Redskins jersey. It was No. 5, but still . . . "I just want to give him the respect he deserves," the ex-Sixer said when asked about his Donovan McNabb jersey, which was sent to him by Skins owner Daniel Snyder. Hard-core/drunk Eagles fans were not so understanding. "You traitor! What are you wearing that shirt for?"

1. Billy Cunningham (1965, 4th overall) 2. Maurice Cheeks (1978, 36th) 3. Charles Barkley (1984, 5th) 4. Allen Iverson (1996, 1st)

Remember when you were a kid and your parents told you not to stare at the sun because it's harmful to your eyes? That's sort of how people treat the 76ers. The fans are taking the necessary precautions to avoid prolonged exposure. When Allen Iverson returned to Philly, the Sixers' attendance momentarily spiked, hitting approximately 20,000 for his first game back. After that, the numbers quickly plummeted, falling below 14,000 for the games against Detroit, Houston, and Golden State.

Former NBA star Charles Barkley was released from jail yesterday after serving a 3-day sentence on a drunken-driving conviction. Barkley left the Tent City jail in Phoenix just before 8 a.m., and avoided a group of reporters by leaving through another door, Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Brian Lee said. Barkley, a TNT studio analyst, reported to the jail Saturday morning wearing a blue warmup suit with red stripes. He was not required to wear a jail uniform.

Barkley returning Charles Barkley should soon be back in the studio, offering his familiar quips and one-liners. Barkley, 45, who faces drunken-driving charges, took a month's leave of absence from TNT's Inside the NBA after being arrested Dec. 31 in Scottsdale, Ariz. TNT said yesterday that it would bring the former 76er back to the studio soon after this weekend's telecast of the All-Star Game. No specific date was announced. Police said tests on the night of his arrest showed Barkley had a blood-alcohol content of nearly 0.15 percent.

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.

Charles Barkley is headed back to the tables in Las Vegas to play in a poker tournament about a month after pledging not to gamble. He says it's all for charity. The former Sixers star is scheduled to play in a celebrity poker tournament at the 2008 World Series of Poker on July 2. The "Ante Up for Africa" event is designed to raise money and awareness for the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. More than 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced since ethnic warfare began in 2003, according to the U.S. presidential envoy to Sudan.

Charles Barkley said last night he will stop gambling, at least for now, less than a week after acknowledging he owed a $400,000 debt to a Las Vegas Strip casino. "I like to go into Vegas, it's a fun place, but you know what, I've got to stop gambling. That's the bottom line," the Basketball Hall of Famer said during TNT's pregame show before Game 7 between San Antonio and New Orleans. "I am not going to gamble anymore. For right now, the next year or 2, I'm not going to gamble. " The Wynn Las Vegas resort alleged in a civil complaint filed Wednesday in a Nevada state court that Barkley failed to repay four $100,000 casino markers, or loans, received last Oct. 18 and 19. Clark County District Attorney David Roger said prosecutors would file a criminal complaint if Barkley did not pay the debt.