NBA Legend Shreds NFL 'Pigs' for Having Games on Christmas Day

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Another season, another NBA legend losing it on the NFL for daring to have football games on Christmas Day.

Charles Barkley, a basketball Hall of Famer, criticized league commissioner Roger Goodell for scheduling games on Christmas Day, accusing the league of greedily encroaching on the NBA’s alleged dominance of the holiday.

He wasn’t exactly subtle in his messaging either.

“The NFL got greedy and started adding Christmas games. We used to have this day to ourselves, but Roger Goodell and them pigs at the NFL always want to hog every day of the week now,” an irked Barkley told ESPN. “Christmas is an NBA day.”

And here I was thinking it was a holiday about spending time with family and friends while celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. How wrong was I?

NFL greedy on Christmas?

Look, there is some truth to Barkley’s comments. The NFL isn’t just greedy when it comes to Christmas Day, though they showed some signs of that this season.

This year, the league featured three Christmas games, including two streamed on Netflix and one on Amazon Prime Video, directly competing with the NBA’s schedule.

But it’s every day of the week at times. It used to be reliable Sunday schedules with one game on Monday night. Now, it’s multiple Monday nighters, unwatchable games on Thursday, and as the season progresses, they start adding Saturdays into the mix.

That said, Barkley’s claim that the NBA owns Christmas is a little absurd. It’s laughable to think that fans are legitimately planning out their day to watch basketball as they do with the NFL on Thanksgiving.

Christmas is neither the NBA nor the NFL’s day. It’s Christmas. It’s kind of a significant day when sports are background noise as families celebrate and spend time together. Again, I’m not defending the NFL on this one, but both leagues should shut it down on the most significant holiday on the calendar.

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Barkley not the only one

Charles Barkley isn’t the only one who is not thrilled that the NFL is playing games on Christmas Day. And certainly not the only NBA legend.

Enter Lakers star LeBron James, who last season declared his league was the one dominating that day.

“I love the NFL. I love the NFL. But Christmas is our day,” James told ESPN reporter Lisa Salters last Christmas.

Silly, LeBron. Nobody is watching horrid basketball on any given day of the season, let alone December 25th. So you certainly don’t own Christmas.

That’d be like the National Dog Show getting mad that there are NFL games on Thanksgiving because it’s ‘their day.’