Credit Charles Barkley and CBS Sports with appropriate perspective and restraint during their coverage of the latest installment of the NCAA Tournament.
They earned accolades and made news as a result.
Barkley stepped into action first. After analyst Doug Gottlieb put his feet firmly in his mouth when he offered a bad joke about "bringing diversity to the set" and offering a "white man's perspective" when joining the studio team, it could have initiated an onslaught of social media criticism.
OK, it did initiate such a response. Many bloggers, critics and fans responded immediately. Fellow analysts Greg Anthony, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, along with host Greg Gumbel (all of whom are black) either cringed, ignored or initially laughed off Gottlieb's nonsensical self introduction.
Still, people started piling on -- until Barkley stepped into the fray.
Gottlieb's remark came as last Thursday night's action was beginning, and Barkley's strong response came later in the night.
"I know this has nothing to do with the game. I want to say something about Doug Gottlieb," Barkley said. "He made a joke earlier tonight and people are going crazy. All those idiots on Twitter, which I would never ever do. Listen, me, Kenny and Greg Anthony and Greg Gumbel did not take that personally. So all you people at home who've got no life and are talking a bad about Doug Gottlieb, get a life. It's over with. It's no big deal."
Barkley was correct, and his candor saved a lot of headaches.
In the same manner, the weekend's biggest moment -- and clearly a big deal -- was the gruesome injury suffered by Louisville's Kevin Ware. When he came down after trying to block a shot in front of his team's bench, his right leg let loose -- a compound fracture with his leg bending where it should not past the top of his sock line. It was gruesome ... something people did not see again.
To its credit, CBS Sports showed the play twice and that was it. While the broadcast did not go to commercial, staying with coverage for nearly nine minutes, the production team did not sensationalize what had happened. It was a horrific injury, and the reactions of teammates, competitors and coaches was more than enough to tell the story.
In addition, sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson provided timely updates on Ware's status and the situation.
It was an appropriate approach -- measured, professional and well done. That was the case with Barkley's on-air defense of Gottlieb too.
Those two moments provided a highlight of the Sweet 16-to-Final Four weekend of the tournament for CBS Sports and even in a weekend with mostly lopsided games the approach made the coverage a success.
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