The Haney Project

I confess not only to having watched the Haney Project last week, but also to having been amused by it.

Charles Barkley's swing is so frightfully bad that the first instinct is to suspect he's swinging that way on purpose. That said, he's had it on public display so often, and at a threat to those in the gallery, that it can't be a put-on. Can it? One doesn't always know with Barkley, of course.

The show works principally because of the combination of Haney's reputation and Barkley's personality (and horrific swing). Apparently it received a substantial audience on the Golf Channel, which said it was the most-watched premiere episode of a Golf Channel original series in the network's history.

The show's success raises an obvious question: Will it spawn a Haney Project II? Count this as a vote for one-and-out. There isn't a swing pitiful enough, belonging to a personality large enough, to rate an encore to Barkley.

-- John Strege