I Would Welcome Hearing More From LeVar Burton and Less From LaVar Ball and Charles Barkley

LaVar Ball and Charles Barkley, two grown men with a median age of 51, have beef. To be fair, the back and forth is mildly entertaining. Both were blessed with the gift of gab and showmanship.

Barkley just fired the latest salvo by vowing to wear the jersey of UCLA’s next opponent until the Bruins lose. The eldest Ball will surely respond and the dance will continue. At a certain point neither will have anything new to say and we’ll move on to the next thing.

But while we’re on the topic, it’s worth noting that the feud took an interesting and unpredictable turn tonight as LeVar Burton got drawn in via a poorly-aimed tweet.

That hashtag, by the way, denotes “but you don’t have to take my word for it,” Burton’s signature phrase from Reading Rainbow. If we get past the obvious joke about the similarity between Ball and Burton’s names, there might be a deeper realization.

And it’s that Burton probably has something far more valuable to contribute than Barkley and Ball. I would personally love to hear more from Burton and what he’s up to instead of two out-of-shape former basketball players challenging each other to one-on-one games while hoping no game ever materializes.

Surely Burton has some news on promoting children’s literacy to further the conversation of educating our next generation that could serve a public good. Surely there are great unsolved mysteries of the Star Trek canon he can shed some light on.

Any man whose personal website features a prominent image of himself touching a monarch butterfly a la the Sistine Chapel ceiling is an interesting and complex individual with much wisdom to share.

More Burton. Less Barkley and Ball.