NBA Barkley pays bet with kiss

He had made a bet that Yao Ming wouldn't score 19 points in a game this year.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Charles Barkley kissed a donkey's backside on television Thursday night, paying off a debt for his errant prediction that Yao Ming would not score 19 points in a game this season.
"I'm a man of my word," Barkley said before he puckered up and pecked Shorty, a mild-mannered donkey from the Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn, Ga.
"He's doing OK this morning. He got a little excited when Charles kissed him," reported Codi Reeves, the donkey's handler.
Reeves trucked Shorty to Atlanta and made an appearance with the donkey. Oddly, Barkley chose to kiss the rear of the animal.
There was some confusion over whose backside Barkley was supposed to kiss.
Two weeks earlier, Barkley told fellow TNT studio commentator Kenny Smith that he'd kiss Smith's backside if Yao scored 19.
But the following week, when Barkley said "If he gets 19 points in a game, I'll kiss his ass right here," Barkley neglected to mention that he was referring to Smith.
Viewers who had not seen the show the previous week were left with the impression that Barkley was referring to Yao.
Rented the donkey
Turner Sports spent about $500 to rent the donkey, which wore a sign that said "Kenny's" around its neck. It was a humorous way to allow Barkley to technically fulfill his promise.
"This thing took on a whole life of its own," TNT spokesman Jeff Pomeroy said.
Yao, meanwhile, is beginning to win some converts following his performances Sunday in Los Angeles (9-for-9, 20 points) and Thursday in Dallas (30 points, 16 rebounds).
In his past five games, Yao has made 30 of 34 shots, the second best five-game shooting percentage in a single season in NBA history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.