Imagine for a moment that you’re a professional athlete.

You’ve just finished a long game. You’re sweaty, hot and tired. You retire to the locker room, where you can shower, change clothes and relax.

Well, maybe not.

After an Oct. 19 Houston Rockets exhibition basketball game at the University of Arizona, Charles Barkley went to his locker room, where he apparently showered and prepared to dress.

Barkley was told there was an interviewer waiting to talk to him, so, in an unusual attempt to be gracious to the media, he said the interviewer could come on in.

During the interview, Sir Charles took off his towel and put on his underwear. This is what happens in a locker room after a game. Nothing unusual.

Except, of course, when the interviewer is a woman.

Elizabeth Anderson, a self-described “reporter, interviewer and owner of a television ministry,” took offense to Barkley’s “evil sexual perversion” and filed a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Anderson decided that since she didn’t want to see all of Sir Charles, it was his responsibility to keep himself clothed. That would be fine, except he wasn’t in a public place. He was in the men’s locker room, and the interviewer entered of her own accord.

What is especially disconcerting about this incident is that Anderson is giving responsible female sports reporters a bad name. Most of them do in fact realize what they might see if they walk into a locker room.

If reporters can’t handle athlete nudity, they can easily wait for the athletes outside the locker room. This in no way discriminates against female reporters. In fact, athletes are probably more willing to talk when they are fully clothed.

Luckily, a federal judge agreed and found the lawsuit “frivolous.” Then, on Thursday, Jan. 22, Kevin Krejci of the Pima County Attorney’s office announced they won’t be pressing charges.

“It appears that Mr. Barkley did nothing more than dress where the victim could see him,” Krejci said. “She entered the men’s locker room voluntarily and knew it was a place where men would be undressing.”

No kidding.