At this point Tiki Barber, TTNY (“The Toast of New York”), should replace Brett Favre as the most admired player in the NFL, and as the one who exemplifies the best of football culture. This guy plays amazingly well — last night when the Giants needed power running, he even did that. Barber has played at a high level for a long time. He never complains, refuses to blame others and never whines about his contract. He’s well-read and well-informed. He radiates the fact that he knows football is just entertainment, that there are a thousand things in the world that matter a thousand times more. An awful lot of football is idiotic or even harmful. Fairly it may be asked, “What has football produced that can be admired?” One answer is, “Tiki Barber.” Only Barber knows how his knees and ribs feel when he wakes up the day after a game — the morning after is always the worst. If his time to step aside is coming, so be it. But Tiki, you’re the bomb.
Amen. He had a fumbling problem a couple of years back, but aside from that Barber has been rock-solid for the Giants for years. He’s a great back, and a class act– no strutting, no preening, just good, solid football. He plays hard on game days, and says the right things every other day, and is generally a credit to the profession.
If Tiki is really going to retire after this year (and given the beating that running backs take, it’s hard to blame him if he does), I’m sure he’ll make a mint doing TV commentary (in an ideal world, he would replace the endlessly irritating Michael Irvin on ESPN). As a Giants fan, I kind of hope he changes his mind and comes back for a few more years, but whatever he decides to do, I wish him the best.
He was never really that good, though, was he? I thought he was one of those hyped-up guys who couldn’t quite deliver. “Thunder and Lightning” and all that.
Dude, you haven’t been paying attention recently. He leads the NFL in rushing this season.
Not only does he lead the NFL in rushing this season, he has every significant Giants rushing record, is close to 10,000 yards for his career (putting him in the company of people like Walter Payton and Jim Brown), and he led the league in total yards from scrimmage each of the last two seasons.
His career stats are here.
Well, go figure. I really thought he was a second tier guy, like Tom Brady.
There was some nice commentary in the MNF game about how he worked to change how/where he carried the ball to deal with the fumbling problem. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but it was a reduction of 20 fumbles to 2 in a similar stretch of games.
I heard that he was going to do more traditional newscasting, not just ESPN or ABC Sports.
I heard that he was going to do more traditional newscasting, not just ESPN or ABC Sports.
I hadn’t heard that, but it might be interesting, if he can pull it off. I assume he’d be looking for more of a Keith Olberman pundit show gig, rather than “…Tiki Barber reporting, Channel 5 Live at Five,” but I’m not quite sure anybody would hire him for that.
A buddy of mine here in NYC played lacrosse at UVA when the Barber boys were there tearing up the gridiron. He still hangs out with Tiki quite often and assures me that Tiki is a great guy and is very down to earth, and that his whole image is genuine and not a put-on. This makes it even easier to root for the guy. Go Big Blue!