Tag: tiki barber

Categories
New York Giants

Tiki Barber "helped" the G-Men win the Super Bowl, just ask him


It’s not that we give a flip about the Patriots, but we just aren’t particularly fond of the Giants. So, when New York pulled off the upset on Super Bowl Sunday, we were hit with a tidal wave of mixed emotions. In the end, we found what gave us solace was 1.) knowing Jeremy Shockey was injured for the big game and could take absolutely no credit for the shocker, and 2.) Tiki Barber must have wanted to jump right in front of a moving bus. Well, believe it or not (we say not), Barber claims to be cool with missing out on getting a giant ring. But, at the same time, it sounds to us like he’s expecting one in the mail at any moment.

I feel great joy for them because I know in a lot of ways I helped a lot of guys on that team,” Barber said. “I know Brandon was someone who benefited from me being there; even criticizing someone is a way of getting them to think about themselves.

After all, it was Barber’s stern words for Tom Coughlin that got the ball rolling. But Tiki doesn’t need to tell you that because apparently he’s not the only one drinking his own Kool-Aid.

Last summer, a current Giants veteran, who is a member of Coughlin’s advisory board of players, confirmed the effectiveness of Barber’s outspokenness in an e-mail message. Under the subject line of “Miss U,” the message read:

“You would be happy to know all your work paid off for us. Tom has been unbelievably cool this year. Took us bowling last night instead of meetings and just been joking around and busting on guys all the time. You would be impressed by his transformation.

And Eli Manning’s MVP trophy; Tiki might be responsible for that too.

I asked Barber if he thought his criticism of Manning helped prod him out of a shell. “I don’t know, cause Eli doesn’t pay attention, ” Barber said laughing. “In this case, it made him stand up and I guess become aware.

Links:

[Awful Announcing]: Tiki Barber Finally Says What We All Know He Was Thinking
[NYTimes.com]: For Barber and Giants, a Parting, Then an Embrace

Categories
NFL General

Peyton Manning puts in his two cents on Tiki Barber

Apparently the Tiki Barber/Eli Manning feud has reached a point where the normally reserved Peyton Manning has decided to step up to the plate for his little bro. But Peyton didn’t let his sharp tongue sting only Barber as he decided to take a shot at virtually all former players who decide to join the media upon retirement.

Ex-players truly become ex-players right away, the No. 1 job is to criticize players,” said Peyton Manning, who had his ability to lead publicly questioned several years ago by the former Colts place-kicker Mike Vanderjagt. “I’m pretty defensive of all quarterbacks. Eli is my brother. I’m very loyal to my family. I’d rather you criticize me. I don’t think anybody knows what it’s like to be a quarterback except a current quarterback. Sometimes former quarterbacks forget what’s it’s like. You cannot play quarterback at any level — you’re in a leadership position. To do it for three years in high school, three years as a starter in college, taking your team to the playoffs — you are a leader and you’re a good leader.

Manning added: “It’s supposed to be a code, teammates to teammates. That’s the problem we’re going to have with ex-players going to the media. When I retire, I know what I don’t want to do.

Boy, are we relieved to hear that! We were so afraid that Peyton would waste his time in a studio with Chris Berman or Bob Costas after he hung `em up. Hopefully this means that he’ll be focusing on his acting career once his playing days are over.

Links:

[NYTimes.com]: Manning Makes Strong Defense of Manning

Categories
Texas Rangers

Odds and Ends: Six Degrees of Kenny Lofton


We stumbled upon this amazing stat today on InsideBayArea.com: 87% of active players have roomed with Lofton. How is that even possible? That’s gotta be a misprint right? He’d be like the Derek Jeter Justin Timberlake of baseball, hitting hotel rooms with everyone in sight. We think the writer was using one of them artistic license thingamajigs. Nonetheless, it’s pretty amazing the number of unis Lofton has donned over the years.

Kenny Lofton broke into the majors in 1991 with the Astros, spent 9 seasons with the Indians (with a stint in Atlanta to break up the monotony) and since then has played for a different team (or two) every season. 2002: White Sox, Giants. 2003: Cubs, Pirates. 2004: Yankees. 2005: Phillies. 2006: Dodgers. 2007: Rangers. Wow. What a baseball ho.

In other news:

[Portfolio.com]: Athlete stock exchange? It’s one way for college players like Kevin Durant to get paid.

[SignOnSanDiego]: Teenage matador who left Spain because they ban teenage matadors gets gored by bull in Mexico. Of course.

[Flash Warner]: In case you needed more evidence that Bode Miller is a bitch.

[Yay Sports]: Sure, Danny Ainge has made a mistake… or 5.

[The Hater Nation]: Damn, you’d think Tom Coughlin shtupped his wife or something. Give it a rest, Tiki.

And finally, a couple of youtube videos that prove that video blogging is a BAD BAD idea. First, a Cowboys fan calls out an Eagles blogger. And then an Eagles fan(?) compares Eagles fans and Cowboys fans to Shiite and Sunni muslims and asks, can’t we just get along?

Categories
New York Giants

Tiki throws Tom under the bus



Practice? Practice? We talking
’bout practice!

Most people who quit their jobs just go quietly and try not to burn any bridges. But Tiki, with his new television contract doesn’t have any worries about running into Tom Coughlin again so he decided he might as well take a (veiled) parting shot as Coughlin.


Coach Coughlin is very hard-nosed, and I didn’t get a lot of time off, couldn’t sit down and rest myself, and so it was a constant grind – a physical grind on me that started to take its toll. The grind took its toll on me and really forced me to start thinking about what I wanted to do next. And that’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing, for me at least. Maybe not for the Giants, because they lose one of their great players, but for me, it is.

There’d be days where I couldn’t move on Tuesday or Wednesday at practice, and he’d get mad at me for going half-speed. And I told him, ‘Coach, I can’t do it. I’m gonna be out here, I’m never gonna miss a practice, but I can’t give you what you want all the time.’ And he understood.

We were in full pads for 17 weeks, and with the amount of injuries that we had, it just takes a toll on you. You just physically don’t want to be out there when your body feels the way you do in full pads. And while it probably doesn’t have a really detrimental effect on how you practice or how you play, it does on your mind. And if you lose your mind in this game, you lose a lot. And that’s something that he has to realize. And I think he does [now].

First of all, we love how Tiki calls himself one of the great Giants players without hesitation. Second, Tiki must still have a lot of good friends on the team because this statement was calculated to give them a break next year and perhaps a permanent break once Coughlin is fired after the 2007-2008 season.

Links:
[NY Post]: QUITTIN’ TOM

Categories
New York Giants

Say it isn’t so Tiki!


Last week we said, “we kinda like Tiki Barber” — he walks away at the top of his game, calls Michael Irvin an idiot… And of course, what happens? A story comes out in the NY Post that he’s completely pussy whipped. Nice Tiki, real nice.


Tiki Barber’s wife was the catalyst behind the Giants star’s decision to hang up his helmet. A longtime friend of Barber says she made him afraid he’d suffer a catastrophic injury that would turn him into a lousy dad. The 205-pound running back is heading for the broadcasting booth at age 31 because Ginny Barber has been “nagging him for a long time – and with others present – that he’d better retire before he has a crippling injury,” Barber’s friend says. If that happened, Ginny told him, “he couldn’t participate in raising his children.

This story makes us sad. Like when rock stars have kids and start making shitty music.

Categories
New York Giants

Michael Irvin and Tom Jackson respond to Tiki


After being called an idiot for the 5,608,874th time, Michael Irvin has decided to address Tiki Barber’s rant. In the New York Post today, Irvin defended his criticism of Tiki’s retirement announcement.


It kills his ability to lead. He is the leader of that football team. If I am a young guy and we are in a battle and we are banging heads and we are fighting. I’m out there getting hit and being hit and we are in a tough spot in a football game.

If I am in the line of battle and Tiki comes to me and says, ‘Come on, give me what you have!’ I’m going to look at him and say, ‘Aww, shut up. What are you talking about? You are quitting on us.’ This stuff will come out on the sideline.

Tom Jackson, for his part, said, “I thought that the name-calling seemed a bit unnecessary.” You gotta love Tom Jackson. It’s a shame he has to be paired alongside the unbearable Chris Berman.

To a man, the Giants have all said that Tiki’s retirement announcement has not been a distraction. Antonio Pierce said, “There is no quit in that guy. He is still our leader on offense.” And Plaxico Burress said, ” don’t feel it has been a distraction at all. I’m sure everyone can see the way he is playing, the way he is running.” Having Plaxico Burress commenting on anyone quitting is ironic since he’s liable to quit at any point in the season. At least with Tiki, you know you’ll get his all for the rest of this season.

Links:
[NY Post]: TV ‘IDIOTS’ FIRE BACK AT BARBER

Categories
New York Giants

Tiki Barber takes Michael Irvin off Christmas card list



idiot

We’ve always kind of liked Tiki Barber. As far as NY players go, he’s the one you least want to kill. So it comes as no surprise that he actually gets it and isn’t afraid to lash out at the retarded media and ESPN.

I will call them ‘idiots’ because they have neither spoken to me nor any one of my teammates or any of my coaches, yet all they do is criticize me for being a distraction with this retirement thing.

That includes [Daily News columnist] Gary Myers, that includes Tom Jackson on ESPN, that includes the ultimate character guy, facetiously speaking, of course, Michael Irvin [of ESPN], please get a clue how to be a journalist. Don’t make blanket assumptions about it.”

Barber then sarcastically wondered whether he looked distracted in helping the Giants beat the Cowboys Monday night.

Did Tiki really have to add “facetiously speaking, of course”? You’d have to be some kind of idiot to think that anyone would call Michael Irvin a character guy and be serious. Well, some kind of idiot or Deion Sanders. In the NFL version of hell, you’d have Deion, Irvin and Sean Salisbury doing the pregame.

Links:
[Newsday]: Tiki calls critis “idiots”

[Newsday]: Irvin: Retirement makes Tiki quitter