Even with Giants in Super Bowl, Tiki has no regrets

When Tiki Barber left the field at the 2007 Pro Bowl, he knew he was walking away from football for good. Lucy Pemoni/Icon SMI

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Much of what you read in the lead to this column you won't believe. There is nothing I can do about that. Reminds me of the time last fall when Wade Phillips accused me of making up the quotes he told me about Spygate scarring the Patriots' success this year.

I said then that it was up to the readers: You could believe me or you could believe Phillips, who is a good man. So here goes with my pre-Super Bowl XLII column lead, featuring one of the biggest names who won't be playing in the game.

Tiki Barber does not miss football. He does not regret his decision to retire, even though the Giants have made the Super Bowl.

It's true. You can choose not to believe me if you'd like, but you'd be wrong.

Some of you may know that I work with Barber, the former great Giants running back, at NBC, and you'll think I'm only writing this because I'm either protecting him or I believe a lie he is telling me. Neither is correct. But I understand why you would feel that way.

I like Barber, and I've spent much of the fall defending him to staunch Giants fans who are mad as hell at him for criticizing coach Tom Coughlin on his way out last winter and for questioning the leadership of quarterback Eli Manning last summer. My feeling all along has been that once Barber signed to work for NBC, he was no longer a member of the Giants, and he was obligated to give his honest opinion about all 32 teams in the NFL, including the one he knew best, the Giants. When NBC signs your check, it's not a disloyal thing to criticize the coach you used to play for if you feel the criticism is legitimate, and it's not a disloyal thing to say Manning is a lousy leader if that's how you feel. It's not only not disloyal. It's honorable.

Each fall Sunday afternoon, the crew of the NBC Sunday night studio show sat in a fifth-floor viewing room at Rockefeller Center and watched football. Barber, the TV rookie, never longed for yesterday. I never once heard Barber say, "I really miss the guys,'' or "It'd be great to be sticking it to the Eagles today in Philly,'' or "The smell of the grass on a crisp fall Sunday -- that's what I miss.'' Nothing.

In midseason, Jon Gruden had a hole at running back and told Ronde Barber, Tiki's twin, to encourage his brother to consider coming out of retirement to play for the Bucs. No interest, Tiki told me. "I haven't lifted a weight since the end of last season,'' he said. "I've taken a few spinning classes, but that's it. I'm never going back.''

Maybe somewhere in Barber's depths he has an occasional pang about playing. But I never saw it for four months in the fall. And I didn't hear it when I asked him about it Sunday night.

"I have come to complete terms with my decision [to retire], and nothing has made me second-guess myself,'' he said, boarding a plane in Atlanta to return to New York. Barber spent Sunday in Atlanta, watching the NHL All-Star Game with his friend and representative, Mark Lepselter, who is in business with some hockey players. "I am very content with who I am and what I do. If I was still there, I'd be doing it for false reasons, and I'd be miserable.''

"No angst, with the Giants going to the Super Bowl?'' I wondered.

"No,'' he said. "It's not giving me angst. It's giving other people angst, but not me. I'm thrilled for the guys. Good for them. I wish them so much success. I love them getting to the Super Bowl. I was rooting for them like a fan last Sunday against Green Bay. When Lawrence Tynes missed that second field goal, I was feeling for him. I was thinking, I hope he gets to kick another one, like a 20-yarder, so he doesn't have to live with that the rest of his life and get crucified on the front pages of the New York papers.

"I remember talking to Michael [Strahan] maybe three, four years ago about our futures, and we said to each other that the only fear we had was not getting a chance to play for one [a championship] before we retired. I came to terms with that and was able to retire. It wasn't going to affect how I viewed my career. Michael couldn't come to terms with that, which is why he's still playing.

"I'm so glad he gets this chance to play in a Super Bowl again. But for me, it's not about football anymore. I'm passionate about what I'm doing now, and I realize that's what's so hard for people to understand. But it's fairly simple. I had lost my passion for playing football. I didn't want to do it anymore.''

People who love football -- everyone who reads this column, I'd assume -- can't fathom Barber being fine with being on the outside looking in at the Giants' success. But because you think Barber must be staring at the ceiling every night, wishing for a do-over so he could be playing the Super Bowl instead of working on the Today Show, doesn't make it true.

When athletes leave the game with tread left on the tire, we always wonder why. The truth is, not every person who plays a game for a living loves it. Some view it the way an insurance man looks at his job. Been there, done that. Even the hugely successful ones, like Barber, sometimes tire of a job we'd all kill for. And if it happens like that, it doesn't mean Barber's lying when he says he had to get out and doesn't regret missing Super Bowl Sunday with his mates. Folks, they're not all Junior Seau.

And if it comes up again where he's asked something about his former team, Barber will answer the way his gut tells him.

"I think some people confuse what I do for a living with what I used to do for a living, and have a misguided view of my loyalties,'' he said.

Not this week. He'll be all Giants. He just won't have the pads on, and won't ever again.

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