If Tiki Barber was still with the New York Giants, they would not have made it to the Super Bowl, the former NFL star and current TODAY correspondent and "NBC Football Night in America" analyst told TODAY producer Dan Fleschner.
"All I can feel is excited for them, because I didn’t have the passion for playing anymore," Barber said. "They probably wouldn’t have made it here with me, because I would have been detrimental to the team."
Barber said he wishes his former teammates well and wants the fans to know that as a journalist he is objective, but at heart he is a "Giant through and through" and always will be.
You can read the full Q&A below:
Dan Fleschner, TODAY producer: This is your first Super Bowl in retirement mode. We’re a couple days away from the game, but how is the experience so far?
Tiki Barber: It’s cool. For the first time, because I was in sports journalism instead of on the field, I paid attention to the entire season. Every team, every game. So I had a better comprehension of each team. Usually, as a player, you don’t pay attention. But as a journalist, you can see why teams made it where they are, and their different stories. It makes it very interesting.
DF: So why did these teams make it this far?
TB: With the New England Patriots, they don’t make mistakes and they have better talent than most teams. And they have a coach who mentally can take them where they need to be, no matter the circumstances. Whether they’re playing poorly or playing great, he finds a way to do it.
With the New York Giants, it was interesting, because they were a roller coaster team this year. Even though they were winning games, they were winning ugly. But they played a meaningless game at the end of the season against the Patriots, and they found themselves. They found a game plan that complemented their quarterback, running back, defensively, and they carried that momentum and sense of destiny all the way to the Super Bowl against improbable odds.
DF: How do you think it’s going to feel watching your old teammates playing on Sunday night?
TB: It’s gonna be exciting, it really is. I’ve been asked this question all week, how do I feel not being a part of it. All I can feel is excited for them, because I didn’t have the passion for playing anymore. They probably wouldn’t have made it here with me, because I would have been detrimental to the team. So it’s great for them that they found a way to come together, despite some of the losses – myself, Jeremy Shockey and his ankle injury, Mathias Kiwanuka and his leg injury – and had some players step up to have some really huge years.
DF: You’ve said that you have no regrets about leaving the game, you don’t wish you were out there. Are you surprised that a lot of people have said that they don’t believe you?
TB: I’m not surprised, because it’s human nature to doubt. Especially in New York, where negativity reigns sometimes, people don’t always trust in what others say. But I don’t mind it. I know I left for the reasons that were right for me, and I think people who are observing have a harder time accepting it than I do myself.
DF: Let’s touch on the whole Eli Manning thing from earlier in the season. Do you have any regrets about what you said or how you said it?
TB: Not regrets, because you can’t ever regret what you say. But how it was portrayed was regretful. I think [New York Daily Newscolumnist] Bob Raissman said this, that more people claimed to have seen what I said about Eli than actually saw it. Reading it a newspaper or hearing it in a different light, it sounds malicious. But it wasn’t.
It was in a playful, light-hearted way. It was right after I’d said he’s a good quarterback, he’s made some great leadership decisions in the past, he’s still growing. And in a light-hearted way, something got twisted around to where I’ve become the most hated person in Giants land. I don’t understand it, but I don’t try to.
DF: What has surprised you more, the media’s response to it or the fans’ response? Or is it really the fans’ response to the media’s response?
TB: I think it’s the fans responding to the media responding. Let’s face it, people don’t always have time, with all that’s going on in the world, to completely concentrate on sports, to know the ins-and-outs and minutiae of every person’s comment. So you can’t expect them to always make discerning decisions, they sometimes need to rely on other opinions. And in the media, the overwhelming opinion of me – a fellow journalist – has been negative. Whether that’s right or wrong, I don’t know.
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From the field to the studio
Watch Tiki Barber’s evolution from a scrawny kid in Virginia to a professional football star to a TODAY correspondent.
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falsefalsefalseKeywords/P/PhotographyfalsetrueH6falsetrue1DF: Do you feel like you need to do or say anything to the fans who feel like you’ve turned on the Giants?
TB: I think the only thing I can say is this: don’t confuse the responsibilities of my job as a journalist with what my loyalties are. I’m a Giant, through and through, and I always will be.
DF: What’s your best memory from Super Bowl XXXV?
TB: Ray Charles singing “America the Beautiful”—
DF: After that it was all downhill—
TB: Yeah. The Ravens played field position with us for a half. We couldn’t get out of our own end zone. And then our one break came when Jessie Armstead intercepted a screen pass and returned it for a touchdown to put us back in the game. But we got called for a tickey-tack holding penalty on Keith Hamilton, and we never gained the momentum back the rest of the game.
Even when we returned a kickoff, they returned it right back. We were never in control of that game and never had a chance, because they pinned us and we couldn’t get any breaks.
DF: And they had a pretty good defense that year.
TB: They had one of the best defenses in the history of the NFL, so we had to get them on their heels, and we never could do it.
DF: What’s been the most surprising part of retirement, the best part and the worst part?
TB: I think the most surprising part is how I’ve really come to terms with not missing it. I don’t want to be out there anymore. For a while, I thought I would, but I didn’t at all. The best part has been getting to spend a lot more time with my kids. And the diversity of my job makes it very interesting. All the things I get to do for NBC, whether it’s “Football Night in America,” the things I do on TODAY, opportunities I’ve gotten on Bravo, and any of the other shows I’ve done…it’s given me a diverse existence, which is fun.
The worst part is probably some of the long days. Long shoots or days like this, when you’re up at three in the morning, it gets long and exhausting. But even that’s tempered, because when you’re done it’s very fulfilling.
DF: Any big party plans for the weekend?
TB: I’m hosting a party with Eugene Remm from Tenjune. It’s a “Welcome to Phoenix” for New Yorkers, so that should be cool. I’ve also been close friends with Lisa Natali of Playboy since I was a rookie. So every year I’ve gone to the Super Bowl, I’ve been at their parties. So that will be a cool one. And I have the family out here, so it’s not like I’m out gallivanting.