As this blogger told New York Giants Legendary Running Back Tiki Barber at the 2010 NFL Draft, and again at the 2011 NFL Draft, when he does something, his name becomes a Google or Twitter Trend, and that’s certainly true today for Google Trends. In fact, “Tiki Barber” has been a Google Trend for the past two days, and for two reasons.
First, Tiki Barber proposed to his girlfriend Traci Lynn Johnson, the now-famous 25-year-old NBC intern that Tiki started dating after his marriage to Ginny Barber fell apart. (And on that, I have to correct Leah Goldman at the Business Insider, who wrote that “He dumped his pregnant wife for a 23-year-old intern.”
Mr. Barber has said to me, but refuses to talk about it more for publication or video, that he did not leave his wife and there was more, a lot more, than he can’t – or rather doesn’t want – ta talk about. Tiki has, for reasons still not clear to me, and I have said that he should change his stance, elected not to tell his side of the story.
Second, on the matter of his NFL comeback attempt, reports are that it’s “not going well,” and that his agent, Mark Lepselter, said to SI’s Peter King “We are flabbergasted that Tiki has not had an opportunity with any team, especially when rosters were at 90 players this year. I certainly thought some team would be intrigued to see what he had left in the tank.”
He was certainly ready to do that when we talked at the NFL Draft (at the 2:52 mark):
It’s clear that Tiki, at 36, is rather on the “old” side for an NFL Running Back, but if no one gives Barber a try-out, how is anyone going to know if he’s “got it.”
I don’t think it’s his age, but a numbers game. With so many teams relying on the pass, and not the run, there are more teams looking for prime wide receivers than running backs.
But Tiki should press on, and try to get on one organization’s roster. I don’t think this page is ready to be turned, just yet.
Stay tuned.