Loading ...When running back Tiki Barber announced his plans to retire during the 2006 NFL season, many fans were left stunned at his timing. He was still at the top of his game and appeared to have several years left ahead of him. However, a poor relationship with head coach Tom Coughlin was more than the Pro Powler cared to handle in his remaining years, so he opted to step away from the game and pursue a career in broadcasting.
Although a bit bitter that he left due to several disagreements with the coach, fans accepted Barber's decision to retire, expressed their gratitude and wished him well. It wasn't until August of 2007, when Barber criticized quarterback Eli Manning's "lack of leadership" on National television, saying his pre-game speeches were "almost comical", that the bridge began to burn.
That bridge was ultimately reduced to ashes over the next several years as Barber then began to criticize former coach Tom Coughlin, who Barber felt tried to "vilify him."
However, while watching highlights of seasons past over the weekend, defensive end Osi Umenyiora decided it's time for the fans to forgive Barber and to simply respect what the man did for the team. He made a simple plea, via Twitter, for Big Blue faithful to let bygones be bygones.
"Watching a highlight video from Giants 2005 season. Tiki Barber was ridiculous. Giants fans please forgive that man. No more boo's. #legend," Umenyiora tweeted.
While fans will acknowledge Barber's talent and contributions to the team, many refuse to forgive the running back and a plea from Umenyiora will not likely change that. The vast majority insist on a public apology from Barber, and anything short of that will only continue to result in boos.
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Also the fact that he is an utter dirtbag factors into why fans boo him.
Pretty sure that has nothing to do with it. LT’s certainly been as bad, and has done it more recently as well, and that guy will never get anything other cheers at the stadium. It’s purely because of his comments after retiring. I’m sure he’ll never apologize, but the general hate by Giants fans will fade over time. Unfortunately for him, he’ll never be accepted as widely as Strahan and some other Giants greats, even though his on-field performances most definitely ranks him among the best to don a Giants uniform.
I’ve been saying for years that the way the fans at The Met treat Tiki (and before that, those at Giants Stadium) is really disgraceful.
His post-retirement behavior wasn’t impeccable, and I cannot fathom what he did in his domestic life (although not knowing the truth I leave judgment to those who do). But he isn’t the worst character to ever set foot on a football field. Ray Lewis is now an icon, and will be dosed with praise and applause by the fans in Baltimore forever despite the fact that he was a thug when he first entered the league (and has happily grown beyond that). I suspect a majority of fans would cheer OJ Simpson down the road at some ceremony to show a combination of forgiveness and respect for the quality of his play. Meanwhile, Tiki was THE Giant (along with Strahan) for a pretty good stretch of years, yet is met with thunderous catcalls when he is dumb enough to walk out in front of fans.
Someday this will change. People will forgive and will remember how great this guy was. Frankly, I think Tiki should have real regrets about a lot of things, one of which is that had he stuck around for 2-3 more years he’d have a ring and perhaps two (had he been on the team in 2008 they’d have probably gone all the way) and would be without doubt the best running back to ever play for this team and a sure-fire Hall-of-Famer. He has plenty of pain to live with (physical and emotional….you don’t leave your children without paying a huge price for the rest of your life). No need for the fans to add to it.
Pretty sure he hasn’t completely left his kids. I’ve seen him on several occasions (recently) with his two older kids, but I have not seen him with the youngest kids. Not sure if that has anything to do with how his divorce was handled or not though.
Jim,
In the TC Era, I would like to know which coach out preformed Coughlin? All winning seasons, 2 superbowls. Not Dungy, Not Bellicheck, not Peyton, not Cowher, Reid, not Garrett, not Shannahan, not Peyton Manning, not in today’s NFL.
I think a lot of the praise he is getting is well deserved as 90% of the critics, experts and a good portion of this board were ready to send him packing immediately after the 1st Skins loss last year.
As for Tiki, the man carried our team for 7 years, with nothing else. As much of a jerk he is today, when he had a Giants Helmet on, he was one great football player to watch. Here’s to hoping Wilson will become half the back that Tiki was.
Don’t waste your time arguing with Stoll..He knows Coughlin is a great Iconic coach, he just cant admit it after the 5 years he and I spent arguing about it. For 5 years he has been calling Coughlin mediocre and for 5 years I’ve been telling him TC is a GREAT Coach. Stoll isnt bright enough to look around the league and see that EVERY team has down years and struggles to be competitive every year This league is built and geared towards parity with teams going worst to first and vice versa. Coughlin is the best Coach in the NFL, so I guess on planet Stoll that means the other 31 Coaches are all below mediocre:-)
Haha, fair enough!
Re: the previous thread.
I’ve always been – and continue to be – somewhat agnostic on the subject of Coughlin; neither skeptic nor acolyte.
But another 15-20 years? Please, Perk; let’s keep it real. Tom Coughlin will remain a viable coaching option for as long as Eli Manning is an upper echelon NFL QB.
In that regard, Coughlin is really no different than any of the other top head coaches in the modern, pass-oriented NFL. All were widely regarded as “geniuses” who, absent the services of a top notch QB, may well have wound up as footnotes in the NFL history books. Walsh had Montana; Seifert had Young; Johnson had Aikman; Shanahan had Elway… no need to go through the whole list. I’ll simply add that Belichick was derided as a lousy head coach in his first gig in Cleveland where he was saddled with a mediocre Vinny Testaverde. Then he winds up in NE, lucks into Brady, and is magically reincarnated as the greatest genius the game has ever seen.
Of course, this will always be something of a chicken/egg debate. I suppose it’s just as easy to turn this around and suggest that all of those QBs may never have attained the pinnacle of greatness had they been paired with different coaches. There is clearly a symbiotic relationship and, in the end, it’s difficult to correctly proportion out the credit for success. Suffice it to say, a skilled QB probably doesn’t become great with a sub par coach. And vice versa.
At any rate, Coughlin is no idiot. With two rings already in hand, he’s no doubt aware that he stands on the cusp of ensuring his place in the pantheon of the game’s great coaches. He also knows that being in the highly fortunate position of having an elite QB in his prime, another ring or two is very much within his reach. So, yeah, he’s not going anywhere as long as #10 keeps lacing ‘em up. But once the Ryan Perrilloux (or whoever) Era begins, then “spending more time with the grandkids” will suddenly become a much more appealing option for Mr. Tom Coughlin.
All probably true. But you do a real disservice to Walsh by putting him in the same category as the others you mention. There was a relationship in which the coach really made the quarterback. Joe Montana was great, but certainly not the physical equal of a number of others who never amounted to much. Walsh put a team and an offensive approach around him that allowed him to be considered by many the greatest quarterback ever. All of those others were carried by their quarterbacks. Walsh is up there right alongside Lombardi, Halas and Shula. Your statement diminished him.
One thing we ought to note is that what look like the two current “deans” of the NFL coaching profession (Coughlin and Belichick) are both part of the Parcells tree. Guy may have been a jerk, but he could coach.
LMAO.
I used to make that verisame argument back in the early ’90s when I was living in the Bay Area and surrounded by Johnny-Come-Lately 49er fans who would knowing assure me that Joe Montana was the “best ever.”
That risible assertion inevitably provoked me to claim that Phil Simms in Walsh’s much more QB-friendly system would be the player reaping all the accolades while Montana would be considered just another good QB.
I largely believed that to be true then – and still do today. But I’m not sure that I wasn’t doing something of a disservice to Montana by limiting his credit for the Niners’ success. Yeah, he wasn’t blessed with the strongest of arms – but his intangibles were off the charts. His cool under pressure was legendary – and probably was not equaled in the NFL until Eli came into his own. Walsh may have been the one who designed the system and called the plays – but it was Montana who was on the field leading all of those improbable last-second drives in big games.
As I said above, the coach/QB relationship is a symbiotic one and so inextricably intertwined that it’s nearly impossible to keep an accurate accounting of who deserves the credit (or blame) for success (or failure) Walsh was a a smart coach but he was also lucky to have had a QB who was both intelligent enough and leader enough to translate his coach’s vision into actual results on a football field.
Again, I agree. I don’t deny that Montana was a great quarterback, especially with the game on the line. But I do think that in that symbiotic relationship Walsh was the more important element even though he definitely needed a good, smart and cool quarterback to execute his offense.
Walsh also happened to trade up to draft Jerry Rice against the advice of almost all of his scouts. Rice, and John Taylor, and Dwight Clark certainly helped Montana build that career. I take nothing away from Montana. he was a great, championship quarterback. In fact, I really believe Eli Manning is the closest version of Montana we’ve had since (but is only now becoming as accurate as Montana was his entire career).
I didn’t want to belittle Montana, just make sure Walsh got his due. Mentioning someone like Jimmy Johnson or Mike Shanahan in the same breath as Walsh is blasphemous. One literally changed the sport and was truly great. The others are just fine coaches.
I’d add that the QB who Walsh reportedly preferred in the 1979 draft was Phil Simms. As the story goes, Walsh assumed that a QB from tiny Morehead State would still be around in the 2nd-3rd round; was disappointed when the Giants took him in the first; and wound up “settling” for Montana.
As I said earlier, I believe that Walsh would still have had his dynasty with Simms under center. Not to take anything away from Joe Cool, but I have always regarded Simms as that good. For my money, he was one of the most criminally underrated players of his era – not only throughout the NFL but among his own fanbase as well. Not all that dissimilar from another QB who went on to play for the Giants a couple decades later.
I’ve said for years that Simms WAS a great quarterback and had he played for the Niners he’d be considered the greatest of all time, so we generally agree.
Just remember, Bill Walsh is in the Lombardi-Shula-Halas-Noll-Landry (I hated Landry, but he belongs in that pantheon despite being a religious creep) category. Those others you linked him with are, by comparison, bums.
Bill Walsh is the one who used to tell that story (though he never used the word “settle” do describe taking Joe Montana). He did however, according to him, have Phil Simms ranked ahead of Montana (who if you remember, wasn’t even a fulltime starter for ND). Walsh made it quite clear that he believed it turned out for the best with him getting Joe Montana.
That said, the “West Coast Offense” (Walsh also hated that name, and stated it was incorrect to refer to his system as such, as he stated that was the name of a entirely different offensive system that already existed) would have looked totally different if Simms had run it, Walsh tailored many parts of the offense to suit Montana and curtailed others to compensate.
I couldn’t care less about Tiki. Was a great Giant, turned into a Giant **** and now he is irrelevant.. He made his own bed and now he can lie in it.
Agreed.
I’m not making excuses for his post-career behavior. I most definitely AM saying the fans should show more class. They diminish themselves by beating up on this guy. He’ll now have to live with the kind of relationship that Roger Clemens will have to live with down the road with Yankee fans: they’ll recognize his greatness but not particularly like him; they’ll give him polite applause in the midst of thunderous ovations for others around them who simply weren’t as good players.
THAT, Tiki deserves. More than that, not really.
Who I do care a lot about is the Great Tom Coughlin! Couldnt be happier that he is finally getting the accolades he deserves. He has now won 2 Lombardis in his 8 years (Matching Parcells) and will go down as the greatest coach in Giants history when all is said and done.. Glad the debate has turned to his stature on the MT Rushmore of great coaches and is no longer about if the game has passed him by and if he should be fired or not..
LOLOL! The Fattest of Fatheads makes his triumphant return!
Barber questioned Manning’s leadership and called his pre game speeches comical in 2007. In 2008, probably at the urging of NBC, and the Giants with a 11-1 record, he had to sit down with Manning and talk about his comments, where he admitted he was wrong. Earlier this year prior to the Giants game against the Packers in the Playoffs, he refers to him as elite.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but after his comment in 2007, I didn’t think Barber said anything else about Manning? So I’m a little confused what Dan was saying about the next several years he spent criticizing Eli?
It wasn’t a dramatic turn-around. It was gradual. His criticism slowly shifted to praise after Super Bowl XLII and more so as years went on, but then he started to take on Tom Coughlin as a replacement. Cumulatively, he spent the next several years ripping them (Tom Coughlin as recently as a few month ago).
In fact, I remember writing an article after Tiki’s initial comments about both Barber Brothers mocking Eli. I’ll have to dig it up.
You have to understand that Dan is like a Sicilian matriarch about Eli–any negativity, real or imagined, directed by anyone towards his “piccolo principe,” Eli, will be cataloged, recycled and, most of all, remembered, every single moment of every single day. You know the saying “you can forgive, but you’ll never forget?” Well, that sh*t doesn’t apply to Sicilian women, and Dan Benton.
I’m actually a Barber supporter.
Then this must be a really difficult time for you. Cognitive dissonance about this subject, coupled with fears of being called a racist by Nosh, a desire not to piss off Dirt by suggesting that Osi might not be the best person to be the ambassador between a disgruntled former player who is perceived as selfish and a d*ck by this fanbase, and a need to feed material into the Poor Eli-tron.
The thoughts and prayers of Giants Nation are with you.
I have always loved Tiki and have overlooked his mouth. It’s the privilege of every fan to pick and choose which players they hold grudges against and which they don’t. I don’t have a problem with anyone holding one against Tiki, just as long as they don’t tell me that I am obligated to hold one too.
I would speculate that Tiki has more than a few regrets about how he went out. If he had stayed a couple more years he could easily have redeemed himself in the eyes of the fans, won a super bowl, and would have been a legitimate topic of HOF discussions. Instead he over-estimated his own stock as a media star, failing to realize his personality was subordinate to his football credentials in terms of being an on-air talent. Without Tiki the football player there is no Tiki the television personality. I cannot believe that he doesn’t kick himself once in a while over that miscalculation.
To recap the story thus far:
A few weeks back, ex-Giant Michael Strahan uses the term “flat out robbery” to describe the contract given to Osi Umenyiora.
Osi Umenyiora subsequently urges Giants fans to forgive Tiki Barber.
Now all that’s needed is for Tiki Barber to put in a good word for Michael Strahan in order that this little circle jerk be complete.
I think that’s cutting it short. Tiki could throw it to AP next. He has struggled to maintain a voice, Tiki could give him a boost.
If the love fest ever gets to Pierce and Shockey that’s when I get off the bus. AP was good, for two years, and then old-and-slow (except for his mouth). Shockey was a cancer from the day Eli arrived (that paragon of virtue cared more about himself than the development of the Giants’ future under their rookie quarterback).
And, yeah, I guess I’d have to add Burress to the list of those I’d just as soon never come out for a bow. He was sometimes great, sometimes useless, and always a problem child. But while I don’t love the guy, I don’t dislike him the way I do the two above. I really cannot stand either of those blowhards who remain to this day severely overrated by most Giants fans.
I suspect AP will find it easier to “maintain a voice” once he figures out that it’s not easy to talk when one’s mouth is full.
(Apologies to Krow for trespassing on his turf)