Shaun O'Hara and Tiki Barber Go At It on New Sports Talk Show.......

[Guest StrahansGap]

Don't know if anyone has heard about this show. I wish I had a clip to show, but Bob Raisman from the NY Dailey News saw it and wrote this the other day:

 

 

 

Rather than “Big Blue Live,” the brainiacs at SportsNet New York should have named their Giants postgame show “The Odd Couple.” For that’s what they have in their two analysts, Tiki Barber and Shaun O’Hara.

These former Giants see things differently (now there’s a shock) and both were more than willing to take some well-placed shots at each other Sunday night. This was far from a love-in. While their animosity made for great TV, fortunately they didn’t let it get in the way of providing solid analysis after the Giants punched their ticket to Super Bowl XLVI with a 20-17 OT win over San Francisco.

 

It quickly became apparent why SNY used two anchors — Gary Apple and Chris Carlin — to sit with O’Hara and Barber. If any rough stuff broke out, it would take two or more bodies to separate these guys. Part of the attraction of the show was not knowing when things might go from testy to a full-scale blowup. Most of these studio shows are predictable. This one was not.

 

Sources said O’Hara was reluctant to work with Barber and may have had second thoughts of going through with the show. His decision to green-light the project was a smart move. If he’s looking to get into TV, his appearance Sunday night provided evidence he can succeed. For a newcomer, he was very smooth. He projected a reliable feeling, a plain-spoken man who made his points quickly without droning on like many guys fresh off the field who repeat the same catchphrase over and over again.

 

In Barber, he had the perfect foil. A guy with plenty of TV experience who, whether he likes it or not, finds himself cast as the villain. In his latest TV incarnation, Barber seemed more relaxed than ever. He was very much his own man and not holding back or looking to placate those who can’t stand him.

 

So, you knew where this was headed when Apple asked Barber to reflect on how Eli Manning has grown as a quarterback. Barber will forever (Ok maybe not forever) be known as the mouth who went on NBC during halftime of a Giants-Vikings preseason game and jokingly criticized Manning’s leadership skill. Barber’s been paying for those words ever since.

 

Sunday, he did not back down from that analysis, saying early on in Manning’s first season “it was hard to see how he was going to be the guy” to take the Giants to a Super Bowl. This time around, Barber expanded on what he’s seen in Manning going forward.

 

“Every year he would take a step,” Barber said. “Finally to this year when he could put a team on his back and carry them.”

 

O’Hara pounced, throwing the first shot of the night. “Yeah, It’s certainly nice to hear you talk good about Eli,” O’Hara said sarcastically.

 

Apple interjected some boiler-plate babble, short-circuiting any potential static. The subject would later turn to Tom Coughlin. O’Hara said hearing all season long that his former coach was on the “hot seat is mind boggling.”

 

This opened the door for Barber’s take. “A lot of people assume Tom and I have this horrible relationship, which would be true,” Barber said. “We don’t like each other.”

 

At that moment, with the camera briefly on O’Hara, the old line “if looks could kill” applied. Barber went on to say he respects Coughlin “because he taught me the minutia of the game,” but didn’t agree with his “tactics” or “how he treated me” as a veteran player.

 

“So,” O’Hara said, “no Christmas cards?”

 

Barber laughed. He would zing back after being asked about GM Jerry Reese’s contribution to the Giants’ run. Barber said Reese has brought “fantastic” talent to the Giants. “Despite what some people have thought of the guys they brought in initially, including some of the guys they let go who needed to be let go like Shaun, who got cut this offseason.”

 

“I beg to differ on that one,” O’Hara said.

 

Barber did point out he too was cut last summer. He had been on the Giants’ reserved/retired list.

 

On the night the Giants were going back to the Super Bowl, O’Hara flashed the ring he won in XLII. Barber’s finger was bare. He was part of the Giants team that was crushed by Baltimore in Super Bowl XXXV and is far removed from the current team.

 

O’Hara isn’t. On Sunday night, he wanted to be somewhere else. And it had nothing to do with having to share space with three other talking heads.

 

“I have mixed emotions,” said O’Hara, who played 11 seasons with the Giants. “It’s a little bittersweet for me because I would love to be there with my teammates.”

Instead he was in a TV studio. In the heat of July, O’Hara could not have imagined he would be sitting next to Barber on NFC Championship Sunday. The notion would’ve been beyond strange.

Downright odd.

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/tiki-barber-helps-ignite-hot-start-shaun-o-hara-article-1.1010710#ixzz1kcpfWOKD

[Tempest]

He projected a reliable feeling, a plain-spoken man who made his points quickly without droning on like many guys fresh off the field who repeat the same catchphrase over and over again.

 

Shit I hear the same catchphrase over and over again from guys they consider vets and have never seen the field. Troy can claim a history of concussions and I'll even give Collinsworth that out but the others...

[NeMesiS]

Its too bad Tiki turned to such a Dick!

 

Miss you on the field though:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASx7TGjzEyI

[TrashTalker92]

Maybe he's been always a dick. On tv. He seems like a know it all douche. Yeah the guy can run and was a great RB. Oo wells

[Sephiroth]

What does it say about Barber when the guy who helped block you into the record books doesn't even want to sit next to you?

[gmenroc]

What does it say about Barber when the guy who helped block you into the record books doesn't even want to sit next to you?

 

And the coach who taught you how to properly carry a football and as such, put you amongst the top backs in the league...a status you had not reached prior on your own despite what you might think...is now an enemy...

 

Tiki is a piece of shit and quite frankly, I'm a bit ashamed that I once rooted for him and that I once was a fan of him as a player.

[Firstnten]

I taped it and my wife dleted it before I could see it. and there is nothing on you tube.

 

What allot fo people also don;t know is during the giants last supebrowl run Barber did a Sirius radio show with his brother called the barber shop. The basically predicted Giants losses each week and if memory serves me stopped doing the show after the Tampa loss.

[Mr. P]

I taped it and my wife dleted it before I could see it. and there is nothing on you tube.

 

What allot fo people also don;t know is during the giants last supebrowl run Barber did a Sirius radio show with his brother called the barber shop. The basically predicted Giants losses each week and if memory serves me stopped doing the show after the Tampa loss.

 

 

yeah the barber shop almost seemed like just a mouthpiece for the barbers to continue trying to shit on eli with ronde joining in the fun too.

[JMFP]

Wished I saw this piece....if there's a link, I'd like to watch it.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

Me Me Barber needs to disappear...shut up... assess his life...come back five years down the line and try to reenter the world of the NFL. Now there is just too much bad blood and animosity for him to overcome. That plus he is not humble; thinks too highly of himself; and views himself as the victim. Too bad oh so sad. Wonder if that intern is ready to jump ship....?

[hlb37]

And the coach who taught you how to properly carry a football and as such, put you amongst the top backs in the league

 

please. This is mere "minutia".

 

Got to agree Gmen. The guy is a through and through, self absorbed, ass hat

[Allstarjim]

Looks like O'hara came in with an axe to grind. Doesn't change the fact that Tiki's comments prior to the 2007 were a fair criticism. A lot of people who demonize Barber for those comments were the same people that were saying, back then, that Eli sucks, he has a dopey look on his face, he hangs his head after a bad play, etc, ad nauseum. Tiki, as a member of the media, was asked about Eli's leadership and gave an honest answer... everyone focuses on the "almost comical" part of that, and of course, ESPN took the most inflammatory part of the statements he made and wrote a story about it and told Eli about it, and started the controversy. What they didn't include was that Barber also said that he thought Eli could grow into a great leader, and Eli has. Eli never has been and never will be the outspoken, Ray Lewis-type of leader that is intensely demonstrative both vocally and physically. But Eli is the kind of leader that is intense in his actions, in his competitiveness, and his work ethic. He is the leader that EVERYONE on that team respects, because he knows all their jobs as well or better than they do, and when he speaks, they listen. If he says go here, do this when you see this, they obey without question, as they should.

 

But to be fair to Tiki, Eli as an elite QB has taken time to marinade. What he's serving up today is delicious... but if anyone has followed his career closely, you know all that started really late in the 2007 season, and the early years weren't exactly spectacular.

 

On Coughlin, it's been well documented that prior to the 2007 season Coughlin was too much of a hard-ass and a lot of players had a problem with him. Strahan has said this, there is a recent article about Charles Way talking to Coughlin after the '06 season to try to get him to be more open with the players... this is the stuff Tiki was talking about. The media loves nothing more than to tear down a player or person that they've built up. I think Tiki was out of line for letting it leak that he was going to retire during the '06 season. I think Tiki handled his problem with Coughlin badly, ideally you should keep that stuff in house. But a lot of people make that mistake, when emotions get involved, particularly when you are a player that has given a lot to an organization and invested so much physically and emotionally. I actually give Tiki a pass for that one. Tiki also talked about Strahan's contract when they were negotiating. That was wrong. So he is a guy that has made plenty of missteps. Leaving your pregnant wife of course was awful. What if she was a huge bitch, though? I don't know both sides of the story... but yes, having an affair like that showed his character isn't flawless.

 

I do know that Tiki played his ass off for our Giants. He is a Giants' great that gave everything he had between the sidelines. I was sad when he retired, I very much believe we still would've won the Super Bowl with him the following season. I think the people that have booed him are dumb. He was a great player, he doesn't have to be a choir boy off the field to cheer for what he meant to the team.

 

These are the same people that laud LT as such an all-time great that he is... but LT was doing drugs during the season, playing games hung over on no sleep, and he's since been arrested for soliciting an underage prostitute. So the moral of the story is the players are people, too, they make mistakes and put their foot in their mouth. A fan appreciates what they give to the organization, and if they are a model citizen, too, and cure cancer or save orphans from a burning building, that is great, too. But to me, Tiki will always be a HOF caliber running back like we've never had before and haven't seen since. I miss watching him play, but now I'm very much enjoying Eli's HOF caliber play and exceptional leadership right now... something that Tiki has lauded.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/giants/post/_/id/10903/barber-praises-manning

 

 

Tiki Barber praises Eli Manning

January, 15, 2012

JAN 15

2:06

PM ET

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By Mike Mazzeo

Tiki Barber praised Eli Manning -- yes, you read that right -- during a Sunday morning interview with ESPN NewYork.com's Ian O’Connor on ESPN New York 1050.

 

Barber, who once questioned Manning's leadership capabilities, said his ex-teammate has greatly improved in that department and is no longer rattled by adversity.

 

 

Nick Laham/Getty ImagesEli Manning and Tiki Barber were teammates for three seasons, 2004-06.

"Here's what I look for when I'm looking for an elite quarterback: Someone that no matter the circumstances -- whether you're playing great, whether you're playing horrible -- has that unfettered drive to succeed," Barber said.

 

"That's what Eli has learned over the last five or six years -- from the early days when I saw him where everything used to rattle him -- to now. No matter what happens, he's always into the football game and doing something to help his team win.

 

"That's my definition of an elite quarterback, and why Eli is in on that conversation now."

 

Manning put the Giants on his back this season, leading them to the playoffs for the first time since 2008. He shattered his own franchise record, throwing for 4,933 yards, while setting a new NFL mark with 15 fourth-quarter touchdown passes and leading the league with six fourth-quarter comebacks.

 

Manning might not look or act like a prototypical leader, but that doesn't matter, according to Barber.

 

"We want to craft a leader into a specific mold that he should be, and it doesn't work that way," Barber said.

 

"Eli has crafted his image into what his leadership qualities are, and his teammates accept him, and that's what matters. In 2007 [when the Giants won the Super Bowl], it didn't matter how his mannerisms were or how he acted, what mattered is what you do on Sunday afternoons, and he did it great in that run."

 

Following his retirement in 2006, Barber questioned Manning's ability as a leader, saying his pregame speeches were "almost comical."

 

To which Manning famously responded: "I'm not going to lose any sleep about what Tiki has to say. I guess I could have questioned his leadership skills last year with calling out the coach and having articles about him retiring in the middle of the season, and [how] he's lost the heart [to play]. As a quarterback you're reading that your running back has lost the heart to play the game and it's about the 10th week. I can see that a little bit at times."

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

Very balanced and nuanced post Allstar....nice to have a little perspective here.

[Allstarjim]

Yeah, I just don't get the double-standard with Tiki. I think this started because of the feud with Coughlin and the way he left the team. All that was unfortunate, and he certainly didn't handle it well... pretty badly, actually. But I can't blame him for how he felt under the Coughlin regime pre-2007. It wasn't a pleasant locker room and I think Tiki's issues with Coughlin were valid and it's understandable to a point that emotions boiled over. All the other stuff I think stems from that one issue with TC. In fact, if Tiki doesn't retire that year I'm not sure Tom changes the way he did for 2007, which was key in our Super Bowl run. Maybe he still does, but that was a dramatic, public event that I'm sure made Tom reflect and listen to what people around him were telling him regarding opening up to the players... people like Charles Way and Judy Coughlin, too.

 

Despite it all, Tiki deserves to be honored for the great player he was for the Giants. I celebrate his playing career... to hell with all the drama.

[gmenroc]

Tiki had no confidence in Eli, a complete disagreement with his coach, and proceeded to throw both of them under the bus both internally and publicly...in essence, dividing a locker room.

 

6 years later, Tiki still disagrees with the coach who made him relevant and is only now expressing that he know's Eli is a winner. What makes a good teammate is one who has faith (believing without seeing) in his teammates and strives to make his teammates better. Public criticism and fostering dissention, intentionally or otherwise, doesn't sound all that great a means of doing so.

 

I think that Tiki has shown his true colors and I couldn't disagree more with the type of person he has shown himself to be. He could've broken the all time rushing TD mark and gained more yards than any other back ever...and I'd still not be a fan after how he's treated his teammates. Being a good player does not excuse you from being a dick.

 

Comparing Tiki to LT isn't exactly appropriate. LT's problems really affected only him. I don't recall LT trashing Simms or Bavaro or Parcells.

[JMFP]

Yeah, I just don't get the double-standard with Tiki. I think this started because of the feud with Coughlin and the way he left the team. All that was unfortunate, and he certainly didn't handle it well... pretty badly, actually. But I can't blame him for how he felt under the Coughlin regime pre-2007. It wasn't a pleasant locker room and I think Tiki's issues with Coughlin were valid and it's understandable to a point that emotions boiled over. All the other stuff I think stems from that one issue with TC. In fact, if Tiki doesn't retire that year I'm not sure Tom changes the way he did for 2007, which was key in our Super Bowl run. Maybe he still does, but that was a dramatic, public event that I'm sure made Tom reflect and listen to what people around him were telling him regarding opening up to the players... people like Charles Way and Judy Coughlin, too.

 

Despite it all, Tiki deserves to be honored for the great player he was for the Giants. I celebrate his playing career... to hell with all the drama.

 

Yeah...the Giants had some very strong personalities, and some very good players, prior to Coughlin and Eli Manning arriving. There was bound to be friction when a new coach replaces and old one....and given the differences between Fassel and Coughlin, it was something of a culture shock.

 

There were some players - Strahan, Toomer, and a few others - that had the maturity and perspective to allow a new coach and new QB to build some chemistry.

 

There were other guys - Tiki, Shockey, Plaxico - that pretty much self-selected out.

[Allstarjim]

Tiki had no confidence in Eli, a complete disagreement with his coach, and proceeded to throw both of them under the bus both internally and publicly...in essence, dividing a locker room.

Where did u hear that? It's my understanding that any public criticism, particularly about Eli, was after his football career when he was with NBCSports. And I'm not sure anyone can know if Tiki threw them both under the bus internally... unless you were in the locker room. Gmenroc, are you Shaun O'Hara?

 

 

6 years later, Tiki still disagrees with the coach who made him relevant and is only now expressing that he know's Eli is a winner. What makes a good teammate is one who has faith (believing without seeing) in his teammates and strives to make his teammates better. Public criticism and fostering dissention, intentionally or otherwise, doesn't sound all that great a means of doing so.

 

This is a gross exaggeration, gmenroc... TC didn't make Tiki relevant. Tiki was already a good running back, and Tom helped him with the fumbling thing. But let's not credit Tom with Tiki's greatness. He was great in his own right, and what he did on the field is his to be proud of. Does Tom get some credit for getting the most out of him? Yes. But come on, it's not like Tom molded Tiki out of clay. I do agree with you about being a good teammate. And Tiki has praised Eli long before this week... It seems like you are making stuff up, no offense. The whole fostering dissention and public criticism... when did he do that in a Giant uniform? I certainly don't recall that.

 

I think that Tiki has shown his true colors and I couldn't disagree more with the type of person he has shown himself to be. He could've broken the all time rushing TD mark and gained more yards than any other back ever...and I'd still not be a fan after how he's treated his teammates. Being a good player does not excuse you from being a dick.

 

Comparing Tiki to LT isn't exactly appropriate. LT's problems really affected only him. I don't recall LT trashing Simms or Bavaro or Parcells.

 

Again, I don't think Tiki meant to trash him. In context, it didn't come off as bad as ESPN made it sound. I really believe a lot of what you wrote is media exaggeration that has been spoon fed from ESPN and the NY sports media. Now, if you think LT showing up late or not at all to practices and meetings, showing up high as a kite doesn't affect the other players, then I don't know what to tell you. There is definitely a double standard. And I didn't even mention how Strahan had also talked about how Coughlin was kind of an a-hole, too, and he really wasn't feeling him until the 2007 season when Tom changed. Back to Tiki, he said the very next day after the infamous NBC Sports spot that he didn't intend anything to be malicious towards Eli. I watched the spot live, and I laughed when he said the "almost comical" line. Because just picturing Eli trying to be the rah rah guy made me laugh. That's what Tiki was talking about. When he said he needed to really step up and be the leader of the Giants (which he followed up with saying that he thought he could, NOT reported by ESPN, et al), he was speaking the truth. Eli wasn't the leader of that offense until after Tiki left... bottom line... and he still had trouble at first because of guys like Shockey showing him up at times.

 

I just think this whole Tiki thing... years later, it never should have gone as far as it did, and it was media exaggerated, to a large degree. The guy was a great Giant. I don't remember him being a bad teammate except for when he stuck his nose in Strahan's business during contract negotiations, and when he said the Giants were "outcoached" in the 2005 season's wild-card loss to the Panthers... which also happened to be true. The thing with Tiki, is he says what is on his mind, but he's mostly right, most of the time. That's why none of that stuff bothered me... to me he just stated the obvious.