Was NBC Wrong to Send Tiki Barber to Virginia Tech?

NBC thought it was introducing its new Today show personality, former Giants running back Tiki Barber, during a slow news week. The network thought Barber would do some light features, gab a little bit with Matt Lauer, and ease into his new role as a broadcast journalist.

Of course, the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech changed that. Barber had to handle hard news, and Adam Duerson of SI.com says he was in way over his head.

Tiki's not a reporter yet. ...

Tiki wasn't ready for this -- and there's no way he could have been. ... NBC certainly would have been better off letting him sit out the road trip. That's not a knock. This probably isn't how he wanted to start his career anyway. And he'll learn. He'll learn not to blink so damn much. He'll learn to do some actual reporting. (He sat in a bar and asked kids how they felt. Nothing new.) And he'll learn, say, to come a little more prepared for a simple question about the atmosphere in Blacksburg. His response, "It was almost weird." I would hope so, Tiki. At the very least, Tiki has the look down. He looks damn good in a beige trench coat. The rest will come eventually.

I like Barber and think he'll be fine on Football Night in America, but it's unseemly for NBC to send him out there if he was as unprepared as Duerson indicates. The Virginia Tech tragedy wasn't the right time to put a novice on camera.