Former Giants running back Tiki Barber retired after the 2006 NFL season to take a job with NBC. You'd think that would make him a natural to get a lot of access during Super Bowl week, with some exclusive interviews and inside looks at what his former teammates are doing as they prepare to take on the Patriots. But as Awful Announcing and MarketWatch point out, that's not the case at all. Far from it.
Problem is, Barber is persona non grata now. Based on media reports, he stands a better chance at scoring a sit-down with Osama bin Laden than with Eli Manning or Michael Strahan. Barber is on the outside looking in at a very bad time for NBC.I like Barber, and I respect that he's not one of those ex-athletes who loses all objectivity as he goes out of his way to praise his former teammates. But Barber has gone so far in the opposite direction this season -- going out of his way to criticize his former teammates and former coach, Tom Coughlin, that you can't blame the Giants if they don't grant any interviews to Barber. I wonder how NBC feels about that.




