Peaked
One of the top twenty rushers in NFL history. The second best total yards from scrimmage season in history. Bucked the conventional thoughts that only a guy of Jim Brown’s size can lead a team to success. Overcame fumbleitis and a rift with one the premier defensive players in the league, who happens to be another loquacious media-driven players who wants the city by his side (and a teammate). Proved critics that only viewed you as a third-down RB wrong by carrying the team’s offense on your shoulders for the past six seasons. Showed that you haven’t broken down past the age of thirty.
And you still want more.
Most running backs in the NFL who punish their bodies by running into a minimum of twelve hundred pounds of man for a living have several motivators to keep them on the field. You play to prove someone wrong, that you should have been drafted higher or that you can return from a devastating injury or that you can bulldoze through linebackers instead of shying away from contact. You play for a major contract that can set yourself and your family for life, even at the sacrifice of your physical being. You keep running to show that this year’s draft pick needs to stay on the pine and watch you rack up 150 yards against the toughest D-lines in the league. You push hard to win that elusive Super Bowl, the championship that you will be forever linked to by fans and media alike.
Tiki Barber, on the other hand, wants to explore opportunities off the field. The New York Giants’ all-time leading tailback is leaning towards retiring at the end of this season. Now, for fans of Big Blue, Barber’s retirement talk can cause some heart attacks and visions of the dreaded 1970s. Okay, maybe not the seventies, but it would be a Herculean effort to replace his production and guile, even though Brandon Jacobs has some ability. The shame is that he has proven to be a stellar source of stability for a team that finds a way to fall on its own sword every season. Unless there's a bias towards smaller backs, Barber will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame and not just because he has been better with age, but because of his second calling. Most players long in years would be motivated by chasing that championship that every player desires to hold at the end of the Super Bowl. Pro Bowls and accolades from peers and former players are wonderful being that football is the consummate team sport, yet, Super Bowl champions are near deities in their towns. Tiki says that he would be okay to walk away without having played for a Super Bowl. Having all of your faculties into old age is another reason why he’d be okay (see Earl Campbell). Many other players likely feel similar sentiments, but it had me thinking. If you were at the top of your game, could you walk away confident in all that you have done despite a void here and there? How could you feed that competitive fire as the years from your career move forward? What would you do after building your young years into the one thing very few people can excel in and even fewer can play for more than three years?
This leads to that second calling for Barber. Those who watch Good Day New York on Fox 5 have likely seen him as a part-time co-anchor to the morning show. This isn't a hobby for him, in fact, he has the potential to be as good as a media talkie as a football player. Unlike most players when they have retired from the game, Barber is more vested into non-football works than others. Football, as any other sport for former athletes, is all some have ever known whereas Tiki (and twin brother Ronde) may have had more encouragement to have diverse interest outside of the game.
How often do you hear of former athletes, musicians and other celebrities adjusting to life after the fanfare and the freebies? The glorified stories are on the extremes: either a successful transition for former jocks into media or many stories of those who have succumed to constant failures and karma (insert your celebrity here). What you can appreciate about what Tiki hopes to accomplish is that he has taken advantage of the media market that is New York City; having seen the positives and the negatives of the largest hype machine in the world. As he shifted through the Falcons' defensive line on Sunday, he could use his experience as a subject of interviews to possibly become a different media figure, knowing how words and actions get misconstrued and how negativity sells more than objectivity. What you may worry about is that despite his skills and willingness, his peers may not respect him because there is still the existence of the dumb jock mentality. Maybe he follows the lineage of Peter Jennings for all we know. Just pray that he doesn't become overfrizzed, self-absorbed and, well a walking catchphrase... like Ryan Seacrest.
Say What?!?!: Would you be buried in a Tampa Bay Devil Rays coffin? Well, now you can!
And you still want more.
Most running backs in the NFL who punish their bodies by running into a minimum of twelve hundred pounds of man for a living have several motivators to keep them on the field. You play to prove someone wrong, that you should have been drafted higher or that you can return from a devastating injury or that you can bulldoze through linebackers instead of shying away from contact. You play for a major contract that can set yourself and your family for life, even at the sacrifice of your physical being. You keep running to show that this year’s draft pick needs to stay on the pine and watch you rack up 150 yards against the toughest D-lines in the league. You push hard to win that elusive Super Bowl, the championship that you will be forever linked to by fans and media alike.
Tiki Barber, on the other hand, wants to explore opportunities off the field. The New York Giants’ all-time leading tailback is leaning towards retiring at the end of this season. Now, for fans of Big Blue, Barber’s retirement talk can cause some heart attacks and visions of the dreaded 1970s. Okay, maybe not the seventies, but it would be a Herculean effort to replace his production and guile, even though Brandon Jacobs has some ability. The shame is that he has proven to be a stellar source of stability for a team that finds a way to fall on its own sword every season. Unless there's a bias towards smaller backs, Barber will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame and not just because he has been better with age, but because of his second calling. Most players long in years would be motivated by chasing that championship that every player desires to hold at the end of the Super Bowl. Pro Bowls and accolades from peers and former players are wonderful being that football is the consummate team sport, yet, Super Bowl champions are near deities in their towns. Tiki says that he would be okay to walk away without having played for a Super Bowl. Having all of your faculties into old age is another reason why he’d be okay (see Earl Campbell). Many other players likely feel similar sentiments, but it had me thinking. If you were at the top of your game, could you walk away confident in all that you have done despite a void here and there? How could you feed that competitive fire as the years from your career move forward? What would you do after building your young years into the one thing very few people can excel in and even fewer can play for more than three years?
This leads to that second calling for Barber. Those who watch Good Day New York on Fox 5 have likely seen him as a part-time co-anchor to the morning show. This isn't a hobby for him, in fact, he has the potential to be as good as a media talkie as a football player. Unlike most players when they have retired from the game, Barber is more vested into non-football works than others. Football, as any other sport for former athletes, is all some have ever known whereas Tiki (and twin brother Ronde) may have had more encouragement to have diverse interest outside of the game.
How often do you hear of former athletes, musicians and other celebrities adjusting to life after the fanfare and the freebies? The glorified stories are on the extremes: either a successful transition for former jocks into media or many stories of those who have succumed to constant failures and karma (insert your celebrity here). What you can appreciate about what Tiki hopes to accomplish is that he has taken advantage of the media market that is New York City; having seen the positives and the negatives of the largest hype machine in the world. As he shifted through the Falcons' defensive line on Sunday, he could use his experience as a subject of interviews to possibly become a different media figure, knowing how words and actions get misconstrued and how negativity sells more than objectivity. What you may worry about is that despite his skills and willingness, his peers may not respect him because there is still the existence of the dumb jock mentality. Maybe he follows the lineage of Peter Jennings for all we know. Just pray that he doesn't become overfrizzed, self-absorbed and, well a walking catchphrase... like Ryan Seacrest.
Say What?!?!: Would you be buried in a Tampa Bay Devil Rays coffin? Well, now you can!
posted by Jason Clinkscales @ 9:03 PM
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