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Listening yesterday to Tiki Barber's latest jab at Giants coach Tom Coughlin evoked the oddest flashback. Though Barber was speaking at a news conference about his new job at NBC, the image that came flying to mind was the oft-replayed videotape of a fuming Allen Iverson a few years back when he was feuding with Larry Brown and saying, "We're talking about practice, people. Practice. Not a game, not a game. But practice."
Barber, unlike Iverson, wasn't angry yesterday as he spoke. But from now on, there should be no more sentimental lingering over whether Barber left football too soon or while at the top of his game. It's good that Barber is gone. It was time for him to go.
His latest gripe was a revelation that retirement thoughts might never have crawled into his mind and stayed there if Coughlin's practices the past two seasons hadn't been so physically demanding.
Barber, who's only 31, stopped just short of saying Coughlin drove him off. That would've provoked a full-blown firestorm. But when asked several times if he might've kept playing if a more player-friendly coach such as Jim Fassel were still around, Barber said, "Possibly." Then: "While I appreciate what [Coughlin] tries to do, it just wasn't right for me anymore.
"I never got breaks, never got to just relax, and it took a toll on me. He pushed me in this direction. He kind of forced me to start thinking about what I wanted to do next and I went after it.
"There would be days where I couldn't move on Wednesday and he'd get mad at me for going half-speed. I told him, 'Coach, I can't do it. I'm going to be out here, I'm never going to miss a practice. But I can't give you what you want all the time.'"
Barber was easy to defend when his retirement plans accidentally leaked out early, and was wrongly criticized for quitting on the team or putting his long-term health first. But some of his pronouncements since then have become harder to reconcile. It was time for him to go.
The Giants were already reeling from too much locker room dissent when Barber complained during Thanksgiving week about feeling "forgotten" in the offense. As they were making a desperate playoff drive, Barber unilaterally confirmed he was playing with a serious thumb injury - news that created absolutely no competitive advantage for the Giants. But it did give Barber an out if he happened to screw up.
The last two examples are subtle things. They can seem small compared with the unstinting on-field performance that Barber brought.
The gripe here isn't that Barber occasionally is a bit selfish or narcissistic. (Yesterday, he was at it again, saying his retirement was "a good thing for me" but "maybe not for the Giants, because they lose one of their great players.")
Let's be clear about this, too: If you could choose only one, in a heartbeat you'd rather have Barber back than Coughlin. But now that the Giants have brought Coughlin back, they need distance from last year's debacle. They don't need any more players, especially one of Barber's stature, sniping about the beleaguered coach for yet another season, and indirectly giving lesser players justification to do the same.
As a just-minted NFL TV analyst, Barber had every right to offer the critique of Coughlin yesterday. You just wouldn't want to see Barber the player saying the same things.
Yesterday, Barber also called Coughlin hard-nosed to a fault, open to some change but seemingly unable to go far enough to reach modern players. Even when Barber tried to compliment Coughlin - calling him a "good friend" - he added Coughlin turns into "a different person on the football field," echoing the frequent slam that Coughlin on the sideline is a man out of control.
After a dysfunctional 2006 season, the last thing the Giants needed was Barber returning and lapsing into a new, Iverson-esque spat over practice.
No. The Giants desperately need a fresh start. New general manager Jerry Reese seems to think so, too. As his roster cuts kept coming yesterday - he released oft-injured kick returner Chad Morton a day after he shocked some by lopping LaVar Arrington and Luke Petitgout off the payroll - Barber's picking at Coughlin felt like an unwanted blast from the past.
Like it or not, Barber's gone. Coughlin's back.
Let it go.
LINK
Barber, unlike Iverson, wasn't angry yesterday as he spoke. But from now on, there should be no more sentimental lingering over whether Barber left football too soon or while at the top of his game. It's good that Barber is gone. It was time for him to go.
His latest gripe was a revelation that retirement thoughts might never have crawled into his mind and stayed there if Coughlin's practices the past two seasons hadn't been so physically demanding.
Barber, who's only 31, stopped just short of saying Coughlin drove him off. That would've provoked a full-blown firestorm. But when asked several times if he might've kept playing if a more player-friendly coach such as Jim Fassel were still around, Barber said, "Possibly." Then: "While I appreciate what [Coughlin] tries to do, it just wasn't right for me anymore.
"I never got breaks, never got to just relax, and it took a toll on me. He pushed me in this direction. He kind of forced me to start thinking about what I wanted to do next and I went after it.
"There would be days where I couldn't move on Wednesday and he'd get mad at me for going half-speed. I told him, 'Coach, I can't do it. I'm going to be out here, I'm never going to miss a practice. But I can't give you what you want all the time.'"
Barber was easy to defend when his retirement plans accidentally leaked out early, and was wrongly criticized for quitting on the team or putting his long-term health first. But some of his pronouncements since then have become harder to reconcile. It was time for him to go.
The Giants were already reeling from too much locker room dissent when Barber complained during Thanksgiving week about feeling "forgotten" in the offense. As they were making a desperate playoff drive, Barber unilaterally confirmed he was playing with a serious thumb injury - news that created absolutely no competitive advantage for the Giants. But it did give Barber an out if he happened to screw up.
The last two examples are subtle things. They can seem small compared with the unstinting on-field performance that Barber brought.
The gripe here isn't that Barber occasionally is a bit selfish or narcissistic. (Yesterday, he was at it again, saying his retirement was "a good thing for me" but "maybe not for the Giants, because they lose one of their great players.")
Let's be clear about this, too: If you could choose only one, in a heartbeat you'd rather have Barber back than Coughlin. But now that the Giants have brought Coughlin back, they need distance from last year's debacle. They don't need any more players, especially one of Barber's stature, sniping about the beleaguered coach for yet another season, and indirectly giving lesser players justification to do the same.
As a just-minted NFL TV analyst, Barber had every right to offer the critique of Coughlin yesterday. You just wouldn't want to see Barber the player saying the same things.
Yesterday, Barber also called Coughlin hard-nosed to a fault, open to some change but seemingly unable to go far enough to reach modern players. Even when Barber tried to compliment Coughlin - calling him a "good friend" - he added Coughlin turns into "a different person on the football field," echoing the frequent slam that Coughlin on the sideline is a man out of control.
After a dysfunctional 2006 season, the last thing the Giants needed was Barber returning and lapsing into a new, Iverson-esque spat over practice.
No. The Giants desperately need a fresh start. New general manager Jerry Reese seems to think so, too. As his roster cuts kept coming yesterday - he released oft-injured kick returner Chad Morton a day after he shocked some by lopping LaVar Arrington and Luke Petitgout off the payroll - Barber's picking at Coughlin felt like an unwanted blast from the past.
Like it or not, Barber's gone. Coughlin's back.
Let it go.
LINK