Angus
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Tiki thrown into deep end
April 17, 2007
It began as just another strange, soggy day in Media City.
There was Tiki Barber early yesterday morning, his feet propped on a table on the "Today" show set, waiting to be welcomed officially by the cast and begin the first job of the rest of his life.
Outside, pro-Don Imus protesters marched in the rain.
Down the hall in the green room sat another guy who recently found himself in the middle of a racially charged controversy - former Duke lacrosse player Reade Seligmann.
On the radio, WFAN hosts Mike Francesa and Chris Russo -- severe critics of Barber last season -- were filling in for Imus and skewering his non-supporters, such as Keith Olbermann of MSNBC.
A few hours later, NBC would announce that Olbermann is joining the network's Sunday NFL studio show with its other new star ... Barber, who yesterday visited MSNBC in the slot formerly featuring ... Imus, whose friend Francesa eight hours earlier had wrapped up his own Sunday night show on ... WNBC.
It was comical and dizzying, like many things about the past two weeks in the media spin cycle. Then, suddenly, the comedy turned to tragedy and the dizziness turned to clarity.
Barber was supposed to do his first report today, on British motivational speaker Marcus Buckingham. Instead, by nightfall NBC was proving it is serious about the former Giant as a newsman. He was en route to Blacksburg to cover the Virginia Tech shootings.
Barber is from Roanoke, a 30-minute drive away. His parents met at Virginia Tech, where his father was a running back for the Hokies in the early 1970s.
So we'll get a sense quickly enough of Barber's reporting chops, as he will be part of the biggest story in the nation, one that makes the Imus brouhaha seem even more overblown than it did a day earlier.
Speaking of Imus, Barber was asked for his take on it, as a veteran of the New York media wars since the last time we talked on his first day on a new job - at a rookie minicamp in 1997.
"I think he was blindsided by what he thought was a toss-off comment," Barber said. "It's hard, because you don't want to tell people they have to tread lightly, but there is a line. And race and sex are the line you have to watch, because it galvanizes people."
Barber wouldn't say whether he thought Imus should be fired but said the angry reaction to his remarks was understandable given the dual nature of the show.
"You don't know where he's serious and where he's exercising satire," Barber said.
Barber said he feels better physically and emotionally than he has in years. He has lost about 10 pounds since January and has worked out only three times - all with his wife, Ginny, in her kickboxing class.
"I've been working out for 15 years virtually every day," he said. "My body is telling me don't do anything."
As for his old pal Tom Coughlin, Barber said he has no regrets about his comments aimed at the coach on his way out the door, including at the February news conference announcing his hiring by NBC.
Barber said then that Coughlin's harsh style was a factor in his starting to consider retirement. Coughlin defended himself later that month, but Barber didn't back off yesterday.
"Tom is the way he is; he's not going to change, and that's fine," he said. "Just as it's his prerogative to coach that way and treat people the way he does, it's my prerogative to do something else and give you a reason why."
Later, he added, "If I was lying, if I said, 'Tom was a great guy,' that he said, 'Tiki, I know you're hurt, take a day off,' or if we screwed up he didn't yell at me and said, 'OK, Tiki,' with positive reinforcement, then I'd be lying and I'd be wrong."
That's the kind of blunt honesty NBC is paying for from its new football analyst this fall.
Today it will begin to find out what sort of news reporter it hired.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/footb...45apr17,0,4284095.column?coll=ny-giants-print
April 17, 2007
It began as just another strange, soggy day in Media City.
There was Tiki Barber early yesterday morning, his feet propped on a table on the "Today" show set, waiting to be welcomed officially by the cast and begin the first job of the rest of his life.
Outside, pro-Don Imus protesters marched in the rain.
Down the hall in the green room sat another guy who recently found himself in the middle of a racially charged controversy - former Duke lacrosse player Reade Seligmann.
On the radio, WFAN hosts Mike Francesa and Chris Russo -- severe critics of Barber last season -- were filling in for Imus and skewering his non-supporters, such as Keith Olbermann of MSNBC.
A few hours later, NBC would announce that Olbermann is joining the network's Sunday NFL studio show with its other new star ... Barber, who yesterday visited MSNBC in the slot formerly featuring ... Imus, whose friend Francesa eight hours earlier had wrapped up his own Sunday night show on ... WNBC.
It was comical and dizzying, like many things about the past two weeks in the media spin cycle. Then, suddenly, the comedy turned to tragedy and the dizziness turned to clarity.
Barber was supposed to do his first report today, on British motivational speaker Marcus Buckingham. Instead, by nightfall NBC was proving it is serious about the former Giant as a newsman. He was en route to Blacksburg to cover the Virginia Tech shootings.
Barber is from Roanoke, a 30-minute drive away. His parents met at Virginia Tech, where his father was a running back for the Hokies in the early 1970s.
So we'll get a sense quickly enough of Barber's reporting chops, as he will be part of the biggest story in the nation, one that makes the Imus brouhaha seem even more overblown than it did a day earlier.
Speaking of Imus, Barber was asked for his take on it, as a veteran of the New York media wars since the last time we talked on his first day on a new job - at a rookie minicamp in 1997.
"I think he was blindsided by what he thought was a toss-off comment," Barber said. "It's hard, because you don't want to tell people they have to tread lightly, but there is a line. And race and sex are the line you have to watch, because it galvanizes people."
Barber wouldn't say whether he thought Imus should be fired but said the angry reaction to his remarks was understandable given the dual nature of the show.
"You don't know where he's serious and where he's exercising satire," Barber said.
Barber said he feels better physically and emotionally than he has in years. He has lost about 10 pounds since January and has worked out only three times - all with his wife, Ginny, in her kickboxing class.
"I've been working out for 15 years virtually every day," he said. "My body is telling me don't do anything."
As for his old pal Tom Coughlin, Barber said he has no regrets about his comments aimed at the coach on his way out the door, including at the February news conference announcing his hiring by NBC.
Barber said then that Coughlin's harsh style was a factor in his starting to consider retirement. Coughlin defended himself later that month, but Barber didn't back off yesterday.
"Tom is the way he is; he's not going to change, and that's fine," he said. "Just as it's his prerogative to coach that way and treat people the way he does, it's my prerogative to do something else and give you a reason why."
Later, he added, "If I was lying, if I said, 'Tom was a great guy,' that he said, 'Tiki, I know you're hurt, take a day off,' or if we screwed up he didn't yell at me and said, 'OK, Tiki,' with positive reinforcement, then I'd be lying and I'd be wrong."
That's the kind of blunt honesty NBC is paying for from its new football analyst this fall.
Today it will begin to find out what sort of news reporter it hired.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/footb...45apr17,0,4284095.column?coll=ny-giants-print