boutons_
12-21-2006, 04:48 PM
December 21, 2006
Sports of The Times
Wave Goodbye to a True New York Giant
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/12/21/sports/21anderson.1.600.jpg
By DAVE ANDERSON
East Rutherford, N.J.
When he joined the Giants (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/newyorkgiants/index.html?inline=nyt-org), his name instantly made him different. Sports never had a Tiki before. As a screaming newborn, he was named Atiim Kiambu, which translates to “fiery-tempered king.” And now, about to walk off into the dawn of the rest of his life as a New York Giant like no other, he’s doubly different.
Yard for yard, Tiki Barber (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/tiki_barber/index.html?inline=nyt-per) is the best running back the Giants have ever had: 10,144 rushing, 5,147 more in receptions, awaiting what will probably be his Giants Stadium goodbye on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/neworleanssaints/index.html?inline=nyt-org). And career for career, he’s the best at taking advantage of his Giants’ fame while getting to know New York’s movers and shakers, notably the television executives who are now bidding to hire him.
In other eras, other Giants have gone on to thrive in television, primarily as sportscasters — Frank Gifford, Pat Summerall, Phil Simms. Barber, who has had various television and radio shows for several years, wants to do general news, which would be more significant.
When this New York Giant like no other speaks, he usually smiles easily, though there is always a firm determination under that smile. But when he complained several weeks ago about feeling “insignificant” after having carried only 10 times for 27 yards in a loss at Jacksonville, he didn’t smile. He wasn’t annoyed at his numbers. He was annoyed because, whatever he’s doing, he wants to be significant.
“Some people succeed because they are destined to,” he said as a rookie in 1997, “but most succeed because they are determined to.”
He’s also been determined to speak his mind. When defensive end Michael Strahan (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/michael_strahan/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s contract negotiations stalled during a noisy dispute in 2002, Barber openly chastised him. After the Giants were eliminated by Carolina, 23-0, in last season’s playoffs, he mentioned how they had been “outcoached,” a phrase that Coach Tom Coughlin (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/tom_coughlin/index.html?inline=nyt-per) did not appreciate.
As a second-round choice out of Virginia in 1997, he arrived with a financial adviser and a marketing adviser as well as an agent to negotiate his contract. But Barber (now listed at 5 feet 10 inches and 205 pounds) was quickly labeled as too small to be much more than a third-down back and kick-returner.
When knee and hamstring ailments limited his speed, and he dropped passes, he appeared to be on a treadmill.
“There were times,” he once said, “when I thought I’d be an average guy who plays four years and never amounts to anything.”
But in the 2000 season, after Coach Jim Fassel (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/jim_fassel/index.html?inline=nyt-per) knighted Sean Payton as the Giants’ offensive coordinator, Barber rushed for 1,006 yards, caught 70 passes for another 719 yards and scored 9 touchdowns as the Giants soared to Super Bowl XXXV before losing to Baltimore. He’s been rolling ever since.
On Sunday, coincidentally, with Barber hoping to go out a winner in probably his last game here, Payton will be on the 9-5 Saints’ sideline as their coach.
•
“Sean was a great influence on my career,” Barber said yesterday on his way to a running-backs meeting. “He finds ways to utilize his guys’ strengths. He did that with me and revolutionized my existence as a football player and turned me into who I am now, or at least started me down the path into who I am now.”
Married with two small sons in a lavish Upper East Side apartment, Barber has always looked to who he will be not only without his helmet, but also without the $8.3 million he would have earned had he fulfilled the final two years of his contract.
A commerce major, he sharpened his business acumen by confiding in Bob Tisch, the billionaire co-owner of the Giants who died during the 2005 season not long after Barber led his teammates into St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the funeral of the Giants’ other co-owner, Wellington Mara.
After a chance introduction at a New York restaurant to Shimon Peres (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/shimon_peres/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the deputy prime minister of Israel, Barber spent six days in Israel last year at Peres’s invitation, primarily at the Peres Center for Peace. He and his twin brother, Ronde, have co-written children’s books.
“Fortune,” he once said, “favors the prepared person.”
He has begun to pack up. Three big cardboard boxes were at his corner locker, where his helmet, shoulder pads, half a dozen pairs of football shoes, sweatsuits and a bottle of Aleve contrasted with one of his son’s crayon drawings, 25 framed trading cards and several books: a black-leather Bible, “The Rainmaker,” “The Third Option,” “Chef’s Night Out,” “Killing Pablo” and “Raising the Bar.”
•
When asked yesterday if he would be emotional on Sunday before his last home game, he said, “I don’t think I’ll think about it.”
But when he was asked how he would feel walking off the field after the game, he said, “I guess a lot of it depends on whether we win or lose.” He will have at least one more game, the season finale next Saturday night at Washington, across the Potomac from Virginia, where this New York Giant like no other grew up.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/sports/football/21anderson.html
Sports of The Times
Wave Goodbye to a True New York Giant
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/12/21/sports/21anderson.1.600.jpg
By DAVE ANDERSON
East Rutherford, N.J.
When he joined the Giants (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/newyorkgiants/index.html?inline=nyt-org), his name instantly made him different. Sports never had a Tiki before. As a screaming newborn, he was named Atiim Kiambu, which translates to “fiery-tempered king.” And now, about to walk off into the dawn of the rest of his life as a New York Giant like no other, he’s doubly different.
Yard for yard, Tiki Barber (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/tiki_barber/index.html?inline=nyt-per) is the best running back the Giants have ever had: 10,144 rushing, 5,147 more in receptions, awaiting what will probably be his Giants Stadium goodbye on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/neworleanssaints/index.html?inline=nyt-org). And career for career, he’s the best at taking advantage of his Giants’ fame while getting to know New York’s movers and shakers, notably the television executives who are now bidding to hire him.
In other eras, other Giants have gone on to thrive in television, primarily as sportscasters — Frank Gifford, Pat Summerall, Phil Simms. Barber, who has had various television and radio shows for several years, wants to do general news, which would be more significant.
When this New York Giant like no other speaks, he usually smiles easily, though there is always a firm determination under that smile. But when he complained several weeks ago about feeling “insignificant” after having carried only 10 times for 27 yards in a loss at Jacksonville, he didn’t smile. He wasn’t annoyed at his numbers. He was annoyed because, whatever he’s doing, he wants to be significant.
“Some people succeed because they are destined to,” he said as a rookie in 1997, “but most succeed because they are determined to.”
He’s also been determined to speak his mind. When defensive end Michael Strahan (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/michael_strahan/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s contract negotiations stalled during a noisy dispute in 2002, Barber openly chastised him. After the Giants were eliminated by Carolina, 23-0, in last season’s playoffs, he mentioned how they had been “outcoached,” a phrase that Coach Tom Coughlin (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/tom_coughlin/index.html?inline=nyt-per) did not appreciate.
As a second-round choice out of Virginia in 1997, he arrived with a financial adviser and a marketing adviser as well as an agent to negotiate his contract. But Barber (now listed at 5 feet 10 inches and 205 pounds) was quickly labeled as too small to be much more than a third-down back and kick-returner.
When knee and hamstring ailments limited his speed, and he dropped passes, he appeared to be on a treadmill.
“There were times,” he once said, “when I thought I’d be an average guy who plays four years and never amounts to anything.”
But in the 2000 season, after Coach Jim Fassel (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/jim_fassel/index.html?inline=nyt-per) knighted Sean Payton as the Giants’ offensive coordinator, Barber rushed for 1,006 yards, caught 70 passes for another 719 yards and scored 9 touchdowns as the Giants soared to Super Bowl XXXV before losing to Baltimore. He’s been rolling ever since.
On Sunday, coincidentally, with Barber hoping to go out a winner in probably his last game here, Payton will be on the 9-5 Saints’ sideline as their coach.
•
“Sean was a great influence on my career,” Barber said yesterday on his way to a running-backs meeting. “He finds ways to utilize his guys’ strengths. He did that with me and revolutionized my existence as a football player and turned me into who I am now, or at least started me down the path into who I am now.”
Married with two small sons in a lavish Upper East Side apartment, Barber has always looked to who he will be not only without his helmet, but also without the $8.3 million he would have earned had he fulfilled the final two years of his contract.
A commerce major, he sharpened his business acumen by confiding in Bob Tisch, the billionaire co-owner of the Giants who died during the 2005 season not long after Barber led his teammates into St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the funeral of the Giants’ other co-owner, Wellington Mara.
After a chance introduction at a New York restaurant to Shimon Peres (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/shimon_peres/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the deputy prime minister of Israel, Barber spent six days in Israel last year at Peres’s invitation, primarily at the Peres Center for Peace. He and his twin brother, Ronde, have co-written children’s books.
“Fortune,” he once said, “favors the prepared person.”
He has begun to pack up. Three big cardboard boxes were at his corner locker, where his helmet, shoulder pads, half a dozen pairs of football shoes, sweatsuits and a bottle of Aleve contrasted with one of his son’s crayon drawings, 25 framed trading cards and several books: a black-leather Bible, “The Rainmaker,” “The Third Option,” “Chef’s Night Out,” “Killing Pablo” and “Raising the Bar.”
•
When asked yesterday if he would be emotional on Sunday before his last home game, he said, “I don’t think I’ll think about it.”
But when he was asked how he would feel walking off the field after the game, he said, “I guess a lot of it depends on whether we win or lose.” He will have at least one more game, the season finale next Saturday night at Washington, across the Potomac from Virginia, where this New York Giant like no other grew up.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/sports/football/21anderson.html