It’s always been speculated that ex-New York Giants running back Tiki Barber was probably pretty embarrassed when his former team won the Super Bowl exactly one season after his 2006 retirement. But now sports pundits around the web are saying his planned comeback is even more of an embarrassment. And ouch! They are really pulling his jock strap about it:
It’s sad that Barber is going to try to play again. This isn’t Brett Favre waffling every year or Roger Clemens showing up halfway through a season. Barber retired much too soon and has missed the last four NFL seasons. — Gary Myers, New York Daily News
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The first question that comes to my mind is “why?” Why on earth would a 35-year-old running back be so eager to return to a physically punishing league that, quite frankly, treats 35-year-old running backs like garbage? Especially when that league isn’t even certain to have a 2011 season? — Matthew J. Darnell, Yahoo! Sports
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Someone hasn’t told Tiki Barber, soon to be 36, that running backs are a tad passé once they hit 30 years of age. Or, that taking off for four seasons and trying to come back is pretty much a right held exclusively by boxers, coaches and the Olympics. — Steve Wyche, NFL.com.
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…To see the greatest running back in Giants history suddenly decide he wants to play again after four years out of football, at the age of 35, after a failed marriage and broadcasting career . . . well, it all seems sad…For a player who seemed to have it all together after going out on top, the unraveling has been painful to watch. — Bob Glauber, Newsday
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Well, some people burn bridges; Tiki urinated on this bridge and then dynamited it into oblivion. — Seth Rosenthal, New York Magazine
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Note to Tiki — grown men play the game of football and you need to become a grown man again to play this game again. — Martin Meltzer, Huffington Post