Atiim Kiambu Barber To Retire

I’m still trying to figure out why everyone is acting so shocked that Tiki Barber (real name Atiim Kiambu Barber) has recently announced that this will be his last year of football. Loyal readers of this site know that Silva Sportz broke this back in July. As I said then, and I still maintain today, if Tiki wants to hang it up, then who is to say otherwise? This is a personal decision between Barber and his familia and those people and those people alone should make the decision whether Barber is back toting the rock next year. So while I back Barber and whatever choice he makes, I would caution him that there is a wrong way to go about this, and Barber is running the risk with recent comments that he wouldn't commit to saying his retirement was 100 percent certain: "It's week six of the NFL season, so I won't say that." However, he also said there was "nothing" that would change his mind. This seem like a bit of a contradiction to me and I think that is the worst thing a player could do. Now I understand there are circumstances such as injuries where players have a tougher time coming to a decision as to whether or not to hang up the cleats. However, with Tiki, he simply wants to pursue other things and with his above comments he comes across as flip-flopping between whether he’ll be back with the G-Men or not. "I have a lot of interests and I've never wanted to be solely defined as a football player," Barber said. First, I would say right now Barber’s body is hurting and as I heard former NFL’er, Mark Schlereth remark recently, every player considers retiring at this point in the season when you are feeling those hits from last Sunday and preparing to do it all again the next Sunday. Secondly, sorry Tiki, but no matter what you go on to accomplish, you will be hard-pressed to make everyone forget that you got your start in athletics. If you don’t believe me, just ask this guy.
So what are Tiki’s other interests? Well appeared a number of times as a guest host on Fox News morning show, “Fox and Friends” and has signed a contract with the network to be a general contributor and appear each Tuesday (dubbed "Tuesdays with Tiki" or "Tiki Tuesday") on the morning program. Barber has even gone so far as stating that his goal after football is to become a host of NBC's “Today show”. Tiki and his brother Ronde have also recently released their third children’s book.
In conclusion, I’m really not surprised why Barber would even bring retirement up at this time of the year. Regardless, a Barber-less Giants would certainly be a weakened Giants team. There are few backs in the league who are as complete and as consistent as Barber is and has been over the past years. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.

Barber reiterates that he will probably retire after this season (ESPN.com/AP wire)

Brandon Jacobs ready to step in if Tiki Barber retires (ESPN.com/AP wire)

First Willie, Now Tiki? (Silva Sportz)