Former NFLer Tiki Barber appeared on WFAN-AM’s “Francesa” yesterday to discuss his attempt to return to the NFL after being retired for four seasons. However, the conversation turned to Barber’s tenure at NBC as a broadcaster, with host Mike Francesa calling Barber’s broadcasting career a “failure.” The following are some excerpts from the interview.
| Francesa: “Are you coming back to football because you miss it or are you coming back to football because you just had a big failure in broadcasting?” Barber: “You’re throwing a bit of hyperbole out there because I didn’t have a big failure in broadcasting. … I think it was a learning experience and it turned out to be not the direction in broadcasting that I wanted to be in. But I think it’s unfair for you to label it that way.” Francesa: “Why is that unfair? You walked into a huge job. They set you up on the ‘Today’ show. … You went in there and a couple of years later, you’re out. That’s what you call a failure.” Barber: “My relationship with NBC started in a way that was very fulfilling … but the media world changed a little bit and we all know that. … You’re putting it in simple terms and if that’s how you need to do it, then fine, you put it in simple terms. But I don’t consider my times at NBC a failure.” |
Mark Lepselter, Barber’s agent, jumped into the conversation at one point and said, “Did the relationship work out as good as it could have? We all know it did not. But we’re not looking back. He’s looking forward.” Francesa replied to that, “Tiki was a great football player. He was not a good broadcaster.”
| Barber: “A lot of people will say that you don’t do a good job at what you do because you badger your listeners, you badger your (guests).” Francesa: “That’s ridiculous. That’s subjective. I have a tremendously successful broadcasting career for a quarter of a century. That’s like saying you weren’t a good football player. That’s stupid to say that.” Barber: “You have a lot of people who don’t respect the way you do things.” |
Francesa later said Barber was fired from “Today,” to which Barber replied, “Oh, did I? … I don’t think you know the story.” Lepselter again interjected and said, “Guys, let’s move on.” Francesa said, “Mark, you’re not there to be his bodyguard” (
“Francesa,” WFAN-AM, 6/22).
