Another day and yet another Tiki story.
Last night Tom Pedulla of USA Today had a story on running back Tiki Barber and how his short list of teams that he wanted to sign with included the Steelers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This afternoon Ira Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune blogged that the Bucs will have no interest in signing Barber whenever free agency opens, as he doesn’t fit in with the current youth movement taking place in Tampa.
Barber\’s agent, Mark Lepselter said on WFAN last month that two teams had shown significant interest in Barber and it is indeed looking more and more like Lepselter does not understand the meaning of the phrase, “significant interest”.
If you remember back to mid March when the Barber to the Steelers speculation first got going, Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette blogged that the Steelers organization would have no interest in signing Barber either.
So now you have two well established beat writers from both of the teams that Barber reportedly has on his short list emphatically saying that Barber will not be signed by either team. This is beginning to look more and more like the entire “significant interest” is being made up by both Barber and Lepselter. Imagine that. Perhaps what Lepselter meant to say is that the two teams with significant interest are teams from the UFL and not the NFL.
Just because beat writers say something will not happen does not mean that they are always right, but if you look closer at both teams and their track records, you can see that Barber is not a fit with either. I pointed this out from the very start when the rumor train left the station and I still would be very shocked if Barber did indeed sign with the black and gold.
Tune in tomorrow as I am sure another day will bring us yet another chapter in the attempted comeback of one retired Giants running back named Tiki.
