Tiki won't talk about the Giants this week

BY NEIL BEST | neil.best@newsday.com

11:07 AM EST, January 28, 2008

PHOENIX - The Giants inevitably will field many Tiki Barber questions this week, but Barber himself doesn't plan to field any.

The man most responsible for Tom Coughlin still being employed - see Redskins, Washington, Dec. 30, 2006 - intentionally has been laying low in the media since the playoffs began. He has reserved his most expansive comments for his Tuesday night show on Sirius NFL Radio - but even that gig now is over for the season after he spoke at length last week about how happy he is for the Giants and how much he does not regret his decision to retire a year before the current Super Bowl run.

Barber has made brief comments at a couple of charity events and appeared on Charlie Rose's PBS show, but mostly he seems to recognize the awkward position he is in: Hide altogether, and fans will assume he is overcome with shame or remorse. Talk too much, and fans will accuse him of wanting to be the center of attention.

Mark Lepselter, Barber's agent, said he has "turned down a multitude of requests for interviews'' this month. He considered making an appearance on WFAN the Friday before the Packers game but in the end he passed.

Barber does plan to travel to Arizona Wednesday or Thursday and likely will do reports for NBC's "Today'' show Sunday and/or Monday.

"What everybody in your business fails to remember is he's paid by NBC and he's paid by Sirius,'' Lepselter said. "I understand he's a different individual, but he's a journalist and a spectator just like you guys.''

Lepselter urged fans to accept Barber's repeated assertions that he has moved on with his life and was not overcome with grief or regret after the Giants' victory over the Packers.

"I assure you Tiki Barber was not sitting in his apartment in his underwear flicking the lamp on and off [Sunday night],'' Lepselter said. "It's very hard for people to understand even today that the guy didn't want to play football anymore and he's not sitting at home dwelling on this.''