What about Bob? Glauber's NFL Blog

You think you're sick and tired of the Tiki Barber-Eli Manning he said-he said soap opera? Well, Eli said yesterday's it's over and done with, and now Tiki says it's time to move on.

Barber is reluctant to say anything else, hoping the controversy will die down. It was not his intention to have it blow up like this, although he understands why it did.

But Barber did say he felt his use of the word "comical" when describing Manning's halting attempts to talk to the team before a game last season was misconstrued. It was that word that seemed to set the whole feud off.

"I was glad he made that speech," Tiki said. "He needed to do that. It was just a matter of him being uncomfortable when he first started talking, and that's where the 'comical' thing came up. It was funny, but I didn't mean it to be critical of him. That's why that whole thing was taken out of context."

And Tiki reiterated his frustration at Manning's suggestion that Tiki's heart wasn't in it last season.

"I left everything on the field," he said. "Everything."

Barber said there are no issues with what he said with the people who write his check at NBC.

"My bosses at NBC have no problems with anything I said. I was hired to be honest, and tell it like I see it, and that's what I'm going to do."

Again, he didn't really want to say much more on the record, because he doesn't want to add any more life to the story.

How he speaks in the future remains to be seen, but my sense is he's to speak his mind, but perhaps try and find a middle ground in how to say things, so as not to create such a huge furor. It's very, very early in the process for him as a broadcaster, so we'll see how it goes.

Again, I think there's a way to say things in a direct, straightforward manner without alienating people or creating these back-page scenarios. We'll see if Barber feels the same way.