The NFL is the big leagues for football, but when it comes to reality shows, there’s no bigger franchise than “The Real Housewives.”
Former Giants star running back and Audacy host Tiki Barber now has experience with both. The co-host of “Tiki and Tierney” on WFAN Sports Radio sat down with Ed Valentine on the “Valentine’s Views” podcast to discuss his return to New York, and how he ended up appearing on “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.”
Barber was open about the fact that he expected some pushback when his show, which formerly aired on CBS Sports Radio, hit the airwaves in New York this year, given some of his critiques of his former team in the past, but he shared that he's already seeing a positive response from the audience.
“It’s been great. I’m upfront. I don’t run from my history. I think over the last month or so, New Yorkers have gotten a chance to hear directly from me, which has in some cases changed their opinion in a lot of ways. We’ve gotten a lot of calls about that very issue, and it’s all been good,” he noted.
He also showed some love for Eli Manning, saying he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. “When you look at Eli, if he just had that one championship in 2007, you’d have said ‘you know what, he just got hot. He had a great run, he played his best football in the postseason, they beat the New England Patriots."
He continued, "But the fact that it happened again, 2011, comes around, Eli plays some of his best football in the postseason, it no longer was an accident, right? You could tell what he does when the chips are down, or when the pressure’s on.”
Barber played 10 seasons in the NFL with the New York Giants, retiring in 2007 as the Giants' all-time leader in rushing yards and all-purpose yards, and he talked about his love for the franchise. “I have a passion for the New York Giants. I love this organization, and I always will,” he said.
Sports fans aren’t the only opinionated people that Barber has been interacting with lately, as he and his wife Traci Lynn Johnson are appearing on the latest season of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.”
Barber shared that the couple “have been friends with Joe and Melissa Gorga for a while now, and we actually made a little small appearance years ago with them at an event that we went to and it just came back around. We said ‘you know what? Let’s give this a shot.’”
They’re enjoying their time on the Bravo show, and Barber said that he’s gotten close to the husbands of other cast members, but added that “there’s a lot of drama, there’s a lot of interesting interactions with the housewives and the househusbands.”
Tiki and Traci call the Garden State home, so appearing on the show “feels like we’re part of the fabric of New Jersey, and this ‘Housewives’ show has allowed us to show a little bit more of that.”
Listen to “Tiki and Tierney” on WFAN Sports Radio Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET on Audacy.
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