Ryan Clark raised eyebrows with his strong takedown of former New York Giants running back and current WFAN afternoon host Tiki Barber for comments the NFL legend made about Saquon Barkley’s decision to leave the Giants and join the Philadelphia Eagles.
On his The Pivot podcast, Clark shared that he learned how not to be a teammate from Barber’s actions when he was a young player in the Giants locker room.
“Tiki taught me how you don’t make a young player feel welcome, how you don’t make a young player feel like this could one day be his team,” Clark said. “The way he made me feel as a young rookie and a second-year player, I said I don’t ever want to be that dude. And he’s continued to be that person.”
He would probably deny this, but Ryan Clark turned his criticism of Tiki Barber personal. That’s not a critique of Tiki Barber the professional football player. That’s a critique of Tiki Barber the person. His character.
And, naturally, when things become personal in a media beef, more often than not, shots will be returned.
That’s exactly what Tiki Barber did, arguing “You don’t know me like that, dude,” adding that he “honestly doesn’t remember” interacting with Clark when they played together for the Giants.
“He doesn’t know me well enough to talk about me. So shut the hell up, Ryan Clark. Please. You sound like a fool,” Barber continued.
After WFAN morning host Gregg Giannotti joined the fray by calling Clark a “d-bag” from both of their days in Pittsburgh, with Gio working at 93.7 The Fan and Clark playing for the Steelers. Giannotti shared an anecdote of Clark running down a member of the Pittsburgh media, claiming he “undressed this man verbally and made him feel like a piece of crap. He said, ‘You just don’t like the fact that I’ll be able to do your job better than you in three years when I retire.’ [And he was] pointing in his face and stuff. So, you’re the classy guy? My ass you are.”
The words between the three obviously got heated, and rightfully so. Once Clark turned the conversation personal, it was bound to happen. Barber defended himself, which is justified, and Giannotti defended his co-worker, which, again, is a-ok.
But Ryan Clark then tried to take an exit ramp. Rather than face the music or stand behind his beliefs, he attempted to take the discussion offline. In a post to X, Clark asked Barber and Giannotti for the opportunity to speak together as “adult men and professionals.”
He added “No camera, no mics, no public talking after.”
And that’s just one thing you can’t do once that cat is out of the bag.
There’s a reason Clark said what he said about Barber on the platform in which he said it. He knew it would get clicks, draw attention, and get him a little extra notoriety. He’s not a dumb guy. Ryan Clark isn’t dumb. He has a supreme understanding of the way the media operates.
I’m guessing, though, that he underestimated Tiki Barber. He probably thought the comments would either go unnoticed by his former teammate, or at minimum, unresponded to.
And that’s where Ryan Clark messed up. He made mistakes in two key areas.
First of all, if you can’t take it, don’t dish it out.
Ryan Clark took a very — whether he views it this way or not — personal shot at Tiki Barber. But once he began to see negative pushback for his stance, he wanted the conversation to exit the public space. Why? Because it makes him look good, and it ends any public criticism of him. Because, as reasonable people (should they meet), Barber and Gregg Giannotti will exit the sit-down and say “Hey, guys. Leave Ryan Clark alone. We’re all on good terms now.”
On the flip side, if Barber or Giannotti refuse to meet, he can play the “I tried to smooth things over, but they’re not big enough people to meet with me” card, which is about as disingenuous as things can get. Why should either one of them, but especially Barber, want to meet with someone who trashed them so publicly and personally?
If you’re intensely critical of someone on a public platform, and after they defend themselves and then similarly criticize you, begging for that conversation to go behind closed doors makes you look like you were desperate for attention but couldn’t handle the heat that came with your comments. You don’t get to attempt to take the moral high ground after, justified or not, questioning someone’s character.
If Ryan Clark believes Tiki Barber was a bad teammate and was a model for what not to do for younger players, then stand on it.
Secondly, if you’re going to accuse someone of something, you can’t have those same skeletons in your closet.
Clark tried to argue, essentially, that Tiki Barber was a jerk. Giannotti had the receipts that maybe the ESPN NFL analyst wasn’t so squeaky-clean in his own right. If you’re guilty of the exact thing you’re accusing someone else of being, that’s a tough look.
As far as I can tell, neither Clark nor the unnamed member of the Pittsburgh media have denied that such an interaction took place.
Those are just a pair of valuable lessons taught in Media Beefs 101. When it’s all about public perception, having big gaping holes in your arguments doesn’t bode well for you.
But Ryan Clark is a smart guy and a smart analyst. I’ll bet he doesn’t make the same mistake again.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
