Tiki Barber’s tenure with the New York Giants is reflected in almost every corner of his Manhattan apartment, from the massive trophy case showcasing both the former Giant’s MVP trophies and a Tiki Barber bobble head, to the hand-painted Giants Stadium mural in his sons’ bedroom. Even some wilted balloons, left over from his 32^nd birthday celebration on April 7, are Giants blue and white.

While the memorabilia speaks volumes to the past 10 years of Barber’s life, during which time he evolved into an elite NFL running back, it says little about the perspective this retired football star will bring to the TODAY show when he debuts as their newest correspondent on Monday.

After all, as Barber himself pointed out, TODAY doesn’t exactly cover many stories on the NFL or sports in general. But Barber has never been the stereotypical jock, and if you look past the Tiki Time clock, the Tiki hand towel and the Tiki dart board scattered throughout his home, there are more subtle signs of the Renaissance man who plans to make his mark in morning news.

One shelf in the bookcase in his home office, for example, contains the entire Harry Potter series, three Bibles, “Moby Dick,” a collection of poems and the jacket of the book he is currently reading, Barack Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope,” offering a small window into Barber’s “eclectic view of the world” and the kinds of issues he hopes to tackle in his second life.

“Eventually I want to be able to do anything,” he said. “I want to have the credibility to talk about politics or breaking news, that’s the top end. But I understand there’s a process to get there … I’m starting at the bottom again.”

Where do you go from the top?
It’s been a long time since Barber was at the bottom.

In January, he walked away from professional football while at the very top of his game, having amassed more total yards in the past three seasons than anyone other player in the league, setting almost every offensive record in Giants franchise history and voted to the Pro Bowl on three occasions.

He chose to forfeit at least a handful of productive years as a football player — and several lucrative endorsement deals that came with it — in part because he had become so accomplished.

“My entire career, from the time I was a rookie to 10 years later, my goal was to constantly reinvent myself, to find whatever my fault was or whatever I was deficient in and reinvent myself into something powerful,” Barber said. “It got to the point where I couldn’t reinvent myself any more…When you hit the top of your profession, what do you aspire to?”

If you’re Barber, you find a new mountain to climb.

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