Tiki torches former team now

Honesty is generally the best policy. But is there such a thing as being too honest, particularly if you’re a former player or coach just starting out in broadcasting?

NBC newcomer Tiki Barber, who made his regular-season debut Thursday night, stirred things up a few weeks ago when he questioned the leadership skills of a former teammate, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. And Barber found himself in the middle of another hornets’ nest this week when a published excerpt from his upcoming book included criticism of Giants Coach Tom Coughlin for being such a disciplinarian.

Last year, Jerome Bettis, then an NBC newcomer, created a controversy, particularly in Pittsburgh, when he speculated during the preseason that Bill Cowher would be stepping down as the Steelers’ coach at the end of the season, which he did.

And a couple of weeks ago it came out that Bettis, in a soon-to-be-published book co-written with ESPN.com columnist and former Times staff writer Gene Wojciechowski, claims he faked an injury during training camp in 2000 so the Steelers couldn’t cut him.

Barber’s tough analysis of Coughlin was big news in New York. One tabloid ran a story under the headline “Tiki’s Torment” that said Coughlin was the reason he left the Giants. On the Sirius Satellite Radio show he does with twin brother Ronde, Barber called the accusation “totally false,” although he said Coughlin “played into the factors a little bit.”

Shannon Sharpe of CBS’ “The NFL Today,” when asked Thursday about the controversies involving Barber, said: “The only problem I have with Tiki is it seemed to have gotten personal with what he said about Eli.”

Sharpe said when he first got into broadcasting, he criticized former teammate and Denver Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer. But it was different.

“When I criticized Jake Plummer, I was talking about me being in the hole with him, seeing that every opportunity that we had to do something really, really good, he would shoot us in the foot by throwing a costly interception or turning the ball over,” Sharpe said. “I never talked about what transpired in a meeting room or when we got together in a private setting. There are some things that the public, under no circumstances, should know. When he said it was comical about Eli’s being a leader, he was wrong.”

During an earlier conference call Fox commentators had with reporters, Troy Aikman said that maybe he now understands why the Giants have underachieved in recent years.

But Jimmy Johnson took another tack.

“If it hadn’t been for Tom Coughlin, Tiki Barber might not have even been playing these last couple of years,” he said. “He dropped the ball so many times that there’s a good chance he’d be over on the sidelines. But I guess now that he’s in the broadcast business, he has gotten a lot smarter and forgot about all those fumbles.”

And this from Rodney Peete on FSN’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period”: “To go at somebody’s character after you’re done playing is cowardly.”

Cris Collinsworth, one of Barber’s NBC colleagues, said, “Tiki has made some comments about his former team, and I guess the question back to you is, would you prefer he says, ‘Tom Coughlin did an unbelievable job with us and helped me with my fumbling and my teammates are the greatest guys in the world?’ Then . . . all over the universe you would hear remotes going click, click, click.”

Cowher, who has become a CBS studio analyst, said Bettis’ speculation about him last year didn’t bother him.

“That was his opinion and I didn’t have a problem with that,” Cowher said. “You shouldn’t take such things personal. As for his faking an injury, that is something Jerome has to live with if he feels comfortable stating that publicly.”

Recent Hall of Fame inductee Michael Irvin, on HBO’s “Costas Now” Wednesday night, talked about the time he was with ESPN and said Keyshawn Johnson, who was with Dallas at the time, was no longer a No. 1 receiver because the Cowboys had no No. 1 receiver, only a bunch of No. 2s.

“Keyshawn called me [and said], ‘You messin’ with my money, I’m trying to keep my money up,’ ” Irvin said.

And, according to Irvin, his response was: “If I don’t say it, it’s messing with my money. You know, it’s my job.”

Be prepared

UCLA’s 3:30 game Saturday against Brigham Young at the Rose Bowl will be televised by Versus, formerly known as OLN. And before that, it was the Outdoor Life Network. Time Warner, Cox and Charter, L.A.’s three major cable providers, all carry Versus on a digital pay tier, which requires a digital receiver box and an additional monthly fee -- generally $5 or less per month beyond the price for basic cable. About half of the 3 million cable households in the Southland get the channel.

Double the fun

There won’t be another Phil Mickelson-Tiger Woods showdown this weekend like there was Monday because Mickelson isn’t playing in the BMW Championship, which is on the Golf Channel today and NBC Saturday and Sunday. The BMW is the third of four events that make up the FedEx Cup playoff.

Mickelson vs. Woods on Monday, which generated a 4.0 national overnight rating, became so intense at one point that NBC commentator Johnny Miller said, “If you don’t like this, go watch tennis.” We did during a commercial break and found the dramatic U.S. Open match between Tommy Haas and James Blake, which we TiVo’d. Thank you, Johnny.

And, by the way, CBS got a 2.5 overnight rating for its Open coverage Monday.

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larry.stewart@latimes.com