tiki barber commentator: it's not right!

[Tom]

maybe it's just me, but i'm sitting there watching the olympic coverage and who do i see on msnbc channel's coverage tiki barber! wtf!

he's also a regular "contributor and "correspondent" on the today show for a few months now.

i just think it sucks that you have thousands of young and not so young men and women who actually have broadcasting degrees who are desperate for any kind of on air positions, who have struggled for years and who have actual background experience and because tiki is a former pro football player who has connections he gets these plum assignments. i know i know it's who you know, and so on....

i just think it's wrong in our society that things are like that!

 now it would be different if you had tiki commenting on nfl today like former players like howie long,bradshaw, etcetera. i mean it's common that you have former players in whatever sport commentating, (even though i also think just because you were a former player in a sport doesn't necessarily mean you know how to comment on it!)

 but it's different with tiki being on the today show and the olympics ; what because he was a former pro athlete he can comment on any sport and any topic! and if you listen to him on the olympic coverage HE KNOWS SQUAT!!!!

god knows he doesn't need the money! just wonder if someone like TIKI ever, ever thinks to himself "gee, you know i have no experience, no degree, and there are thousands of people who have EARNED the right to do what i'm doing and could do a better job than me!"

 probably more like " hey, too bad, so sad, they offered and i accepted" sucks to be these other people!"

any comments?! i'll get off my soapbox now! laugh!

[Stu]

Calm down Tom, it ain't that serious!

[Tom]

stu! laugh! i know it's not that earth shattering, life changing for millions and billions around the world situation! laugh! i just had a moment of thinking "how the world is not fair" kind of thing!

probably spurned on my watching mtv's crib episodes back to back earlier, and how you see barely literate "famous" actors, rappers, athletes (snowboarding, skateboarding,etc?!) living the very good and high life whereas the other 90 % of us who worked our asses off for decades (teachers, cops,office workers, construction workers,etc) struggle on 5 figures!

baseball players and other athletes, movie stars  making a hundred million dollars over a decade of work, and yes they do something that 99 percent of people on the planet cannot do, but at the end of the day it's still "just hitting a baseball and catching a ball! and "just acting"!

[Stu]

stu! laugh! i know it's not that earth shattering, life changing for millions and billions around the world situation! laugh! i just had a moment of thinking "how the world is not fair" kind of thing!

probably spurned on my watching mtv's crib episodes back to back earlier, and how you see barely literate "famous" actors, rappers, athletes (snowboarding, skateboarding,etc?!) living the very good and high life whereas the other 90 % of us who worked our asses off for decades (teachers, cops,office workers, construction workers,etc) struggle on 5 figures!

baseball players and other athletes, movie stars  making a hundred million dollars over a decade of work, and yes they do something that 99 percent of people on the planet cannot do, but at the end of the day it's still "just hitting a baseball and catching a ball! and "just acting"!

Five figures? This is getbig, nobody here makes less than six figures, what most of them neglect to tell you though is that they are paid in Zimbabwean Dollars!!

[mwbbuilder]

I think you are wrong.

He is an articulate and charismatic guy. Not only is he on the Today's Show, I've seen him on the Big Idea with Donnie Deutch talking about business and he was exceptionally articulate and insightful.

Some people just have "it" and he is obviuosly one of those people.

Just because someone tries hard and get and education specically to get the job he has doesn't mean the should be "given" it.

[bigdumbbell]

I think you are wrong.

He is an articulate and charismatic guy. Not only is he on the Today's Show, I've seen him on the Big Idea with Donnie Deutch talking about business and he was exceptionally articulate and insightful.

Some people just have "it" and he is obviuosly one of those people.

Just because someone tries hard and get and education specically to get the job he has doesn't mean the should be "given" it.

he's ok...they got him nbc/universal got him cheap

[El Diablo Blanco]

You're wrong and really don't know shit about this.  These former athletes don't simply jump into the comentator booths.  They all go to school part time learning broadcast journalism.  They learn diction and how to articulate.  They spend a lot of time prepping to be in front of the screen.  You're quite ignorant to thinking they just become announcers without any type of training.