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Answers by Tiki Barber, co-founder/chairman of Thuzio, Giants running back (1997-2007).
Q: How does a football player play after getting hit so hard and so consistently?
I think most people understand how a martial artist can break a board and not break his arm because he conditions himself and calcifies his bones, so while it looks amazing, it's pretty easy for him.
The same things happen with football players as they take hits. Your body just starts to adjust to contact and you toughen up in certain areas. So while it looks bad, it doesn't necessarily feel that bad.
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As you get older however, it is much harder for your body to recover. So at 22 years old you get beat up for 60 min of a football game, you feel fine a few days later. At 32, it takes 5 days before you feel like a normal person again. You can measure the natural aging process not only by years -- but by how many days you have to ice after game day. When you are still wearing ice on Friday, it's time to think about retiring.
Q: What does an NFL player do on Game Day -- before and after the game?
Most NFL Players have a similar routine up until they get to the stadium. They wake up and have a pre-game meal. If it's a late game, they will have a meeting to go over game plan, maybe watch some film of the opponent just to remind themselves everything they studied that week as a last minute refresher.
Once you get to the stadium, it really depends on an individual's personality. Some guys will sit in the locker room and rock out to whatever music they listen to. Other guys will go out onto the field, run around, get a feel for the environment, and motivate themselves by being in the arena they are about to play in.
I would go into our our training or equipment room (they are separate rooms) and grab a book and read. Newspapers, history books (Founding Brothers comes to mind) -- always something unrelated to football. I trained hard during the week, and Game Day was the time for trusting myself and what I had done all week. This worked for me because I was a cerebral player -- and being overhyped would not have given me a competitive advantage or otherwise improved my performance. Coming in with a well-trained mind and body and a clear head -- this is what I optimized for on Game Day.
Q: What is the culture of an NFL locker room?
The culture of an NFL locker room varies according to the personalities that are in the locker room. With that being said, imagine high-testosterone young men who are unproctored and living their dream.
A locker room culture can actually pare down into two cultures that account for the maturation process of young men in their 20s and early 30s. There are young men, hyped by all of the things happening in society -- and there are veterans who are all about winning and doing their jobs playing the game.
The NY Giants' culture was unique because the Giants go through a lot of pains to draft guys that will fit in well in NY because of the unique culture of the city, especially the media.
So there are a couple of tests that are taken to determine this. One is the Wonderlic test, which measures how quickly players can respond to immediately developing situations. Another is a psychological evaluation by Dr. Goldberg, the resident doctor for the Giants. The Giants wanted to understand how players would handle football stress and societal stress because it's such a big media market. This resulted in a more tame environment compared to some places around the league.
Q: How does a football coach inspire or lose the confidence of players?
Coaches inspire by educating first, which allows a player to feel empowered and very confident in what they are doing.
Early in my career when I struggled as a running back because I couldn't stay healthy and had issues with consistency, Jim Fassell, my coach at the time, was super thoughtful. He came to me and was very direct and succinct and basically said, "I want you to focus on this because this is what you are good at and the other stuff will come later." This really helped me have a positive feeling about myself instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the things I thought I should be doing.
On the flip side, a coach can lose a player or team by consistent negative reinforcement because over time you start to lose your feeling of self worth, and no one can be successful in that type of environment.
When Coach Coughlin first came to the Giants, it was about instilling discipline, and it sometimes seemed like nobody ever did anything right. A lot of guys tuned him out. Over time, he won guys back, but it was because he started talking to them instead of talking at them. He and the Giants became winners, and I applaud him for that.
Q: What is Tiki Barber spending his time on these days?
I have a CBS Sports Radio show, so my days get long. I get out of bed at 3:45 AM, am in the studio by 4:45 AM, and I'm on the air from 6-9 AM.
I am also the co-founder and co-chairman of Thuzio.com, an online marketplace for talent (which we define as those who are publicly recognized for their excellence) that serves corporations, organizations, and consumers around the country. We have started with sports.
I spend my time building both sides of the marketplace -- cultivating demand and recruiting talent, developing our products, marketing our platform, and helping to create the infrastructure we need to enable a great marketplace for talent.
On top of that, I am also an active talent participant on our platform. So I do a ton of events -- from lunches and dinners to flag football games to speeches, panels, and game watches, with a wide variety of corporate and consumer customers. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of them, and many of the people who have engaged me in this way have become friends.