Note: Evening Sun reporters love to argue, but instead of taking our disagreement to the streets, we bring it to the readers in a forum we call “Point/Counterpoint.” Today, Sun staff members Patrick Newell and Mike McGuire discuss the early retirement of Giants running back Tiki Barber.

MM: Farewell Tiki Barber! I could care less about his career and even less about the New York Giants (I don’t care about much of anything – I’m a Bills fan). However, now that he’s a villain for retiring “in his prime,” I’ll be his biggest supporter (literally). I too supposedly called it quits before my time was up in football, but the way I saw it, the only thing that was up was my patience for the game (it is a game), the culture surrounding it (remember, it’s a game), and the constant life and death implications applied to missing a block, not bench-pressing enough weight, or missing a film session because you had class. It takes a certain person to play college and professional football – you have to be an exceptional athlete first – and it has to mean more to you than almost anything else. I am not either of those. I’m guessing Tiki’s problem lies with the latter.

PN: I remember you from your playing days at Ithaca after a standout high school career at Norwich, and I thought you had declared for the NFL Draft instead of giving up football for...what did you say? An education? Anyway, there’s plenty of time for Tiki Barber to peddle Lectric Shave or Isotoner gloves when he’s worn out his 210-pound frame. Oh, and with his pearly whites, he may want to pitch Crest White Strips, but I digress here. Like Barry Sanders and the forefather of early retirements, Jim Brown, Barber has good years left in him -- at least a couple. Only a fraction of the absolute elite players in the world attain Barber’s status, and he’s arrogantly turning his nose up at the profession that will afford him multiple earning opportunities when his career should be finished.