I’m seriously considering retiring after writing this blog.

By PAUL SCHWARTZ It’s my first blog, and first of all, it’s such a strange word. Blog. Sounds like caveman talk. “Me blog you.” Or “Me eat blog tonight.” Backwards, it’s glob, which actually sounds better. Blog, what does it stand for? Bring Lots Of Garbage? Be Like Other Guys? Probably not. Well, it’s the way of the world. You blog. We blog. More room to blah, blah on the blog.

Oh, about that retirement stuff. Did you hear that Tiki Barber again is talking about calling it quits after this season? He’s ruminated about it for several months, actually a few years, and his chatter has been getting louder and louder. We’ve talked several times and the guy simply wants to go on to bigger and better things. Better things? What could possibly be better than being the star running back of the New York Giants, a beloved player who breaks records, gets better with age and lights up a room with his smile and a stadium with his uncanny ability to make defensive players miss? Well, for Tiki, there’s a life after football that he’s anxious to start on a full-time basis. You see, as much as he loves football, football is not going to love him back for much longer. At 31 years old, he needs four days after a game just to get his body recovered in time to get it all banged up again the next game. All anyone sees when Tiki runs out onto the field is a spry athlete but he goes through hours of treatment to get there.

Look, the guy is set to make $4.5 million in 2007 and $4.5 million in 2008, so if he walks away he’s kissing goodbye to $9 million. Not that anyone needs to throw Barber a telethon. He expects to be able to call his shots in the media world, where he’s already a television and radio personality that has crossed over out of sports and into politics and pop culture. That’s his next passion and he’s looking forward to getting his second career started as early as next year.

Some fans can’t understand this. The guy is actually a more effective runner now than he was five years ago, an almost unheard of accomplishment for a running back on the wrong end of 30. Why not milk this football gig for all it’s worth? The limelight, the attention, the glamour, the glory. The roar of the Giants Stadium crowd. Why rush that out of your life? Well, that’s not the part that he wants to end. It’s the Monday-through-Friday grind, the practice, practice, practice, the growing age and maturity gap with his teammates, many of whom he doesn’t relate to. He can deal with Tom Coughlin’s rigid rules but he rolls his eyes when some of the others come late, get fined, get involved in the silliness that never was a part of Barber’s deal. For a full month at training camp up in Albany, Barber most often arrives alone to the team cafeteria for lunch and eats by himself. The vast majority of his teammates are wearing Giants-issued shorts and T-shirts or other sports-related garb. Never Tiki. His usual attire is along the lines of linen shorts or slacks, a tailored shirt, leather sandals. Dressed for success.

Should he retire? No athlete should stay on just for the money, although too many do. No athlete should remain years after his skills have waned, reduced to a shell of his former self, dulled when he once was a star. Barber could no doubt accept a reduced role in the coming years, sharing the load with younger Brandon Jacobs or some other running back, and serve as the wise veteran who still has something left in the tank. That’s not Tiki’s way. He sees honor in leaving on top, on never having anyone say “He used to be great.”

Having this issue surface yet again right now, five games into the season, during the week leading up to a huge game in Dallas, is not good for the Giants and Barber shouldn’t have allowed the discussion to get this far. He’s never shied away from saying this year likely was it, but saying it as forcefully as he did now was a mistake. It’s a shock to no one but doesn’t do the Giants any good to hear it right now.

As for me, my retirement can wait. I, like Tiki, want to go out on top. Someone please let me know when I get there.