Though this is hardly one of the hard-core football stories that we love to follow, the status of Tiki Barber on NBC’s Today show is compelling for the same reasons that we crane our necks when passing a car wreck.

Tiki retired from pro football because he intended to become a multimedia star, openly aspiring to be another Matt Lauer.

But when it comes to filling the position of co-host for the fourth hour of Today, the former New York Giants tailback who hopes to follow in the footsteps of Frank Gifford has been passed over in favor of Gifford’s wife.

On Monday, NBC announced that Kathie Lee Gifford will return to daytime television, teaming with Hoda Kotb to anchor the final hour of the show.

It would have been an ideal vehicle for grooming Tiki for bigger and better things at the network, and we suspect that the decision not to give the gig to Tiki was a factor in his exit from the show, if the rumors regarding his exit from the show are indeed true. 

Okay, back to football news and rumors and stuff we make up.