Tiki Barber files to come out of retirement

A number of sources are reporting that former Virginia Cavaliers and New York Giants running back Tiki Barber will be coming out of retirement and could be returning to football. According to the various news agencies, Barber and his agent have filed papers with the NFL to officially come out of retirement.

After the paperwork is processed, the Giants will have to reactivate him and then decide whether they want to keep him or release him. Barber, who turns 36 in April, retired in 2007 after playing all ten seasons of his career with the Giants, where he was the all-time leading rusher. He had walked away from the game just before the Giants picked up a Super Bowl championship. He was inducted into the Giants' "Ring of Honor" this past season .

"After seeing my brother still have fun at our age, it reignited the fire. I'm really looking forward to the challenge of seeing if I can get back to the level of where I was," Barber said to FOXSports.com. "I started working out again recently. It kind of shocked myself. I still had a lot of the strength I had before. I'm really looking forward to making a return."

It will be exciting to see him back on the field -- assuming he is anywhere close to where he was before. And it will be exciting to have another 'Hoo to follow out there.

But, Tiki, you need to get your act together. There are many Virginia fans (and Giants fans) out there who are still holding resentment, in principle, after you left your 8-month-pregnant wife of 11 years (and fellow Virginia alum!) for a 23-year-old former NBC intern. I suspect there are many that still won't forgive.

Who am I to judge? I hope, after all the turmoil in the past three years, this is the beginning of the next great chapter (strangely similar to the last great chapter) of his life. Welcome back to the game, Tiki!