Jun 24th 2008 12:19PM by Ryan Wilson

Leave it to Tiki Barber to be the voice of reason when it comes to the New York Giants. The former Pro Bowl running back-turned-NBC NFL studio analyst makes pretty much the same argument philosopher Lawrence Taylor made when discussing Jason Taylor’s football future: when the games start, all the offseason silliness won’t matter.

So far this spring, Jeremy Shockey (random fits of anger), Plaxico Burress (wants a new deal), Shaun O’Hara (wants Burress to not be so selfish about wanting a new deal), Ahmad Bradshaw (currently in the can), and Jared Lorenzen (chubby, unemployed) have all made news for non-football-related reasons. Not to worry, though: “This is the business of the sport,” Barber told The Post. “Once football starts it’s [all about] football.” …

“I don’t think [Burress’ contract demands] matter … As we saw last year with Michael [Strahan, who skipped training camp], people thought it was going to be a big issue and it turned out not to be. I don’t think, come Sundays in the fall, it matters too much to players.” Can’t disagree with any of that. And Tiki, who questioned Eli Manning’s leadership skillz almost a year ago, even had some nice things to say about the handsomest dude in the Manning family: “He’s always been [a leader] who it didn’t matter what people thought of him, it only mattered how he could grow,” Barber said. “When I was there you could see him growing. People will still doubt him at some point during the year, but he can know in his mind and his heart, ‘I’ve done it already, so I can do it again.’ ” See, we all get along.