BEVERLY HILLS, California (AP) — "In some ways it's a loose term, but, yes, I think I am," former NFL running back Tiki Barber says about his new label — journalist.

"I think a journalist is someone who tells stories, and I do it in my own way and with my own voice. It's a different kind of challenge than what I've faced my entire life being an athlete."

The new challenge led Barber a few months ago to a new team, NBC's "Today" show. His sports background does give him some valuable "been-there" experience, he feels.

"There's a responsibility that comes with telling someone else's story, which I know from experience being an athlete and getting interviewed and having stories written about me — sometimes they're right, sometime they're not," he says. "It's a responsibility to tell a story correctly. It takes practice, and I'm learning."

At a recent network party atop the roof of the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Barber, 32, fingers the bridge of his dark glasses as the sun sets in the distance. He's being careful not to be too cocky about his new job. There have been, after all, other retired athletes who've failed to make the same leap.

But, unlike most others, Barber decided to end his tenure with the New York Giants while still in his prime. And he's going into the "Today" gig with at least some broadcasting experience, from moonlighting as a co-host on radio and TV talk shows.

An invitation to Israel two years ago from former prime minister Shimon Peres spurred his interest in hard news.

"When I came back to host (New York morning show) `Fox & Friends,' all of a sudden I was talking about world events, politics, and life in America. I was intrigued by it and started to get a passion for it," Barber says.

"Tiki's a big New York star, so we were all watching him," says Michael Weisman, executive producer of NBC's pre-game "Football Night in America" Sunday nights, for which Barber's an in-studio analyst.

"He was very sought after by all the networks — I don't want to say it was a bidding war, but I know that (NBC Universal Television President and CEO) Jeff Zucker and all the highest levels at NBC were involved in the hiring of Tiki. He did not sneak on the scene."

Nor has he shied from the limelight. Barber's "Football Night" debut a few weeks ago spurred headlines with his biting commentary on former Giants teammate Eli Manning. And he had a baptism by fire a few months earlier on "Today" with the Virginia Tech shootings.

Barber also has traveled to South Africa to report on shantytowns in the post-apartheid nation, and a couple of weeks ago he interviewed a soccer team in Clarkston, Georgia, made up of refugee kids from depressed regions in Gambia, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Somalia and the Sudan.

"Getting a chance to tell that story was fulfilling for me," Barber says, flashing his megawatt smile, one that seems perfectly suited to wake up bleary-eyed a.m. audiences.

"I understand how fortunate and blessed I am, and I think it's an opportunity that I've prepared for. A lot of people, rightly so, probably assume that it was just handed to me, but it was a long process," he says.

And that process continues for Barber, notes "Today" co-anchor Matt Lauer.

"He's going to be placed in an arena where he's going to have the chance to interview high profile people and do stories that matter to viewers," Lauer says. "Given a little bit of time, he'll earn his stripes. Does he come with those stripes? No. But a lot of us didn't."

Barber's twin brother, Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Ronde Barber, was more direct.

"To this day — and he's only been (on "Today") since April — I have not seen him nail anything yet that I would give him credit for," says Ronde.

"Even if he did, I probably wouldn't tell him. I don't want to be the guy that's tellin' him that he's made it, 'cause then you lose interest and I don't want him to do that."