Almost immediately when news broke that broke Tiki Barber was coming out of a four-year hibernation to begin toting the ball for some NFL team did the rumors begin that Tiki would be playing with the Bucs.

There are dots to connect. Surely Ronde Barber was privy to his twin’s plans and when Ronde broke bread with Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik recently to discuss reupping his contract, which he did, it’s not that difficult to believe Tiki’s name came up between cocktails.

But as far as anyone knows, that’s where the Tiki-to-the-Bucs issue stands. Simply put, eye-RAH Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune isn’t buying it. He put fingers to keyboard recently on the TBO Bucs Twitter feed to scoff at the notion that Tiki will join Ronde as a member of the Bucs.

In the coming weeks, you’re sure to hear plenty of rumors about Tiki Barber joining the Bucs to play with Ronde. Don’t hold your breath.

As Joe wrote in the comments in a previous post about Tiki, there may be some value in Tiki. The last time a prominent running back retired and unretired was Ricky Williams and the time off from the beating he took reinvigorated Williams.

But the flip side is the ugly truth: Tiki is not returning to football for the love of the game. Joe’s not going to go into the dirty details but there’s a reason Tiki is poison to the same networks that once swooned for his services. Tiki will never regain the lofty network status (and six-figure income) he once enjoyed for the very same reason Newt Gingrich and John Edwards will never be elected president.

The biggest hurdle for Tiki to clear in order to sign with the Bucs is this: Can he pick up blitzes?