Everyone has put in their two cents on the Tebowmania, so why not throw my loose change in the pot. For the record I am not related to Tebow, I have never met him, I did not attend the Gator University, nor am I a Denver broncos fan. I am, however, a fan of football and greatness. Before the three people reading this get upset by my use of that word, let me expand on that word. The following is a breakdown of the word greatness.
great adj. great·er, great·est
- Very large in size.
- Larger in size than others of the same kind.
- Large in quantity or number:
- Extensive in time or distance:
- Remarkable or outstanding in magnitude, degree, or extent:
- Of outstanding significance or importance:
- Chief or principal:
- Superior in quality or character; noble:
- Powerful; influential:
- Eminent; distinguished:
- Grand; aristocratic.
- Informal Enthusiastic
- Informal Very skillful
- Informal Very good; first-rate
Agree or disagree, any one of those would describe Tim Tebow. Maybe not every play on the field, but I would argue every play off the field. I am confused when I see so much hate and mockery of a man, who as far as I can tell, has really done nothing bad to anyone. After all, his college accomplishments were outstanding enough to earn him this list of awards and honors:
I guess that isn’t that impressive; maybe his college career stats are better?
Career Passing: 661 Completions, 995 Attempts, 9285 Yards, 88 Touch Downs
Career Rushing: 692 Attempts, 2947 Yards, 4.3 Average, 57 Touch Downs
Career Scoring: 57 Touch Downs, 342 Points
Still not a fan? Need more convincing? He was the quarterback for Florida Gators when they were the 2006 and 2008 national championship team. By all accounts this is the resume of a #1 draft pick if I ever saw one. But why am I the only one who seems to feel this way? Why do all the “experts” disagree with this idea? Could it be for some other reason? Is all of this anti-Tebow really about his ability on the field? Or is it because of his faith off the field?
I personally did not understand it, but I am not qualified to question the experts, so surely they knew something I did not know. Time came and went; Tebow was drafted in the first round by the Broncos, the controversy was over with, or so I thought, now we could get to football. Fast forward to October 2011, and Tebow got his shot. The Broncos were 1-4 and for all purposes out of the playoffs, but Tebow would finally get to play and Denver could sell some seats off his name to the brainless masses who didn’t know talent—otherwise they wouldn’t be begging for Tebow to play. But fate took a funny turn—Tebow started winning.
It was not pretty, not even close—most of his wins were eleventh hour nail biters, but it was always exciting; people started watching, wondering how he would do it week after week. No matter what, it always seemed that Tebow was going to pull off some amazing, crazy, unlikely win.
Say what you will, it was fun to watch. Yes, the Broncos lost in the playoffs to the Patriots, and yes it was not pretty. But let’s consider the season Tebow had—he took the Broncos from 1-4 to the playoffs for the first time since 2005, and no his wins were NOT pretty, but I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day. Tebow was good for the Broncos and great for football. But with it all, all we would hear about was his crazy religion. All the focus was about the fact that Tebow was doing this crazy ritual on the side line during games; it was so weird that the media even named it after him, they called it “Tebowing”. People were split about how they felt about it—some would do it in respect of Tebow; others would do it to mock him. The reality? Tim Tebow was kneeling in prayer. That was all he was doing, he was doing nothing illegal, nothing immoral; he was practicing his Constitutional right to follow his belief and pray. Now Tebowing was the new focus--not the accomplishments of the man, but rather the action he was performing.
Now Tebow has been shipped off to the J-E-T-S and we have yet another season of second guessing and picking sides on whether or not Tim is good enough to play in the NFL. While not everyone will agree on that issue, here is one we should all agree on. Tebow is GREAT for the NFL, not because of his on-the-field performance, but because of his off-the-field example. In a world of bounties, dog fighting, drug rings, accused domestic violence, accusations of rape and shootings at night clubs and strip clubs, Tebow is the role model we have been searching for the past what feels like 20 years.
Rather than punish him for his faith, we should all be cheering for him if for no other reason than that he is a great guy. When did we stop having heroes? Or rather, when did we start having the wrong kind of heroes? Is Tebow too good of a guy? Rather than waiting for him to fail, why don’t we accept that an NFL player can actually be what we need in a role model, not what we are used to. Tebow does not beat us over the head with his religion, but he is not ashamed of it either. Whether or not he wins 5 super bowls, or never plays another down in the NFL, in my opinion Tim Tebow will be one of the greatest to ever play the game—not for the talent he displays 3 hours on Sunday for 16 weeks but for his example he displays 24/7/ 365.
That, in my opinion, is why Tebow is great for football. Tebow is my role model; yes, our role models can be younger than we are and more talented than we would be in that position; that is a good thing. Age and experience does not make a good role model; doing what is right and standing up for what you believe in (or in Tebow’s case kneeling down), even in the face of mockery is what makes a good role model. For that reason I will be part of Tebowmania until he proves me wrong and everyone else right. And, every night before bed, I will be brushing my teeth and saying my Tebows.
It was not pretty, not even close—most of his wins were eleventh hour nail biters, but it was always exciting; people started watching, wondering how he would do it week after week. No matter what, it always seemed that Tebow was going to pull off some amazing, crazy, unlikely win.
Say what you will, it was fun to watch. Yes, the Broncos lost in the playoffs to the Patriots, and yes it was not pretty. But let’s consider the season Tebow had—he took the Broncos from 1-4 to the playoffs for the first time since 2005, and no his wins were NOT pretty, but I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day. Tebow was good for the Broncos and great for football. But with it all, all we would hear about was his crazy religion. All the focus was about the fact that Tebow was doing this crazy ritual on the side line during games; it was so weird that the media even named it after him, they called it “Tebowing”. People were split about how they felt about it—some would do it in respect of Tebow; others would do it to mock him. The reality? Tim Tebow was kneeling in prayer. That was all he was doing, he was doing nothing illegal, nothing immoral; he was practicing his Constitutional right to follow his belief and pray. Now Tebowing was the new focus--not the accomplishments of the man, but rather the action he was performing.
Now Tebow has been shipped off to the J-E-T-S and we have yet another season of second guessing and picking sides on whether or not Tim is good enough to play in the NFL. While not everyone will agree on that issue, here is one we should all agree on. Tebow is GREAT for the NFL, not because of his on-the-field performance, but because of his off-the-field example. In a world of bounties, dog fighting, drug rings, accused domestic violence, accusations of rape and shootings at night clubs and strip clubs, Tebow is the role model we have been searching for the past what feels like 20 years.
Rather than punish him for his faith, we should all be cheering for him if for no other reason than that he is a great guy. When did we stop having heroes? Or rather, when did we start having the wrong kind of heroes? Is Tebow too good of a guy? Rather than waiting for him to fail, why don’t we accept that an NFL player can actually be what we need in a role model, not what we are used to. Tebow does not beat us over the head with his religion, but he is not ashamed of it either. Whether or not he wins 5 super bowls, or never plays another down in the NFL, in my opinion Tim Tebow will be one of the greatest to ever play the game—not for the talent he displays 3 hours on Sunday for 16 weeks but for his example he displays 24/7/ 365.
That, in my opinion, is why Tebow is great for football. Tebow is my role model; yes, our role models can be younger than we are and more talented than we would be in that position; that is a good thing. Age and experience does not make a good role model; doing what is right and standing up for what you believe in (or in Tebow’s case kneeling down), even in the face of mockery is what makes a good role model. For that reason I will be part of Tebowmania until he proves me wrong and everyone else right. And, every night before bed, I will be brushing my teeth and saying my Tebows.
