I have to admit I am mystified by the Tim Tebow situation. For me, and most Denver Bronco fans who actually get football and don't just jump onto bandwagons, his presence is a dark period in the Broncos history. He was drafted by an incompetent rookie coach who then benched his decent-ish starter in favor of Tebow, an unproven rookie who was not very good. Almost immediately upon being drafted, the Tebow mania began in my hometown and I still have no idea why. People bought his jersey before he even stepped onto an NFL field, he had endorsements thrown his way, he was the lead story on sports reports everyday. Why? No clue. Apparently, he was a bit of a god in Florida during his college career, but even then analysts questioned if he could make it in the NFL as a QB. Spoiler alert: He couldn't. Every pass he threw was bad but sometimes he got lucky and it found a receiver. His decision making in general was terrible, always throwing to the most covered receiver. It turned the team into a bit of a joke. They made the playoffs that year but it was in spite of themselves and it wasn't in any real convincing fashion. No one could credit us as having made it with hard work and great plays because everyone knew that wasn't the case. I was beyond thrilled when John Elway, the most beloved sports figure in Colorado and former Broncos QB, was hired to run the team. The man won two Super Bowls back to back and wants nothing more than to return his team to its former glory. He fired the incompetent rookie coach, he benched Tebow and then he went out and got a legitimate QB by the name of Peyton Manning. Tebow departed the team and landed in a New York Jets uniform. The Jets have an enigma of a QB in Mark Sanchez, someone who has much more NFL experience than Tebow but who has a similar knack for making awful decisions. Still, Tebow was not utilized much and became disenchanted with the Big Apple leading to another departure, this time for New England. Now, having signed there he had to have known he would see little to no playing time since NE has Tom Brady. But he went anyway. And in the one game he played in a Patriots uniform (their last pre-season game), it was typical Tebow; a few picks, a few lucky completions and mostly him running the ball. That's what it was when he was in Denver too; Tebow running the ball. We had two capable running backs, a number of capable receivers and the gameplan for Tebow to run the ball. Because it terrified the hell out of the entire state when he threw it. For now, Tebow is homeless. The Pats released him before the season began. Another team inquired about his availability to play another position and was basically laughed at. And that makes no damn sense. He was basically a glorified running back anyway, so why not give that a shot if it lands you on an NFL team? If that's his dream, of course. He tried the QB thing and it was a nightmare, accept that you can't hack it and switch to being an RB, or even teach the boy how to catch and have him be a Tight End. That's the body type he has anyway, he's a big guy. But no, he wants to be Prom Queen, not just a part of the Court.
I think 99% of Tebow's "success" (or appeal, shall we call it) had nothing to do with his football skills and everything to do with his religion. Sure, some of those Florida fans bought up his NFL gear because they believed in him and wanted to see him succeed, as most of us do when we're invested in someone's career from the very beginning. But SO much of the coverage on him was about his faith. Tebow's an outspoken Christian who co-authored a book with his mother about her decision not to have an abortion when she became pregnant. Sort of a, 'hey girls, I almost went through with it but didn't and now my son is perfect and soon-to-be rich' kinda thing. I always thought he and his mom came off preachy as hell. Every interview with Tebow took a Jesus turn eventually, and not always in the 'this is just my faith' way, but more in an attempt to convert. I'm all for freedom of religion but only if it includes freedom of ALL faiths, not just Christianity. If a legitimate player who was, say, Muslim came into the league and was outspoken about his beliefs and prayed on the field after every game, he would not be as popular as Tebow, even if he were a potentially Hall of Fame QB. In fact, people would probably lose their damn minds about him "flaunting" his religion. But Tebow, a supposedly virgin (yeah, right) Christian fella? He can get on his knee and pray all gameday long and he's praised as a hero of some sort. The hero worship of him is so bizarre. He's done NOTHING to deserve anyone's respect as a football player, but he's still benefiting from his occasional association with it. The thing about that though is, eventually, there will be a fall from grace. There always is. I don't know what it will be, but it is inevitable when you have that many people idolizing you for your alleged perfection. I guess we'll wait and see. For now, I'm just glad I get to watch a legitimate Broncos team play every week and that I don't have to hear about the Tebow madness anymore.
