Seems like everyone with an opinion on Tim Tebow, pro quarterback, has weighed in by now. Here’s another two cents’ worth.
The NFL needs Tim Tebow more than Tebow needs the NFL.
The league is more show biz than football. It has too many punks and too much sophomoric choreography. The networks are enablers as well as cash cows. They love look-at-me boors that their cameras zoom in on.
Tebow, who is refreshingly, almost impossibly, clean cut and, well, nice, is 180 degrees removed from this stereotype. He also is a born leader who knows how to comport himself on and off the field. No rap sheets, no performance-enhancing drugs, no bar fights, no scandals, no attitude issues, no excuses. No one like him. Talib Aqib he’s not.
All NFL players fit a prototype for their position: size, speed, technique. Tebow, with his well-chronicled, unorthodox passing form and his penchant for running, doesn’t fit the mold. So his team, the Denver Broncos, customized its offense to suit Tebow’s unique skill set, which is better suited to the college game.
So far, so good. The Broncos have now won six of eight with Tebow as their starting quarterback. The team was 1-3 before it made Tebow its starter. His statistics have been modest, but he clearly has a way of bringing out the best in teammates. He did that at Florida. He’s also been good for the NFL and sponsors: nationally televised Bronco games now draw huge viewer numbers.
But much of Tebow’s high profile is generated not by what he does playing quarterback, but what he does–and elicits–by wearing his religion on his Broncos’ sleeve. He can be seen on bended knee praying during a break in the action. As a result, “Tebowing” is now part of the vernacular. He typically thanks God as part of his post-game interview response.
Such religious displays have made him the butt of some opponents’ jokes. As in their own version of “Tebowing.” He has become a target of some secularists who perceive a holier-than-thou shtick and in-your-face religiosity.
Regardless, Tebow has the right to more than his religious convictions. He’s also entitled to underscore them. A prayerful position here, a Biblical citation there.
But here’s the core issue. Such demonstrations of faith are trivializing in the context of football games. A religion and the Deity, arguably, deserve better.
Should God be thanked for a winning field goal? Should God be entreated for help on a third and short? Should God be implored for success in the red zone? Does God show favor on a Hail Mary pass? Should God take sides? Not good vs. evil, but Broncos vs. Bears?
Should one have faith in a God with such skewed priorities?
Tebow would be best served by not over-using his forum. By letting his actions on the field speak for themselves. He is fast becoming an avatar of optimism–as proven by all those fourth quarter comebacks he has led. He’s Norman Vincent Peale in pads–not some Tea Party evangelical.
Tebow is most impressive as the last boy scout in an over-commercialized, ultimate macho arena–not as a proselytizing quarterback. That turns off a lot of non-Bronco fans, but more importantly, it’s not fair to God, who might not even like football. The ultimate gridirony.