No, no, please no: Tebow

The Game Room
41

Let’s compare Tebow to somebody he has a LOT in common with: Danny Wuerffel.

I know, I know, their styles of play were VERY different, but consider:

Both were quarterbacks at the University of Florida.
Both were Heisman Trophy winners.
Both were national championship winners.
Both were fundamentalist Christians who were VERY vocal about their faith.
Both guys lacked the tools NFL teams generally want in a quarterback.

So, when Danny Wuerffel graduated, was he a first round draft pick? NO! He was taken by the Saints in the 4th round, which is right about where he belonged (and, for that matter, right about whwere Tebow belonged).

When the Saints drafted him, did millions of born-again Christians buy his jersey and demand that he be given the starting job? No!

And did militant atheists create “I HATE WUERFFEL” or “WUERFFEL IS EVIL” web sites? No! Both Bible-thumpers and Bible-burners were able to put emotion aside and see Danny Wuerffel for exactly what he was: a nice kid and a great college quarterback who PROBABLY didn’t have what it takes to make it as an NFL quarterback.

I have a hard time seeing why Tim Tebow is different.

I’ve always said, “When people LIKE or DISLIKE a politician, they usually have excellent reasons. When they LOVE or LOATHE a politician, their reasons are usually ridiculously irrational.” It’s probably true of athletes as well. As it is, if you tell me your religious and politiical beliefs, I can probably judge accurately what you think of Tim Tebow. And that’s just silly!

It would be nice to see a few Fundamnetalist Gator fans say, “I love the kid, but id unno… he just doesn’t seem to be able to make the big throws.” It would be equally nice to see a Sam Harris/Richard Dawkins fan say, “I hate the God talk, but he’s a gutsy kid and he definitely gives his teams some kind of spark.”

But no, somehow people are determined to adore him or trash him, no matter WHAT he does on the field.

The funny thing is, BOTH Tebow’s admirers AND his enemies can rightly point to yesterday’s game and say, “See, I TOLD you!” His enemies can RIGHTLY say he was lousy for 3 quarters, and his fans can RIGHTLY say he came through big in the clutch!

As for me? I’m a Catholic Republican who likes Tebow a lot, but just doesn’t see him succeeding. I’d NEVER have drafted him in the first round. And if I were a friend of his, I’d have urged him to go to Canada for a few years.

As it is, I see his career going like Vince Young’s. He’ll win more games than his detractors expect and he’ll make some highlight reels… but I just don’t think he can be a consistent starting quarterback in the NFL.

42

Very good post, astorian. It’s become almost impossible to get through the noise and get a semi-objective opinion on Tebow. If he beat threw seven touchdowns and beat the Packers, some people would give him no credit, and if he threw four picks in a loss against a Peewee league team, his fanbase would say he still has character and intangibles. I think he’s wrong about politics and religion and he got a little obnoxious with the messages in his eyeblack, and the Super Bowl ad was a bad decision despite its understatedness. But for the most part he seems decent. And he does seem to understand better than most of his fans and critics that this stuff should be considered separately from his abilities and shortcomings as a football player.

43

(Removed…damn, was thinking of someone else from the state of Florida. Never mind.)

44

As a quarterback? He’s physically miles ahead of Danny Wuerful. Tebow has at least two inches and 25 pounds on Wuerffel, a stronger arm, and running skills that Wuerffel never even dreamed of. Tebow’s upside is far superior than Wuerffel’s. I think we agree on Tebow not likely developing into an NFL quarterback, but comparing him to Wuerffel is unfair.

45

I think most thinking people can agree that fundamentalist religion is at least a somewhat destructive belief system. Throwing a fundamentalist viewpoint into the public’s face (painting it in the eye black, filming it in a superbowl commercial), in a sphere where it is totally inappropriate (a football game), is therefore obnoxious at best; more like vile in my opinion.

It’s no accident that a guy like that attracts a cult. Why paint biblical verses on your face, if not to inspire others? And while I admit I know nothing of what he’s like behind the scenes, I’ve seen too many magazine covers of him emblazoned with “the new messiah” to buy the claim that he’s not encouraging it.

This has nothing to do with theism/atheism, or liberal/conservative. Elway is a total right winger and I have great admiration for him. But someone who preaches at me during a football game is a slimeball.

46

Oh, I see – the commercial was intended only for those for whom abortion is the preferred choice. Seems strange to spend all those millions addressing an audience of zero, but still, I’m glad to hear that he didn’t mean to imply that people who have abortions are bad, even though that’s the stated position of the sponsoring organization.

47

I also think it’s unfair to call Tebow a bad guy personally, even though I almost certainly did it a thousand times when he was in school. It doesn’t mean anything good to me that he’s sincere in his beliefs, but I can accept that he’s just like a billion other people in that he has them. But I think you’re missing the forest for the trees, astorian.

You listed the differences and then said you don’t know what the difference is. Tebow was a huge prospect and very heavily recruited, and it was a big deal when he signed. He was a big deal nationally starting in his freshman year. People freaked out all over the place about him. Once he took over the starting job, basically every game he played was about him. The broadcasting team freaked the fuck out about him in every game he played. This isn’t how Danny Wuerffel was treated because nobody has ever been treated like this. If you’re looking for a difference, how about that one?

Aside from the fact that as far as I can tell there aren’t really militant atheists making websites to say TEBOW is EVIL, if you’re genuinely confused about this, let me help you out: him being held up as literally a better person than anybody else, and him being drafted higher than nearly all attempts at objective analysis of his football ability would have warranted and that pick being defended, and his now being a huge story in the NFL despite still, objectively, not appearing to be a very good NFL football player… that is why you see a lot of people getting angry when it comes to Tebow. That is the difference. That is why a lot of people seem to have an agenda revolving around getting you to hear them say that Tebow not only isn’t that magically great, he in fact is for shit. It’s because it is historically an extreme minority position, at least measured by volume.

If there’s a failure to evaluate him like a reasonable human being would - as a very personable and devout big strong guy who’s a great athlete and a bad thrower of the football - it started with several solid years of almost literal worship. I don’t feel particularly obligated after all that to go out of my way to point out what’s good about him just so I can respond to the football-related insanity that still follows him around. I recognize that he’s probably a fine dude. I wouldn’t have anything to say about that at all if my TV wasn’t screaming at me about how actually he’s better than fine, he’s so spiritually majestic that it’s going to make the football fly straight.

48

Tom Landry: devout christian who did commercials for people of questionable virtue … credit card company.

49

Do you think there might be a bit of leeway between inspiring people and a cult? Some of this stuff is a little obnoxious, and so is the fact that he already has an autobiography out (I either didn’t know about that or I’d forgotten), but “throwing it in the public’s face” and “totally inappropriate” are a stretch and “vile” is over the top by a country mile. This is why people who are strongly anti-Tebow come off as badly as people who are pro-Tebow. You’d think he was Leonard Little.

50

Apparently the NCAA didn’t think so: Tebow rule.

51

Keep scrolling:

The NCAA deciding to ban messages in eyeblack (which was a good decision in hindsight) does not mean Tebow in particular was inappropriately throwing something in the public’s face. Reggie Bush writing his area code and Pryor writing “Mike Vick” was no less obnoxious. For that matter the guys who are turning eyeblack into pro wrestling makeup look pretty ridiculous, too.

52

Yeah, I’m sure he is in favor of women having the choice of having an abortion :rolleyes:

53

I’m sure he isn’t, but the ad picked a pretty low-key way to say it. The only superior alternative would have been not participating in a Super Bowl ad in the first place.

54

You’re right, as condemnations-of-millions-of-women-during-the-most-watched-TV-event-on-Earth go, that one was relatively low-key.

55

You appear to stop being a thinking person where Tebow is concerned.

Did you miss the part where I said Focus on the Family are horrible people and associating with them is evidence of poor judgment at best?

The point is that the fuss over the Super Bowl commercial was a whole bunch of nothing. Go watch it; it’s basically just Tebow’s mother wittering about how much she loves him.

Who cares if he’s in favor? There are tons of famous people who think abortion is eeeevil and aren’t shy about saying so. Unless Tebow actually campaigns to outlaw it, what does it matter what he thinks? So he’s wrong. Big fucking deal.

56

I’m missing something. Other eye-black messages are obnoxious too…so that makes Tebow’s ok why??

57

The ad does not condemn anybody.

I didn’t say they were OK. I said they were no more obnoxious than anybody else’s, and that I don’t think the eyeblack thing is enough to justify your comments about how he was “throwing it in the public’s face” and being “totally inappropriate.”

58

It doesn’t make them okay; you’ve just forgotten what you were arguing about. You cited the NCAA rule change as evidence that the NCAA thought they were inappropriate; Marley explained why that isn’t evidence.

Frankly, I don’t give a shit if somebody wants to write their penis length, area code or favorite Bible verse in their eye black. They’re half-inch characters you’ll most likely see from 50 feet away, if at all.

59

I am not at all persuaded that the origin of his popularity is his religion. I know several big Tebow fans (well, two); neither are especially religious. Both are casual female fans who think he’s the cutest most awesomest player ever, and want to woo him away from celibacy. I know a number of evangelical Christians; none, AFAIK, are especially big Tebow fans. I know a pastor (and Florida State alum) who derisively refers to him as “Timmy.”

IIRC, both Cris Carter and Trent Dilfer are outspoken Christians who have knocked Tebow; Josh McDaniels is not, AFAIK, religious.

Not to say there isn’t some element of it, but angry ideologues like the OP aside, religion is only one part of the love-him-or-hate-him phenomena; I do agree though, that any balanced objective assessments of the kid are drowned out by the “he’s awesome” or “he sucks” screaming.

60

I didn’t say ALL of the criticism of Tebow is based on his religion. There are MANY good reasons to doubt whether he’s good enough to be an NFL quarterback, and I think I’ve expressed many of those reasons myself!

I have NO problem with Merrill Hoge saying Tebow stinks (he DID stink for most of the game against the Dolphins). Nor do I have a problem with teenyboppers who think he’s dreamy!

But the venom AND the adulation he receives both strike me as way over the top. Since when do people get so excited, positively OR negatively, over the 3rd string quarterback of a last place team???

I can see why people would LIKE Tebow. I can see why they’d DISLIKE him. There are valid reasons to feel either way. But to LOVE him (as millions of Christians do) or DESPISE him (as many people clearly do) both seem completely unjustified by anything he’s actually DONE up to this point.