First things first. I am a diehard Florida State Seminole. I graduated from the University in Spring 2010 and I'm currently a Grad Student there as well. I have been a Nole fan since as early as I can remember. According to a family story I made up for this blog, my first words were either "Bobby Bowden" or "I hate Spurrier." Either version of this entirely fictitious baby story conveys the emotion I feel towards the Florida Gators. They are the Montague to my Capulet, except both the Gator nation (more like Hog Town. Sorry, couldn't resist) and Seminoles have already excommunicated any traitorous Romeos or Juliets from out of our midst. Football is serious business down here in Florida.
However, there is something else that is even more serious to me than what is in all actuality a petty game, and that thing is my relationship with Jesus Christ. That's right, I said it. Jesus. Christ. Feel free to roll your eyes; I can't see you anyway. So, here is the dilemma I've found myself in in recent years. A man, who just happens to be a pretty decent athlete, is vocal in his love for his Savior, and my Savior as well, Jesus Christ. He also happens to be actively striving to live up to the same standards he preaches. This man is also a Florida Gator... And not just any Florida Gator, but the King Amenhotep of Florida Gator's. He and Percy Harvin (who incidentally grew up a Seminole fan. Stab the dagger a little deeper, Percy; I'm not entirely sure this is as much pain as I'm capable of feeling) D-E-S-T-R-O-Y-E-D my beloved Seminoles for four years in a row. Demolished. Decimated. In the words of the illustrious Will Smith we got "straight molliwopped."
Thankfully, order was restored the moment Tim Tebow left campus (317, as in 31 to 7, was my favorite number for a year. Now it's 217... Although it SHOULD'VE been 210... I'm looking at you Jermaine Thomas), but I will never get back those 4 years Tebow took from me... In football terms, of course. My disdain for all things orange and blue (speaking of which, who designed the Blogger website??? Yuck) carried over to when Tebow was in the pros. Partly, of course, because the Denver Broncos also wear orange and blue (seriously guys, yuck). Watching Tebow stumble through pre-draft workouts was my heart's delight. The Senior Bowl? You know, the one with the fumbled snaps, interceptions, and strep throat? For me, it was like watching a real life reenactment of Scarface: after years of terrorizing the neighborhood, the bad guy is finally going to get what's coming to him... In football terms, of course. Except, Tebow isn't a bad guy. However, at the time, I couldn't be bothered with petty facts. He was a Gator for goodness sakes! I don't have to have facts to justify why I dislike him! I just do!
Then Tebow got drafted in the first round. What? First round? Did you even see the Senior Bowl? He should've been UFA'd and you drafted him in the first.... round!?!?! I was devastated. I was literally crushed that the success of another man was greater than what I'd hoped it would be. But at least I had a valid reason: he was a Florida Gator for crying out loud (by the way Gator fans, don't try to pretend you're any better. You guys did the same thing when Christian Ponder was selected 12th overall). I took comfort in the fact that esteemed former NFL quarterbacks such as Trent Dilfer (pause) agreed with my assessment. He's a fullback! You moved back into the first round to pick a fullback? A fullback with a Heisman, sure, but a fullback nonetheless. Such a pity; a perfectly good pick wasted.
My feelings didn't change much all of Tebow's rookie season. I still actively ignored all of the positive things I heard about Tebow as a person in an effort to see him for who he really was: a Florida Gator. It was such a pleasure to watch the man who'd seemingly walked on water for four years finally feel the scorn of the media who had once embraced him so lovingly. It was fun...
But then, after a while, it wasn't. The mass media is a merciless machine: they fatten the pig only so they can slaughter it later. Over the weeks and months after the draft, it had become apparent to me that after four years of fattening Tim Tebow up, the media was sharpening its sword for the slaughter. Recognizing this fact, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the man, even if he was a Gator. By all accounts, he was a pretty decent human being. Perhaps, one of the best of us even. Despite being lambasted by the media for having the audacity to be selected in the first round, Tim Tebow never complained. He just did the one thing he does best: work. While Mel Kiper and Todd McShay gloated that he could never be an NFL quarterback, he worked. While Trent Dilfer essentially said Tim Tebow reminded him of himself, i.e. he can't play quarterback in this league, Tebow worked. While I sat on my couch reassessing my initial impression of the man I had come to call Tim Teblows, I would bet my bottom dollar he was working on his game in some way. You've got to respect a guy like that, Florida Gator or not.
During the lockout, a strange thing happened with me: I began to see Tim Tebow more as a potential friend than an enemy. Perhaps the year he'd spent away from the Florida Gators had finally weakened the association I made between the two. Maybe the fact that my Seminoles had finally defeated the hated Gators in convincing fashion (31-7, just in case you forgot. I didn't) had dulled the frustration I'd felt from years of losing to our most bitter instate rivals. Whatever the cause, I began to see Tebow the way I should've always seen him: as my brother in Christ. Oh wait, there goes that Jesus guy again. This post was just starting to get good and then I go and ruin it with Him. I know, but before you run screaming into the vagaries of the interwebs, bear with me.
Another strange thing happened, and some really rich guys finally decided that they would continue to pay slightly less rich guys to cripple themselves for life in the interest of our true national pastime. Tim Tebow just happened to be one of those slightly less rich guys risking life, limb, and soundness of mind, to entertainment me by playing a style of football that can best be described as an eleven man version of "Kill-the-Carryer."
It looked like Tim would sit the entire year once again while either Brady Quinn or Kyle Orton valiantly led the Broncos to mediocrity (take solace people of Denver. I'm a Bucs fan. Wow). After all, Tebow was a raw quarterback to begin with, and with the lockout, he didn't get to spend his summer doing what he does best: work.
Then yet another strange thing happened: John Elway summarily traded his best receiver, benched Kyle Orton and made Tim Tebow the starter. Wait, what? To the untrained eye (like mine), it may have seemed like Elway was trying to kill two birds with one stone by starting Tebow and showing Denver faithful that he wasn't the guy he was billed to be, while simultaneously sucking for Luck on a scale that would undoubtedly make David Oreck flush with pride. In reality John Elway had so much faith in Tebow, that he knew Tim wouldn't even need receivers to throw to, so he traded his best one... No but seriously, he was really, really trying to suck for Luck.
As the reality of the situation began to sink in, I assumed that Elway's shrewd plan (although it did have a sort of 'evil-genius' quality to it) would work like a charm. Tebow would suck, and by extension Denver would suck, and as a result Denver would get Luck. It was a no-brainner... but then it wasn't.
One day I had an epiphany. I promptly called my dad the way I always do when I have epiphanies of this sort (believe me, it happens more often than you think). I remember the conversation clear as day.
Me: "Dad"
Dad: "Hey."
Me: "I was just thinking about something I had never really thought about before."
Dad: "What?"
Me: "If Tim Tebow is really walking with Christ the way I think he is... I wouldn't bet against him. I'm not saying he's going to the Hall-of-Fame or anything, I just....... I just wouldn't bet against him."
In the ensuing five or six weeks, Tebow and the Broncos went on a tear, with Tebow continually leading 4th quarter comebacks against (insert team here), making me look a lot wiser than I actually am to my father (Thanks Tim).
So what am I saying? Is Jesus Christ in the business of winning football games? No. He's in the business of winning souls. Every time Tebow was on that field during the 4th quarter, there was the undeniable feeling of 'something else is going on here' and everybody knew it. You couldn't deny it, it was there. It was fascinating watching all of the sports commentators struggle to explain his success without stepping on anyone's theological toes. Every time Tim Tebow was discussed on TV, the name Jesus Christ was there lingering in the air inaudibly. Like it or not, Tim Tebow's mere presence on TV has itself become a testimony, AND THIS IS THE OFFENSIVENESS OF TIM TEBOW.
Tim Tebow is no longer seen as just an athlete, he is an emissary of Jesus Christ and Jesus makes people uncomfortable. Therefore, through no real fault of his own, Tebow makes people uncomfortable. At least before, when he wasn't winning... wait, he's always won, even in high school... well when they were speculating that he wouldn't win in the pros, the people who didn't like what he stood for could pretend that every bit of the vitriol they had for Tim Tebow was because of what he lacked as a quarterback. Then he proved he could win in the NFL, and those same people had nowhere to run so to speak.
To make matters worse, by being so adamant about Tebow's imminent failure once he reached the NFL, the media inadvertently made Tebow's spectacular run an even bigger story than it would've been if they hadn't been so busy trying to tear him down in the first place. I mean, who could believe it? This guy was supposed to be absolutely putrid... and well he is for the first 3 quarters, but who cares? He's to 4th quarters what Rivera is to 9th innings... and the Broncos are winning! And he keeps praying! And they keep showing it! And for some inexplicable reason, praying becomes known as Tebowing! And if you are tired of hearing about Tebow, stop watching! But you can't. I know I can't. Something is happening here, and we -- the media -- don't know what it is, but we can tell you who has absolutely nothing to do with it: God (folds arms, and shuts eyes).
And then it happened. Tim Tebow, for the lack of a better word, sucked. And the largely unbelieving world rejoiced.
"Wow, Jesus just f*cked #TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve!"
~Bill Maher
Earlier tonight I had a conversation that was stimulated in part by this tweet from Bill Maher, a mildly funny comedian who incidentally happens to be an atheist. A few people felt that Maher's tweet was funny. I disagreed, but what really got me thinking was their stated sentiment that Tebow was too good to be true, everyone has skeletons in their closet and they can't wait until someone finds Tebow's. I have a strong feeling that these two people are not the only ones who shared this sentiment, and I was taken aback by it. Sooo, you're telling me that because the man is striving to live up to the standards he professes to believe in, and is "too good" in your own words, he's unlikable? And he's the one who's offensive in your estimation (by the way, I know there is an English professor cringing at the number of sentences I'm beginning with the word 'and.')? Well excuse. the heck. out. of. me.
People always talk about how they want athletes to be more cognizant of the fact that they are role models and wished they were better people, now one does it, and he's too good? Or he's phony? Is he really the one who's phony here? As much as I disagree with the Jake Plummer's and Bill Maher's of the world, at least they're honest about what their real problem with Tim Tebow is. However there is a large contingent of people who would like nothing better but for Tim to FAIL, and I'm not talking throwing 4 interceptions and lose the game fail, I mean get caught in bed with 6 transvestite hookers fail. People want him to be a fraud. They want him to be a liar. They want the dirt, and at least as of right now, Tim won't give it to them and they despise him for it!
I remember reading an article on ESPN by one of the litany of columnists they have on staff over there. In that article, the columnist admitted to hiring a lip reader to read Tim's lips while he was on the field one game to see if he could catch him cursing. Turns out, the worst Tim said was an enthusiastic "Let's go!" Now the question I pose to you is quite simply, what in the world does that have to do with football? You're a columnist for ESPN, not the National Enquirer, why are you trying to dig up dirt on the man? The harsh and bitter truth is because that's what the people want. Not everybody mind you, but there is definitely a large segment of the population tired of Tebow mania and the innately religious nature of conversations that center on Tim Tebow and they want it to stop. Like, yesterday. But the only way to really stop the part that bothers them, the religious aspect of it, is to get some dirt on him so that you can prove he's not such a great guy after all. Prove that he's no better than the rest of us. Apparently, the crabs-in-a-barrel mentality is alive and well.
So when exactly did I become a Tim Tebow fan? It happened the day I realized that Tim Tebow had long stopped being just a football player. He is an instrument of praise that God is using to glorify Himself. Maybe that's what he's always been. He is taking a guy who they said is too slow, too inaccurate, too whatever, and blessing and enabling him to have success. In response, Tim is giving the praise right back to God just like he should. Like we all should. If that's a reason to hate a man, then trust me, you hate me too. I have no clue how good Tim Tebow can be or will be. However, regardless of what the answer is, I simply pray that he will continue to be my faithful brother in Christ. Who would've thunk it? A Nole and a Gator walking side by side, united by our common Savior.
