Looking around at the grown men wearing “Friar Tuck” head pieces at this weekend’s Denver Broncos game at Invesco Field at Mile High made me take significant pause. The phenomena that is rookie third string quarterback, Tim Tebow is truly a fascinating one. A simple Google search on starting Denver quarterback, Kyle Orton produces just under a half-million results. While this is a significant number of pages to view, the same search on Tebow produces four times as many results. Take a moment to ponder this. A third string quarter back on an average NFL team is getting four times the press that the starter is getting.
Denver moved well up in the draft to take Tebow in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft to take a quarterback that most NFL pundits had as the fourth best quarterback available in the draft. Many lampooned the Broncos for taking this player far earlier than his projected draft position and positioned the team as being open to ridicule or being modern day prophets. Right now, from a purely marketing perspective, the Denver franchise is looking like the big winners in this debate. The Jacksonville Jaguars should be kicking themselves for missing out on this new national treasure that has become the Cult of Tim Tebow. He is a Florida boy whose popularity would only be greater if he were representing one of the local teams. The Jaguars who are struggling financially to keep their franchise afloat could have sold tons of more tickets along with the massive merchandise and perhaps saved a city destined to lose their team.
Tebow jersey sales have far outpaced any player to date. The former University of Florida quarterback has logged the most jersey orders for a rookie since the league began tracking such data in 2006. This phenomenon while difficult to explain, is worthy of an upper-division university course on such social anomalies. What is it that has a nation clamoring in unprecedented numbers to own a piece of clothing with the name Tebow on it? It has truly taken on overtones which make it endearing, yet a bit creepy. Yes, he won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore. Yes, he led the Gators to two National Championships. Tebow Mania is more than just those very significant milestones. There is something much more going on here.
His personal life, falling far from the mainstream norms, contributes significantly to his charm. The more Americans get to know his personal life story, the more they pull for him to become the ever elusive role model our nation constantly clamors for. It is as if many Americans believe that by putting on a Tim Tebow jersey they become a better human. Because Tebow has lead an apparently unsoiled life: being raised by Christian missionaries overseas, being homeschooled by a mother who chose to risk a dangerous pregnancy over the more sensible option of abortion, being a stand-up young man in the community; all the while putting up huge athletic accomplishments, he has become an icon of what America is “supposed to be about”.
From such high precipices one has nowhere to go but down and this concerns me greatly for Tebow. This same country that longs for someone to throw all their emotional and moral weight behind, is always ready to pounce like a lion the moment a blemish is revealed on their saint. Because we as a nation chose to live vicariously through humans we don’t really know who seem to be good people, we leave them no other choice but to disappoint. And when Americans become disappointed with a hero, it is straight to the rubbish bin with them. There honestly is part of me that hopes that the some shred of dirty laundry would surface TODAY so that Tebow can be left to be what he actually is — a guy doing the best he can. He doesn’t want to disappoint anyone, but how can he not when the expectations and hopes of so many ride on his young shoulders.
Those who build heroes are usually first in line to cast stones. I pray that Tebow will be safe from those who have immortalized him and let him be the third string quarterback for an average NFL franchise. Root for him. Like him. Admire him. But for God’s sake, let him be human.
Great piece. Tebow seems to be the poster-boy of the American Dream in some ways. I really want him to do well and have no doubt that he will do SOMETHING. He will see action this evening I am sure of that though.
Anyone that thinks people are fans of Tebow because of his religious beliefs or anyone that thinks he is truly a third sting QB is clueless. He’s a third string Qb because he has the least experience. Period.
Tebow is a phenom athlete. What cave have you been living in? Have you seen his combine numbers? His passing numbers in college? He has broken countless records against the best defenses in college football and won multiple championships.
It’s people like you we need to be wary of.. you obviously have no clue what you are talking about in regards to Tebow. It’s you that are on the bandwagon. Blindly riding along obviously.
He’s a first round draft pick behind an average quarterback in Kyle Orton. These days almost every first round quarterback is starting in Week 1 so he’s an exception (not that I hold that against him). He’s not a phenomenal athlete for any position outside of QB although he is incredibly strong for a quarterback, possesses a strong arm but not elite speed, in the sense that he won’t be able to operate the Wildcat or a similar formation in a similar way to how Ronnie Brown does.
As for college records and performances I think we all know that they don’t equate to professional ability (taking snaps under center, reading coverages, etc) as it is very much a different game. Who knows how well he will do but he’s certainly on his own in terms of hype, ability, adoration for someone who hasn’t taken a snap in a regular season game. That’s why these sort of articles are appearing.
I Don’t understand where Choco is coming from? This article is not putting tebow down, it doesn’t even focus mainly on his physical attributes or whether he should be starter! I think the media are savages building up young athletes as what they perceive them to be and then destroy them if they deviate slightly from that path. It happens in every sport and I can see it happening to tebow here!
I’m rooting for him cause so many haave said he can’t. I just want him to succeed to see all those maggots gravel at his feet later.
I think that so called “christian” celebrities are even more vulnerable to failure than non-religious celebrities (or at least they don’t advertise it for the entire world to see). When someone like Tebow- who is completely open about his faith- gets put on a pedestal, included in that package is the expectation that he will act like the good little christian boy he is. Problem is, he is still a celebrity with HUGE amounts of money and consistently bad influence surrounding him (whether he likes it or not). Now a normal celebrity (I mean one without the “good christian” tag), has similar expectations sure, but we aren’t as schocked when it happens, heck we’re even ready to forgive and forget. Case in point: Elton John, Rob Halford, Freddie Mercury come out that they’re gay… reaction: Eh, doesn’t matter, they’re still great musicians (the christians for their part, believe them just to be typical sinners and let it go). But then, formerly christian rock band Kings X’s lead singer Doug Pinnick comes out and says he’s gay, and the christian community crucifies him for it! It pretty much ended his career. How about Amy Grant when she got divorced? People were just shocked and horrified. Anyone remember when the guy from DC Talk performed at that awards show drunk? Actually that may have been just a rumor, but still people were up in arms about it. I’m not saying that Tebow is going to do any of these things, but he is human. And when and if he does make such a mistake, I guarantee that people will make a bigger deal of it than they would any other NFL player. People will tend to blow it off when an NFL player tests postive for a controlled substance, or gets pulled over and gets a DUI. But if Tebow were to do those things, the fall is much much longer because the pedestal has been placed so much higher. I do feel sorry for him, but in a way I believe it is a cautionary tale: in my opinion, your religious beliefs should be kept to yourself. Because when you’ve been labeled a “good christian person”, you are really only setting yourself up to have unfair expectations placed upon you. When you have celebrity status, that is amplified about 100,000 times. Okay sorry this was so long, its just that I feel very strongly on this subject. Good article Jeff!
It is worrying as this kind of person beeing a great young man with many soical morals always ends up having their name dragged through the mud by the media whether its a lie or not and because of his status as beeing nicer than nice he has set himself up for a massive fall … just look at what happened to Tiger woods
Great article, Jeff, as ever. I truly hope Tebow can live up to the lofty expectations bestowed upon him.
@choco: I think you kinda missed the point there, hater. Maybe you should read the article as it was intended rather than blindly spitting venom.
Kudos ben for putting that guy in his place
Excellent article Jeff! It does seem to be the nature of our society, but more specifically, the nature of our media to cast somebody up so high, only to send them crashing back down to earth when even the slightest chink in their armor can be found because it makes “great tv.”
Personally, I believe Tebow has a lot going against him. He has a lot to learn to adjust to plain ying an NFL style offense… that is well documented. But, he’s being afforded the time behind Orton and Quinn to get those things worked out (and rightfully so) because if there is one thing for certain when talking about Tim Tebow, he is a proven winner. That is something that you cannot teach… something you cannot coach.
As far as the human side of Tim Tebow, he is a man and is fallible just like everybody elese who has ever walked the earth.
As I say that, I notice a huge typo in my post LOL.
Hey Jesse, one problem with your article. The goal of any Christian is to spread the Gospel. You can’t exactly do that if you hide it from everybody just because you don’t want to get criticized. Otherwise good point.
Just to correct the record he only lead us to one National Championship but was a major part of another. Chris Leak, who never gets enough love from my fellow Alumni, did great things that season and took us in that game that burned OSU and the Big 10’s house down.
As for Tebow, he is the kind of guy you want your kids to grow up as. He was always humble and from what I have heard from others never tried to take advantage of his situation and was always humble. He is just electric , I can not explain it … when I first watched him play in 05 I could not believe this guy was as hyped as he was but his will just takes over a team and he just knows how to win.