There has been so much media frenzy and discussion over Tim Tebow that I cannot remember that ever being the case for any quarterback in his 1st and 2nd year in the NFL. Why is there so much attention, so much so that it has become ad nauseam, and here I’m adding to it? It is very likely that the Tim Tebow mania will not end any time soon. Some may believe this puts even further undo pressure on the young quarterback, but quite the contrary is true here. Anytime someone is talking about you means that you are relevant, once the talking stops you fall into obscurity and are on the way out of the league or already out. The greater question is, “Why all the talk?”
There are many reasons for all the talk surrounding Tim Tebow, one obviously being that he is one of the most decorated and successful college football players of all time. When you have that kind of resume coming out of high school and college people will naturally talk about you. Watching Tebow play at Florida regardless if one is a professional scout or just a fan one could easily see, here is a player with grit, determination, courage, natural athletic abilities, even though unorthodox in his mechanics as a prototypical quarterback. The scouts picked up on this unorthodoxy and quickly began to make predictions – projections about his future success or failure based simply on his mechanics and being a system quarterback, working solely out of the spread. The great majority of analysts did not see a future for Tim, or if he would have one it would take five years to get him ready or that he would have to move to another position. Well, none of that has happened, rather he is still at quarterback and is now playing.
So now the talk has taken on more life for the simple reason that the analysts are now drooling at the prospects of seeing him fail, not because he is Christian, not because he is a good kid, not because he was a great college quarterback, but simply because they do not want their original prediction to be wrong otherwise their assessments of Tebow could somehow discredit their abilities to project as an analysts. That’s it in a nutshell.
Some feel that all this talk brings undo pressure, I beg to differ. As I stated before Tebow is relevant. The analysts are actually helping his popularity. I guess Tebow is living out the Scripture passage, “be as gentle as doves, but as cunning as snakes.” His message continues to spread as the analysts continue to throw him under the bus. I also think Tebow as gentle as he is – is a smart kid.
The analysts who have thrown him under the bus are supposed experts in their field be it if they are former NFL stars themselves or radio \ tv personalities who have been in the business. They feel strongly that he will not succeed and if he does it will be a long time coming. They fail to take into account that he has what are Jewish brothers and sisters call chutzpah (hudzpah in the vernacular) or what Austin Powers called, “Mojo baby.” You could see that mojo working in the final five minutes. I don’t care if it was vs. Miami, I don’t care that other quarterbacks throw the ball better, or that Tebow played poorly for three quarters, he came through in the end. Does this mean he doesn’t need to improve? No, he still needs to improve, as does everyone in the league and Tebow still has much to learn and to tweak, but nevertheless the kid is a winner. Just because he doesn’t fit the mold of the analyst’s doesn’t necessarily mean he will fail. More times than not the analysts are closer to being right than wrong, but not in this case, they will be proven wrong. I am going out on a limb here, I am not a scout, I am not an analyst, I never played college or nfl ball, but he passes the eye ball test, not for mechanics (and by the way neither did Michael Spinks who won a light heavy weight title and heavy weight title in boxing and was extremely unorthodox) but for grit, determination, and spunk, and most of all for his infectious ability to win, which is priceless, just ask his high school teammates and college teammates who now have state championships and national titles. It’s only a matter of time before that happens in the NFL as well. Remember analysts, “Hudzpah and Mojo baby!”
Fr. John
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