The time has come. I've finally cracked. I'm done with the Tim Tebow love fest and I just have to shout it to the world. Tim Tebow is maybe one of the most polarizing characters in sports of the last 20 years. It seems that everyone you talk to either loves this guy or is rooting for him to fail. I'm neither. I'm not rooting for him to fail in the NFL, I just don't think he's going to succeed. But we will come back to that. My frustrations begin and end with the media when it comes to Tebow. The media coverage of Tebow is ridiculous to the point of absurdity. Do we have to hear every other second that a five minute conversation with Tim Tebow will make you a better person? What is he Tony Robbins? If the media felates Tebow much more they might as well start shopping with Tebow for a time share in Florida. That's not to say that the hype (at least when it comes to his off the field exploits) is not true. By all accounts Tebow seems like someone out of a Norman Rockwell painting. He's clean-cut, handsome, athletically gifted, socially conscious, and devout in this faith. Most know the stories: missionary work in the Philippines, making various appearances in churches and prisons, visiting sick children in hosptials, and in general helping the community at large. What's most impressive to me is that Tebow seems to really live his faith. He doesn't pay lip service to it like so many athletes today do. It's one thing to talk about your faith but it's another thing to live it. Tebow is also not a Bible thumper as some might expect. He'll talk about his faith openly but he's not one of these in your face guys. And as for the Super Bowl ad? I can't believe there was so much controversy surrounding it and what a fuss people made. The ad that was funded by Focus on the Family never once mentioned abortion. So what if it was a pro-life stance? Nobody seems to want to stand up for what they believe in anymore because they are afraid they'll be branded politically incorrect. I say f that. Grow a pair. Have the courage of your convictions. Why is it not cool for Tim Tebow to do a pro-life ad but no one bats an eye when an ad for godaddy.com has Danica Patrick in a shower? (Don't get me wrong I loved that ad. Show as many hots chicks in showers as you want. I'm still not buying what you're selling but thanks for the eye candy.) Lest I be branded biased, and so people won't think I'm some uber-Christian anti-abortion nut job, which if you know me is as about as far from the truth as Earth is from Saturn, I'd also like to add that I was upset that a gay men's dating website commerical was not allowed to air on the Superbowl. It's further upsetting considering the network lied and denied the group because there was no more space left. But I am way off topic now. Back to Tebow. Now that we've established that Tebow is in a fact a good citizen let's look at his football skills. I just think there are too many strikes against him as he enters his NFL career. First of all his throwing motion. Yes I know that he's been working on it to get it NFL ready but it takes a lot to get rid of muscle memory. The second the drops that arm too low, some defensive lineman is gonna pounce on the ball like Michael Moore on a bearclaw. (I partly blame Urban Meyer and the coaches at Florida for this. They should have corrected his throwing motion years ago.) Tebow is also a system quarterback. At Florida he never had to do 3, 5, and 7 step drops. He was always in shotgun. Being under center needs to be something that is second nature to an NFL quarterback. Tebow shouldn't have to be fixing it at this level. There's also the question of his arm strength. Can he throw the deep ball? Can he be accurate? Also Tebow likes to scramble a lot. He's in for a rude awakening when he finds that the defensive linemen in the NFL can run just as fast if not faster than Tebow. However, I think the biggest thing that's going to hamper Tebow is the speed of the NFL game. Tebow is used to coming from a system where almost everyone was always open. He never had to go through a lot of checks or reads. Now he's got to make those progressions and make decisions in a split second. Having said all that I think if anyone can overcome all these difficulties it's Tim Tebow. The two qualities that Tebow has that the great ones possess are leadership and focus. Telling this guy he can't do something will just make him work that much harder. Tebow is anything if not dogged in his pursuit of a goal. The funny thing about all these debates about Tebow is that I think the person who could care less is Tebow. Obviously, he wants to succeed in the NFL but it's not the most important thing in his life. He knows where his priorities lie. Tim Tebow knows that what he does outside of football and after football is more important than whether he succeeds or fails in the NFL. Failing in the NFL is devastating for some. How many times have we heard stories of ex-NFL players committing suicide or getting involved in drugs because football was their whole life? (Travis Henry ring a bell?) Not so for Tebow. Whether or not he succeed or fails in the NFL is irrelevant. I honestly believe that someday he's going to make a great husband, father, and community leader. I read today that one of the essential things to living a rewarding and successful life is compassion. May we all be fortunate enough to possess the amount of compassion Tim Tebow does.
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