If Two Girls One Cup doesn't prove to be the defining Zeitgeist of this generation apparently it is going to take the form of a Evangelical Pro Football Quarterback. With the sheer amount of media attention and general talk between everyone everywhere I figured it would be a decent thread topic before the Patriots match Saturday. Focus: Tebow. TeBowing. Remix Tebow videos. Game and career predictions. What a hack Jimmy Fallon still is. All things fucking Tebow. NSFW
There is nothing special about Tebow as a quarterback whatsoever. Now that is out of the way, here's why I don't like him: he and his parents are morons. It's not like that fact is debatable or something: he puts his faith in things that don't actually exist. His folks try to convert people to those same things in an overwhelmingly Catholic country. Nice, huh? THAT is what frustrates me about him. America is supposed to be a smart country, and the majority of dimwits are embracing this guy, rather than doing what they should doing: pointing while laughing at him. It doesn't matter how nice of a guy you are when you make that much of a fool out of yourself.
... Aaaaaaaand that took a total of one post (well, two if you count the "bump"). Now that we have that out of the way, let's move forward. This post was left up as an example of where not to take this thread. Friggin' get over yourselves, people. There is a lot of things that can be said about this topic without it turning into a "Fuck Religion" thread. So just stop.
I am confused. I know my opinion is biased and I can appreciate how people can be sick of Tebow, but I don't understand how they can blame him for it. He doesn't ask ESPN to mention his name 160x in a single 48min episode of SportsCenter. How can he control that? To me, he has always seemed like a humble guy that gives more credit to his teammates and his faith than he tries to take for himself. And since when did being a person of faith become the equivalent of "evangelical"? Because somebody chooses to thank Jesus in a postgame interview does not mean they are forcing their religion down your throat. I am as far from religious or spiritual as a person can get, but I don't understand what one thing has to do with another. Because somebody chooses to stand by what they believe in, despite overwhelming negative criticism and pressure should be something to be admired or at least respected. And it's not faith to believe in things that actually exist. You don't need "faith" to know that water is wet and fire is hot. To pick on somebody for what they choose to believe in, as long as it isn't hurting you or anybody else, seems kinda week. As far as football is concerned, he is not a great QB. What he is, is a great player and a great leader. I am interested to see how he does with a season of experience and an off-season of training. I am not saying he should be handed anything, but he deserves a shot. I think he would be better served as a situational/Wildcat type of QB.
I disagree with everything Tebow says pretty much, but I still think a lot of the media were determined he'd never do anything and are desperate to point out every fault he has rather than admit he has occasionally done well in football. Regardless of his own religious convictions, I think people who view his success as affirmation/evidence of religion are fucking idiots. Likely because he and his parents are/were evangelical missionaries.
Can we pray for anything then? Can I pray to win tonight's poker game? I don't have a problem with Tebow's religion, but doesn't it trivialize prayer just a bit? This coming from an Agnostic.
I have no problem with his religion. I think he could be a little less overt about it - guys like Troy Polamalu are extremely religious but are a little calmer about their expression of it. That, and I have a little bit of a problem with pro-life groups like Focus On The Family, so when he's participating in ads for them, it doesn't make me love him more. The latter, though, has nothing to do with who he is or his job. I think next year will really be the telling year on whether Tebow will have a successful career in the NFL, or not. He will get an entire off-season of coaching as the starting quarterback, and if he can fix his bad habits, learn and grow, he may be good. He's sure a tough guy to bring down in the back field. I don't wish ill on him, I just wish the media would get off his nuts.
Gator is right-- he did not ask for the attention, the culprit is the ancient art of spin. However, he qnd especially his folks also LIKE the attention. You would too if every woman in North America wanted to deflower you. This Tebow thing is exactly like that Charlie Sheen thing- explosive for monthS in everything from media to Halloween costumes, thrn it will fade. He's too clean for trouble, so this won't last forever. Soon, he will just be another average NFL quarterback.
A lot of the reason people hate Tebow has more to do with his media portrayal. I don't remember him praying to win a football game, or ever saying God let him win it. I do remember about 70,000 quotes like this coming from other people. Personally, I don't hate Tebow. Crazy, or not I don't mind it so long as he's a good person, and so long as his views are (mostly) harmless. There are a lot of douchebags in the nfl; having a lot of people talk about him doesn't put Tebow on that list in my opinion. There wasn't a Tebow mania only because of his background, it's because the broncos were the most exciting team to watch this year. I've never seen so many nail biting finishes from one team in one season. I don't think Tebow will ever be a good quarterback. The best he can hope for is to be a less effective version of Michael Vick. It's not unusual for first year starters to suck as bad as he did, but I just don't see him ever being anything great.
You'd be hard-pressed to find someone more anti-religion than me - his pro life ads last year annoyed me, and I had great fun on Saturday night watching Brady spank him like he was at one of Scootah's parties. And truth be told I have a strong distrust of anyone claiming to be that pure, so I expect to find out at some point that he's actually home at night trolling the internet for bestiality porn. All that said, to me it's honestly just a goof to hate on an evangelical who wants to tell others how to live, I don't really care and I enjoy being irreverent in the face of a faith I find absurd. I'm much more serious when I say that I hate Rapistberger. He's definitely exciting as hell to watch, and I agree with the Vick comparison. In fact, I think Vick has learned to be a damned good quarterback, he just hasn't learned how to avoid getting hurt, and I think Tebow will have similar issues. The kid looked amazing in that Pittsburgh game. He looked lost and too inexperienced to read the defenses being thrown at him on Saturday. All tolled for the season, he looked a damned sight better than Eli Manning's first few seasons, and most importantly he figured out ways to win and to make his team excited to win. He also looks like he's interested in working his ass off to get better. Honestly, I think he's going to have a successful career. Elite quarterback? I'm not so sure. He's pretty short, his mechanics are fucking weird, and his accuracy needs a whole lotta help from Jesus. Winning record? Yeah, I think he'll leave the game having done well enough to be remembered not as a trendy phenomenon, but as a football player. In the meantime - I'd rather have 50 guys like him in the spotlight than one of the rapists, gun-carrying morons, dog-torturing psychos, and roid-rage-wife-beaters we're usually treated to. I just wish the spotlight was a little bit more sensitive to admiring those who are good at what they do.
I don't know if he was more or less ardent about it in college, but he is certainly being covered for it more now than he was at Florida. I know Danny Wuerffel used to clasp his hands together and look up after every TD pass, but I don't remember anybody making as big a big deal out of it. I think the overexposure Tebow has received in college and now in the NFL is what causes the majority of dislike and people then try to transfer that onto other things, like his religion. I also think religious groups are doing him a disservice by attaching his faith to his success and suggesting that they are somehow related.
Mark Bavaro would kneel and make the sign of the cross in the end zone whenever he scored a TD, but the media didn't assrape him over it (and he rarely talked to the media, a tough act when you play for a NY team and win 2 Superbowls). He didn't showboat his religious convictions or preach them. I think he showed true humility. Even more remarkable considering he went to Notre Dame.
My problem with Tebow is that so much attention is being paid to him and his religion that it overlooks 2 things: 1) Yes, he's made some decent plays, and some damn lucky ones, but he's just not a good QB. The announcers act like every time he hits a 10 yard pass, it's the greatest play in the world, mostly because it's a frickin' miracle he connected. For every pass he makes, there's at least one that is just plain dreadful. Not bad, but dreadful. Blatantly horribly dreadful. The "80 yard TD" he threw against Pittsburg? It was a 10 yard pass and 70 yards of running. Denver got lucky that Pittsburg completely blew their coverage. Watch the play if you don't believe me. The media act like it's some incredible play, but it's a pass Brady, Brees, et al would make in their sleep. 2) Yes, he's made some decent plays, and some damn lucky ones, but the defense was the reason they were doing as well as they were. The defense kept it close enough to win. The focus on Tebow and his religion completely overshadowed anything that anyone else on the team was doing, and the constant talk about his religious convictions is just tired.
I don't actually understand what's special about him sexually. I assume it's that he's a mediocre quarterback who wins a lot of games? It can't be that face. It looks like Nick Kroll on steroids. And while his body is very nice, it's the NFL -- half the league has ridiculous musculature. Is it the virgin thing?
In the win over the Steelers, Tebow passed for 316 yards. 316 yards. John 3:16. If that doesn't convince all you heathens, then you deserve your fate of eternal damnation in the fiery pits of Hell, or as I like to call it, marriage.
This is exactly what I don't understand. You hate Tebow because of the surplus media coverage. But why is any of this Tebow's fault? Is the media coverage within his control? He's not a reality star (i.e. famous for being famous), he is a football player. He is required to speak to the media as part of the job. That's like me hating the weatherman on Channel 7 because goddammit, every night when I get home, that whore is on the news. Not because he does a good or bad job, but just because he does his job. When he succeeds, it was a short pass or a great catch or the defense. When he fails, it's because he alone sucks and he's overrated. The winning pass against the Steelers wasn't long enough in the air? Huh? If he would have missed the throw, it would have been all his fault. He even said in the postgame, it was all Thomas and not him.