Tim Tebow: Savior- or saviorest?

If you even thought about accessing any sort of media relating somehow to sports, then you surely know that yesterday was Tim Tebow's first start of the season.  And I'm gonna take him to task.

I actually have nothing against Tebow- from what I've read/heard, he's a fine and upstanding young man, a devout Christian, and an excellent teammate.  Tebow has done humanity a solid.  His parents should be proud.

He definitely doesn't deserve most of the venom being spewed towards him.  You can't blame Denver for reaching to draft Tebow in the first round.  He (probably) didn't ask the fans to start cheering for him when Kyle Orton's career started to tailspin.  It's definitely not his fault that everyone everywhere nitpicking his football career the past two weeks- talking about how inaccurate he is, why he is inaccurate, how his arm isn't strong enough, how his arm is strong enough, how he needs an offense specifically tailored to his skill set, how he needs to be a pocket passer, how he isn't ever going to be a pocket passer, his intangibles...and I didn't even actually read most of the articles- this is all information gleaned from headlines and the NFL pregame shows that I watched today. 

I understand why this is- we're like information sponges, and the Internet is Bikini Bottom.  Bill Simmons has talked before about the culture of the Internet, and the 24 hour news cycle, and because there's so much more air time to fill, things get analyzed and reanalyzed, and the analysis gets analyzed and so on and so on.  And of course I could rip on the process...but using my own blog to do so would be a little hypocritical.  I just don't believe that you should bite the hand that feeds you (especially since most of the time it's my own hand). 

I do think that this over-overanalyzation had a ridiculous impact on the development of young players.  Head coaches too, but I'm not talking about coaches here- I'm talking about the man Tim Tebow.  I remember as a kid reading this book of NFL player profiles from the early 1980's.  One of the player profiles was Bert Jones, a young QB for the Baltimore Colts, and his head coach made a comment akin to QBs taking about five years to really fully understand the NFL game. 

Every time I stumble across an article about Tebow or see him being virtually dissected, I think about that quote.  I think about Tim Tebow, starting for the 4th or 5th time in the 2nd year of his NFL career, and I think it's absolutely preposterous that people would be trying to make declarative statements about his football future at this stage in his career.  Especially since everybody knew that Tebow was going to be a project coming out of the funky spread offense that Florida ran.  But hey, we have to fill the air time, so let's keep talking and talking and let's run this kid's career into the ground before it even gets started.  Poor Timmy.

But enough about that.  On to the game!

Full disclosure- I didn't actually get to watch Tebow play very much yesterday.  Apparently 1-4 Denver at 0-5 Miami didn't really make for must-see TV, Tebow or no Tebow.  So I watched San Diego at New York (the Lions were on, but I couldn't stand to watch them suck).  Ergo, my discussion of Tebow will be mostly academic.

I know that his passing numbers were so-so.  I know that he led the Denver offense to within field goal range a couple times in the first half but the Denver kicker missed a couple of field goals.  I know that Tebow led the Broncos from 15 points down in the last 3 minutes of the game (thanks on-side kick team!) and then about half-way through the OT period the defense delivered a turnover that eventually led to a 52 yard game winning field goal.  I know that after the game they interviewed Tebow and he thanked Jesus and then his teammates.

People with way more time and money on their hands are going to sit around and dissect the film of this game and be able to determine whether Tebow played good, great, or more great.  So I can't really comment on that.  He led them to a win, which is always a big deal in the NFL.  He's definitely an exciting player, if not slightly unorthodox.
 
What I want to focus on is his post game comments- particularly how they rubbed me the wrong way.
 
Maybe it's just because I'm a little older, a little wiser, or maybe I'm about to get ungrafted from the Vine- but I really wasn't feeling the shout-out to JC.  Far be it for me to make any sort of judgments or assumptions or mind-readings, but it really felt forced.  It was like Tim spent all week with a series of post-it-notes around his house that said "If get interviewed, thank Jesus Christ Personal Savior". 
 
I don't have any problem with athletes being outspoken about their faith- as long as its in context.  If you're speaking to a bunch of church camp kids- yeah, tell them about your faith.  If you're telling a reporter why you set up this charity or that fundraiser- sure, that's appropriate.  If the NFL analysts are asking you about game situations- you should probably leave God out of it.  Especially since you just got sacked 7 times, went 13-27 passing, and spent most of the game struggling against the worst defense since Helms Deep.
 
I don't know- I just think that it's okay to talk about football when they ask you football questions.  If you repped Christ because you're wanting to stay humble, try looking at your statistics instead.  Plenty there to keep yourself in perspective.  If you name-dropped Jesus because you wanted Him to get proper praise and glory, try going 31-35 for 325 yards and 5 TDs.  But don't take my word for it:
 
-If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. If anyone plays quarterback, he should complete at least 60% of his passes with an average yards/attempt of about 7-8, and a 3-1 TD-to-INT ration.  To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen- 1 Peter 4:11 (Bolded part was not part of the original manuscripts.  Or any of the manuscripts, for that matter)
 
That's all I got.  I don't know if it's good enough, but thanks to the Internet we have nothing but time to kill and space to fill.  I do hope that Tebow does well- I like to see the good guys succeed and the underdogs prove their doubters wrong.  I'm also partial to left-handed QBs  TTFN!