Response to Tim Tebow Supporters

Updated: May 30, 2010

The following was a fantastic comment I read on Bleacher report by Gerald Ball. It details the frenzy around Tim Tebow and why there are so many people who support Tim in a cult like manner.

1. Claiming that Tebow is more hated than Donte Stallworth, Ben Roethlisberger and Michael Vick is simply untrue. Most people love Tebow, most dislike Vick (who wasn’t very popular even BEFORE the dogfighting charges), haven’t even heard of Stallworth, and are irate at Roethlisberger. You are engaging in victimization that is commonly indulged in by members of the political right. More on that later.

2. Again, most people love Tebow. But you folks can’t accept that. You want EVERYONE to love Tebow OR ELSE and can’t accept ANYONE choosing to dislike or root against him FOR ANY REASON despite the fact that SPORTS BY NATURE is based on rivalries and adversaries. Look, if your team has been pummeled by Tebow’s Gators the last 3 years, chances are YOU ARE NOT GOING TO LIKE TEBOW NEARLY AS MUCH AS GATOR FANS DO. And I bet a lot of Tebow fans got sick of Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, remember? Also, here’s news for you … NOT EVERYONE ROOTS FOR THE GOOD GUY ALL AMERICAN TYPE! Some people root for the underdog (and being a homeschooled 5 star recruit who played for a loaded team Tebow WAS NOT an underdog, and even now is going into the NFL with a lot more going for him than most players), others root for the bad guys. Yes, there were people who rooted for the Raiders back in the day, who rooted against Michael Jordan and for the Pistons, who root against the Yankees, and are happy every time Peyton Manning falls flat on his face. It happens. Get over it. Stop making the failure of everyone to love Tim Tebow a sign that our society is going down the drain. Look, there were people who didn’t like Babe Ruth. Couldn’t stand him. Yet Roger Maris and Hank Aaron were stalked, sent hate mail and death threats, and Maris in particular despised for breaking Ruth’s records! Until Tebow goes through a FRACTION of what guys like Maris, Aaron, Doug Williams and Jackie Robinson had to put up with, you are being ridiculous.

3. Lots of people LOVE Tim Tebow and STILL don’t think that he will succeed in the NFL. Why? Because HE IS A RUNNING QUARTERBACK. It is AMAZING that you Tebow fans ARE JUST NOW DISCOVERING THE HOSTILITY THAT A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF NFL FANS, SCOUTS AND MEDIA MEMBERS HAVE TOWARDS RUNNING QBS. Really, did you folks just start watching the NFL this year? Where were you when Warren Moon, Doug Williams, Randall Cunningham, Steve McNair, Brett Favre, Kordell Stewart, and Steve Young went through all their grief? Where were you when guys like Tony Dungy weren’t even allowed to play QB in the NFL and had to switch to defensive back? Where were you when Charlie Ward was tagged “the next Randall Cunningham” (and the media and the NFL DESPISED Cunningham) AND NOT DRAFTED AT ALL? And where have you been while the vicious sharks have been swimming around and hounding Vince Young? Even most of the fans of his own NFL team don’t support the guy, and he has a winning record as a starter! And then there is all the nonsense that Donovan McNabb has been through. Tebow is just another in a LONG LINE of dual threat QBs that the passing game fanatics have either doubted or haven’t wanted to see succeed in the first place. Why you think that he is different or special you will have to explain.

4. I am sorry, but Tebow is FAR from the first or only person of exemplary character and/or strong religious conviction in the NFL. What you want Tebow to get so much credit for, other guys have always done and stood for, and gotten absolutely nothing, and this includes guys who are treated with disrespect by their fans and organizations. The NFL is FULL of evangelical Christians. The NFL is FULL of guys who don’t get into trouble. The NFL is FULL of guys who do great charity and community work. There are LOTS of guys in the NFL who have been on overseas charity and missionary trips. Most of these guys get NO MEDIA ATTENTION for the good that they do other than a one sentence blurb in the paper IF they win that “NFL man of the year” charity work award, yet you Tebow fans want the whole sports world to pretend as if Tebow is unique, a noble prince in a league filled with zoo animals and savages.

The truth is that Tebow isn’t even the only QB from his church who was drafted. Have you ever even heard of Rusty Smith, the FAU QB who was drafted in the 6th round? Well, he attends Tebow’s church. Lots of folks question his NFL prospects because he went to a small school, was drafted very late, and oh yes will be backing up NFL veterans in Vince Young, Chris Simms and Kerry Collins. So why don’t you go produce a post bewailing why the sports world hates and is disrespecting this Smith person?

You won’t, because your issue isn’t that a great and accomplished person like Tebow (allegedly) isn’t getting his due, because Smith is an evangelical Christian, good and talented athlete, and nice fellow just like Tebow is. Instead, your whole agenda and motivation is the failure of EVERYONE to universally bow down and worship at Tebow’s cult of personality.

Well let me tell you something: even if Tebow wins 7 Super Bowls for Denver while throwing for 5,000 yards and rushing for 1000 yards a season, people are still going to hate his guts, including but certainly not limited to Raiders, Chargers and Chiefs fans, and others are going to attribute his success to having a great team around him. That is just the way the sports world is, and that would be true whether Tebow were Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or atheist. Grow up and accept it.