Where do YOU stand on: The Tebow Phenomena

This past Monday I asked does God care about sports?  If you’ve not read that post my conclusion was roughly that God DOES care about sports when He can use it to advance the kingdom and care for his people.  Now, let’s have a show of hands, how many people paid any attention to the wild stats flying around on Monday?

If you missed them let me fill you in:
* Tebow threw for 316 yards
* He set an NFL playoff record by averaging 31.6 yards per completion
* The ratings for the game reportedly peaked at  31.6
* John 3:16 was the top Google search on Monday
Incidentally ESPN also listed Tebow as the most popular athlete in America at the moment.

If you think ALL of that is mere coincidence then, I am sorry, you’re an idiot.

But the question of whether or not Tim has God on his side is not what baffles me most. What truly baffles me in the response of some people to the Tim phenomena.

Sally Jenkins, columnist for the Washington Post, wrote a BRILLIANT piece back on December 30th that asks the question: Why are so so many offended by the quarterback’s faith?  If you have time it is well worth the read. In the article she quotes a tweet from political speculator Bill Maher who wrote, on Christmas Eve:

“Wow, Jesus just [expletive] Tim Tebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere in hell Satan is Tebowing, saying to Hitler, ‘Hey, Buffalo’s killing them.’ ”

I really don’t get it. Why all the vitriolic hatred?  Tim isn’t cocky like LeBron or aloof like Tiger or a problem like a boy named Suh. He just plays, and quite often he plays not good! But he wins and he gives credit to God and somehow that pisses people off.  Which is funny if you think about it since most of those people that get angry don’t believe God exists, or so they claim.

You think they’d be that angry if Tim grabbed his belly and laughed like Santa when he scored? Or maybe if he hopped around like the Easter Bunny? Not sure the tooth fairy would work out too well but hey why not?

I can certainly understand venting one’s spleen in the general direction of the media who won’t seem to let it all alone. (Yes, I suppose you may now lump this blog into the fringes of that category.) But that would be more on the level of an eye-roll couple by a silent OMG or WTFNA.

So help me out here, where does all the anger come from?
(Answer that BEFORE you read Jenkins’ article)

And, just for grins, (and for the Python fans in the group) my salute to Tim from the pinnacle of the win streak:

 

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Categories: Faith, Miscellaneous

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.

14 thoughts on “Where do YOU stand on: The Tebow Phenomena”

  1. Thanks for writing this, Curtis! I love the stats facts! I love how perfect God is, and when he reveals it. I ask everyone who reads this post to be praying for Tebow’s protection. As we know, he isn’t perfect and the enemy is waiting to exploit anything that can be exploited.

    Aaron

  2. Curtis,
    Thanks for sharing these thoughts. i am fascinated by the Tebow phenomenon. there are so many ways to analyze it; different facets of Tebowmania to examine. i have recently been thinking of it in Shakespearean terms: Tebow holds a mirror up to society and exposes something in us simply by the way he lives his life. The vitriol directed against Tebow by people such as Bill Maher is stunning in its ugliness, and yet not surprising in many ways. As Patton Dodd wrote in the Wall Street Journal, our society doesn’t know how to trust goodness.

    james

    • Thanks for your thoughts too James. I agree. I wonder too if some of the same type of sentiment could be excavated if we dug deeply enough into educational practices around leveling the playing field and “no child left behind”. There seems to be a desire on the part of larger society to find a common mediocrity rather than aspiring to a higher moral greatness or even higher standard.

      I suppose that if it is possible for someone in the spotlight to live out of their convictions that completely than it says something about how each of us ought to be able to do the same. Rather than hold ourselves to that possible standard the angry folk would rather find a chink in the armor and proudly proclaim, “See? No one is that good.”

  3. Hi Curtis, I’ve been reading a bit about this recently in the early chapters of the book of Mark. I think the reaction may have something to do with the fact that “holiness” both attracts and frightens. What Tim Tebow represents makes people uncomfortable, a bit like Herod with John the Baptist. Herod loved hearing John speak but also “feared him as he was a just and holy man.”

  5. I am an Episcopalian. I am just as much a Christian as Mr. Tebow. The problem is that according to the Bible, we are all God’s creation. God does NOT favor anyone on a football team, or a baseball team, etc. At least, that is not the God I believe in. For God does not show favoritism.(Romans 2:11 NLT). I mean, When Tebow said that he and his Broncos were blessed to win, well, that is troubling in and of itself to me as a Christian. If his statement means that God blesses Tim Tebow, and his team, well what does that mean for The Pittsburgh Steelers and a known Christian , Free Safety Troy Polamalu. There are plenty of members of the Steelers who are also Christians, such as Ike Taylor, and Ryan Clark who unfortunately didn’t play. Did God abandon them? Did God suddenly not love them because they were not “the chosen ones?” God created all human beings, even football players, no matter what team they play for, and God loves all his creations, not just Tim Tebow. It says in Scripture that “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” (Romans 8:37-39 NLT) I don’t care what denomination you are, the word “nothing” means that, “Nothing.”

    What really bothers me is the constant coverage of Mr. Tebow. He gets so much attention to the point where his fans get so hypersensitive to the point where they (wrongly) accuse anyone like myself who is very knowledgeable about football who critiques Tebow as a FOOTBALL PLAYER and as a QUARTER BACK of not being a Christian. They will send you some Bible quote. They also will try to change your mind also. My point is there are other teams in the playoffs that deserved attention. I mean, did anyone mention the Bronco’s opponents, the Patriots? As a native New Jerseyan, I was wondering why the NY Giants’ crushing the Falcons was ignored. Oh that’s right, we had to hear about a QB with a 50% completion rating.

    Here is the truth as to why Tebow and the Broncos beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. 1. Steelers came into the game banged up.Sure, every team is banged up, but this was nuts. QB Big Ben limping on a bad ankle. C Markise Pouncey out. NT Casey Hampton suffers knee injury during game. DE Brett Keisel injured during.
    2. Pass rush from Steelers non existent. Barely hit Tebow. 3. Steelers beat themselves with lousy red zone offense.Should have come back with TDs instead of FGs. 4. Steelers did not respect Tebow because they put 8 and 9 in a box and left corners on an island with no help and got burned.

    Sure Denver offense deserves credit. Defense did good jobs, and Tebow threw the ball well. However, it is very easy for a poor passer like Tebow to do well when the “answers” so to speak are given to him so to speak by the defense. The Steelers defense pretty much handed the game to Tebow alot due to arrogance. I could have taken advantage of it. Sure, Tebow deserves credit, but I don’t think he deserves all that credit that we have to hear about him non stop.

    I kind of find it odd that a Christian would call someone an “idiot” just because a reader doesn’t agree. Just saying. Sorry this got long.

    • Don’t worry about going long man I love the passion!

      A couple thoughts in reply…

      1. I’ve played, coached and officiated football for many years, though my brief stint at the professional level was in Europe, not here. So on the football end we’re in total agreement. When Denver drafted Tebow my first comment to friends was, “I hope we have someone who can teach him how to throw.” (I’m still saying that by the way)
      2. I also agree that to a large extent the Steelers beat themselves…but we did a good job exploiting the opportunities they presented, as you said.
      3. I also agree that the press is way overboard on Tebow and has ignored a lot of the rest of the goings on. They even made a story out of THAT mid way through the season when the Pack was still undefeated.

      4. Now as to God’s love. Again we agree that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Again we agree that God loves all football playing Christians equally.

      But there is biblical precedent for God’s favor to rest on specific people for specific times and purposes. (I don’t know if you went to the link to Monday’s post or not but I went into that more deeply in the earlier post.)

      I’d be completely comfortable with God’s favor resting on a player on the opposing team for a reason I may never know anything about AND I wouldn’t feel like that meant God loved me less. Even IF God miraculously swatted a ball out of mid-air to give the other team the win! Sure, I’m be miffed we lost but I can handle a little mystery around God’s favor.

      Again if you read the post from Monday I tried to communicate not that Tim Tebow was God’s chosen one but rather that I believed God was moving in the situation BECAUSE the press has put SO much emphasis on the whole deal. Really more of an example of God’s using the seeming foolishness of man, and the obedience of Tebow to show Himself in ways that we wouldn’t normally see. Do you really think all of the 316’s coming out of that game were pure coincidence?

      ..and you’re right, “idiot” was a little strong. It was late and it had been a long day. 🙂

  6. Do you have a reference for your stats? Preferably a link to who is claiming accuracy for these numbers? Also, why did you only choose these stats and not include a broader scope of impact?

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