I Can't Stand Tim Tebow But He Makes Me a Better Person

Writing about Tim Tebow was so three weeks ago.

Even though the 2011 NFL season will soon be over (leaving me to distract myself with Lob City and the greatest Spanish import since paella), just like driving past a highway accident, I can't help but stare at the wreckage, the phenomenon that is Tim Tebow.

I mean c'mon. He's the guy with that hideous motion, the guy who completes less than 50 percent of his passes and still somehow made it to Tebow Time. He's the guy who lost his last three regular season games, lead a team that didn't even have a winning record, and still managed to make the playoffs... and to draw the injury-riddled Pittsburgh Steelers. With all that is it really surprising that I'm paying to Tebow during the Tebow Time-equivalent of the NFL season? Easy answer.

Now I am a college football guy. I watch some of the NFL playoffs once the college season is in the rearview mirror, and I generally cheer for any team that has more Notre Dame than USC grads. But I normally only let football consume my entire being for half of the weekend, leaving Sunday as a day to hang out with Jesus -- a dude whom Tim Tebow has mentioned he likes as well -- and to do the work that I didn't touch on Saturday.

This year though I could not help but check ESPN each Sunday night to see how Tim Tebow had somehow, impossibly, ridiculously, willed his team to victory (or how Denver's defense and running game had done just enough to overcome their quarterback's shortcomings -- although that gets increasingly difficult when you're QB is going 6 for 22 for 60 yards...). But evidently I'm not alone, I mean this dude is popular.

After Tebow hit Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime against the Steelers to conclude his night of 3:16, umm, I mean 316 passing yards, there were 9,420 tweets about Tebow per second. It was a new Twitter record. This from the same guy man who, by wearing John 3:16 on his eye paint in the 2009 BCS championship game, generated over 90 million Google searches for that verse over the next 24 hours. It's the guy who perfected the planking trend by offering us tebowing (noteworthy is that http://www.tebowing.com has recorded the greatest number of people doing stupid stuff in front of famous sites since 2008).

I'm still trying to justify... uhhh... explain why it is I can't stop thinking about Tim Tebow, and why he makes me so uncomfortable. I mean all those Bears fans and even Marion Barber himself still don't understand why on earth Barber ran out of bounds in that Dec. 11 game against the Broncos -- you remember the play, it's the one where Barber inexplicably stopped the clock and gave Tebow the time to set up the most stunning Tebowing of a season full of teams getting Tebowed. The guy is inexplicable. But you know what's not inexplicable? The reasons why I hate him. I've got six of them for you right here:

1. It's just not fair. Tim Tebow just had the lowest completion percentage of any quarterback in the last decade to start at least 10 regular season games, and yet he is America's most popular athlete and is the person that chumps like I cannot stop writing about. While being a Notre Dame fan has taught me that life is not always fair, Tebow forces me to realize that life really isn't fair.

2. Bad things happen to good people -- except Tim Tebow. Even though I'll never understand why, I have accepted that some children get terminal cancer. Tim Tebow is obviously the outlier that makes this truth (for those of us non-Tebows) even more painful to accept. Bad things will happen to you, Good Person. Even though the Russian judge would not give him a 10.0 for presentation for his throwing motion, Tim Tebow seems to always get the figurative gold medal -- or the literal bronze statue (2007)... well, except when he didn't (2008).

3. I realize I live on another planet. I belong to the Society of Jesus. This has been my 20th year of Catholic education. I like to think that I'm pretty comfortable talking about Jesus. And then I listen to Tim Tebow talk about his personal Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And I find myself thinking less about whether or not he should "tone it down," and more about the fact that Tebow's interviews can sound like a foreign language even to me. It shows me how narrow my world is, and, to be honest, that unsettles me. My difficulty in understanding Tebow indicates that I am largely ignorant of the religious experience of millions of people -- my fellow Christians -- and it makes me wonder how ignorant I am of the experiences of my fellow humans at an even farther remove.

4. What about the little guy? As an NFL quarterback, my boy Brady Quinn is not exactly a member of the 99 percent. He has been the gets-the-girl-and-rides-off-into-the-sunset guy for pretty much his entire life. Despite playing better than Tebow in the preseason, and being ranked ahead of him in the Denver rotation, Quinn doesn't generate 90 million Google searches a day or have a rabid fan base that demanded that he play when Denver got off to a slow start this year. Just like Quinn, there are tons of really good to whom the world pays little attention. While non-football fans know all about the faith of Tim Tebow, few outside Notre Dame know that Brady Quinn would attend praise and worship services and feel the need to introduce himself (um, yeah, we know your name is Brady, bro). Tebow's good deeds are written about frequently, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I remember Brady signing every single jersey and hat in the long line of young women outside his dorm room, all of whom were hoping to complete that perfect Christmas present for their fathers and brothers back home.

5. He pushes me to face my own cowardice. Sure, nobody is a better Christian just because he mentions Jesus Christ a bunch. How we live our lives makes a difference. But I realize that Tebow makes me uncomfortable largely because he shows me how often I don't have the courage to talk about my faith or religion. And yeah, some of my reticence is common sensitivity to others of different beliefs, and some of it is fear of rocking the boat and creating an uncomfortable situation. But that dude Tebow is as fearless in putting his faith and personal convictions out there as he is being down 15 points with three minutes to go. I'm just not.

6. Tebow isn't the fraud; I am the fraud. I've gotta confess: every Sunday night when I'd check ESPN to see what Our Lord And Tebow had done that day I didn't just want Tebow to lose; I wanted him to be humiliated. Even though I would normally cheer against the Patriots (led as they are by that former Michigan quarterback Tom Brady -- could it be more clear that it all goes back to Notre Dame for me?), I could not help but celebrate Brady's six touchdowns at the Patriots 45-10 rout of the Broncos. This was exactly what I was hoping for, I thought. But then I started reading people's reactions to the game and I started feeling kinda sick to my stomach (I'd had a similar feeling when watching people celebrate in the streets over the death of Osama Bin Laden). And I realized that I just could not shake that whole "love your enemies" thing. I myself, and millions of others, actually wanted someone, an undeniably good person who spends his summers with orphans and his football weekends with terminally ill cancer patients, to be humiliated. And why did I want this? Because he's too good of a person.

Listen, the stat geek in me says that Tebow is not a good quarterback, that he shouldn't be celebrated, or sent to the Pro Bowl. But on a deeper level it has dawned on me that it's Tebow's fans who are right. He actually is a tremendous person. And I want to bring him down to my level. And I call myself a Christian.

So, yeah, I'd turn to Tom Brady over Tebow if I wanted to learn to throw the ball better (hell, I'd turn to Daisy Duke), but I think I can actually learn a lot about life and faith from Tim Tebow.

So... Tebowmania. Nauseating? Yes. But even nauseated, Tebow is still pushing me to be a better person.

 

Follow Michael Rossmann, SJ on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RossmannSJ

Comments

[Djay0252]

11:34 AM on 02/11/2012

Preach the Gospel of Christ by LIVING the Gospel of Christ! My 4 years in a Jesuit High School did not teach me that.

[ninetailedfox]

09:32 AM on 02/06/2012

I dont even watch football. I think hockey is more interesting because they have skates. More challenging. As far as what others do making me a better person: A wise man learns from the mistakes of others, an average man his own mistakes, and a fool never learns.

[jjtx]

07:29 AM on 02/06/2012

My problem with Tebow:

Where is his praise for God when he is defeated?

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Those that praise God when things are going badly or even in horrible situations make the most effective witness. When you only see people praising God when things are going right for them, it is a "so what" to me.

Let me see Tebow give God the credit when his team is horribly defeated and I will appreciate it.

[Darla Jones]

10:30 PM on 02/05/2012

Of course it's a turn off for some. But keep in mind that Christians who really practice the faith get disgusted daily just watching the news. Let them have a moment of glory for corn sakes.

[NobleTry]

08:04 PM on 02/05/2012

"And I find myself thinking less about whether or not he should "tone it down," and more about the fact that Tebow's interviews can sound like a foreign language even to me. It shows me how narrow my world is, and, to be honest, that unsettles me."

"But on a deeper level it has dawned on me that it's Tebow's fans who are right. He actually is a tremendous person. And I want to bring him down to my level. And I call myself a Christian."

When he speaks it sounds to you like he's speaking a foreign language. Are you sure you're born again? Paul spoke of the natural man not being able to comprehend the things of the spirit, the things the spiritual man could speak.

Is this your problem? Not with Tebow....but with the Holy Spirit working through him? That's a truly dangerous spot to be in.

[raker]

03:16 PM on 02/05/2012

Tebow is a hypocrite who prays to be seen and admired by football fans. You believers who pray at home in your closets should keep up the good work. That's how it's supposed to be done.

[NobleTry]

07:58 PM on 02/05/2012

How is the man a hypocrite?

[raker]

10:46 PM on 02/05/2012

Matthew 6.

[Indigo1941]

02:59 PM on 02/05/2012

Bcoming a better person # 1: stop saying "dude."

[researcher]

11:24 AM on 02/05/2012

drink your tea and bow to the world for it develops every soul unique.

tebow' path is one of those unique paths.

he appears to live his religion, a rare fact in this world.

we have created a nation that the evangels cheer over capital punishment and the nation loses no sleep over our on going wars and millions without proper health care and an economic ideology of survival of the fittest that goes against everything that jesus taught, maybe tebow is a welcome sight.

[ThinkCreeps]

09:43 AM on 02/05/2012

Tebow makes everyone LOOK better, in comparison.

Have no fear, fellow citizens! Sanctimonous man will save you!

[Cordellia Harrison]

10:32 PM on 02/05/2012

Lmao!!

[JacksonHts]

10:15 AM on 02/04/2012

Michael Rossman? You wouldnt have been a Light Heavyweight from NYC who beat Victor Galindez for the Championship and held it briefly, before joining the Jesuits, would you?

[drhinesmid]

10:46 PM on 02/03/2012

"I can't stand Tim Tebow" .....Not a real Christian thing to say, M. Rossmann, SJ! The legend of Tim Tebow is a media creation. Mr. Tebow humbly gives the Lord thanks for his abilities and successes. No more, no less.

[Abnormal Wrench]

10:52 AM on 02/05/2012

I like how people treat the media as some disconnected machine. As if some media executive was throwing darts at a list of names and it happened to hit on Tebow, and hence his fame.

The reality is, Tebow has a cult following, the media is simply reporting on it.

[michelesda]

10:15 PM on 02/02/2012

What difference does it make whether Tebow is a good person? He was humiliated for being a bad quarterback, not for being a bad person, which is just as it should be. Christianity may be a forgiving game, but NFL quarterbacking is not, nor should be. Good person or not, if Tebow starts next season, depending on the Broncos' schedule, he won't likely be around for long, and once he's finally gone it will be the purest, sweetest justice imaginable.

[OLJW00]

10:40 PM on 02/05/2012

Remind me again how many QB's had a playoff victory this year. I mean there are 30 starting in the NFL.

[michelesda]

11:15 PM on 02/05/2012

Did you watch the game? Like they say, any given Sunday. Pittsburgh, and especially Roethlesberger, looked like zombies out there. I could have beaten Pittsburgh that particular Saturday. Did you happen to watch the following weekend, when the Pats picked Denver up by the scruff of the neck and shook them like a rag doll? That game was a far truer measure of Tebow's abilities.

[Ron Donisch]

04:36 PM on 03/23/2012

WOW , YOU HAVE PSYCHIC ABILITIES , or did you contact Dionne Warwick and her psychic friends network
the bad qb beat the steelers , before the game the experts/haters said he would be creamed after the win we heard all the excuses about the injured steelers defense
same with the bears game " if it wasnt for barber going out of bounds " ,, excuses excuses excuses

[michelesda]

10:32 AM on 03/24/2012

I didn't see the Bears game, but I saw the Steelers game, and they played like zombies; I could hardly believe my eyes. Getting caught flat-footed on a fluke play in overtime like that, the way they had been playing, was only to be expected. However, I also got to see Tebow's style of play up close and, like everybody else, immediately realized that all he had accomplished was setting himself up for the thumping he got from the Pats the following weekend, a team that would not likely be sleepwalking and against whom an offense like Tebow's would be pure red meat. That plus the fact that, having gotten that far into the playoffs, it wouldn't take Dionne Warwick to foresee that the Broncos will be facing a tougher schedule this season. It can hardly be doubted that John Elway, up in his box, was seeing the same things as I was seeing and much much more, was not about to start a QB who couldn't beat a quality team, so now Tebow is gone and the Jets now have two quarterbacks who can't throw the ball; good luck with that!

[Grada3784]

08:35 PM on 02/02/2012

The only thing about Tebow is watching Skip Baylis rush to his defense like something out of the book The Caine Mutiny in Capt. Queeg's testimony. No way was it going to make it into the movie in the McCarthy era.

Baylis acts the way Queeg implied Ensign Keith did whenever someone looked at the helmsman Stilwell the wrong way.