Tebowing.

Originally written 12/16/11

For football fans, this season has been one of the most interesting in recent memory. For all the headlines, there's many more stories going under the radar that in any other season would be front page news. The Steelers have become a passing team, and Big Ben is having his best season to date. No less that three QB's are poised to break Marino's passing record set in 1984 for all time most passing yards in a season. The Packers are undefeated and appear to have the makings of a legit dynasty for years to come. Aaron Rodgers has been unconsciously good, and Gronkowski is having the best year ever for a tight end, with no signs of slowing down over the last three weeks. But all this is being drowned out by one of the most outspoken (not uncommon in the NFL) and polarizing players to hit the NFL since...well, maybe ever.

It has all the makings of a feel good story, yet by far its characteristic is divisiveness. Possibly the best PASSER in the history of the SEC (which, if you don't know college football, this is the suma cum...everything conference in D1 football), similar touchdown numbers to Manning's in college but with half the picks, national champion and Heisman winner gets drafted in the first round by a coach who's fired the following season, and inherits a coaching/ownership group (not to mention several teammates) who make it abundantly clear that they didn't chose him, and really don't want him. He gets benched behind a journeyman QB who promptly plays terrible football for several games. The cries for Tebow, present from training camp, are now defeaning, and the coach makes a choice which was really no choice at all. Many said Tebow would never play QB in the NFL. Many said he should be drafted in the first, second or even third rounds. Then they said if he played he couldn't win with his unorthodox throwing motion and propensity for running- not like the elegant, gazelle-like running QB's like Michael Vick, Steve Young or even Aaron Rodgers- but more like a fullback, often choosing to run over people rather than arounde them. They said even if he won a few games he couldn't sustain it, and he wouldn't get better passing the ball. They said his last minute wins were flukes against bad teams. They've said all this and more, and each time Tebow has proven them wrong. It's a ready made Hollywood script. Except people hate him. Not like you hate brocolli, or you hate it when you forget your ez pass at home. Visceral, mouth-foaming, tripping-over-yourself-to-yell-about-it-HATE. If I said it doesn't make sense to me I'd be lying; that doesn't, however, mean that hating Tebow isn't ludricrous and untenable.

Some claim they hate him because he's not a good Quarterback and shouldn't be starting. What were the Broncos supposed to do? They benched a guy who was losing badly and started a guy who has won 6 out of 7 and rallied his team around him. In the logic score, that's Broncos: 1, Tebow haters: 0. They say there are lots of QB's who have put up better numbers than Tebow but aren't playing now because they weren't first rounders. What was he supposed to do when the Broncos traded back up into the first round, went on the clock, and his phone rang? Tell Josh McDaniels "Thanks, but I really think there are others more deserving than me." ? Tebow has taken all the hate and not reciprocated a word in kind. When asked about his team's success, he has consistently deferred credit and said all the right things, while appearing to be the most striking and unusual characteristic of all in mainstream media icons: Genuine.

So he's a winner, a hard worker, a great teammate, a humble player, with character and intangibles that are undeniably off the charts. Yet people can't stand him. It is a curious phenomenon, especially for parents who need to realize that atheletes are some of the most visible role models for their kids, and in every sport many are failing miserably with this responsibility.

Of course, the proverbial elephant in the closet is this: he is the one thing a society obsessed with tolerance absolutely cannot tolerate: a professing evangelical Christian.

Never mind the fact that the average Olbermann-watching left winger would be hard pressed to give a historically accurate definition of an Evangelical Christian; simply insert the words hate, ignorant, stupid, judgemental, CONSERVATIVE (gasp), and you have it. Ball up all the things today's secular media considers evil, and you have an Evangelical. But again, I fail to see the logic.

Across the NFL there are stories like the one that broke this week about Bear's receiver Sam Hurd:

"The former Northern Illinois University receiver told an undercover federal agent who he thought was a drug supplier that he wanted to buy five to 10 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week to distribute in the Chicago area, authorities said. In exchange, authorities said, Hurd agreed to pay $25,000 per kilo and $450 per pound — which would amount to up to $2.8 million a month."

Guys shooting themselves in the leg, guys getting drunk and commiting manslaughter, wife abuse, degrading women, infidelity, fathering a dozen kids from multiple road trips, drug use, gambling, the list goes on and on. Players actually said they were fearful that if the lockout hadn't ended and there had been no NFL games this year, the spike in violent crime among players would have been unprecedented. Yet not one of these stories induces the vitriol reserved for a guy who spent the offseason volunteering at an orphanage, who doesn't swear, and just happens to love Jesus. "Religion offends people, he shouldn't bring it up." This is the trump card I've heard every announcer, radio host and football personality say on air. But here's the problem: the media brings it up all the time, and nobody (who gets any air time) cries foul.

Why is that? The answer is simple: the media only brings up certain types of Christians, and they're always the wackos. How many youtube hits did that psycho chick get who thanked God over and over for the Tsunami hitting Japan? If there is a Christian who has a problem with interracial marraige, their church is on the front page. The countless Christians who spend energy doing relief work, giving to the poor, running their companies with integrity, contributing to their communities; I can't remember the last time one of them got air time. I think ultimately that's the crux of this whole phenomenon: the media can't stand Tebow because he isn't a backwoods lunatic who is easily dismissed. If Christianity is brought up at all in media today, it is brought up to be mocked and dismissed. But this guy is a winner. Inspires his teammates. Has morals and character. He's everything we claim we want in our role models, but he just won't shut up about Jesus and people who love Jesus can't be taken seriously. The media can't stand Tebow because he isn't what they claim all Christians are, and they can't censor him. People can't stand Tebow because he doesn't fit their preconceptions of what a Christian is. In a society whose golden rule is not to judge until you've walked a mile in someone's shoes, Christians are to be scorned from a distance. While many Christians are going further than I think is appropriate with Tebow's plight, citing every hurdle as persecution and every success and favor, what many are in essence saying is, "SEE?!" One of theirs has a platform from which to be heard on a relatively (for once) playing field, even if it is a mile high. Tebow invokes such emotional reactions because he actually believes and lives what he preaches, and you have to DEAL with him. And this Sunday at 4:15, as a football fan and as a Christian, I am psyched to deal with the Tebow phenonmenon, win or lose. I will be rooting for the Patriots, and don't think our Lord has a particularly vested interest in the outcome of this game. I am just genuinely refreshed to have such a solid God-fearing guy in the most prestigious position in American sports. Hopefully others will begin to appreciate a subtext to a game that for once doesn't involve players getting fines, parole, legal proceedings, cheating, etc. Just a guy doing what he loves and thanking God for the chance.