The Tim Tebow Experiment

Over the past week the NFL draft has been at the forefront of the thoughts of American sports fans everywhere. In what has been spread out over a three day period now, the NFL draft is truly a large event. Not content to dominate 6 months of the sporting calendar, Roger Goodell and his cronies in New York have discovered more ways to push the NBA, NHL, and MLB into irrelevancy.

The star of the show during the 3 day celebration of talent and potential was easily Tim Tebow, the much scrutinized football player from Florida. I say football player as many pundits are not sure if he is even a quarterback. Tebow is a lightning rod for criticism, standing behind his Christian beliefs very publically, revealing recently he was in fact a virgin (much to the surprise of all football fans in Pittsburgh. Imagine a quarterback with morals?) Draft pundits had him possibly sneaking into the first round. Some thought he would be drafted by the creative genius that is Bill Belichick early in the 2nd round and converted into a TE. Was he the next qb of the Minnesota Vikings after Grandpa Favre retired? Would Jacksonville draft him and immediately sell 30 000 season tickets?

With so many questions surrounding this talented young man it makes you wonder why we are all so fascinated with him? Surely there have been quarterbacks come into the league before who have questionable throwing mechanics? We have seen many college quarterbacks have huge success in college and flop in the pros (see Danny Wuerffel, Gino Torretta). But I don't think we have ever seen someone like Tebow enter the league before.



1. When googling his name, after you enter Tim Tebow the top four searches are girlfriend, commercial, ad, and virgin. Nothing to do with football.
2. What other draft pick was homeschooled for his entire school life? He became the first homeschooled kid to win the Heisman Award in 2007. In related news, no McDonalds All American basketball player has ever won the National Spelling Bee.
3. He was born in the Philippines to Christian missionaries.
4. He appeared in a controversial advertisement produced by Focus on the Family. The ad focused on Tebow and his mother's choice to not abort him when complications were revealed.
5. He is the ultimate quarterback for Urban Meyer's spread offense, measuring 6'1 and 245 lbs. When you see him nothing about him says quarterback.
6. He has played on 2 national champion teams, been named the heisman award winner, and played on the national stage for 3 years. Call it paralysis by analysis but everything about his game has been dissected to the nth degree, right down to the Bible verses under his eyes.
7. An interview with Tebow makes Tyler Hansbrough and every hockey player currently in the playoffs look like Mike Tyson. It is almost as if he is not human when he answers questions. Everything is a cliché’. What's different about him is you actually believe him since he appears to be so consistent in his lifestyle.
8. A young coach literally has put his career on the line for him. Josh McDaniels, the new Bill Belichick, moved up in the draft to take Tebow. If you are scoring at home, this is the same coach who ran Jay Cutler out of town and moved all pro receiver Brandon Marshall all in the first year of his coaching tenure. So instead of Cutler to Marshall, Denver fans are subjected to Orton to Stokely. Denver has completely redone their team and like it or not many fans will judge this makeover by Tebow's success, even if he doesn't take a snap in his first season. I wonder if McDaniel's ever thought it would get to this point so quickly?
9. He has performed circumcisions on Filipino kids....in his spare time between winning the Maxwell Award twice and back to back national championships.
10. When following the Twittersphere on Tebow there are new updates nearly every second...he moves the needle everywhere.


These were simply 10 things that I could think of that makes this guy unique. Some project him as one of the most marketable athletes of all time. I'm a bit more cautious. I think the Tim Tebow hype machine has peaked and may not ever be this big again. Consider this.
- He probably won't take a snap under center all year. We are a country of what's next, not what has been. If Tebow holds a clipboard all year he'll quickly fall out of America's conscious.
- Mel Kiper compares him to Pat White of Miami, which probably isn't far off. College stars are just that and may never be more than that. Tebow is no different, its just that there are so many other things that interest people about him outside of his on the field performance. At the end of the day, if the on field product is not there, no one will care about the off field stuff.

- He's not an NFL quarterback. Just because he is such an interesting character does not make him an NFL quarterback. McDaniels raves about character guys and bringing in the right people, but good guys do not necessarily win games. Drew Brees is by all accounts a good guy. He donates a ton of money to local New Orleans charities. He is loved in the locker room. His comeback from career threatening surgery was remarkable. But don't forget, we go looking for these stories of people who are having success on the field. Kurt Warner's story wasn't nearly as riveting when he was failing in New York. Jake Delhomme's rise from obscurity was very interesting when he was in the Super Bowl, but not that compelling when he was throwing 5 picks against Arizona and getting released. Nobody doubts that he is a good person, but that doesn't matter when you are not playing effectively.

The Tim Tebow hype machine has been flowing for 3 straight years and peaked this past week when he was drafted higher than people expected. The pick may turn out in favor for the Broncos in time the question is whether Josh McDaniels will be around to see it pay off. Tebow must now go about becoming an NFL football player and that may be his biggest challenge yet.

A Fitting End

With all the attention being focused on Tiger Woods this past week, watching Phil Mickelson hug his wife after dominating Augusta on the weekend was a fitting end to a weird week.



For some reason Tiger has felt the need to return to his Buddhist roots and bring a more calm presence to the golf course. Whether this is a result of his handlers (aka Phil Knight) wanting to present him in a different light or a true change, it was weird to watch. Just because a man has trouble with marriage vows does not necessarily mean he has to change the way he goes about his job. Watching Tiger attempt to control his emotions on Sunday was the equivalent of seeing Will Ferrel play a serious role in a movie. You are just waiting for him to break out into "Afernoon Delight" or call out Veronica Corningstone.

Its just not him. And why does it have to be? Is it because the intensity he brings to the golf course carries over into his personal life and leads him to fall back into that kind of lifestyle? Did the counsellor state that he needs to control his emotions? Was it Elin's request that he change his demeanor?

Whoever suggested it must not have a vested interest in Tiger's success on the golf course for it will hurt him in the long run. Watching him wave to the audience and pretend not to be mad was just plain awkward. No more games Tiger, be who you are on the golf course. An ultra competitive killer who wants nothing more than defeating the competition and finishing first. Forget about being nice to your competitors. Yell at the annoying "get in the hole" guys, tell your caddy to regain his jerk status on the tour, and attempt to dominate the PGA like the real Tiger would.
With that being said, watching Mickelson absolutely shred Augusta on Sunday brought such a stark contrast to the main story of the week. Lost in Tiger's Escapades over the past 5 months is the story of Mickelson's wife and mother fighting breast cancer. Through it all he kept a low profile and continued to work on his game. It showed on Sunday as he played the best golf of his career and showed steel nerves. Without so much as a whisper from anyone, Mickelson and his caddie spent time at Augusta earlier this year, creating an extensive putting book. Details like this led him to success on Sunday.

As Mickelson walked the 18th fairway and received an applause reserved for golf legends in Augusta, my mind wandered to Tiger. What would have happened had he won on Sunday? Who would have been there to congratulate him on his stirring comeback? As Phil got near the green his wife Amy meandered out to the 18th green. It was at this time we discovered that this was the first time she had been out of bed the entire week. This was the first time her and the kids had travelled with Mickelson since she was diagnosed with breast cancer 11 months ago. Jim Nantz was apparently rushing to find production notes on the Mickelson story buried beneath sordid stories of Tiger's last 5 months.
After Mickelson absolutely buried his birdie on 18 to finish at -16, he calmly celebrated and found his wife Amy in what turned into a genuine heart wrenching moment. Here was the faithful husband supported by his sick wife ascending to golf's highest honor in the face of tragedy within his family. You couldn't help but feel good for Phil. And what about Tiger?

He was fuming somewhere in the background, wondering why he was snap hooking the ball and burying the head of his club in the ground. When asked how he would assess his play, he simply stated "I finished fourth. I entered the tournament so that is not good enough". Ahhh, so refreshing. Nice to see the new Tiger honor is competitor in Mickelson and deflect the attention off of himself for a little while...

So while Phil Mickelson is celebrating with his family and receiving praise from the media, Tiger will go back to his broken world, work out the kinks in his golf game and shortly return to being the old Tiger. One just wonders when he wins his first tournament post escapade who will be there to greet him at the end. All the sacrifices he has made to turn himself into a winning machine have left him alone and broken. While we criticized Mickelson for his struggles with his weight and his inability to overcome Tiger for years, maybe we were missing a lesson in priorities. For one day, Left seemed to win that battle and win it in a big way.