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.