Hating Tebow is a great American sin
Why would Keyshawn Johnson, as the Associated Press reported earlier this week, walk off the set of his national radio show in apparent shock and disgust at Tim Tebow signing with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a backup tight end?
Why would ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and many other media figures rail against “White privilege!” when Urban Meyer, Tebow’s college coach with the Florida Gators, signed Tebow to play on his hometown NFL team?
Why does there seem to be so many people rooting against Tebow — one of the most caring, compassionate, benevolent, big-hearted, philanthropic, altruistic role models in the history of sports?
I’ll be the first to admit I don’t think “The Great Tim Tebow Tight End Experiment” is going to work in Jacksonville, and I don’t think it’s a good idea when the Jaguars are embarking on an
exciting new era with Meyer as the head coach and No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence as the starting quarterback.
However, you better believe I will be rooting loudly and proudly for this experiment to work and for Tebow to be a resounding success.
Nothing would make me happier as a sports fan than the Jaguars marching into the playoffs in Meyer’s inaugural season and somehow making it to the Super Bowl, where — on the last play of the game — it’s fourth-and-1 with the Jaguars needing a touchdown to beat Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Meyer shockingly inserts Tebow at quarterback, Tebow lines up in the shotgun, the ball is snapped, Tebow charges forward … but wait! … he suddenly stops, leaps high into the air and completes a game-winning jump pass to the Jaguars’ midseason pickup — a wide-open Percy Harvin!!!
I acknowledge this scenario is nothing but foolish dreaming considering Tebow is 33 years old, hasn’t taken a snap in an NFL regular-season game in nearly a decade and hasn’t played tight end. But my point is this: Why isn’t EVERYBODY cheering for Tebow to pull off one the unlikeliest comeback stories in sports history? Instead, it seems all we’re hearing are the Legions of the Miserable on social media spewing vile vitriol toward Tebow simply because he is getting another chance to play in the NFL.
One common complaint among the Tebow bashers is that he is “taking a roster spot from a more deserving tight end prospect.” Puh-leeze.
First of all, Tebow hasn’t made the team and was simply signed to be part of the Jaguars’ 90-man offseason roster. Many of the players on the 90-man roster are undrafted free agents who aren’t going to make the team anyway. So who really cares if Tebow is taking one of those non-essential roster spots from Johnny No-Name?
Besides, only one day after Tebow was signed Thursday, his new No. 85 Jaguars tight end jersey was the top seller in the NFL. Memo to the critics: Tebow already has paid for his roster spot in jersey sales alone.
Which brings us to another common complaint: that the Jaguars have signed Tebow just to sell tickets and merchandise. Even if this were true — and I don’t think it is because the Jags already were selling tons of tickets thanks to the arrival of Meyer and Lawrence — so what? Last I checked, the NFL is a money-making venture with a business model based on creating interest and selling tickets and merchandise. Tebow is undeniably a cash cow in that regard.
However, the most ridiculous grievance is coming from those who are trying to turn this into a racial issue by claiming Tebow is getting another chance in the NFL when Colin Kaepernick hasn’t. Really? Seriously? As if Kaepernick and Tebow are even remotely comparable?
Does anybody really think
Kaepernick is going to switch positions and accept a job as a reserve tight end and specialteams player? And secondly, if he had helped Meyer win two national championships in college, I guarantee you the Urbanator would give Kaepernick a second chance.
Likewise, it’s hard to believe there is “white privilege” in a league that is nearly 70% Black. And it’s interesting that Stephen A. is one of those accusing the NFL of “white privilege” by signing Tebow when Smith was the same pundit who claimed Kaepernick sabotaged his own NFL tryout two years ago because “he doesn’t want to play. He wants to be a martyr.”
The fact of the matter is the NFL has given second chances to players of all colors and creeds. Hell, this is a league that has given second, third and fourth chances to accused murderers, wife beaters, dog killers, drug addicts and drunken drivers who’ve killed people.
And yet the sports world is beside-itself outraged because Tebow — one of the greatest college players and ambassadors of all time — is getting another chance because his college coach happens to be coaching his hometown NFL team. Are you kidding?
Is this the alternative universe we live in today, a world where it’s become cool to root against a player who has never done anything except win games and championships and try his hardest to be the best player, teammate and citizen of the world that he could possibly be?
Yeah, man, let’s root against that guy!!!
Let’s root against a compassionate Christian who helps build hospitals and orphanages in developing nations, who is pouring time and money into his latest initiative of fighting against human trafficking and who has done as much for the disadvantaged and underprivileged than perhaps any athlete we’ve ever known?
Let’s root against the caring man who annually holds “Night to Shine” events at dozens of different sites across the globe, where thousands of specialneeds teenagers are treated to a prom that includes a red-carpet entrance with paparazzi, limousine rides, hair and makeup beauty stations, shoeshines, dinner and dancing?
“In South Carolina, I got a chance to spend some time with one young lady at one of the proms,” Tebow told me once. “As I was starting to leave, her mom came up to me crying and said, ‘My daughter is never going to get married and she’s never going to have kids, but tonight she felt like a princess.’ That made it all worth it. That’s our ultimate goal: to make these kids feel like kings and queens.”
If you are rooting for Tim Tebow to fail, maybe you need to look in the mirror and examine your own privileges and priorities.