Saturday, August 27, 2011

The Curious Case of Tim Tebow

(Written by guest blogger Andrew)

Slowly but surely our world is forming more and more “battle lines:” Republican vs. Democrat, Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice, Coke vs. Pepsi and now we can add one more--“Orton vs. Tebow.” It has been the most interesting story of the post-lockout NFL offseason with more ups and downs than your normal daytime soap opera.

And now on Sports Nut Theater... As The World Turns (in Denver)


This week in the “Mile High City,” a tale of two quarterbacks: one who has all of the personality of let’s say, a loaf of bread; the other the most damning “Love Him or Hate Him” athlete in perhaps sports history, of course I’m talking about Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow. Now in order to give this plot the rightful respect its due, well hold on, Sally! Allow me to fill in the blanks. 
Kyle Orton played his college ball at Purdue University where he had relative success, a Heisman hopeful, tying fellow Boilermaker Drew Brees’s record for most passing yards in a game, and other “so-so” accolades. Orton was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 4th round of the 2005 NFL Draft. Now although Orton achieved relative success (his best season as a Bear was 9-6; the Bears missed the playoffs that year) and is “a nice little quarterback,” he was traded to the Denver Broncos and was believed to be Jay Cutler’s replacement. While playing two years in Denver, their record went from 8-7 to 3-10. 

(Now down south in Florida, another Quarterback was making a name for himself...)

Enter Tim Tebow! A highly recruited quarterback out of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Tebow was awarded an Athletic Scholarship to play for the University of Florida under coach Urban Meyer. He played for the Gators from 2006-2009, in which he had what many believe to be the most storied career in college football history. Now allow me to read you some of Tebow’s resume while as a member of the Florida Gators (want the full list? Go to Wikipedia):

*  Heisman Trophy winner - 2007
*  First-team Academic All-American - 2007
*  Associated Press SEC Offensive Player of the Year - 2007
*  BCS Championship - 2008

Now you would think with all of this that Tebow’s possible success wouldn’t be questioned, well you would be wrong. During the offseason leading up to the 2010 NFL Draft I believe I heard the words “bad throwing motion” in the thousands. Tebow became the most scrutinized draftee in the draft’s history; professionals had a field day with him predicting he would go anywhere from the 1st overall pick to not going to be drafted at all. 
Tebow was selected to the chagrin of many in the first round of the 2010 draft to the Denver Broncos where he has been the subject of a “tidal wave of hate.” Everything in his life has been picked at with the rusted metal fork of the media, from his “horrible” throwing motion to the fact that he is a Christian. 


I am in the growing minority of people who is actually a Tim Tebow supporter. And for full disclosure I am a God-fearing man, and I appreciate the fact that Tebow is as well, but I want to make it clear that is not the only reason why I support Tim Tebow. Call me old-fashioned but I actually like the way he plays ON THE FIELD! The thing that a lot of people aren’t realizing is that he hasn’t gotten the chance to prove himself; he has started a grand total of three games. Now do I believe that Tim Tebow is the next Tom Brady? No. But do I believe that in the right place he has the chance to win Super Bowl rings? Yes I do! What people have to realize is that he is not going to give you the “sexiest” numbers, but the one thing he does is he wins. You think he is not accurate? Go look at the tape from the National Championship Game where he tore apart my Oklahoma Sooners. The key is you have to actually have to let him PLAY! And now reports out of Denver say that Tebow could be THIRD STRING! BEHIND BRADY QUINN!  This is coming from the same organization that was willing to trade Kyle Orton three weeks ago so that Tebow could be the unquestioned starter. EARTH TO DENVER! Let Tebow play! Who knows? He might actually be good!