Hof

In a couple hours, veteran New Engalnd Patriots QB Tom Brady will be facing a new kid on the block, Tim Tebow, as Denver tries to lenghten their win string to 9.
The season started poorly for the Broncos. After losing 4 of their first 5 games, Denver's coach reluctantly allowed Tim to be the starting QB, and Denver hasn't lost since. There have been some squeakers, but Tebow has led the Broncos to an 8-5 season and he's really coming to life as an NFL guy.

I had the pleasure to meet him ( and his Coach, Urban Meyer) after a game in 2008, the last game that Florida lost with Tebow as QB. He went on to win every game for the next three seasons. Like Babe Ruth pointing to his game-winning home run, Tebow said that day that he would NEVER lose another game, as long as he was Florida's Quarterback, God willing. God must have willed it.
I've been to quite a few Gators games. Their home stadium is 30 miles from the end of my driveway and my tickets were always gratis, so I saw Tebow play in a lot of games and I was always impressed.
He didn't lose sight of his vow, either, and he went on to orchestrate a string of winning games that only just got surpassed as one of the longest winning streaks ever in college ball. ( --by Boise State).
For a few exciting seasons Florida won all the titles and Tebow broke all the records, with Tim getting nominated for the Heisman Trophy, twice. He got it once.
He's an amazing athlete and a nice kid, and I have followed his NFL career--what there is of it thus far-- with interest.

Tebow is religious and he makes no bones about it. After each game with Florida he would take a moment, go to one knee and thank God for whatever reason he felt was appropriate. He wasn't obvious most of the time, like bowing down on the 50-yardline, but if you were a fan you knew he was somewhere, thanking God for the privilege to succeed. It became part of his game, and no one thought ill of Tim for taking his Moment.

It has only been since Tebow's NFL success became newsworthy that the media have begun to scruitinize him, and, amazingly, the thing that they have focused on is his humbling moments, not his stellar comeback performances.

The athiestic, First Amendment literalists who report--or watch, or read about-- NFL games (in whatever format) had a collective pagan cardiac arrest when they saw Tim on his knee.
--Observing God, on a public football field???
Can't have THAT, they've decided, and they've created a nice little anti-religious controversy that they can use to sell papers or overload blogs.

I would expect this kind of sarcastic, condemning scruitiny if Tebow took to killing dogs or drunkenly running over pedestrians with his Bentley. If he raped some hotel employees or maybe sold a million dollar's worth of steroids to his teammates, or if, like some football people, was a homosexual pedophile in the shower stall, then the media should rightly scruitinize, evaluate and condemn. But to ridicule a guy who just wants to be at one with God-- how puerile, how Fifth Grade.

Brady's tough and the Patriots are strong and the oddsmakers say that Denver will lose today's game. Tebow's ready and he will throw and run and grab first downs, trying, in his remarkable way, to become the quarterback Denver desperately needs. And each time he successfully scores, he will take a moment and thank God for the favors He bestows on him.

Why not???
Why the hell not???