{"id":46,"date":"2012-02-06T21:41:30","date_gmt":"2012-02-06T21:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jcannonsports.com\/?p=46"},"modified":"2012-02-06T21:41:30","modified_gmt":"2012-02-06T21:41:30","slug":"americas-tebow-obsession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/new.jcannonsports.com\/?p=46","title":{"rendered":"America’s Tebow Obsession"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published November 18, 2011 at CSNBayArea.com<\/a><\/p>\n

This is not about football. I thought I\u2019d better start with that, this being a sports website and all. I would have hated for someone to read the whole thing and then feel ripped off because there was nothing about \u201crelease points\u201d or \u201ctechnique.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is an attempt to explain why Tim Tebow is the most polarizing figure in sports today, and maybe outside of sports as well.<\/p>\n

First of all, I\u2019m going to give Raiders fans a pass on the whole Tebow thing. While most of America is grappling over the issue, for Raiders fans it\u2019s pretty simple. The guy wears a Broncos jersey to work. That\u2019s pretty much game over for them.<\/p>\n

The fact that he\u2019s apparently revived a division rival that seemed to be dead on the side of the road, they don\u2019t like that very much either. Throw in the way he ran through, around and over the Raiders a few weeks ago, and you can bet that the mere sight of No. 15 is enough to get their blood boiling.<\/p>\n

<\/a> OK, the Raiders fans are sedated and in the other room watching the Super Bowl XI highlight video. Now we can get down to the topic at hand:<\/p>\n

What is it about this guy that makes him so easy for critics to dismiss and deride, yet there are also people who would \u201cForrest Gump\u201d him at the drop of a hat (meaning run behind him from one end of the country to the other for no reason).<\/p>\n

Most people aren\u2019t trying to answer this question, by the way. They\u2019ve picked their side, and now they\u2019re rooting like crazy for him to succeed or fail depending on their choice.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another question, however, that is beginning to work its way through the minds of America\u2019s sports fans, and it\u2019s being discussed around thousands of water coolers today: How in the world does he do it?<\/p>\n

How does he win these games? How can he play like Clark Kent for 55 minutes, and then turn into Superman for the last 5 (plus overtime, if necessary)? And especially, why do defensive players and special teams guys seem to play so much better when he\u2019s the quarterback, even though they don\u2019t occupy the field at the same time?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my theory, and it\u2019s pretty simple, really. He\u2019s a really, really good guy. OK, that\u2019s not a news flash, even his detractors always mention it. Here\u2019s why it\u2019s significant, though, in my view: Goodness is very easy to deride and demean, but only from a distance. When you actually come face-to-face with goodness, it\u2019s much harder to have such a negative viewpoint about it.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the people who believe in Tim Tebow the most are the ones who actually know him. The ones who have looked in his eyes, either in the locker room, on the practice field, or, the past few weeks, in the huddle and on the sidelines. They see the goodness up close.<\/p>\n

There was nothing not to like last night about Tebow. He stood up on the podium after the game, complimented his teammates and coaches, explained in considerable detail what went into the winning play, smiled a lot, and seemed very happy to be Tim Tebow.<\/p>\n

In another time, Tebow would be a national hero, not a controversial figure. I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve noticed, but we live in a world in which cynicism is often rewarded. Our entertainment is largely watching \u201creal people\u201d on TV doing things that allow us to laugh at them, not with them. Here\u2019s a clean-cut, religious, polite, humble guy who, by the way, wins football games in bunches and always has.\u00a0 What\u2019s not to like? What part of that package would you not show your child and say, \u201cThat\u2019s how it\u2019s done?\u201d<\/p>\n

But we\u2019re cynical, remember? So we don\u2019t trust Tebow. There must be something wrong with him, right? Nobody\u2019s that good, not even Joe Paterno, for goodness sakes! We are not going to fall for whatever he\u2019s selling, so we can feel good about ourselves when he has his inevitable fall from grace. That\u2019s part of being human, and it\u2019s why we protect ourselves with all manner of defense mechanisms to keep from getting hurt or disappointed.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the crux of the matter: Goodness is attractive, but it\u2019s also threatening.\u00a0 Everywhere this guy goes he draws people to him, and he makes them feel better about themselves. Any success expert will tell you that\u2019s at least half the battle, whether you\u2019re trying to sell copiers or win football games.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know him personally, though, it\u2019s very easy to see the goodness as arrogance. We assume he thinks he\u2019s better than us because maybe deep down we think he might actually be better than us. That gives us two choices, rise to his level or bring him down to ours, and it doesn\u2019t take long to figure out the path most of us will take given those options. So we pick away at him, even while he goes about the business of winning football games.<\/p>\n

I think what it boils down to is that what we think about Tim Tebow says more about us than it does about him. He gives us the opportunity to feel good about someone who is genuinely good, and as time goes on I believe more and more people will take that opportunity.<\/p>\n

There will always be people, though, that can\u2019t give in to that, who won\u2019t allow themselves to let their guard down even for a minute lest they be taken for na\u00efve, gullible, or foolish.<\/p>\n

Then there are the people who can\u2019t get past the Broncos jersey. That\u2019s OK, Raiders fans. I don\u2019t think even Tebow would want it any other way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published November 18, 2011 at CSNBayArea.com This is not about football. I thought I\u2019d better start with that, this being a sports website and all. I would have hated for someone to read the whole thing and then feel ripped … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,9,8],"tags":[21],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/new.jcannonsports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/new.jcannonsports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/new.jcannonsports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/new.jcannonsports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/new.jcannonsports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/new.jcannonsports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47,"href":"http:\/\/new.jcannonsports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions\/47"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/new.jcannonsports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/new.jcannonsports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/new.jcannonsports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}