Why Hate Tim Tebow?

This blog was inspired by a lot of friends’ statuses on Facebook and a short chat with my good friend Andy Pipes about Tim Tebow. The main thing I want to talk about is Tim Tebow the player but most importantly Tim Tebow the person…

One of hottest topics in the last couple of weeks in the sports’ world was Tim Tebow and the NFL Draft. Where was he going to go? When would he be drafted? How much had his throwing motion really changed? All that was answered on Thursday night when the Denver Broncos drafted him with the 25th pick of the First Round. He drafted ahead of Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy which to many people, myself included, thought was extremely surprising. I was watching the draft with a lot of my friends at school and as soon as he was drafted remarks were made that constantly belittled him as a person. You would have guessed this guy had done something wrong. To me, I was happy to see him drafted that high. I was happy to see that he is going to be given a chance. I was happy that Tim Tebow was getting exactly what he deserved and that was a fair shot at the NFL.

The past four years the country has watched the legend of Tim Tebow grow and grow. He accumulated award after award. He broke records. He won a Heisman. He was an All American. He won two National Championships. He had it all. But yet people continually bashed him. I never understood why. What did Tim Tebow do to deserve all the critics? Was it because he won football games for the University of Florida? Was it because the way he won games was so unique that others weren’t used to it? Was it because people were jealous that he had the college football world in the palm of his hand? There were certainly times that Tebow looked like THE Superman or the closest thing to Superman anybody has ever seen. He will go down as one of the most dominating college football players of all time. He is right there with Vince Young.

With the exception of Florida Gator fans, it seemed like the world watched and waited for Tebow to make a mistake. Any kind of mistake. Whether it was off the field or on it. Any mess up he had, people were all over it. One of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever saw was the backlash he got after he was seen crying after the loss at SEC Championship game to Alabama. Are you kidding me? The kid just gave everything he had in that game and it didn’t. I can guarantee you that he felt the weight and the pressure of the Gator fans to win that game to win an unprecedented third National Championship in four years. His entire senior year was ruined by one game. I can pretty much guarantee that anyone else that had a similar four years to that of Tebow would have done the same thing. I can remember my Senior Night in high school for baseball and once that game was over, it was pretty emotional. When we have put so much work into achieving one goal and that goal wasn’t accomplished no matter how hard we tried, it is a very trying moment afterwards. It is hard to deal with. People were ready to jump all over him about it and it was stupid. The kid poured his heart into the Florida Gator football program for 4 years and he felt like he let them down. Give him a break.

The next thing to talk about is the draft. Ever since the college football season ended, Tebow became the most scrutinized prospect in the draft. He struggled mightily in the Senior Bowl and many doubted he could play quarterback in the NFL. I guess people just assumed Tebow was going to be satisfied with his effort at the Senior Bowl? I don’t know? Tim is a great competitor and anyone that says otherwise is ignorant. He is going to work hard to change his delivery so that he will be able to play quarterback. I think it is stupid that people are just going to assume he can’t play without even giving him a chance. Let the kid play. Sure he needs to work on some things and might not be ready to play for a year or two. Many people forget that Carson Palmer didn’t play right away. I’m not saying Tebow will be a Carson Palmer or anything close to it but I am saying it is ridiculous to think that he shouldn’t play quarterback. Unless proven otherwise, he is going to be a NFL quarterback.

I’m saving the hottest issue for last and that is Tim Tebow the person. Everybody knows about his off the field work that he does. He is greatly involved with the church and goes on mission trips with his family. What some people don’t know is that Tebow was homeschooled in high school because his parents believed that it was important for him to grow in his faith and received the proper education that they didn’t think he would get at a public high school. Tebow is very active and from what I can tell, he is a great guy and great human being. Never have I heard anything bad about his character or any off the field issues and yet he is still frowned upon. Do we live in times where we look down upon people that aren’t afraid to stand up for the right things? Is it now a crime for someone to say or do something that he believes is right? Is it now bad to serve God through mission trips? Why is that so bad? Why do people have to find the negativity in that? If more people in the NFL were like Tim Tebow then incidents that occurred with Ben Roethlisberger would not be happening. The NFL has had some ugly marks put on the league in the last couple of years with Mike Vick, Pacman Jones, and Big Ben to name some of the few. In my eyes, Tebow is exactly the kind of player the NFL needs right now. They need that big name player to be able to show the fans that there are people out there that can make the right decisions with their lives…

People reading this might not agree with me because their “hate” for Tim Tebow is so strong but I will never truly understand why he is disliked so much. Never have I said that Tebow will be a Pro Bowl quarterback but I hope he becomes one. I hope that succeeds in the NFL. I hope he proves everyone wrong. I’m sure he will take personal satisfaction out of it but he won’t be rubbing it anyone’s face even though he deserves to do so. I believe Denver made a great pick and will be rewarded for giving a great person a chance to succeed. All it takes is one chance to prove people wrong… Just one chance…