The 2011 National Football League’s regular season sure had a lot of hullabaloo over Tim Tebow, who, last year, was the quarterback of the Denver Broncos. Tebowmania swept the nation, but, to this day, I am still unclear as to why.
In 11 games started last year, Tebow compiled respectable numbers (12 touchdowns; 1,729 passing yards; 660 rushing yards), although there was nothing record-breaking or jaw-droppingly amazing about his closing statline for the regular season. While several of his victories were bolstered by a staunch defense (which, as a quarterback, Tebow has no control over), he was still lauded as a phenom. Then, to the chagrin of his fans, he was traded to the New York Jets as a backup quarterback to the Jets franchise quarterback, Mark Sanchez.
Now, seven games into the 2012 season, Tebow has thrown a grand total of two completed passes for no touchdowns, with one sack.
Tebow’s excessive popularity last season wasn’t due to his play, which was, by all accounts, slightly higher than average.
Rather, people fell in love with Tebow because of his public relationship with everybody’s favorite imaginary man in the sky, Jesus Christ.
Now, since Tebow has been relegated to a backup role on his new team, he apparently needs to find ways to remain in the public eye, which is exactly what he accomplished on Oct. 9, courtesy of what I can see as only an incredibly lame publicity stunt.
On Oct. 9, Tebow was awarded with a trademark to his act of “Tebowing,” which has been both mocked and praised across the country since last season.
For those who don’t know, “Tebowing” first occurred when Tebow scored a touchdown on the field and was marked by him kneeling on one knee in prayer, with his head resting on his fist, much like the popular sculpture by Auguste Rodin called “The Thinker,” although with a far less philosophical undertone.
In other words, “Tebowing” happens when Timmy thanks good old Jesus for “helping” him do something good on the field.
According to the Associated Press, Tebow’s representatives filed for the trademark “not for financial gain” but rather “to just control how it’s used [and] make sure it’s used in the right way.”
I don’t know what’s worse – the blatant lie that it wasn’t done for financial gain or the fact that the court granted Tebow a trademark that he didn’t even personally create (it was actually coined by a fan named Jared Kleinstein, as reported last year by the Denver Post).
As the NFL reports, any proceeds made from the misuse of “Tebowing” – which would essentially occur any time Tebow is mocked - will go to the Tim Tebow Foundation.
Tebow has become a Christian role-model for doing what thousands of others have done before him – regurgitating the words of preachers and religious leaders and making ludicrous statements like the one he made earlier this year on Easter Sunday, when he said “We need to get back to one nation under God” to a crowd in Georgetown.
I guess nobody bothered to tell him that the popular phrase only came about in 1954 after Ike Eisenhower slyly persuaded Congress to pass it into law and include it in the Pledge of Allegiance as a way of differentiating our country from communism.
In other words, it’s nothing but a holdover from the Cold War that has been argued as unconstitutional by countless groups ever since it was included.
I guess that’s what bugs me so much about Tebow.
He is just another believer who professes to have a private relationship with an invisible person. The only difference is that he is a benched player with a platform.
Gerry Wachovsky is a graduate student and columnist for the Daily 49er.
