The Year of Tebow: Take Two

I hate the National Football League. I know, I might be the only person left in America who cannot stand it's most popular sport. And yet I do; after having been a fan all of my life, the diminishing quality of the on field product (in my opinion), the lack of caring towards players and fans and Roger Goodell leading the league the same way Leonardo DiCaprio ran France in Man in the Iron Mask drove me to the point where I watched only five games this past year. Hell, even before I stopped watching regularly, I can't say I enjoyed football the same I did as a kid. The last time the sport really had me invested the same way baseball, hockey and basketball have me invested now was the 2011-12 season. Or as I like to call it, the Year of Tebow.

Ah yes, Tim Tebow. For those who have either forgotten or not watched ESPN First Take recently, 2011 was the year the former Heisman Trophy winner took the NFL by storm and became the most polarizing sports figure since Mike Tyson. Taking over a 1-4 Denver Broncos team, Tebow inexplicably led the team to the playoffs, and even more inexplicably led them to a playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers (if football had a Miracle on Ice moment, this was it). That wouldn't normally be that polarizing, except that Tebow's statistics were Wilson Fisk levels of bad, leading to weeks and weeks on end of analysts' either staunchly supporting his leadership and intangibles (Skip Bayless, Skip Bayless, and Skip Bayless again) or crying out about his poor mechanics and throwing motion, while calling his victories flukes (basically every analyst not named Skip Bayless). Add that to Tebow openly professing his religious beliefs (him kneeling down in prayer became a phenomenon known as Tebowing), and the dude suddenly became the hottest topic in sports. For some, it was annoying. For some, it was entertaining. For me, it was epic.

I'll make no bones about it; I was a Tebow supporter. His greatness and his flaws that year made for as captivating a story as sports has ever seen, and I am always one to gravitate towards such stories. The highs of Tebow's run were legendary, the kind of improbable victories that some of his vastly superior peers have never come close to achieving. The lows were equally legendary, a sort of record setting exposure that sent Tebow's supporters into free fall and his detractors cackling with glee. In a way, Tebow during that year always resembled a baseball player that year more than an NFL quarterback. As much as football has come to dominate sports in America, there is still a mythical quality about baseball and the feats of the players in that sport that separate it from everything else. In baseball, the best player in the game can become a pariah with one bad decision, while the last man on the roster can become a hero with one pitch, one swing of the bat. Those qualities lived in Tim Tebow that year, as if he were the Roy Hobbs of football. Hell, even years later, the closest comparison I can find to Tebow would be last years Kansas City Royals squad that came within one Madison Bumgardner masterpiece away from a World Series. Both the Royals and Tebow weren't supposed to ever achieve great things, but through hard work, belief, grit and glory, success came their way against all odds. Perhaps Tebow chose the wrong sport.

Sadly, the Yankees probably would sign Tebow right now

Of course, the Royals had a chance to follow up on their success, a chance to prove they weren't a one year wonder (for those who don't know, they're off to a good start). Tebow never got that chance; his miracle run ended after the first act when the Broncos signed Peyton Manning during the offseason (and rightfully so may I add. It's Peyton Manning). He was then shipped off to the Jets, who in a typical Jets move screwed up. I don't know whether Rex Ryan and company had no idea how to use Tebow, whether they never wanted Tebow to begin with (which begs the question of why they traded for him in the first place) or if it was a combination of the two, but Tebow never got a chance with the Jets and was quietly canned in the offseason. The New England Patriots gave him a shot that offseason, but would release Tebow before the season. He soon settled into an analyst job for ESPN (covering college football), and, like many, I assumed his football career was over, another victim to the NFL's blackball list (which is sadly pretty large. I'm not the only one who finds it odd that the NFL excludes anything that's different from their bizarro world norm, right?).

Well, it's not over. Yesterday, the NFL's most bizarre (and according to Stephen A. Smith, racist) team, the Philadelphia Eagles, signed Tebow to a one year deal. Why? Like Christopher Walken, "I DON'T KNOW!". Every move Chip Kelly has made this offseason has ranged from strange to ludicrous to "you did what?!"; frankly, Tebow's signing is likely one of the more tame moves the former Oregon head coach has made. Never the less, he's made it, and now Tebow will get one more chance for that second act, battling for a job in the QB rotation that includes Sam "Mr. Glass" Bradford, Tebow's old buddy from the Jets Mark Sanchez (who at this point has to think Tebow is haunting him), G.J. Kinne (WHO?!) and former USC star Matt Barkley. Already, Tebow's return has caused an uproar; Skip Bayless looks like a kid in a candy store on the First Take set, message boards are being filled up with debates on Tebow's religious beliefs, and ESPN analysts from Mark Schlereth to Merril Hoge are likely burning pictures of Tebow while on their way to dissecting his game for the 9,000th time. You'd think the circus was back in town, which for all intents and purposes, it is. And I couldn't be more excited. Well I could I guess, if I was Skip Bayless.

Bayless' reaction to Tebow signing

 That's not to say I'm not a realist. The chance of Tebow making the Eagles roster are iffy at best, borderline insane at worst. Even with physically (and emotionally) fragile QB's like Bradford and Sanchez ahead of him, Tebow's baggage and his limitations will make it difficult for him to latch on, unless he has improved drastically as his QB coach Tom House keeps claiming (and as much as I'd like to buy that, I'll believe it when I see it). That said, there's at least a chance, as the old Dumb and Dumber saying goes. And really, what else does there need to be? Fans, detractors, and the annoyed people in the middle know what they're getting from Tim Tebow; a flawed performer with incredible leadership intangibles and a will to just keep going. It's the reason he's even getting this opportunity in the first place and the reason the media and fans like myself are still drawn to him. Can he keep going here? I have no idea, but I'm happy that we all have the chance to find out. Because like a sequel to Blade Runner, I didn't think we were going to get that.

So let the over the top media coverage, overrated/underrated talk, religious debates, Skip Bayless orgasms and Chip Kelly conspiracy theories begin! Tim Tebow is back. And for the first time in what feels like forever, this sports fan is interested in what the NFL does with it.

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