Cut It Out!

The whole spirit of Tuesday Morning Tailback is to point out some of elements that are pushing the greatest game in the history of mankind to “jump the shark” and lose its credibility and appeal. We’ve adopted the “down the toilet” logo as a sort of tongue-in-cheek illustration of where we see the league going if certain trends persist. At the vanguard of these elements is the sports media which places pointed distortions on the game.

In my previous article last Tuesday, we explored these distortions as they pertained to the Dallas Cowboys. This week I’ll attack something much closer to home, the media’s distortion of Denver quarterback Tim Tebow.

I’m a life long Denver Broncos fan and, believe me, no one is happier about his success in the face of all his naysayers. But cut it out with the recent Tim Tebow hype!

Just five weeks ago, as Tebow was about to start his third game following a disasterous performance against Detroit, this same media (taking its cue from the afore mentioned naysayers) was telling us how he was not ready to be an NFL quarterback and how his replacement of Kyle Orton was a foolish move by the Broncos. They “blamed” overzealous fans for “forcing” the move by constantly chanting “Te-Bow” as the team got off to a 1-4 start after a 4-12 season last year, Denver’s worst record in over 40 years. Many in the media (especially on ESPN) repeatedly said, “Kyle Orton gives the Denver Broncos the best chance to win”, a curious statement as Orton had won only 4 of his final 21 starts for the Broncos.

Now, Tim Tebow has helped his team win 6 of his 7 starts this season, including 5 games in a row since that Detroit loss. This has been great validation for Tebow (as well as his supporters). So now the media has turned 180 degrees, going from primary naysayers when they were “sure” Tebow was going to fail to primary cheerleaders as he continues to win. This past Sunday, the NFL actually switched the Denver-Minnesota game from CBS to FOX, in order for that network to cover this game for most of its markets. This was fine for me as a Broncos fan, but makes no sense from a competitive point-of-view as the Vikings came into that game with a 2-9 record. Cut it out!

No doubt this Tebow thing is something special, but why can’t we just enjoy football as it is without all the spin, fluff, and hype? The cynic in me says it is a setup to a big fall when Tebow has a less-than-average game or streak. Then they can say how his unorthadox playing style may have taken teams by surprise for a short time, but the rest of the NFL has now caught up.

It is also amazing to hear the verbal gymnastics by those who try to explain at once how Tebow is “something special” but also will not last. The point is, none of us know what the future holds and should only really judge things by the bottom line, which in the NFL is wins and losses. And Tim Tebow is a winner, who has also been handling this roller-coaster of opinions about him in a remarkable way. When recently asked about his success in the future, Tebow wisely answered; “I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know it holds my future”.

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Tuesday Morning Tailback is a weekly article during football season which take a critical look at the NFL. We do this from the base belief that NFL football is the greatest game in the history of mankind, but some recent policies and the overall direction of the league has chipped away at this greatness. Our primary goal is to spark debate on these subjects, so please leave your own opinion on this article in the comment box below.