Are you from Denver or something? Why are you such a fan?
And yeah, I admit, he's good.
Goddamit.
I was almost finished with a long explanation, took a phone call, and then closed the fucking browser tab when I got back.
Long story short: I saw the ESPN documentary I posted above from when he was in high school in late 05/early 06 and thought to myself, "wow, this kid seems pretty special, I think he's gunna do some big things, hell, he might even change the game"; then I watched him a lot the next four years because my best friend went to University of Florida, and we both moved back to SoCal after college (I graduated six months after seeing the documentary), and we'd convene every Saturday at his parents' house (which is three houses away from my parents') and watch college football all day (and they had quite a run those four years: that first year, he was the backup quarterback for Chris Leak, and would come in on specially designed plays, and they won the BCS national championship; the second year, as a sophomore, he put together one of the most amazing years in college football history, and became the youngest player to ever win the Heisman trophy; the next year, they were expected to go undefeated, but lost one game on the road 31-30, after which he made this (
LINK) famous speech, which totally kicks ass, and which he lived up to, cuz, as he pledged, they went undefeated the rest of the season and went on to win the SEC championship and the BCS national championship that year as well; and then, his senior year, they lost to Alabama, who went on to win the national championship, in the SEC championship game, and he showed just such authentic passion and character after that game (
LINK); over those four years, I saw a kid who was unlike any other I had ever seen: the guy is just pure, he's good, he's one-of-a-kind, and I don't feel this way about any other sports figure, other than possibly Derek Fisher; as such, when NFL "expert" analyst douchebags like Mel Kiper and Merril Hoge started saying,
before his senior year of college, that he would never make it as an NFL quarterback because "his throwing motion was too long", "his mechanics are awkward", "his style of play won't transfer well to the professional game", I thought they were absolutely full of it, had no idea what kind of person Tim Tebow really is, and what he brings to a team, and I wanted to see him get the opportunity to shove it up their ignorant asses.
Mike Ditka had just the right read on the kid:
Now, considering he has taken, as FMW said, a 1-4 team to 7-1 under his leadership, and done so in the most spectacular fashion I've ever seen watching professional sports (if you haven't been watching these games, you've really been missing something special), you would think some off these asshole analysts would have the integrity to admit that perhaps they were wrong. Well, think again. Perhaps I give them too much credit. Mel Kiper, the earliest and most vocal of his critics, came out with an article two weeks ago saying the exact same shit he'd been saying about him when he was a senior, even though he had now taken a 1-4 team to 5-1 as the starting qb.
Now he's added two more signature wins (
LINK 1,
LINK 2) over the last two weeks, both in spectacular fashion.
So, basically, I've been a longtime supporter of Tim Tebow, I knew he was gunna get a raw deal, and he has, but, despite all of it, he's persevering, overcoming, and for all the reasons that I have found him to be an exemplary person and athlete: character and leadership.