Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Tebow Beats The Steelers

Soonergrunt parses the Tebow phenomenon:
The only thing I have to say about that was that if Tim Tebow were as a good a Quarterback as his press makes him out to be, Denver wouldn’t have needed to come from behind so many times recently.  Or to break a tie in overtime this game.  I’m with Tbogg on this issue.  I don’t hate Tebow for his situation.  He’s doing the best he can, and living his dream, and praising God for what he honestly believes is God’s work in his life.  Good for him.  But everybody else who constantly fluffs the guy and makes some huge religious issue out of it can please just DIAF.  My only issue with Tim is the idea that with all of the bad shit going on in the world, quite a lot of which happens to the faithful, is he really that conceited to think that God rewards him with victories on the football field while His believers die of disease, famine, and war by the millions each year?
Again.
I've got to agree that a God who works miracles on the football field seems like an odd deity, but maybe He's been checking out ESPN, People and Entertainment Weekly, and figures this mass media-entertainment segment is the way to go.  I'll chalk the Tebow phenomenon up to a good mixture of luck and skill.  Also, I think the Steelers decided to stop the run and rely on Tebow to beat himself, and he didn't.

3 comments:

  1. What Tebow believes has nothing to do with a definition of God or how Tim believes God spends his day. This is about what Tebow does to himself with his religious practice. This is no different from yoga or any other rituals people use to center themselves and calm their inner conflicts. And hey, it works for him (and Drew Bees, and Kurt Warner, etc.) And I personally don't have a problem with it any more than I would if I found out Tim only eats tofu and bangs natural blondes on game day. At that level, athletics is so difficult that anything anyone believes gives them an advantage is probably worth trying.

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  2. I'm more puzzled by the people who seem to think Tim Tebow having a good day on the football field is evidence that God is helping him out, because of his faith. It strikes me as an odd way for a deity to reward a believer, when so many faithful people suffer greatly each day. It seems so rooted in mass media celebrity that religion is becoming a mirror of celebrity culture.

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  3. As fans of Thorstein Veblen will tell you, religion and sport are both acceptable professions for members of the Leisure Classes. The mixture of religion and sport goes back at LEAST to Billy Sunday. When I was young, it was the Fellowship of Christian Athletes who hung out at my school. Of course, the Catholics are notorious for mixing the two—"Touchdown Jesus" at Notre Dame, tiny Gonzaga playing Division 1 basketball, etc. I mean, has there been anyone in history who crossed himself before shooting a free throw? I remember Protestants who were VERY offended by that.

    As someone who was never very religious OR athletic, I watch this all with a sort of detached amusement. Just remember, anyone who is confused by the religious displays of Tim Tebow was probably not about to do much significant in life anyway.

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