Tyler Davis Guest Columnist

The Mile-High Messiah

  With the incredible amount of attention surrounding Tim Tebow, I have found myself curious as to why he is so polarizing. Whether being criticized for his performance on the football field or praised for his undying and ever-present Christian faith, millions of people give their positive or negative opinion on him whenever the chance arises. His religious practices and actions have made him a modern-day miracle man in the eyes and hearts of Christians across the world.

  The messianic comparisons date back to his birth in the Philippines in 1987. His mother, Pamela, suffered a life-threatening infection while giving birth. The infection sent Pamela into a coma. The doctors administered drugs to her to bring her out of the coma and as a result, the fetus experienced placental abruption. The doctors advised Tebow’s Mother of their expectancy of a stillbirth and to abort the pregnancy to save her own life. Pamela Tebow refused the abortion and went ahead with the pregnancy as planned, even with her own life at stake.

  As a quarterback, Tebow presents a dual-threat. He can run the ball in between the tackles 10-20 times a game and drop back and throw like a normal quarterback. Although, he has a lot of work to do before being compared to some of the great quarterbacks in the game, he is sufficient enough to win games, as he has shown. He is 9-7 as a starter including a playoff win against the defending AFC champion Steelers. These wins came without many playmakers around him.    

  Tim Tebow is also a philanthropist; dedicating as much time as he can to helping misfortunate children. Before every game, (when most players want to be left alone) Tebow spends time with a struggling child. The Tim Tebow Foundation utilizes his large public platform to make a difference in people’s lives around the world. To Tim, football is only a platform that allows him to help the misfortunate. Tebow has been quoted as saying “The game doesn’t really matter. I mean, I’ll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it’s to invest in people’s lives, to make a difference.”

  Although he is a fantastic role model for children, which are few and far between these days, there seem to be almost as many people who dislike him as there are people who admire him.

  Tebow’s relentless faith and its ability to raise his level of confidence and other’s confidence in him is awe-inspiring. He makes his teammates and friends believe that he can get it done; whatever “it” is. He has a heart of gold and it shines though in everything he does.

  Most naysayers believe he should change from quarterback to running back. Studies show that every collision that an NFL running back takes during a game is comparable to a head-on car collision. The average length of a running back’s career is two to four years and quarterbacks are expected to play for at least a decade. How Tim Tebow will manage to maintain a long career at quarterback at this current pace is a tough question. Although he is considered to be one of the strongest and toughest QB’s to play the game, the human body can only take so much.

  Whether you love him or hate him, he deserves respect. His enormous heart on and off the football field exudes greatness. Tim Tebow is an unbelievably selfless individual. He is well on his way to hall of fame-worthy greatness as a human being and as being one of the toughest competitors on the gridiron.

 

 

   Tyler Davis is an avid sports fan, musician and family man who lives in Stockbridge with his wife and two children.