I remember exactly where I was and what I was eating when I saw Tim Tebow’s Superbowl commercial defending life from the moment of conception. I was sitting in my living room, surrounded by friends eating really, really spicy chili. And suddenly the simple commercial was on the air, in between football plays. Critics were up in arms over the overtly pro-life stance the commercial took, even though he neither mentioned pro-life nor abortion. It was the innuendo – after all.
Now we are years away from that commercial’s airdate, but Tebow is still raking up the lovers and haters. He went from being an excellent college athlete to becoming a first-round draft pick and eventually the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos. He’s now lead the team to seven wins in the last eight games. But his ability to turn a game around in the 4th quarter is not what has critics in a tizzy. It’s the fact that through it all he has remained a spiritual and seemingly well-balanced and grounded guy. And now he has started a national phenomenon known ad Tebowing. While many players, of all sports, have various religious motions they do to illustrate there is a greater being at work other than their own stellar skills, Tebow tends to take it one further. He take a knee on the sidelines after each game and briefly prays. Everyone else can be celebrating, jumping up and down, dunking the coach in Gatorade, but Tebow is taking a moment to pray. His signature posture has even spawned a website of others Tebowing at various activities in their normal every day life.
What I don’t understand is why critics are against his actions, when he is one pro-athlete who isn’t at the bad end of the tabloids or a legal debate. It would seem to me we should be lauding the fact that he is actually someone who could be a role model to children. He’s not investing in dog fights or under investigation for rape. He’s not partying in Vegas with half-dressed women. He’s playing hard and he’s praying on the sidelines. And he’s winning games. (He even beat my team this Sunday. The poor Bears – we really aren’t very good this year.)