I heart Tim Tebow

And this is why.

By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 27, 2009


HOOVER, Ala. - My favorite moment at SEC football media days, if there can be such a thing, was delivered by the great deliverer himself, Tim Tebow.

And, no, it had nothing to do with Steve Spurrier, of all people, admitting that he had accidentally didn't make Florida's superhero a preseason SEC first-teamer.

No, the moment, at least to me, was when some writer (not me) entered virgin territory - there, in front of hundreds of people, all those cameras, he popped the question to college football's leading man.

"Tim, are you saving yourself for marriage?"

Heads turned, many with eyes rolling. Some groans, some breath being held.

Given Tebow's faith and what it means to him, it might not have been out of line to ask this question. But here, in front of hundreds, to put him on the spot in front of hundreds and hundreds of ...

Uh, Tebow, laughing, interrupted:

"Yes, I am."

Another reporter began to ask another question, but Tebow, still laughing, interrupted again.

"I think y'all are stunned, right now. Y'all can't even ask a question. Wow. I was ready for that question. I don't think y'all were, though."

It was just another touch of class from a kid who has exuded it from the moment he set foot in Gainesville. It probably goes a lot further back than that.

Leave it to Tim Tebow to steer a rancid Gotcha moment onto the high road and stay there.

I know there are some Tebow haters out there, or at least people who think he gets too much publicity.

He's a true story.

I would also like to know what rocks these people crawled out from under.

Yes, it gets nutty at times. I mean, when have a player's words been immortalized when he was still in school? When have someone's words after a loss have been memorialized at a football stadium?

But a silver metal plaque sits on a wall outside the Florida football offices. It contains, word for word, "The Promise," Tebow's increasingly immortal 106-word pledge to the nation after that loss to Mississippi, which helped pave the way to another national title.

To the Orange and Blue, it beats anything Knute Rockne said. I wonder if he was a virgin. No, forget it. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address it still better than Tebow's, I guess. But Lincoln beat Ole Miss, didn't he?

Back to Tim Tebow. You can't make his story up, you can't make him up, you can only pray that he's everything he seems to be. He has yet to let us down.

He just got his fourth Sports Illustrated cover (three weekly, one commemorative for the 2008 title) and yet when he was asked why he returned to Florida for his senior season, he didn't talk about football, and you totally hung on and believed every word he said.

"Football gives me a tremendous platform to reach people," Tebow said. "Sometimes it can all be overwhelming, but I'll deal with it every time if I can walk into a room, make a kid smile, and make a kid smile.

"I really had a platform. I wanted to take advantage of that for one more year, be a good role model for the kids that look up to me, set an example for them."

Yes, there's a little matter of football. There's another national title to win, maybe another Heisman and perhaps the first perfect season in Gators history.

It's all out there, and Tebow knows it.

Want to know the tip-off on Tebow?

Even the guys he passes over, tramples, beats any way he can, well, they admire him.

Go talk to Alabama linebacker Rolando McClain. The Tide's perfect season was dashed by Florida in last season's SEC title game. No matter.

"I like the guy," McClain said. "I've never met him personally. Hopefully I see him today.

"At the SEC Championship Game, I'm sitting on our sideline watching their defense on the field, and they call timeout and I see Tim Tebow walk into the defensive huddle and he said something.

"I don't know what he said, but it had to be something good. They go out and they get like two or three sacks in a row, and I'm like, 'Man, what did that guy say? What did he say?'"

So here comes Tim Tebow's senior season. If it all breaks right, he'll walk away as the greatest player in the history of the game.

Here comes Tim Tebow.

What did he say?

At SEC Media Days, he said he's saving himself for marriage. He's probably saving himself for every game on that schedule, too. The NFL gets anything left over.

What did he say?

He said he's ready for the challenge of repeating.

Here comes Tim Tebow, right over you, if need be.

That's a promise.




SO the moral of the story is... If Tim Tebow can do it...or in this case, not do it. Then your everyday "guy" should have no problem ;)