Jesus and the Jock: Tebow Time

Imagine there is a young man of 25 who plays football – and plays it well.  While in college he played quarterback, led his university to not one but two National Championships.  He won the Heisman Trophy, emblematic of the best college player in the country.  He does not smoke, drink or curse, punctuates his interviews with “maam” and “sir”.  He behaves like a Boy Scout because…well…he was in fact a Boy Scout.

In Denver there is such a young man.  His name is Tim Tebow and he has become a controversial figure.  This is partly because of the description above, but mainly because he is, gasp, a Christian who is not ashamed to say so.

While playing at the University of Florida Tebow wore the athlete’s signature eye -black on each cheek, emblazoned with a Bible verse.  He thanks his God after successful games and at the start of media interviews. He is handsome, famous, wealthy and intent on putting off having sex until he is married.

As if all that weren’t bad enough, Tebow is enjoying a spectacularly successful first season as the Denver Bronco’s starting quarterback.  Under his leadership the team, which started the season with a record of 1 – 4, has gone 7 – 1 since he took over.  They are now in position to make the NFL playoffs, a possibility that was laughably unlikely when Tebow became their starting QB.

All of this is just too much for America’s secular secret police. It has driven the usual suspects in the media, on the left and in the Christophobic fever swamps into a carpet-chewing rage. Imagine the reaction if Sarah Palin were elected President, turn it up a notch or two in volume and vehemence, and you have some idea of the hysterical vilification Tebow has endured.

Making the reaction especially odd is the fact that Tebow himself is as mild mannered and unthreatening a personality as can be imagined.  When he prays regarding football his prayer is not that he or his team win but that they all play their best. When the sports media coined the phrase “Tebow Time” to describe the team’s successes, he insisted that it was “Bronco Time”. When asked about his exploits after winning games he always deflects the question into praise for his teammates.

He does not proselytize, criticize other religions or those with no religion and in fact has kind, understanding words for those who criticize him.  Yet the avalanche of acrimony continues to flow toward him. I think I’ve discovered why.

In a recent interview he was asked if he didn’t think he should “tone down” his Christianity in view of all the criticism he was receiving. After making a point of saying he understood and respected those with different views he said he would certainly not change the way he lived or acted because “Christ will always come first in my life”.

How sad that in 2011 America this is a controversial thought. That it is says much more about Tebow’s critics than it does about him. It boils down to the Left’s hatred of all permanent things and values – and what has been more permanent than the Judeo-Christian ethic?

If there are permanent things than there is an objective right and wrong. And if there is an objective right and wrong the entire basis of modern liberalism – situational ethics – is revealed for the tangle of lies and the moral morass which it is. The fact that Tebow is a Christian – and by all appearances a conservative one – just further enrages the Left.  You may be sure that if he were a Muslim thanking Mohammed instead of Christ after winning games he would be a hero in Manhattan and Berkeley, while criticizing him would be considered hate speech.

I suspect that also haunting the Left is the nagging fear – perhaps even the realization -  that Tebow represents an America that is preparing to vote them out of power next November.  They fear, or know, that Tebow’s persona represents the “bitter clingers” in flyover territory. – the vast majority of the country where nihilism is considered a perversion to be avoided, not a creed to live by.  Tebow represents what used to pass for middle class normalcy in America, a concept the Left hates almost as much as it loathes permanent values.

I have no idea what Tebow’s politics are, or if he has ever had a political thought or opinion. I do know however that he has all the right enemies, and that is enough for me to celebrate him. Whether or not he wins another football game his entire life, he has performed a great service by showing the country that even among the jocks, the permanent things still endure.  Long live Tebow Time.

(William E. Saracino is a member of California Political Review’s editorial board.)