The (Non-American) Guide to Tim Tebow

In the United States of America, the name on everyone's lips is not Mitt Romney, not Charlie Sheen, not Kim Kardashian and not even President Barack Obama.

Yes it may be election year in the land of the brave and free but it's a footballer who everyone is talking, tweeting and googling about.

Like him or loathe him, not a single day goes by without Tim Tebow's name being mentioned in the USA.

But outside of the USA - and the circle of the NFL's international fans, Tim Tebow is a bit of an unknown.

So who is this guy who is topping the google search list ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, Downton Abbey and Kim Jong-Il along with a term called Tebowing and why are John 3:16 and Tim Tebow now often together in the same google search?

I'm about to lay all I know about Tim Tebow without resorting to the American jargon and stats that they love but if you want to find out more, you can always go to his wikipedia page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tebow

Tim Tebow is a quarterback for the Denver Broncos NFL team. The quarterback is the playmaker, director and leader in the offence; think Dan Carter in rugby, Lionel Messi in football.

Timothy Richard "Tim" Tebow was born on 14 August 1987 in Makati City in the heart of Manila in the Philippines to Christian Baptist missionaries. After the Tebows completed their time overseas, they lived in Jacksonville, Florida where the kids were homeschooled at first. Tim eventually went to Nease High School where he began to emerge as a star to watch especially when he scored a touchdown with a broken fibula.

After much deliberation, Tebow went to the University of Florida to complete his studies and development as a football player. He backed up Chris Leak at quarterback in his freshman year and featured in the Gators' National Championship victory of 2006.

The following year, Tebow won the Heisman Trophy - the Balon d'or/MVP award for college football. A year later, Tebow would win his 2nd National Championship title and the Gators would finish as the no. 3 team in the nation in Tebow's senior year of 2009.

Going from college football to the professional arena of the NFL is a bit like going from Championship side, Ipswich to Manchester United, or from Manawatu to the All Blacks with a draft enabling NFL teams to pick whoever they want from the colleges of America.

Tim Tebow was 25th overall in that draft of 2010, going to the Denver Broncos. In his first season in the NFL, Tebow played in 9 games and started his first game against the Oakland Raiders where he excelled. He got his first ever win against the Houston Texans a day after Christmas on Boxing Day. The Broncos were 17-0 down at halftime in that game but ended up winning 24-23.



In 2011, with new coach, John Fox now at the helm, Tebow started the season as backup quarterback to Kyle Orton. After starting the season with only win from 5, Tebow replaced Orton as the starting quarterback and would eventually lead the team to 6 wins on the trot and a place in the playoffs.

Despite being rated massive underdogs against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tebow and the Denver Broncos would upset last season's Super Bowl finalists, 29-23 in extra time.




And that's the Tim Tebow story in a nutshell - so far.










So what's the big deal about Tebow? Why the fuss?

The current legend of Tim Tebow stems from the fact that Tebow is in fact quite an average thrower of the ball - an essential skill to succeed as a quarterback in the NFL especially right now with so many of his current peers set to be considered greats for years to come, e.g. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers. The balls he throw spiral in a very unorthodox fashion, in fact.



In fact, Tim Tebow's skill set is quite limited when you compare him to the four names mentioned before. However, he does have a superb running game and the ability to break away from tackles at the last minute as well as quite a tremendous football brain.





By the same yardstick used to measure NFL quarterbacks, he isn't really "talented". In fact, Tebow reminds me of Filipo Inzaghi, the great Italian and AC Milan striker. Inzaghi didn't have the talent of many other European strikers in his time but he had the intelligence and awareness to be at the right place at the right time and ended up being one of the greatest goalscorers of his time.







Despite Tebow's "limited" "talent", despite looking quite average by the same measure used for all sports early on, despite apparently not being able to throw the ball, his team have won, beaten more fancied teams often from big deficits; in spite and because of those reasons.  

The great question is whether this season is a one-off or whether Tebow could have as great a career in the NFL as he did in his amateur days.

The other half of the coin is his devout Christian beliefs. In a time when America along with the Western World is more polarised than ever towards Christians often forcing them to shy away from their belief when they are in public, Tim Tebow is a breath of fresh air, never shy to state his beliefs in public and the fact his God has made him who he is.

For a Christian like myself, it is quite inspirational.

It has also helped to fuel a bit of a resurgence of interest into the Bible with google searches for John 3:16 accelerating; John 3:16 is Tebow's favourite verse in the Bible.


John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.      


Not a bad thing if you're a Christian I guess especially when you think of that old cliche; any publicity is good publicity.

In fact you could say, Tim Tebow might be the most influential Christian in America since Billy Graham.

FYI in a weird round of coincidence, Tim Tebow threw for 316 yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers in that playoff game, averaged 31.6 yards per completion. The game had a peak national TV rating of 31.6.

Anyway that's my only Americanism for this non-American guide to Tim Tebow.

As for tebowing, tebowing.com defines it as - (vb) to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different.

Best to describe it in a photo.

You can guess where that came from.

Hope this explains Tim Tebow in non-American terms.

P/S I'm a fan of the New England Patriots, the team Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos must play next and beat if they are to progress one step closer to the Super Bowl. But if Tim Tebow does pull off another unlikely win, I'll be cheering on the Broncos from here on till the end of the season.