NFL: an attack on
Christianity?
Michael Curtiss
The
question that forms the title of this post has been
getting a good bit of play in conservative circles of
late. It was hinted at in
a
segment of FOX and Friends on
Friday that featured NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Fran
Tarkenton. And it is the main focus of a column by
National
Review Online news editor Daniel Foster that
appeared on Saturday. It full of indignation for God in
general, Tebow and Jesus Christ in particular.
“Tebowing,” should the term be unfamiliar,
takes its name from another quarterback, current Denver
Broncos play caller Tim Tebow. More specifically, the term
designates the now-viral mockery of his habit of kneeling
down and bowing his head after a touchdown to commune with
his God.
As Foster writes with more than a hint of
indignation, Tebowing his become an Internet phenomenon,
with its own website, a Twitter account, and most
recently
a
YouTube video titled “Tebowing for Dummies.” At
such sites, Foster continues:
[Y]ou can see an act of communion with
one’s creator rendered as a bit of pop-cultural
ephemera, [complete with] pictures of folks striking the
pose everywhere from Oxford to Istanbul, with that
muddle of irony and enthusiasm that has become my
generation’s trademark.
Foster’s obvious pique at these send-ups
derives in part from the fact of Tebow’s wholesomeness (he
is in Foster’s words “squeaky clean, in a sport that
notoriously is not”). Wherein, Foster
insists, lies the origins of Tebowing. It is, in short,
“the power of Tebow’s evangelical-Christian faith, and the
earnestness with which he professes it [that] seems to
annoy so many people.”
I’m going to have toss out my red challenge
flag here. Foster may be right that for some people, the
problem isn’t Tebow’s religiosity but the fact that
professional sports are “so filled with clichéd
Jesus praise that” fans doubt his sincerity. But I submit
that for many who prefer to spend their Sundays watching
the exquisite choreography of a perfectly executed screen
pass, the problem is Tebow’s self-absorption.
Tebow is free to give “mad respect” to his
lord, but I’d rather he do it on his own time. A number of
players cross themselves on every play, but they do it
discreetly — and expeditiously. Tebow’s prayer timeouts,
by contrast, are as gratuitously in-your-face as the most
flagrant end zone dance. And they last as long. Yet,
according to his supporters, all of footballdom is
supposed to give him a pass because his purpose is holy.
Isn’t that what churches are for?
Another, subtler, ingredient in the
widespread antipathy toward Tebow is that he is an
anomaly. His success as an NFL quarterback (he is 6 and 1
since replacing Kyle Orton at the helm of the Broncos
offense) doesn’t make sense to diehard football fans. His
passing numbers — he has a 45% completion rate — are
awful. His team is winning through a combination of
razzle-dazzle and offensive schemes that haven’t been used
by college, let alone NFL, coaches in two decades.
I am predicting that “this too shall pass”
(to cite a proverb that Tebow should appreciate because of
its religious roots). Sooner or later all 31 remaining
teams in the league will develop defensive strategies to
counter Denver’s pre-Knute Rockne offense, and Tebow — and
Tebowing — will be gone.