Tebow Up

I hated Tim Tebow when he was playing college football. It seemed like he was the only person I heard about on ESPN (when it wasn't time for Brett Favre to come out of retirement again, anyway). I heard about his great leadership, his great faith, I had to listen to the speech he gave to the media after Florida's one loss his senior year, and listen to the halftime scream-fest he laid on his teammates during the national championship game. I was sick of the guy, about as much as I've ever been sick of a sports entity. I was happy when college football ended after Tebow's senior year, because I figured I wouldn't have to hear too much about the guy again. He wasn't a big draft prospect and was not expected to have an impact on the NFL.

Well, it's happening again. All we're hearing about is how great Tebow's leadership is, how his presence has his teammates working and playing harder, how what Tebow and the Broncos are doing right now (five straight wins) is defying everything we thought we knew about being successful in the NFL. You know what, though? This time I'm enjoying it. For whatever reason, Tebow's impact on the game of football this time around is not rubbing me the wrong way. Maybe it's because every Broncos game since he took over has been fun to watch in some way, mainly because they've all been down-to-the-wire type football. If nothing else, Broncos games are exciting. Even when they're low scoring, defensive struggles, with poor offense they manage at least a couple minutes of excitement that Alabama-LSU never could (I shouldn't have brought them up. It's just going to get me upset). Maybe it's because it is immensely enjoyable to watch Merrill Hoge, Trent Dilfer, Trey Wingo and Tim Hasselbeck just sit in the studio and blather on about nothing football related when they try to explain Tebow's winning ways. The fact that he has those clowns tongue-tied is providing some classic entertainment.

Whatever the reason is, I'm on the Tebow Train as it's making its second journey across America. And I gotta say, in an AFC that has exactly zero teams I like, I'll be rooting for the Train to have an extended trip into 2012. Maybe even with a final stop in Indianapolis (no farther though, that place is still reserved for the Pack).