Enough Is Enough

Where were you the day Peyton Manning died?  How about when Tim Tebow was born from a virgin in a manger or Jeremy Lin crossed the Pacific on foot and decided to play basketball rather than heal the sick and tend to the needy?

Although deifying our athletes has been going on in our society since the beginning of sports, it seems that the media has reached a new level of absurdity in regards to their coverage.

I honestly didn’t hate Tebow when he came out of college.  I figured he was an H-Back or a tight end and could possibly contribute positively on a team if he was used properly.  I envisioned a Peyton Hillis type bruising back that could throw occasionally when necessary.  Then former Broncos’ Head Coach Josh McDaniels inexplicably moved up in the draft to take him and declared he would be a quarterback.  It didn’t take long for the fans to clamor for the third stringer to start because he had some good games against bad teams at the conclusion of his rookie season.  And soon thereafter the media hitched their wagons to the Tebow train and a “legend” was born.

His biggest apologist, Skip Bayless, and a host of other sports talking heads along with a contingent of religious nincompoops began a nonstop campaign on his behalf while bashing anyone who dared point out his deficiencies regardless of how true they were (Where are you Merril Hoge?).  Never mind the fact the kid could not play—truth be damned.  The only thing that mattered was he could have been aborted or he was a scrappy fighter that had to face adversity and doubt all his life and had always been able to overcome what was stacked against him and win.  He was an inspiration because he could pray on the sidelines and was “winning” in the waning seconds of games despite the fact he had played putrid for the previous 58 minutes.

None of that mattered.  The media had their man and was going to shove him down our faces whether we liked it or not.

Recent “phenom” Jeremy Lin has been treated much the same way.  A nowhere guard on the cusp of returning to the Developmental League gets a chance to play because there is no one else to play and he has a few good games and he is elevated to Christ-like status almost overnight.  He was placed in the All-Star festivities where he did absolutely nothing ad shortly thereafter he crashed and burned and is right back to the point of where it all began almost two months ago…a mediocre guard who should be about to head back to the D-league.

But the media hyped this unproven kid up so much anyone who dares speak the truth about where he should be would get the equivalent of a public tar and feathering. 

And that’s my beef with the media nowadays.  It is in such a hurry to find the next superstar to say “I found him first” that they hardly stop to ask themselves, “What has he done?”  And in the case of these two; absolutely nothing. 

Tebow is a no-hit wonder who wins by attrition.  Someone has to lose and he is fortunate that his defense stays in games long enough for one play to decide it all.  When he had to go against real teams with real quarterbacks, he fared poorly to be kind.  Now he wants to work on his throwing mechanics and the media is lauding his efforts to improve but he is going into his third season and now he wants to improve his mechanics?  He’ll impress me when he stops being a QB and becomes just another player.

Lin story is a little different but he is trapped by the same hype monster the media has created for him.  There comes a time when these guys hear how great they are so much that they either start believe it or it starts to tear apart their team and build resentment amongst their teammates. 

In Denver Brady Quinn had to apologize for statements he made about Tebow in a magazine article and most likely won’t be back in Denver.  Carmelo Anthony is getting blamed for the failures of the Knicks as well as his incompatibility with Lin even though he has played with the likes of Chauncey Billups and Andre’ Miller in Denver.  No one will mention the fact that the Knicks are a bad team put together terribly with parts that just don’t mesh.

I mentioned Manning only because of the intense coverage he received when he left the Colts.  We all knew it was coming but ESPN treated it like it was the death of a Kennedy.  Regular shows were interrupted and fellow players and coaches had to recite their favorite moments of Manning.  Now where inundated with images of his plane flying in and out of airports as if O.J. was on board.  It’s too much.

What happened to letting athletes earn praise while allowing them to be motivated by honest criticism?  When did we stop allowing players to develop, not overnight but over time before we passed judgment?  When did it become the status quo to corner a former player, host or announcer and make them pick a side; all the while really not giving them a true choice?

I know this will fall on deaf ears but it’s about time for the media to take a step back and allow the rest of us to make a decision because God knows I am tired of having one forced on me.

And for the record, Tebow still sucks!

The Other 31

(Tebowing as I write this)
 

I’m not sure if any of you know this or not but there is a phenomenon going on this season in the National Football League.

You have three quarterbacks on pace to break Dan Marino’s record for most passing in a season.  You have one quarterback that hasn’t lost a game in over a calendar year and some rookie QB’s who are having phenomenal seasons.  You have some teams who have performed well below expectations, coaches that have been fired before the 17^th week and one team that is so winless all because they lost one player to a neck injury. 

Yet if you watch any programming on Sports Center, you would hardly know any of this.  And if they do talk NFL, don’t blink because you might miss news on the rest of the league.  The reason can be summed up in two words: Tim Tebow.

Ever since former Denver Broncos’ Quarterback Kyle Orton was benched and Brady Quinn was passed over to give the 4^th string quarterback a chance the Broncos have been on a role.  It had been bumpy at times with Tebow at the helm but they have won nonetheless.  I can’t slight the kid for making the most of his chance as any of us would want.  What I do have the problem with however is the incessant love fest he gets and the vitriolic responses anyone who dares call his skills into question receives.

Leading the charge has been the Glenn Beck of ESPN, Skip Bayless.  For whatever reason, this idiot has been on the bandwagon from the beginning.  He claims that if Tebow had been the starter, they would probably be undefeated.  I counter that with the fact that if the defense had been playing like they are playing now, Kyle Orton would still be in Denver and Tebow would be hoping a team would give him a shot next season.  Bayless also claims that Tebow has been the spark of the team but what I believe he and others like Woody Paige and the like are really doing is turning more people against Tebow than they know; teammates included. 

A few weeks ago following a hard fought win against the San Diego Chargers, Tebow drove the team down the field where Matt Prater kicked the game winning field goal.  The game wasn’t pretty, as most haven’t been, but they still got the win.  And as the announcers, commentators and writers were heaping praise on the Tebow Train, a few players were quick to slow down the momentum.  Running back Willis McGahee, among others recognized the defenses efforts basically saying that if the other side of the ball wasn’t playing to the level they had been, there was no way they would stay in games, let alone beat anyone.  And I agree. 

You cannot stink up the field completing 25 percent of your passes for 3^1/3 quarters and then all of a sudden think you will win in the last two minutes of a game every week.  I’m sorry but it’s not sustainable.  Critics of critics of Tebow may point to his touchdowns versus low turnovers and claim the guy takes care of the ball and the fourth quarter comebacks.  It is true that he doesn’t throw interceptions, but you also have to remember, he doesn’t throw the damn ball either.  He’s had only two 200+ yard games this year.  He’s not asked to do a lot in terms of torching defenses other than with his legs or by confusion by utilizing the read option, which like the Wild Cat, will get exposed and destroyed.  As far as the comebacks, you have to be losing in order to have a comeback right?  Then isn’t his play they have to come from behind in the first place?  That’s another check mark for the defense.

People also have to take into consideration the teams they have played.  Their division alone is full of underachievers, one of which was Denver at the beginning of the season.  Going outside of the division doesn’t fare any better.  Vikings-Terrible.  Bears-no Cutler or Forte.  Jets-Mark Sanchez.  These teams are awful yet Tebow is treated like he is the second coming of Joe Montana, and he didn’t even get this kind of pub.

I contend that if Tebow had to face a real team that had players on both sides of the ball, he’d be in trouble.  I want to see Broncos-Steelers, Broncos-Ravens or Broncos-49ers.  If he can perform against the teams that will actually put it on him and make him have to really play quarterback, then I may give the guy some credit, but until then whatever.

What I like is for ESPN to remember there are 31 other teams out there with great story lines and great match-ups week to week.  There are other guys in the league that are having historic seasons and they are getting left in the wake of the non-story that is Tim Tebow. I’d like to see less Bayless and More Merril Hoge and I'd like to get through an episode—make that a half hour of First Take without a mention of Tim Tebow.

But that’s wishful thinking.

Denver, We Have A Problem!

The city of Denver has a problem.  It’s not the fact that city is a mile high or the team sucks.  It’s not the new head coach, John Fox or the old-new face of the franchise, John Elway.  It’s not he heat wave that has spared no corner of the country but it is the heat that has been brought on the team by the previous administration.

When wunderkind, and I use the term loosely, Josh McDaniels was brought on as head coach two years ago, Owner Pat Bowlen made the mistake in giving a 14 year-old boy autonomy in making all the personnel moves.  For some inexplicable reason, some of which had to do with the fact that he had coached under Bill Belichick, this allowed Bowlen to give McDaniels carte blanche over a once great franchise that had in essence become the Dallas Cowboys.

McDaniels then proceeded to remove players that would pose threats, whether they be real or fake, such as Jay Cutler, Peyton Hillis and Brandon Marshall and replaced them with players of less than stellar athleticism and tamable demeanors.  He traded for Kyle Orton, drafted Demaryius Thomas and Tim Tebow in the first round and then proceeded to go 8-8 on the season after talking a lot of trash with no substantial reason to give the fans to back his rhetoric up.  He was finally fired near the end of 2010 season leaving the next two coaches to deal with the mess he created.

And that mess was Tim Tebow.

Many pundits, fans and critics have declared Tebow as the best player college football has ever seen.  He’s won two National Championships; he’s honest, handsome, religious and is what many consider to be all that’s right with college athletes and possibly pro athletes if he makes it.  He was a fan favorite while at Florida and is a role model many want their kids to emulate.  He is also polarizing in a way not seen by an athlete in recent memory.

A few days ago, ESPN analyst Merril Hoge said that after watching hours of film on Tebow, he was no more suited to start quarterback than he was when he came out of Florida.  He went on to say his throwing motion is the same as last year, which is terrible, and his accuracy is just as bad.  He basically said what a lot of people not on television have been saying and was crucified for it.  Athletes like LeBron James and Rich Gannon, to name a few, came to Tebow’s rescue helping make the mole hill that was honest analysis into a mountain of “hater-ade” that Hoge was allegedly showering the all wise one with.  But he wasn’t.

Hoge, like a lot of us have realized what Tebow cannot: he is not a quarterback.  He wasn’t a quarterback in college.  He was a tight end that occasionally threw bubble screens to Percy Harvin who then turned 2-yard comebacks into 65-yard touchdown runs.  He was a guy that threw 40+ yard bombs to Luis Murphy against the likes of defensively challenged Vanderbilt teams.  He rallied his team during halftime when needed and yes he was a leader, but linebackers are leaders.  Running backs and wide receivers are leaders and sometimes they either have to switch positions or don’t make the league altogether because of their lack of skills or because their skills do not translate to the pro game. 

And that’s where I see Tebow.  His accomplishments, while there many, doesn’t mean they will translate to the NFL.  For some reason, ass kissers like John Gruden go out of their way to patronize Tebow but will scrutinize the hell out of Cam Newton and Ryan Mallette because they don’t have the social pedigree Tebow has which in turn makes them afraid to be critical for fear of backlash.  They look at his character and forget the NFL is a bottom line business.  It is great to sell jerseys, but as an owner would you rather sell jerseys or playoff tickets?  Would you like to have the most popular player or a winning football team?   

This is the dilemma that the Broncos have been placed in under McDaniels watch.  While other general managers across the league thought of Tebow as a second day pick or an even a bigger version of Eric Crouch, McDaniels made the command decision to draft a guy no one was even thinking of taking that high.  For some reason, McDaniels’ stones were enlarged because he worked for Belichick.  He forgot he was in a system and is didn’t matter who was plugged in, the Patriots were going to succeed.  And now he has created a disastrous situation in Denver.

In Kyle Orton, you have a guy you can win with.  In Tebow you have a guy that is going to get the rushing offense stymied and put a lot of receivers on injured reserve due to his erratic passing.  Fans have been clamoring for the unproven and unimproved Tebow over the cool, calm and collective Orton hoping that by some miracle and/or act of sheer will via Gator magic, he will lead the Broncos to a winning record and possibly a playoff berth.  But I say it is wishful thinking at best and a nightmare situation waiting to come to a head.

I have nothing against Tebow, but what annoys me is the legions of new fans that apparently didn’t watch him in college to see what kind of an athlete he is.  They didn’t see that he was a read and react QB whose first reaction usually was to read where he could run.  They didn’t see how inaccurate he was or how many sub 100-yard games he threw.  There are so many “fans” of Tebow now that have no idea what he really is.  They see a guy that is pure and that gives them someone to root for because they think the NFL has gone gangster and isn’t worth watching.  Some people want Tebow to succeed for political reasons, others want him for religious reasons while other have agendas I care not to describe.  But the fact remains they are missing the point that the guy is not a franchise quarterback and I don’t think he ever will be.   

Yes he is a great person; he mentors kids, volunteers plenty of time to worthy causes and is devoutly religious, but should that make him worth taking the risk of tanking your franchise because you want to will him to succeed?  Is it worth setting your club back to please a few fickle fans that will be Tebow’s crutch no matter what he does or most likely doesn’t do and will always be ready to blame management when the experiment fails?  Hell no! 

What he needs is a reality check and an honest conversation with himself, John Fox and John Elway and ask them what he can do for the club.  Otherwise the only thing he will become for the Broncos is a detriment.

If he is truly a team player, he could and should be able to understand that.