Allow me to give full credit for the title of this post to my friend and co-blogger Mustang Bobby, arising from an e-mail exchange we were having about the NFL Sunday evening.
I mentioned that I was surprised Jesus hadn't shown up to help right-wing fundamentalist QB Tim Tebow, whose Broncos got crushed by the Lions 45-10:
Tim Tebow wasn't on one knee in prayer this time. He was on the ground in misery.
Nicely put, ESPN.
Allow me to say that I have no reason to believe Tebow isn't a nice person -- and perhaps also a generally good one. From everything I've read, he is. But I'm awfully tired of the way the media treat him, basically as the incarnation of the divine, as the most righteous person ever to suit up on the gridiron -- and of the way Tebow himself feeds this narrative by being so outwardly religious, and so utterly self-righteous.
I'm also tired of the way a lot of people think he's actually a good QB. He isn't, at least at the NFL level, and may never be. And yet you'd think he has a spot reserved at the Pro Bowl for the next 15 years, when he isn't leading his team, or rather carrying his entire franchise on his shoulders, to Super Bowl win after Super Bowl win, his place in Canton all but assured.
And the fact that he's a self-righteous fundamentalist only makes it worse. A lot worse. A lot of players in the NFL are religious, but Tebow takes it to a new level. He's out there playing but also praying, seemingly all the time, in front of the fans and in front of the TV cameras, as if each and every stadium is his personal place of exhibitionistic worship.
Now, does Sunday's horrendous loss prove God's (i.e., his "God"'s) non-existence? Well, who knows? But can we at least stop with the ridiculousness that "God" has nothing better to do but to insert "Himself" into sporting events, helping players who have "faith" and deciding outcomes based on who believes more?
When you hit a home run, it's not "Jesus" who does it, it's you. And when you suck against the Lions and your team gets thoroughly shellacked, "God" has nothing to do with it.
Though I'm sure we'll hear, excuses flying fast and furious, how Tim Tebow is still the greatest person in the world.
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