GF18, I think your comparison is off here. Darrell green, in all his yrs in the NFL, was never anywhere close to as popular or controversial as Tim Tebow.
...But I don't see where Tebow's race has anything to do with the controversy.
Do you honestly factor in Tebow's race as adding to the supposed controversy?
I do because there were many similar style quarterbacks to Tebow that were black that never got the media darling attention that Tebow did. Tebow was on the cover of Sports Illustrated after less than 11 NFL starts. He was the leading most dominating story on just about every show on ESPN for about 6 weeks this season.
Players with similar results and similar styles that were black NEVER got that type of attention. I think the media knows that a huge portion of America associates with Tebow and so they played it up both positive and negative to drive ratings. The media has never given a similar player that was black that much attention or air time so early in their careers or when they were having such mediocre results.
The drama of the Broncos winning in the fashion they did helped. Oh boy, it helped. But ultimately the media didn't tell the story of the dysfunctional Broncos that went on a remarkable streak of last minute victories. They happily played up to the nation the story of Tim Tebow, the ultra Christian, southern white boy, college football hero, unorthodox QB that is playing a style of football that is totally against the trend the game has taken over the last 30 years.
Does it matter that he's not the first to do so? No. Does it matter that none have ultimately succeeded and won a Superbowl? No. Then what's the difference between Tebow's story and the others. He's white and more easily sold as a story to a very large portion of America because of it.
That, to me means double standard.
Wow Nick.....I just don't see the race card, here.
If that's how you feel about it, then I can't change your mind.
But, to me - the vast majority of the controversy vs Tebow has been because he was/is a project as a QB in the NFL. "Was" is because I have seen improvement in the man as a QB this season. "Is" because he IS still improving and working hard.
But the race introduction, here, with Tebow, is just off, to me. I think the vast majority of the attention towards him has ranged from "curious" to "negative."
But not due to his race. To me, that is just a sad comparison.
"Media Darling?" Well.....not according to the Maher fellow.
No no. You misunderstand. I'm not saying people like or dislike him because of race. I'm saying he gets extra attention from the media because of his race.
People want to see stories about people like them. Tebow is like a lot of Americans. Good hometown southern kid, good Christian values. A lot of rural and non-urban America see Tebow as a representation of themselves.
So the media, packages him and sells him and puts him all over their magazines and shows. The media never did that with those other quarterbacks that played a similar style because they were black QBs bucking the trend of being a QB meant being white and a pocket passing QB. Most of America wouldn't eat that up.
So all I am saying is that because Tebow is white, he gets more attention, that's all. And he gets that attention because he's more marketable to most of America.
Also, to me, most of the media coverage of him has ranged from "pure, unadulterated adoration to resentment to being overexposed to critical because he's not that great a quarterback". But he mostly gets great media coverage. Where he gets poor feedback is in the blogging world and in the sports discussion shows on radio and television that are geared to presenting opinions to aggravate people and keep them coming back to listen to more.
We have a guy here in Boston GF named Michael Felger. He has a radio and many different television programs on The Sports Hub 103 FM and ComcastSportsNet respectively. Felger hates about almost everything associated with Boston sports. He calls KG a fraud. He despises all things red Sox and badmouthed them even during their championship years. The guy has never said a good word about Belichick even though he might be the greatest pro sports coach this city has ever seen.
But people love to listen to his horribly negative spin on everything. And for those that love Tebow, that's what they here is all the bad stuff from these people who are saying bad things about him because that's what they do. They say bad stuff about everyone.
Anyway that's my take. I don't think people hate tebow because he's white. I think the media markets him more than past similar QBs because he's white and more marketable to a larger section of America.
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