The presser was full of grace. The incoming backup quarterback smiled as usual and said the 'right' things. Tim Tebow has signed with the New York Jets.
Starting QB Mark Sanchez says, I'm not worried. No one believes Mark.
Why do so many assume that Tebow is going to get eaten alive by the NYC media and fan pressure? It's understandable, but not likely. Tebow has, in a sense, thrown himself to the lions. Since he purposely came to New York, when Jacksonville was interested, means one thing: Tim ain't skurred.
Maybe Tebow doesn't care for the 'safe' option.
He puts the lie to that aw-shucks image. There is a perception that Tim, and by proxy any athlete who pays more than lip service to Christianity, are basically soft. Too soft to keep a steady head in the heat of New York's kitchen. Too soft to succeed at the most elite levels of sport.
Christian athletes who are tough enough... A.C. Green and David Robinson spring to mind. So do George Foreman, Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, and Mariano Rivera--all top-notch sportsmen who publicly profess. It's an impressive list. And a short one.
Random rifle shots on the 2012 NCAA men's tournament:
- Doppelgänger--Marquette's Darius Johnson-Odom and entertainer Kanye West. Darius is like a younger, harder-headed version. Kanye is softer, but his head is much larger. They have the same underbite-prominent smile.
- The field has been whittled to 30 as these words are written. The obligatory upsets have splashed down. Duke and Missouri were #2 seeds that went down to #15's. Lehigh played out of their mind, and for a school like that, beating a perennial power is amazing. But it's no longer surprising when the Blue Devils go out early in the tourney. They live and die by the three. When they are hot in March, Duke is always capable of making the title game, but trey consistency only happens once in a while.
- For some reason, no one else asks why Coach K's game plan has shifted to three-point bombs in the last six seasons or so. Duke has a solid big man legacy, and that's changed since the turn of the century.
- As usual the referees are catching some heat. When the best image-capturing technology on the planet is replaying fractions of a second, sometimes the human eye will seem second-rate. The zebras should get the benefit of the doubt, unless the error was ridiculous.
- Ohio State's Jared Sullinger is the most easily-frustrated college player in recent memory. The mini tantrums are a sign of bad judgment, and it's a sure thing that NBA teams have taken notice. At least one team won't care, because Sullinger is very good. He's not transcendent on any level, however. He lost weight before this season, but his legs and feet are simply heavy. That points to a very average professional player--one who will likely spend a lot of time clenching his fists on the bench.
