A role model for Tebow...

The only way to have not noticed tebow mania is if you were living under a rock. For those of you who were living under a rock, let me do my best to explain what can only be described as a cultural phenomenon.

Tim Tebow is an NFL quarterback who plays for Denver Broncos. He is also an Evangelical. While playing in college he won the Heisman trophy in his sophomore year (first to ever do so) and helped the Florida Gators to win a BCS championship. He has a very unorthodox throwing style that more resembles a hack-type throw than anything else. Tebow most recently helped cement a rally to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime and led the Broncos to their first playoff berth in several years.

Sounds pretty tame right? The only thing extraordinary is the fact that he won a Heisman while a sophomore, and yet our country is seemingly obsessed with this guy. As I am writing this there is an actual group of witches who are conducting a seance in order for Tebow to lose. A few weeks ago four high schoolers were suspended for "tebowing" in a school hallway. He has sports writers across the country singing his praises and predicting his downfall in the same breath; and to his fans, he is perhaps only slightly less important than the second coming of Christ himself. WWTD is now replacing WWJD as the popular evangelical moniker. It is undeniable that he is (already) one of the most celebrated sports celebrity of all time.

And yet Tebow seems to have as many detractors as he does fans. He places his faith above football, something that is unpardonable to those who sup at the table of the Football Gods. Tebow also seems to win despite not really understanding the game, and throwing a football like Nolan Ryan throws a fastball. He still runs the option which infuriates purists who maintain that he will crash and burn and get seriously injured at some point. There also seems to be a secular/religious divide that is certainly a part of tebow mania. To be sure, that divide has always existed, but Tebow has seemed to magnify the differences between "true believers" and "no thank you sir's". Secularists like to point out the absurdity that God would have nothing to do with something so mundane as a Sunday football game. Evangelicals like to say that it is Gods way of promoting Evangelicalism, like he is up there watching the Bronc's and singing "Our God is an Awesome God" while JC strums a guitar.

I say enough already. What if I told you that we not only have a much better quarterback, but a much better example of what it is to be a Christian...and that this person is not only alive, but actually playing right now in the NFL? Would you scoff?? That man is non other than the New Orlean Saints quarterback Drew Brees. Adversity? How about getting traded because you are "too small" and going to an NFL dump city that a Cat 5 hurricane ripped through and practically destroyed? Brees basically built that team from the ground up (along with coach Sean Peyton) and they have been an inspiration to the city of New Orleans (and your average football viewer) ever since. Brees is also an optimist, but his head is planted firmly on terra firma and he has an understanding of the game that is perhaps second only to Tom Brady (current quarterbacks). Perhaps the most important thing about Brees is that he is not a very pious man. He is very religious, certainly, but he does not go around shouting about his faith like he is at some Baptist revival and the guy with the snakes just walked in. Perhaps what our tebow mania induced nation really needs is a healthy dose of Drew Brees.