I have gotten to where I won’t watch the news anymore. It is just a bunch of political rhetoric or depressing news about the economy. That just leaves me with sports or the food channel. I went with following sports.
One of the hot buttons in sports right now is Tim Tebow bashing. Those of you that know me know I am not a Florida fan. I am a blue blood Tarheel but if I am forced to pull for a Southeast Conference team I will go with either Alabama or Auburn. I also am not a college football fan. Being from North Carolina as a youth we always considered football to be something we watched to kill time until basketball season started. We consider football season kinda like Cheerleader Practice. With all of this in mind I don’t really have a love for Tim Tebow but it brings to mind the same thing Tyler Hansbrough went through several years ago. Both Tebow and Hansbrough were clean cut honest honorable sports figures that excelled in their sports at a college level. Hansbrough was the first at practice and Coach Williams at North Carolina always raved about his work ethic and dedication to get better. Coach Meyer at Florida always spoke the same way about Tebow. Tyler Hansbrough was as straight as an arrow all through college and never was a “problem player”. Tim Tebow was even more stable as he did a considerable amount of volunteer work and wore his religious beliefs as a badge. Both players were excellent students and both chose to stay four years in college never considering chasing the almighty dollar and jumping to the pros early. Hansbrough graduated in 2009, Tebow in 2010.
Upon Hansbrough’s graduation the critics started the Hansbrough bashing. He is too slow for the pros. He is too soft for the pros. He is too nice for the pros. He is too white for the pros. He was drafted too high into the pros. You name it, the critics ranted about it. This kid, who had done nothing in the world wrong, was the center of everyone’s criticism and was tagged as being a “bust” before he ever took the court as a professional basketball player.
One year later Tebow entered the NFL Draft and the bashing started all over again. He can’t survive in the pros. He is too slow to release the ball. He carries the ball too low when he gets into position. His arm swing when he is passing is too long, he won’t be able to make quick passes. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the first round and was immediately designated as “the worst first round draft pick ever” by many sportscasters.
Both of these players are now playing professionally. Hansbrough plays for the Indiana Pacers and is a very strong inside player. After an injury plagued rookie year he has shown considerable promise in his second year.
Tebow plays for the Denver Broncos and as he plays in his second year he now gets a chance as the starting quarterback. Denver feels very strong about his potential but the press seems to love the fact that Tebow is not the star quarterback that he was in college.
While I have rambled on about what these players were in college and their first few years in the pros, let me spend a minute going over what they weren’t. Neither player ever got arrested for a drunken bar fight at 2 in the morning. Neither was ever accused of taking money from a booster against NCAA rules. Neither has ever been accused of DUI, cheating in school, taking money to throw a game, taking performance enhancing drugs, having another student take their SAT tests, or even accepting a free meal from an alumni. No shooting guns in bars, smoking grass while riding around in a car at early morning, or stealing personal property. They decided that a college degree was what they went to college for and put more value in that than jumping to the Pros early for the fast money. They both led the lives you would want your son or daughter to live through college yet both were a magnet for criticism upon graduation.
While I am a Hansbrough fan and tried to watch every game he played with my beloved Tarheels, I was never really a Tebow fan while he was in college. What I am a fan of is his knowledge of right and wrong and his ability to make mature decisions about how to live his life. I have great respect for his religious nature and the strength he shows in pronouncing it in lieu of hiding it when critics call him out for it. Both he and Hansbrough have shown that not all student athletes are spoiled brats.
They call the NBA and the NFL “professional” organizations. Mature solid citizens fit in very well in “professional” organizations. Like it or not our student and professional athletes are the role models for kids throughout the world. I think individuals like these two are what any parent would want their kids to pattern their lives after. Indiana and Denver both are very lucky to have these guys. The critics and the media should respect Tebow and Hansbrough for what they are and give them time to develop into the fine players they are very likely to become. There are plenty of immature criminal athletes out there to go after. I could write several pages on them.
