The last two days of sports headlines have got my juices flowing. Tim Tebow debates started the flow and he dam broke when Warren Sapp went journalist for a moment. I will tackle a ton of thoughts on these matters in this blog entry. Let's start with Tebow.
I am white, I am a Jewish Christian, and I love Tim Tebow. It isn't idolatry, it isn't hero worship. It is a deep respect for an individual who maintains who he is despite a vocation that is not conducive to his lifestyle. I want him to succeed. Now that I have full disclosure, this trade to the Jets has me completely split.
As a Tebow fan, this is a HORRIFYING development. New York City is the single worst place for anyone with class or morals to play in the first place. The fans don't respect people nor do they respect a lifestyle that is clean cut. Look, I respect and follow tons of athletes with different beliefs and lifestyles. I don't care what you choose to do in your life, that is between you and God. So why do people so hate what Tebow does in his life? The bottom line is that Tebow wins games. This is not up for debate. He won in college. He won in regular season. He won a playoff game. WINNER. So, as a Tebow fan, I hate this for him. As a Patriots fan, I am laughing hysterically. There is almost no chance the Jets will actually use him correctly. All he will do is bring a divide into the locker room by just being there. He will give the fans a way to get onto Sanchez on every bad throw. He will continue to add to the circus that is the Jets (have you followed their offseason?...lol).
There was a debate on ESPN with @RealSkipBayless and @stephenasmith about whether race was a factor in the Tim Tebow situation. In this case, I say emphatically, NO. This isn't about race. This is so eerily similar to Slash Stewart that I do think race can be discounted. This is about Christianity. Tebow has an extremely loyal following because of his religious beliefs and the way he respects God. Many people are rooting for him to succeed and spread His (His=God , his=Tebow. Huge difference) message.Many people are rooting for him to fail because they detest everything about evangelical Christians. Before we get into sports passions, we already have a very emotional group of supporters and detractors. This is simply what it is about. Otherwise, we would have a Kordell Stewart situation again and most likely a similar career path. This folks tells you a lot about the climate in our country today. Many people who are not Christians, despise us. They think Christians are elitist and arrogant hypocrites. For this reason, many people are emotionally volitile against Tebow and all things Christian. If you know me, you will know that I blame this situation on ourselves. As Christians we have not done enough to spread the word of God's love to those who don't know Him. Many times we think we are being loving but come off as hateful or hypocritical. Anyway, I do think it is important for us all to take stock of what is important and focus on that. I don't wish to make this blog into a religious or political blog, so I will end this section now!
Now, as for the New Orleans Saints. If you have talked sports with me, you should be aware that I do not like violence in sports. I do love a good solid hit that causes a fumble or an earth shattering hit where the person gets right up in the face of the hitter and says "that didn't hurt!". I love that stuff, I just abhor useless violence. (NHL is best example of senseless and useless violence that takes a great SPORT and morphs it into an almost unwatchable "sports entertainment" package.....where does that sound familiar from?) Anyway, I am sickened that the bounty system was in place. Pay for forced fumbles or broken plays or scoring plays..... but pay to INJURE or knock players out of the game? That isn't sports, that's cowardice. Dear Saints involved: Where you really unable to win with your best available vs their best available that you need to get to their bench to have a chance to win? Are you so sure you cant win playing vs their best that you need to injure someone? Aaron Curry reminded me that the NFL was barbaric. I disagree. Good NFL games are VIOLENT but not barbaric. Players are human beings, not animals. What (many other teams and) the Saints have done with this needs to be removed from NFL. Had the Saints told the truth about this and not lied to the commissioner, I would be a proponent of a lot smaller of a penalty. The fact they lied and lied and lied makes it imperative that the league drops a bomb on them and they have.
With this said, Warren Sapp decided it was time for him to break a news story. He decided to out the "snitch". The @QBKILLA decided he needed to make sure everyone knew who the person was to blame for this. The person players can't trust in the locker room. The player everyone should hate. SO using the word snitch and the power of Twitter (happy 6th birthday Twitter), he outted fellow Hurricaine Jeremy Shockey. First, let me tell you that anyone who has followed Warren Sapp knows that he often passes along "news" on twitter that he himself grabbed off of other people's tweets. He has been dead wrong on at least one occasion because he read an incorrect tweet. This alone makes him an awful person to trust when he breaks news. Robert Littal (@BlkSportsOnline) and others seem to be fairly sure that Shockey is not the main source in this case and from my experience, these people are more reliable twitter feeds for information. Anyone, including NFL Network who ran Sapp's allegations better have made sure they have backup on this or Mr. Shockey will have a legit reason to sue both Sapp and the NFL Network.
I am begging players and ex-players and ex-coaches to stop defending the bounty system. I think we all know this USED TO be the norm. Bounties USED TO be part of most teams. However, the NFL (with my full support) is trying to make player safety a focus. This allows fans to see more games of their favorite players, a better product since best players remain on field, AND it protects players from becoming the next early obituary.
Finally, I don't care who the snitch/honest person is. The person who TOLD THE TRUTH is not the villian. The person who TOLD THE TRUTH should not be blackballed (as he will be). The person WHO HAD INTEGRITY should be praised for helping remove a part of the game which is barbaric, immoral, and criminal (not to mention a flagrant breaking of the rules). I do not buy the assertion that NFL players are out there to satisfy our blood-lust and that them getting "impaled" is a form of entertainment. I used to love hockey fights when I was younger, so I understand that many people love violence, but as I have matured, I want to see sports and the game played, not blood and broken bones and broken lives. Stop with the Thin Blue Line rhetoric and the idea that what (illegal things) in the locker-room stay in the lockerroom. When it comes to snitching, the rule should be to respect those WHO TELL THE TRUTH not those that hide it to protect criminals and rule breakers. PERIOD
I am doing the Muscular Dystrophy fundraiser. Please help me reach a very modest goal of $500. The link is below, you can donate online, and you will be helping a wonderful cause. Please take a moment to donate!!!
http://www2.mda.org/site/TR/Lock-Up/77-F2-679-SpringfieldMoDistrict?px=1156039&pg=personal&fr_id=2239
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