NOW THAT THE FUROR IS OVER . . . FOR NOW ?

The "Tim Tebow Story" gripped sports and culture for a double handful of crazy weeks in this years NFL season. Tebow is, at first blush almost athletic cliche. A Heisman Trophy winner, small-but-agile, a collegiate star, but seemingly not good enough to make it to the big show, just like so many Heisman winners before him.

When this year's Denver Broncos season started (predictably) poorly, Tebow was given the shot at the starting job. He responded with a Season reminiscent of the late great George Blanda's last full season in the League, although not possessed of Blanda's advanced age "handicap." Nonetheless, as Tebow's string of improbable comebacks and sensational wins grew, more attention began to be paid to his contemplative kneel after a touchdown play, his prayerful salute to his Creator. Some saw this as an apostolic gesture, while others ridiculed it as religious grandstanding. Still, others focused on the athlete's off-field exploits. Again, there were divergences. Liberal thinkers who may trend away from religious yearnings pointed to Tebow's (and his mother's) participation in a pro-life advertorial a few years ago which was used as a GOP convention side dish. Others focused on Tebow's exploits visiting sick and disabled children, and striving to bring some fleeting happiness into kids who were and are struggling. Saturday Night Live and Jimmy Fallon got into the act as well, with some irreverent spoofs and satires of Tebow, including the former's visit of Jesus himself to the Bronco locker room, and the latter's merging of Tebow and David Bowie in a song parody. Still, the controversy raged, and some commentators labeled Tebow a polarizing figure. Why?

From this perspective, it seems less about Tebow himself, and more about the religion he is overtly professing. Too many progressives are themselves beyond apathetic or disinterested in faith, but openly hostile toward it. They see overt religious displays as intensely sanctimonious, pseudo-pious demonstrations which ought to be ignored, and these anti-religious progressives show great intolerance - which is ironic. The reasons underpinning the aversion are fair - there have been innumerable examples of religious hypocrisy on display in the television age, and you don't have to be named Baker or Swaggart (or Haggard - or even "his Eminence" for that matter) to acknowledge it . Yet the reality is that religious displays have been a part of the football post game ritual for decades now - whether the networks choose to show that demonstration or not - and usually they have opted for the latter.

Some of the Tebow scorn is heaped in the direction of his presumed politics - the partisan participation in the Republican convention comes to mind; yet that ignores the fact that sports in general - and football particularly, tend toward a generally conservative/traditional crowd and mind set.

In fairness, Tim Tebow the person seems like a decent sort of person, whose outward actions - at least the ones best publicized, track with one who practices what he professes. And, politics and faith aside, he's the runt - the underdog, the guy who couldn't make it, gaining on the establishment, and proving them wrong. In short, there are reasons to like the man, and admire the perseverance against tough odds, and the achievement. Isn't better to hear about athletes who brighten sick and disadvantaged kids lives, rather than ones whose exploits belong on a police blotter? Does the previous question really need a lot of thought before it is answered? Yes, that doesn't mean that there won't be something ugly discovered below the surface - it could always happen in this story, too - but recognizing that possibility, and hoping for it to occur, are decidedly different responses, too. For now, it's just nice to see an affable underdog acting responsibly in the limelight, whether or not it includes outward displays of piety.