Here’s an excerpt from Donald Miller’s article:
Never in the history of the league has a player that’s seen so little playing time got this much attention by the press. It’s almost as if ESPN has to feature Tebow each week in order to satisfy, or irritate, their viewers.
The reality is, Tim Tebow has become a symbol for something other than whoever Tim Tebow really is. And when people talk about him, they’re talking about whatever it is that symbol represents.
To be fair, Tim plays into this characterization intentionally. He creates his own caricature. And whether he’s sincere or not, he’s the one building his image every time he prays in the endzone or grants a locker-room interview. In an Amish romance novel, Tim would play the part of hero. Which is precisely why so many people love him or find him irritating.
I would agree that Tebow uses too many Christian cliches for my liking. To the non-Christian world, I think these cliches lack meaning and lead to eye rolls. However, it bears noting that Tebow has been incredibly insightful regarding his faith as well. I thought his comments on losing were excellent and he used the metaphor of marriage to explain his faith in a winsome way. I think when you’re in the public eye 24/7, it’s hard to be spot-on all the time.
I think Miller hits this on the head though:
SO, WHY DO PEOPLE NOT LIKE HIM?
1. He can come off as fake. Aaron Sorkin famously said “there’s no point in writing about someone unless they’re flawed.” And Tebow presents himself, largely, as a man without flaws. How does he feel about players disrespecting him? He just loves them and moves on. Is this true? Does it really not bother him? Perhaps, but it’s not quite believable.
2. Tim makes people feel bad about their own lives. This is just a hunch, but I think Tim’s “goodness” has a way of making people feel bad about their “badness.” Not knowing Tim, I can tell you he doesn’t come off as a guy I feel like I could be around myself. Should I take a sip of my beer, should I talk about girls, has he seen Arrested Development? Even having to ask these questions about a person makes the thought of being with them tiring.
I do agree, I think he should be more open with his struggles. The Christian life is hard, Jesus never said it would be easy (in fact, he said the opposite of that). It would be great for Tebow to be more transparent and model the idea of struggling well with life. This would resonate and make him seem more real and less robotic.
