Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad: Glad He Wasn't Aborted?

[MobBoss]

Um, I do believe the quarterback is typically perceived by most as being the most prominent person on the football team...

Depends on the team. I have seen other teams where fullbacks/running backs are the most prominent, and to a lesser extent, wide receivers, or various defensive positions.

 

[illram]

The NFL is full of religious nutters (Kurt Warner?), and Tebow will have plenty of time to talk religion from the sidelines since he's never going to amount to anything in the NFL anyway.

 

[Bei1052]

At the risk of sounding beligerent, there's some extreme idiocy being demonstrated in this thread. To somehow think this ad will hurt Tebow's chances in the NFL when there are currently guys convicted domestic violence, multiple drug violations, dog fighting, vehicular homicide (See Donte Stallworth who will be back in the NFL in a few years), etc. playing is utterly ridiculous. Utterly.

The NFL is full of religious nutters (Kurt Warner?), and Tebow will have plenty of time to talk religion from the sidelines since he's never going to amount to anything in the NFL anyway.

You're calling Kurt Warner, who just recently announced his retirement, a religious nutter? Please God tell me you're joking. The dude is probably one of the most respected NFL players in recent memory and he's made absolutely no qualms about letting people know what his faith is.

...Anyway, say what you will about Tebow, his "problem" is his weird throwing motion. He's actually a pretty accurate passer, plus he's as big as a HB. As much as I hate the dude as a football player, he'll do fine in the NFL once he gets a coach to help him on his release.

 

[Ecofarm]

At this point, I don't think any of the experts have him as a first round pick. Plenty have him as maybe first round, but he is solidly on everyone's chart in the second round.

Very few first round QBs do "fine" in the NFL, let alone later picks. At best, you are betting against the odds here.

Without a wildcat offense, I think he's got virtually no chance. Perhaps he will fix the release (etc) and become a Big Ben but everyone seriously doubts it.

 

[illram]

You're calling Kurt Warner, who just recently announced his retirement, a religious nutter? Please God tell me you're joking. The dude is probably one of the most respected NFL players in recent memory and he's made absolutely no qualms about letting people know what his faith is.

Maybe it's a bit tongue in cheek but my point is there is no shortage of "thumpers" as Eco aptly put it in the NFL and Tebow will be one among many. And Kurt is one of the more vocal preachy evangelical ones. I don't have much patience when it comes to overly preachy religious types so that qualifies as nutter material for me.

 

[JollyRoger]

Tebow might make it in the NFL as a back-up tight end or running back, but certainly he won't see much time at QB except if the starter and back-up on his team are injured

 

[Cutlass]

Is this guy actually any good? I don't know anything about him except that he's a mouthy nutter.

 

[Ecofarm]

In college, he's amazing.

The pros require more specialized skill sets.

He was the first college football player to both rush and pass for 20 touchdowns in a season and was the first sophomore to win the Heisman.[2]...

His contribution in the 2006 college football season was as a key reserve who helped the Gators win college football's national championship game for the first time since 1996.

As a sophomore in the 2007 season, he became the Gators' starting quarterback and broke the Southeastern Conference records for both rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns accounted for in a single season.[6] In addition to the Heisman Trophy, his performance in 2007 also earned him the Maxwell Award as the nation's top football player, the Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's best quarterback, and the James E. Sullivan Award as the nation's most outstanding amateur athlete in any sport.

He broke Herschel Walker's record for SEC rushing touchdowns, and he's a freaking QB.

 

[I'm Cleo!]

Is this guy actually any good? I don't know anything about him except that he's a mouthy nutter.

He was possibly the greatest college football player of all time. Tebow ran hard and was stronger than a lot of the players he faced. He was also an incredible leader. But in the NFL, nearly every player on every team was the best player on their team in college. He also played in a somewhat unusual offense (even though they ran pretty standard plays, they ran them out of weird set-ups) alongside some of the best players in the country at other positions.

He wasn't called upon to do the things that NFL QBs do, and the type of offense that you'd build around his unique abilities is unlikely to work in the NFL. The nearly infinite coaching preparation time in the NFL, along with the incredible athletic ability of the players (routinely doing things that 95% of all college players simply can't) constrains in some ways the types of players who and styles of play that can succeed. There are lots of guys who could simply outrun college defensive players, but when they reach the NFL and they can't outrun anyone, the ride's over. There are great athletes in college, but if they can't understand the defensive coordinator's calls or are easily confused, the ride's over.

And the media hype was nauseating (though now that he's something of an underdog, I'm warming up to him).

Ecofarm,

I agree with your assessment of Tebow's ability, but I can't see the Dolphins taking him because they spent a high-round pick on Pat White last year. In my opinion White's running style (small and quick) fits the NFL better than Tebow's (bowl people over), and Tebow's throwing isn't necessarily better (certainly his mechanics are dreadful). I can't imagine they'll carry two Wildcat QBs.

Everyone says Belichick's gonna take him. He could do something interesting with him, I think. He's certainly not opposed to changing the identity of the team when his personnel suits it -- he basically went to an Air Raid when he had Welkah! and Moss (two years ago, when he tried).

Cleo

 

[Formaldehyde]

Is the press being too soft on Tebow by not asking him penetrating questions about his religious beliefs as he wishes them to do?

Spoiler :

Tim Tebow Goes for the Conversion
The real meaning of the quarterback's pro-life Super Bowl ad.

Tim Tebow"Grind on me, test me," Tim Tebow recently told Sports Illustrated's Peter King. "I feel I've prepared my whole life for this." He was talking about the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., where Tebow's been huffing his way through brutal workouts before an audience of NFL scouts. The University of Florida quarterback could have just as easily been talking about his upcoming Super Bowl commercial. During the big game on Feb. 7, the doe-eyed, block-chested football star will appear alongside his mother, Pam. Together they'll tell the story of Tim's birth: how Pam's pregnancy was threatened by a tropical disease (the family was living in the Philippines, as missionaries), doctors told her to abort the child, and she refused. And now look at her kid: Heisman winner, preacher, Christian heartthrob. At a press conference last week, Tebow said that he's "always been very convicted" about the wrongness of abortion "because that's the reason I'm here."

Ponying up the estimated $2.5 to $2.8 million for the 30 seconds of airtime is Focus on the Family, the evangelical ministry led until last year by abortion foe and SpongeBob SquarePants hater James Dobson. Judging by the protest pages on Facebook and outbursts on Twitter, some are surprised that the Tebows would partner up with such an organization. The truth is that Tim Tebow's appearance in this ad shouldn't be surprising at all: He's spent his life preparing for this commercial the same way Ben Bernanke spent his preparing to run the Fed in a post-bubble economic contraction.

Tim Tebow is a messenger. His name is "Timothy" because 23 years ago Bob Tebow was out preaching in some hot and dusty part of the Philippines, and he asked God to give him a preacher son. (Timothy is the name of a biblical preacher.) "Timmy has it built into him that he is on a mission from God to affect people's lives," Bob has said. And to do that, Bob Tebow's son needs an audience.

The Tebows have been clear about this mission. Decisions about Tim's career are motivated by a search for an ever-larger soapbox. Tebow didn't choose to return to Florida to finish his education—"I'm a football player this semester," he explained before the season commenced. So, why did he come back? "I believe that I have a big platform here," Tebow told me last spring in Gainesville, Fla., "and I have an opportunity to help a lot of people here and influence a lot of people here." So he stayed. Tebow's success in college allows him to spread the good word in a way he might not be able to if he gets moved to H-back in the pros. (Perhaps this is why he's so adamant about going to a team that will give him a shot to play quarterback. Nobody wants to hear Frank Wycheck talk about Jesus.) And now he's set to reach the biggest audience in Christendom. The commercial isn't a means; it's the end.

What is the end? It's not just stopping abortions. Tebow wants to convert people, like his father does in Muslim areas of the Philippines. Until now, he's been subtle in his outreach, pushing his message gently, painting "PHIL 4:13" and "JOHN 3:16" and "MARK 8:36" in his eye black—an ingenious touch that prods even the most degenerate couch potato into Googling Bible verses out of curiosity. This Super Bowl commercial represents a new strategy for Tebow Inc.—one that's more confrontational and also much more in keeping with the family's ultraconservative roots.

The true extent and character of Tebow's faith has always flown under the media radar. That might stem from skepticism that there could be so little daylight between the beliefs of the members of a family—surely Tebow must disagree with his parents about some things? But if he does diverge from his family's evangelical beliefs, there's no evidence of it. There's probably also some queasiness on the part of media elites (me included) over the idea that the family really believes what it says it believes. Tebow has always referred to himself as a "missionary" who just happens to meet his flock on a gridiron ("There are a lot of ways to be a missionary," he told me); many of us, I think, have assumed he was speaking symbolically. But the Tebows have about as much interest in symbolism as NFL coaches have in Tebow's famously goofy jump pass.

Go to Bob Tebow's Web site and you can read a 10-point, 2,200-word manifesto that begins with the doctrine of biblical inerrancy and ends with the Apocalypse: "The universe will be destroyed, followed by the judgment at the Great White Throne." Tim has grown up surrounded by charismatic figures in the conservative tradition of Southern Baptism—his father first and foremost, and also his pastor at the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Jerry Vines. Vines spent a long career decrying "the wolf of liberalism." He made headlines in 2002 when he said that the prophet Mohammed is "a demon-obsessed pedophile." Four years later, when Vines retired, Tebow spoke at the ceremony. "He has always shared the Word of God and shared it like it's coming straight at me," he said. "There's a lot of role models, but not a lot of role models with character." Vines' response: "No wonder you are such a terror on the football field, Tim. You came to a church that's a holy terror to the devil."

Tebow has never really been asked about this stuff, which is a shame. I had a chance when I wrote a profile of him for GQ, but I blew it. I only got as far as a little riff on evolution, which Tim brought up himself, mentioning his admiration for creationist Ravi Zacharias. "Have you ever heard Ravi Zacharias speak before?" Tebow asked me. "He came here to speak and I talked to him for a little bit. … The way he can draw you in with his stories and his wording, and then at the same time make it so easy and simple for someone to understand—I was like, man, he's great. I thought it was awesome." But when I got to the heavier God stuff, I started to sweat, fumbling my questions like a blown snap from center. I kept thinking, This guy is a college football player. It's not fair to ask him what he thinks of Mohammed.

But that was not only stupid; it was condescending. Today, I really regret not asking Tebow about Islam and gay marriage. I regret not asking him if a Jew can go to heaven, and whether he believes that Hurricane Katrina and the stock-market crash are manifestations of "God's wrath"—as the new pastor at his church, Mac Brunson, has said. (Just last Sunday, Brunson name-checked Pat Robertson, who had been pilloried for calling the people of Haiti devil-worshippers: "You can't help but just pray for him, you know?" Brunson told his congregation. "He may be right, but what a dumb time to say something like that.") These are more than fair questions given Tebow's decision to politicize the Super Bowl, and if reporters don't ask them, they're actually doing Tebow a disservice. At SEC Media Day last year, one brave reporter asked Tebow if he was saving himself for marriage. "Yes, I am," Tebow said as the room burst into nervous giggles. He laughed and his eyes lit up: "I think y'all are stunned right now! You can't even ask a question!" If anything, he was frustrated that nobody had asked him the question sooner. After all, it can't be much fun to be a culture warrior if the opposing culture is constantly wimping out, denying you a chance to show your true mettle. Grind him, test him—he's ready.

And the other side of the story on why most doctors recommend abortions under circumstances such as his mother was facing: The Invisible Dead.

Spoiler :

The story, apparently, is about Tim's birth in 1987, when his parents were missionaries in the Philippines. According to Pam's account in the Gainesville Sun, she contracted amoebic dysentery and went in a coma shortly before the pregnancy. To facilitate her recovery, she was given heavy-duty drugs. Afterward, doctors told her the fetus was damaged. They diagnosed her with placental abruption, a premature separation of the placenta from the uterine wall. They predicted a stillbirth and recommended abortion.

But Pam was against abortion, and she had faith in God. She refused. Today, her reward is a healthy, athletic, stellar son. "I've always been very [pro-life] because that's the reason I'm here, because my mom was a very courageous woman," Tim told reporters last week. That's the prescribed moral of the story: Choose life. Dave Andrusko, the editor of National Right to Life News, puts it eloquently: "This amazing young man is able to share his many gifts because, and only because, Pam Tebow said no to abortion and yes to life."

Pam's story certainly is moving. But as a guide to making abortion decisions, it's misleading. Doctors are right to worry about continuing pregnancies like hers. Placental abruption has killed thousands of women and fetuses. No doubt some of these women trusted in God and said no to abortion, as she did. But they didn't end up with Heisman-winning sons. They ended up dead.

Being dead is just the first problem with dying in pregnancy. Another problem is that the fetus you were trying to save dies with you. A third problem is that your existing kids lose their mother. A fourth problem is that if you had aborted the pregnancy, you might have gotten pregnant again and brought a new baby into the world, but now you can't. And now the Tebows have exposed a fifth problem: You can't make a TV ad.

On Sunday, we won't see all the women who chose life and found death. We'll just see the Tebows, because they're alive and happy to talk about it. In the business world, this is known as survivor bias: Failed mutual funds disappear, leaving behind the successful ones, which creates the illusion that mutual funds tend to beat market averages. In the Tebows' case, the survivor bias is literal. If you're diagnosed with placental abruption, you have the right to choose life. But don't be so sure that life is what you'll get.

Placental abruption is rare. The detachment from the uterine wall can range from partial to total. By most accounts, it occurs in fewer than 1 percent of pregnancies. The more broadly it's diagnosed, the less fatal it is on average, since the subtlest cases are also the least dangerous.

In 2001, the American Journal of Epidemiology published an analysis of 7.5 million births that took place in the United States in 1995 and 1996. Abruption was documented in 46,731 of these pregnancies. Six percent of normal pregnancies produced babies with birth weights low enough to risk long-term health damage. Nearly half the abrupted pregnancies produced such babies. Ten percent of normal pregnancies ended in premature births; most abrupted pregnancies ended that way. In normal pregnancies, the perinatal mortality rate—death of the fetus after 20 weeks gestation, or death of the baby in its four weeks after birth—was less than 1 percent. In abrupted pregnancies, the rate was roughly 12 percent. If the total number of abrupted pregnancies in the United States in those two years was 46,731, then the number of fetuses and babies killed by placental abruption was 5,570.

And that's just the U.S. number. In less developed countries, studies have found higher rates of perinatal death. In Thailand, a 2006 review of 103 abrupted pregnancies showed a rate of 16 percent. In Sudan, an analysis of more than 1,000 cases from 1997-2003 yielded a rate of 20 percent. In Tunisia, a 2005 review of 45 cases indicated a rate of 38 percent.

If you see no moral difference between an early fetus and a late fetus or baby, you can argue that any perinatal death rate short of 100 percent is better than preemptive abortion. But what about the women who carry abrupted pregnancies? For them, the potential complications include internal bleeding, hemorrhagic shock, kidney damage, embolisms, and heart failure. The Thai study reported hemorrhagic shock in 19 percent of women with abrupted pregnancies. In Burkina Faso, a 2003 review of 177 abrupted pregnancies reported a maternal death rate of 4 percent. In Pakistan, a 2009 review of 106 cases found a maternal death rate of 5 percent. By some estimates, placental abruption causes 6 percent of all maternal deaths.

I can't tell you what drugs Pam Tebow was given or how severe her abruption was. I sent her a query through Focus on the Family three days ago and haven't heard back. But remember, she was doing missionary work in the Philippines. The perinatal and maternal death rates from abruption in her area were probably closer to the rates in Pakistan or Burkina Faso than to the U.S. rate. She and her son are with us today not just because of courage but because of luck.

 

[MobBoss]

Is CFCOT being too soft on Tebow? Nahhh.

 

[Formaldehyde]

What a disappointment. All that bruhaha for this commercial?


Link to video.

I actually liked it!

 

[sophie]

Yeah, I totally wouldn't have realized it was a pro-life commercial if I hadn't been following this thread for the last month or so.

 

[Bei1052]

I bet all those radical feminist groups, including Planned Parenthood, feel like idiots now. All that whining and for what? Nothing.

 

[Formaldehyde]

I don't think the groups had any idea that the Coalition To Save Us All From Baby Murderers would actually spend over $3M of SpongeBob SquarePants hater James Dobson's money to make a commercial which you really have to look very close to even know it was pro-life. Do you?

In May 1989, during an interview with John Tanner, a Republican Florida prosecuter, Dobson called for serial killer Ted Bundy, to be forgiven. Dobson interviewed Ted Bundy on camera and the Bundy tapes gave Dobson a profit of nearly $1 million within a year. [13]

In the winter of 2004-2005, the We Are Family Foundation sent American elementary schools approximately 60,000 copies of a free DVD using popular cartoon characters (most notably Sponge Bob Squarepants) to "promote tolerance and diversity."[41] Dobson contended that "tolerance" and "diversity" are "buzzwords" that the We Are Family Foundation misused as part of a "hidden agenda" to promote homosexuality.[42] Kate Zernik noted Dobson asserting: "tolerance and its first cousin, diversity, 'are almost always buzzwords for homosexual advocacy.'"[43] He stated on the Focus on the Family website that "childhood symbols are apparently being hijacked to promote an agenda that involves teaching homosexual propaganda to children."[44] He offered as evidence the association of many leading LGBT rights organizations, including GLAAD, GLSEN, HRC, and PFLAG, with the We Are Family Foundation as shown by links which he claims once existed on their website.[45]

 

[JerichoHill]

You're calling Kurt Warner, who just recently announced his retirement, a religious nutter? Please God tell me you're joking. The dude is probably one of the most respected NFL players in recent memory and he's made absolutely no qualms about letting people know what his faith is.

...Anyway, say what you will about Tebow, his "problem" is his weird throwing motion. He's actually a pretty accurate passer, plus he's as big as a HB. As much as I hate the dude as a football player, he'll do fine in the NFL once he gets a coach to help him on his release.

Agreed about Warner. He's very religious but he's also very consistent in his beliefs and actually lives by them, plus he's a damn good quarterback. His off field charity is one of the best in the nation

 

[illram]

Agreed about Warner. He's very religious but he's also very consistent in his beliefs and actually lives by them, plus he's a damn good quarterback. His off field charity is one of the best in the nation

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have the guy over for dinner. As long as he doesn't draw any pictures of Jesus.

 

[Formaldehyde]

It could explain a lot of the abominable snowman / yeti sightings.

 

[Bei1052]

I don't think the groups had any idea that the Coalition To Save Us All From Baby Murderers would actually spend over $3M of SpongeBob SquarePants hater James Dobson's money to make a commercial which you really have to look very close to even know it was pro-life. Do you?

For $3M he received the joy of making PPFA, NOW, NARAL and the rest of the super feminists not only look as if they really are pro-abortion, but he got the added effect of making them feel utterly stupid for all their preemptive whining/response ads. I'd say that was money well spent.

 

[Formaldehyde]

That's your opinion and you are certainly entititled to it.

OTOH my opinion is that despite the fact that they made the commercial extremely low-key because they knew were going to get a lot of criticism for it, the Tebows merely associating themselves with such a rabid homophobe as James Dobson suggests they are the ones who were "utterly stupid". Read the articles I posted above for more details as to why.