Well, it seems the Alligator is once again on an all Kool-Aid diet. Nothing else would explain the 600-word fellating this paper gave Tim Tebow on Tuesday. See, I like to think most people in the communications field are bright enough to notice a PR move when they see one.
You think Tim Tebow does charity events because that's the first thing he wants to do on a Saturday afternoon? Sure, it's possible, but how many more jerseys and "The Promise" T-shirts does UF sell when they can claim to have Gandhi in a helmet walking around the campus? How many more national TV games do the Gators get because America wants to see a great humanitarian playing football instead of the usual collections of criminals some schools are made out to employ?
Either that or St. Timothy of Jacksonville had a little conversation with someone in the know about his potential career. Perhaps the guy who is his agent-but-not-really-because-Tim-Tebow-and-Urban-Meyer-never-break-rules-so-it's-obviously-not-his-agent said, "Hey Timmy, right now you are predicted to be drafted somewhere in the early fifth round, and the debate now is about whose career will be longer, yours or Eric Crouch's."
And Timothy said unto him, "Jesus would like to know what in the name of Jesus I can do to be drafted on Jesus' holy first day of the draft? Because I can't be picked on Sunday, that is Jesus' day."
"Well, if Warren Sapp can lose half of a round for smoking pot, maybe you can pick up half of a round for creating charity events for no reason whatsoever. You do one a month from now until next April, and you're headed to the Lions in the second round. If not, how do you feel about Saskatchewan?"
I'm sure Tim Tebow is a good enough guy, but let's not anoint him anything more than what he is: a really good college football player. You want a true humanitarian? How 'bout Tony Romo? That guy takes bums to the movies and doesn't make a giant public spectacle out of it.
You wanna create yourself a real humanitarian, UF? How about telling "San Timoteo" to go out and do good without a camera crew around? Then maybe he can get himself picked on Saturday, and ESPN won't have to spend the next morning in church with the Tebows waiting to see if he ends up being Mr. Irrelevant.
Matthew Meltzer is a journalism graduate student.
