A Letter to Tim Tebow

Dear Tim,

It all just fell kind of into place for you didn't it?  In ways that the most brilliant author couldn't even write up.

I suppose I should explain what I'm talking about, but really, what am I not talking about?  You were handed the starting job in Denver on a silver platter not by management, but by hordes of demanding fans the likes of which the NFL has never seen before and will probably never see again.  You drew an absolutely uncanny amount of luck- go to church every Sunday for the rest of your life (you probably will anyway) type of luck- when it came to your schedule.  You took a team that couldn't really buy a win, and backed your way into half a dozen of them. 

And even when your luck evened out, even when you lost three straight to a defenseless New England team, a slumptastic Buffalo team, and a depleted Kansas City team... you still find yourself in the playoffs because, low and behold, the Denver Broncos play in the worst division in the NFL, and an 8-8 record with tiebreakers means you've quarterbacked a division winner.  If your karma truely has balanced out, I'm not sure which way it will lean next- you've drawn the gauntlet that is the Pittsburgh Steelers, but they might be just injured enough to get surprised in Mile High.  The last thing I want to hear about is how the Denver Broncos have won a playoff game, but it's not really that unfathomable for you, is it?

But this isn't about you.  Like any selfish wannabe journalist college student, this is about me.

I know I care very little about the NFL as far as actual fandom goes.  I know I care so much more about college sports.  But still, Tim, this hurts.  Why did you have to lose the one game where I was actually rooting for you to win? It's clear that you and God have had a personal talk about his creation of irony.

Why, Tim? Why did you have to leave my Titans out of the playoffs?

You couldn't have dialed it up better, could you have?  Sure, I've criticized you endlessly.  And most of it you probably even deserved.  You could have taken it as motivation, but no, you had to get spiteful with it.  So with the Titans playoff fate in your hands, in a surely calculated move that even the Grinch wouldn't consider, your loss isn't really your loss.  Your loss got you into the playoffs regardless.

Instead, your loss is my loss. Your loss is Nashville's loss.  People aren't too happy in the state of Tennessee right now, Tim. 

But I get it.  I'm sure you were tired of my complaining, tired of the nagging, tired of my overcritical eye.  Maybe I deserved this for being just a tad bit too hard on you.  God knows you don't deserve all the hype you've got, but perhaps there's something to say for the motivation and inspiration you've provided the boys in the Denver locker room.  Perhaps you deserve a little more credit than I've been willing to give you.

Or maybe I'm overreacting.  Maybe it's not a personal thing at all.  I suppose I should consider the possibility that you haven't done this on purpose, and it's all just an unfortunate, unhappy accident.  Forgive him, for he knows not what he has done.

I don't know much about all that.  Virginia is a long ways away from Colorado.  But if I strain real hard, I can almost here what they're whispering over in Denver...



And on the eighth day, God created irony.