The Tebow Love-Fest Has To End

I'm blogging while watching Sunday's Broncos-Raiders game on NFL Game Rewind and my god, is the Tebow love rampid. So much so, it's sickening. And not just from one announcer, but from both. CBS was tracking Tebow like Fox or ESPN would do with Favre, with Gus Johnson giving us the play-by-play along the way ("There is Tebow talking with his quarterback coach about that last series." -- one that was a three and out). Hype. Hype. Hype. Storylines abound. Talk this about Tebow. Talk that. Talk about the awards. Talk about Tebow's college accomplishments and all the fluff that go with ("the most accomplished college player of his generation.") It was sick I tell you! Sick! I hate to sound like Paul Zimmerman here, but when a storyline gets in the way of the game action - especially when the player who all the talk is about is not doing well - it's just asinine!

I get it. He's a great athlete and a great person and an emotional leader and a Christian. Please end it there! I still don't think he's even a very good quarterback, which is not the same thing as being a good athlete. Where is all the love come from? It can't be one thing or another. Plenty of athletes are Christians. Plenty of athletes are capable and emotional leaders. But ever in NFL history has a single player been so hyped out of college and then hyped in the NFL before he has done a damn thing?! And even though the Rams are currently 1st place in the NFC West, it has been barely talked about how well Sam Bradford has played. What's been covered, annoyingly more, is how terrible the NFC West is and how the NFL should have a seeding system based on record. Everybody should have seen that the NFC West was going to be bad this year. Why is it such a surprise now?

Please, folks, let's stop the Tebow love - here and now.

In other NFL news, I don't know if you heard or not, but Brett Favre started against the Bears on Monday Night in a game that was played outdoors in the cold and snow in Minnesota, seperated shoulder and all. Favre knows how to grab the media's attention. He'll tell Ed Werner that he has no plans on starting and then seemingly majestically, he'll start. Is it too much to think that Favre intended on starting all along, but just kept telling the media that he won't for his own sick and twisted reason? I guess it's nice to be in a position to be able to hold the media hostage, with them biting their nails, wating on what you're going to say and do next. I don't think anybody, even the Vikings, would think that they would lose two quarterbacks to injury in the consecutive games, so I wouldn't have blamed them for starting a rookie, or getting a scab through free agency (in this case, Patrick Ramsey).

This was a wasted season for the Vikings and Favre a.) should not have came back, and b.) been benched early in the season. After the New England game at the latest. And it's a shame that Brad Chidress was sacrificed for his team's failure.

Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention this. In last week's TMQ, Gregg included an email from a reader where the reader basically told TMQ he was wrong and that his comparison was stupid and wrong.

I noted many big colleges have more staff in the athletic department than in the English department. Matt Howland of Penn State replies, "I think your comparison of ratios with employees serving the football team and the English department serving the entire student body is flawed. The proportionate amount of time needed to teach one student in one English class is tiny compared to the amount of time football players and other athletes spend time preparing to compete. I think a more fair comparison is relating the English staff to English majors, rather than to the entire student body."

One thing I have always thought about Gregg Easterbrook is that he has a relatively small ego - compared to, say, Colin Cowherd. I'm glad that TMQ was man enough to include this comment in his column.