Yep, it sort of pains me to say that ... but they played a great game last night and have earned the right to be #1 in college football. This stuff used to matter a whole lot more to me than it does now. Don't get me wrong - I'm still a huge FSU fan, pulled for Oklahoma last night, and will always cheer for UF's opponent. But now that this season is over and Florida is the champion, I say congratulations to them for a great season and an impressive win over Oklahoma!
So now let me start my rant! And it honestly doesn't have anything to do with any dislike I have for UF. It's about the golden child, Tim Tebow. I'll start by saying he's a great athlete, strong, intelligent, passionate, leads his team effectively, and is probably a pretty good guy. However, I do get a bit weary of the "good Christian" self-righteousness that seems to be associated with the guy. Danny Wuerffel was another great quarterback who played at UF and also boldly professed Christ, but Danny was incredibly humble and didn't draw the attention to himself as does Tim Tebow. But even that isn't the main focus of my rant today. So what is it? Here it is:
What if Tim Tebow was black? What if an African-American Tim Tebow made all those gestures, ran around waving his arms, celebrating in such a manner, drawing all that attention to himself? We surely wouldn't hear that "the world would be a better place if we could all just spend 5 or 10 minutes with that young man!" Rather we would hear that he's a show-off, he's going overboard, he's thuggish, he just has "no class." We would be told he should learn to "act like he's been there before." We would be questioning his motives rather than heaping praise on his "tremendous leadership." We would doubt the sincerity of his professed faith saying, "how could a true Christian act like that?" We would categorize his bold claims and predictions as "arrogant" and "typical" rather than "inspiring." We would have nothing but personal disdain for the guy, but would tolerate him because he has his place and helps us win. (understand that when I say "we" I'm referring to our culture in general)
I firmly believe that Tim Tebow gets away with what he does because he's white - black guys just wouldn't be able to do the stuff he's been doing for 3 years and not be utterly condemned. Not only has he not been condemned, the exact opposite has happened - he's praised for that behavior. I think racism is probably more deeply embedded in our hearts than we care to realize. I'm just saying!
Anyone have thoughts on this?
finished with my rant,
Burt
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
What Tim Tebow does really don't impact me much. I don't typically trust people who wear their faith as opposed to living it. But I am curious - is the point that self-agrandizement is wrong for blacks as well as whites, or that we view it as a vice for blacks and a virtue for whites? Wouldn't that really be more a comment about the motives for our double standard?
How do we really live out our faith if we don't wear it? And by wearing it, I mean that our faith should pour over into everything that we do. As scripture reminds us, it makes no sense to put a lamp under a basket.
I believe our culture has come to where we question anyone's sincerity and motives when they profess their faith in a radical and unconventional way--by doing it openly, publicly and continually.
Obviously, I don't know Tim Tebow, and I'm neither defending nor indicting him. I simply believe that as Christians, we should all be a little more open, public and continual in our profession of faith.
Whatever Tebow does isn't necessarily the point of my ranting. My point was to say that if an African-American did what Tebow did he would be soundly hammered by the media and most college football fans. We're okay when a white guy celebrates, Christian or not. But we (college football fans in general) really get annoyed when we see black guys doing the same thing, Christian or not. Racism is alive and well in the stands, in the media, and sitting in front of the TV.
I have always been a fan of the guys who make great plays, hand the ball to the ref and then go back to the huddle. Workman-like.
To me, that seems to stand out more than celebrations do these days.
Everyone celebrates, pumps fists, exhorts the crowd, puts thier home town area code on thier shoes, etc etc.
My biggest pet-peeve is when a team is losing by four touchdowns and a guy makes a good play and celebrates like they have just won the game. Look at the scoreboard!!!....
.....and get back in the dang huddle.
Come on B, I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that he was homeschooled. He wasn't properly socialized by the public school system ;-)
Ever since Tebow accepted me as a friend on FaceBook, I've been good with whatever he does...
I'm totally impressed with your truly amazing Christ-like humility and forgiveness of your worst enemies, that you could publicly praise the slimy Gators. No, seriously!!!! ;->
too bad tebow got his fanny rocked by auburn twice, life time 0-2
Post a Comment