<p>I don’t hate Tebow. He’s a good role model. But he’s not an NFL quarterback.</p>
<p>Tom Brady is an inspiration. a hero. and a role model. It’s always good to see nice guys finish first. </p>
<p>Impurity!</p>
<p>I want to hear more about Tim Tebow. I haven’t heard enough about him this week…</p>
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<p>Brian Dowling was the original model for the character BD in the Doonesbury comic strip. Gary Trudeau was a student at Yale during the Dowling era.</p>
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<p>I know this is one version of the Brady legend, but you actually got his college career exactly backwards. He wasn’t highly recruited out of high school but someone on the Michigan coaching staff must have liked what they saw: they offered him a scholarship and he accepted, but he came in at #7 on the Michigan QB depth chart and had to work his way up from there. In his first two years he managed to work his way up to chief understudy to Brian Griese, who merely led Michigan to a share of the 1997 national championship. But after Griese’s departure, Brady started every single game of the 1998 and 1999 seasons, winning and holding the job over the much more highly touted local phenom Drew Henson, notwithstanding the vocal objections of many Michigan fans who saw Henson as the second coming. Brady just outpracticed and outplayed Henson, who by every account had the superior physical tools. Brady went 20-5 as Michigan’s starting QB, set school records for pass attempts and completions in a season, and was 2-0 in bowl games, both of them against SEC opponents (Arkansas in 1999 and Alabama in 2000). Brady’s still all over the school record books, top 5 or better among Michigan QBs in almost every major statistical category. And need I remind you, this was not some obscure college football program. So to say he “couldn’t hold onto his starting job” in college is just dead wrong; he won and held the starting job against all the odds in one of the top football programs in the nation.</p>
<p>Truth is, Brady had a phenomenal college career, but he was vastly underappreciated at the time, both by the fans and by the punditry, in part because many of them were in Drew Henson’s corner and couldn’t understand how Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr could so obtuse as to continue to play Brady ahead of Henson, and in part because Brady didn’t seem to have the physical tools—slow afoot, not the big rugged type a la Ben Rothlisberger, not the cannon-like arm strength, not the charisma and razzle-dazzle gunslinger mentality of a Brett Favre. But he just kept reading defenses and seeing the field and making good decisions and making precision passes, putting catchable balls in the hands of his receivers, engineering drives, scoring TDs, winning ballgames. With their tape measures and stopwatches, the NFL scouts didn’t see it either, despite his two phenomenal seasons as a starter at Michigan. And given the chance in the NFL, Brady’s just kept winning, proving that being an elite NFL QB is about something more than foot speed, arm strength, size, quickness, agility. It’s more than just being the best athlete, because he’s never been that. And he’s overcome it. Brilliantly.</p>
<p>I don’t like the Broncos’ helmet and uniform. Their helmet looks like the Patriots’ helmet.
They lost their identity. I prefer they have old helmet with letter D on it.</p>
<p>The message Tebow sends with his very public Tebowing is that if you pray hard enough, God will make you a winner. I always think about what a parent of a very sick child must be thinking-- Did I not pray hard enough?</p>
<p>Happily I have not been inundated by pre-playoff extracurriculars and thus only think about the playing of the game. </p>
<p>I had seen chatter about Tebow in Facebook posts, etc, but really knew nothing about him. I just read a few stories about him.</p>
<p>So, I gotta wonder. He was born in the Philippines but the claim is that his mother was encouraged to have an abortion as she was ill, am I right? </p>
<p>I live in the same part of the globe as the Philippines. Filipinos are generally Catholic (some are Muslim) and they are very socially conservative. Abortion is illegal and there are no provisions related to the health of the mother. I know this from conversations I have had with patients of mine. </p>
<p>So, I have to wonder where this abortion counseling took place, or if the reality of the situation was a bit different, and this is a convenient story. Perhaps the family was not overseas at that point.</p>
<p>I could care less about his religious beliefs, quite frankly. I believe it is a degradation of the solemnity of religion and of any meaningful image of G-d to thank her/him for such things as touchdowns, successfully built apartment buildings or other such mundane events. I also believe that religion should be a part of private life. </p>
<p>I am no more opposed to him and his actions than I am Tom Cruise or other ‘spokesperson’. I dislike spokespeople in general and wonder why anyone would be influenced in their ‘beliefs’. </p>
<p>All this said, he certainly was way outplayed today by a much better quarterback and team.</p>
<p>Coureur- regarding** [Harvard beats Yale 29-29
** and Brian Dowling -being inspiration for Gary Trudeau’s BD character, this is discussed more than once in the movie.
Of course, the real Brian Dowling is interviewed, as are many of the men who played in the game.</p>
<p>For those of you disappointed by the Denver game watch this movie!</p>
<p>136 yards. That’s pretty good isn’t it?</p>
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<p>I want to hear some more about Tim Tebow. I sure hope he’s on Good Morning America again tomorrow!</p>
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<p>How do you know what Tebow’s prayer is? Was there an interview I missed where someone asked him what he is praying for? I was taught that you shouldn’t ask God to make you win, but you should ask God to help you do your best. Maybe Tebow is praying that he and his teammates be allowed to play to the best of their abilities. Maybe he’s praying nobody gets hurt. Maybe he’s praying ??? Even if he is praying for a win, I’ll bet Tebow knows that sometimes the answer is, “No.” So should anyone who has prayed. Don’t blame Tebow for someone else’s pain.</p>
<p>All the assumptions about what Tebow is praying for seem ridiculous. Has anyone asked him what he includes in his prayer?</p>
<p>Brady and the Pats looked great. The Broncos seemed out of their league. The Bronco o-line was non-existent, their defense didn’t seem to catch on that playing zone wasn’t working, and Tebow looked like a rookie. On to next year . . .</p>
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Or the opposing team. Is nobody on the opposing team praying? How does God choose whom to reward that day? Personally, I believe it rather arrogant to claim God chose you in any way to score a touchdown, run more yards or win. Even if you’re only praying to do your best, there is an assumption that God is helping. Maybe you should just train harder. But from what I see, he “tebow’s” AFTER some great play. As in thanking God. There again, the assumption is that God chose him to do well. Must be something wrong with the way the defense prayed. I realize that the media is mostly to blame here, but he is not without fault. Keep your religion out of my face.</p>
<p>Isn’t praying a regular part of all football? My son’s high school football coach had the kids pray before every game and I know of other teams that pray before a game.</p>
<p>I think people are misinterpreting the god stuff related to Tebow. I see it as just a regular part of the game of football.</p>
<p>I think it is the public action, sometimes running a few feet for a clear camera angle that bothers me about the praying. Troy Polamalu, who is known to be extrmely religious, makes the sign of the cross after every play. He just doesn’t make sure the cameras are watching him do it.</p>
<p>After reading the comments about how under rated Brady was over his career, couldn’t it be because his abilities improved over time and not that “experts” missed his talent? Maybe he a good quarter back in high school, a better quarter back in college and now has improved to an elite quarter back. Maybe his talent has improved dramatically over time?</p>
<p>parent1986, what if one of your son’s teammates doesn’t pray? Why would the coach assume that praying before a game is something that every kid wants to do?</p>
<p>bclintock, I stand happily corrected.</p>
<p>Personally, I think Tebow is great but I suspect he is making a simple, but costly, mistake. I believe Tebow is right handed. In support of this theory, I offer the following experiment. If you are right handed, take a football and throw it with your left hand (if left handed throw it with your right hand). You will immediately recognize the broken, floating, wobbly, Tebow spiral. Now throw with your right hand and you will see a nice tight spiral (results may vary based on athleticism). You will quickly conclude, as I have, that the Chosen One is right handed.</p>
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<p>It’s more like God is allowing me to do my best - that all my practicing, training, etc. was not in vain.</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of Tebow’s style of Christianity for similar reasons as robym said. If it’s not about winning, then he should Tebow after a sack, or an errant throw, too–“accepting the will of God”. (I don’t like overt gestures from other athletes, either–his just get more press.) As a Christian, I find that view of Christianity troubling, and inconsistent. I see no evidence that God is up there deciding who He’s going to allow to do his best, and who he’s going to thwart. That’s almost blasphemous to me.</p>
<p>Even more than that, I hate the idea that everything is foredained (the “everything happens for a reason” outlook). That goes against the crucial idea that people are granted free will. And that we live on a miraculous, complex planet where billions of things happen every day which are outside of our understanding. That puppet view of humanity contradicts Jesus’ message, in my understanding, anyway.</p>
<p>(But gee, we were talking about football, right? McClintock–thanks for the overview. Somehow, as a UM alum, I was not really aware of Brady’s accomplishments, there. Those must have been my D’s high school and college application years. :))</p>