OK, So He Can't Throw A Football...

Ross Douthat is very interesting on Tim Tebow in Sodom.  Or Gomorrah:

Tebow in Babylon

By ROSS DOUTHAT

THE Prophet Jonah was sent to Nineveh. St. Paul was sent to Athens, Macedonia, Rome. And now Tim Tebow has been sent to New York City.

There was a moment last week when it looked as if the trade shipping Tebow from the Denver Broncos to the New York Jets might somehow fall through — that Tebow might end up a Jacksonville Jaguar instead, with a guaranteed starting job, a heavily evangelical fan base, and none of the insanity involved in eclipsing Jeremy Lin as the most famous Christian athlete in Babylon-upon-the-Hudson.

O ye of little faith. Did you think that the Lord God of Hosts, having raised Tebow up as a Gideon of the gridiron, would pass up the opportunity to put his faithful servant to the test? Did you think that the angelic screenwriters responsible for scripting last year’s succession of Tebow-related improbabilities had nodded off after the Broncos were dispatched in the A.F.C. playoffs? Did you think that the archons and demiurges who preside over America’s culture war would be content to let Tebow fade into obscurity — some red-state-friendly endorsement deals, a few 6-10 finishes, and then early retirement and a lifetime of under-the-radar charity work?

And yes, this may be a storybook:

Nothing discredits religion quite like the gap that often yawns between what believers profess and how they live. With Tebow, that gap seems so narrow as to be invisible. (“There’s not an ounce of artifice or phoniness or Hollywood in this kid Tebow,” ESPN’s Rick Reilly wrote last year of the quarterback’s charitable works, “and I’ve looked everywhere for it.”) He fascinates, in part, because he behaves — at least in public, and at least for now — the way one would expect more Christians to behave if their faith were really true.

But the fascination doesn’t end there. Tebow’s religion doesn’t just promise a path to personal transformation. It claims that every human life is actually a story with an Author, and that a genuinely Christian life should make that divine Authorship manifest.

So in Tebow’s case, the link between faith and football can’t actually be broken. The more that his professional career seems like, well, a storybook — with exciting up and downs, new opportunities and unexpected twists — the more credible his faith in providence becomes.

Note that “a storybook” is not the same as “an inevitable success.” In Christian theology as in young-adult fiction, even the author’s most beloved characters can suffer pain, temptation, failure, exile. The lives of the saints often end in martyrdom. The gentle, brutalized Peeta Mellark is as much the hero of “The Hunger Games” as the indomitable Katniss Everdeen.

So even the most pious of Jets fans shouldn’t expect a Super Bowl title. But if their new quarterback’s story really has an Author, they’re in for a pretty interesting ride.

The Rick Reilly column is well worth reading, as is this Huffington Post piece on Tebow's predilection for dating ten year olds.  And sixteen year olds - c'mon!

A lot of New York writers will dedicate their lives to finding Tebow's feet of clay, but Derek and Mariano have managed a career's worth of exemplary behavior without letting their fans down.

Comments

[Gmax]

Ross Douchebag? Meh

Meanwhile its 46 approval 52% Disapproval in Rasmussen on a fine Spring morning in Texas.

[Clarice]

Ross's writing in that piece is spectacularly good.

[Gmax]

even the most pious of Jets fans shouldn’t expect a Super Bowl title

Apparently douchebag is unfamiliar with the story of David V Goliath?

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 16 at Raz today.

Trails Romney by 2.

[Naomy]

When I was searching for some dofollow blogs ,I found yours.I love to comment on this post

[Cecil Turner]

Well, since he brought up Hunger Games . . .

My teen daughter dragged me to it, and it was surprisingly good. The premise is more than a little warped: a post-decimation dystopia wherein teens fight to the death for the amusement of the ruling class, oppression of the masses, and television ratings. The action sequences are blurred out and ridiculous (kids training for years but don't know how to use a sword?), the alliances more than a little dubious, and the final outcome unsatisfying.

But it works, largely because of an engaging story line and superior acting (especially good performances by the supporting cast, Stanley Tucci in particular). Just goes to show: a questionable sci-fi concept can be redeemed by good execution. Which, come to think of it, is somewhat analogous to Tim Tebow's football sensation.

[Janet]

“There’s not an ounce of artifice or phoniness or Hollywood in this kid Tebow,” ESPN’s Rick Reilly wrote last year of the quarterback’s charitable works, “and I’ve looked everywhere for it.”

Wouldn't it be great to have even a little investigative effort into some of the phoniness & hypocrisy of "journalists", "reporters", "experts", lib. flotsam non-profit spokesmen, & "entertainment" people? Even just a little....

“No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you too!” John 15:20

[Ignatz]

--My teen daughter dragged me to it, and it was surprisingly good. The premise is more than a little warped: a post-decimation dystopia wherein teens fight to the death for the amusement of the ruling class, oppression of the masses, and television ratings.--

Death Race 2000 with Carradine in a cardboard car replaced by a girl and her bow?
It couldn't have been better than DR 2000, could it?

[Danube of Thought]

I like Tebow a great deal. But as long as that completion percentage us below the Mendoza Line, it ain't happening.

[Extraneus]

Can Tebow improve as a passer? Sanchez clearly hasn't done so in his three years as the starter, but maybe Tebow's breath on the back of his neck will help him. Otherwise, the fans will be hollering to find out the answer to the question. I know I will.

[Jack is Back!]

I have been watching Tebow since he was a junior in high school in St. Augustine. He was such a phenom back then we would travel 30 miles to watch him play on Friday nights. A lot of people in NE Florida did the same thing. SRO at most of his games. Dozens of college scouts at every game. Even though he was home schooled in Florida you can join school sports teams and clubs and bands even if not in classes.

When Tebow committed to the Gators there was a roar you could hear for hundreds of miles. He was the real deal and we all knew that with him there would be national titles. His faith and altruism has alwasy been there. I am somewhat surprised that he has continued with professional football rather than a full time mission. I think he is trying to put together enough money to finally do what he truly believes in and that is a mission in the Phillipines for orphans and disadvantaged children. It not there, then it will be somewhere where he believes he can do the most good.

How a guy like this fits into Gotham and the dysfunctional Jets is to be discovered one kneel down and prayer at a time. But my money is Tebow wins and the tabloids lose because everything so far that he has done is believable - something the New York media can't claim of itself.

[Captain Hate]

Even though he was home schooled in Florida you can join school sports teams and clubs and bands even if not in classes.

I wondered about this. No wonder the libs hate him so much; he's attacking the holy grail of public schools.

What isn't getting so much press is what will happen to Elway if Peyton Manning takes a hard shot to the neck behind that sieve of an offensive line that didn't do so well in front of a traditional QB like Kyle Orton? Can you say major screw up, John?

[daddy]

I see that Douthat says "that Paul was sent to Athens...".

A minor point to me, a non religious non-expert, but the text as far as I am aware, does not say that
"Paul was sent to Athens."

Without question Paul did much wonderful stuff in Athens, and i have stood on the Aeropagus many times, contemplating the unknown God Paul mentioned. Anyhow, I may be wrong or uninformed, and so I put this out there for our Janet and other JOMer's to set me straight---was Paul actually "sent" to Athens as Douthat says, or did he wind up there by reasons different from "being sent"?

Right or wrong, I would love to know.

[Ralph L]

Who is Mariano?

[narciso]

No, Daddy, the metaphor doesn't work at all at any entry level, Paul went but wasn't sent, he went because he could most effectively reach the Gentiles with his mastery of Greek and Latin,

[Ignatz]

--Right or wrong, I would love to know.--

Daddy, it appears in Acts 15 that Paul and Barnabas along with some others were sent out by the church in Jerusalem on Paul's second missionary journey which included Athens.

[Danube of Thought]

Mariano Rivera, a.k.a. the Hammer of God, the Yankees' closer who is the greatest of all time at that task.

[Janet]

I don't know, daddy. Here is a timeline site.

Acts 15:36 on tells about the 2nd missionary journey.

[daddy]

"Just goes to show: a questionable sci-fi concept can be redeemed by good execution. Which, come to think of it, is somewhat analogous to Tim Tebow's football sensation.

Beautiful comment CT. Ha!

[Ignatz]

--Acts 15:36 on tells about the 2nd missionary journey.--

Acts 13 says that Paul and Barnabas were sent out on the first missionary journey by the church in Antioch and moreover by the Holy Spirit.
They return to Jerusalem after the first journey and are sent out by Peter and the church in Jerusalem back up to Antioch to begin the second journey.
I could be wrong but I think the second journey is the only time he visits Athens.
The text doesn't say that the church ever sent him to Athens specifically only that he was sent on the journeys at the outset.

[Janet]

I'm going to the Supreme Court today at 2. This is a continuation of the Stand Up For Religious Freedom rally.

It is about ALL our freedoms though. Please get engaged. Don't be quiet anymore. We have been quiet for too long.

[Jane]

You go Janet!!!!

Thank you!

[Gmax]

With you in spirit Janet. Better to light a candle than curse the darkness. Keep up the fight, we are winning.

[daddy]

Thanks Iggy,

I think what set me off is that I am fed up with the Left giving us the history of Christianity as distilled thru the Andrew Sullivan's and the Sally Quinn's, and I simply wanted the textual specific's from the text with reasonable elucidation.

Grazzi, JOM family!

[narciso]

Not to mention, Lisa Miller, that worships at
the 'Church of Xanax, which explains much, I saw the Daily Basilisk is going retro, with
the typesetting from 1965, vainly in search
of relevance,

[PaulV]

Act 16:9
King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.

[Janet]

Thank you!

Thank you, Jane!! Your Metro ticket is getting me home after these rallies. :)

[Manuel Transmission]

Speaking of post-decimation distopia, Someone on the other side of the Martin/Zimmerman bulge asked for fave post-apocolypse movies. My all time fave was A Boy and His Dog. A young oversexed Don Johnson? What could possibly go wrong!

Having only lived in central Ahia for a short time when it came out, the underground abstraction of middle America was a little too close to the local Corn Festivals to not see parallels.

[daddy]

Hi MT,

Excellent post last night on your buddy running for office.

Keep us posted, as you are now his de-facto JOM Campaign Manager.

[Jane]

Thank you, Jane!! Your Metro ticket is getting me home after these rallies. :)

That means I am there in spirit! Yay!

[Stephanie]

K was in Washington on a school trip from WV yesterday and said she saw the rally going on.

Was Sarah Palin there? K tweeted me that she saw her, but I have not seen any pics from the rallies that she was there. Might have been another woman? Totally confused.

[macphisto]

i've always liked The World, The Flesh, And The Devil. it's a classic H-bomb-era last-man-on-Earth scenario with Harry Belafonte as the last man standing in NYC...or is he? it's chock-full of cheesily portentous symbolism, weird emoting from Belafonte, and the sort of implausible plot twists one expects in this sort of thing. and yes, he sings a song.

[Janet]

Stephanie,
The rally on Saturday was the Road to Repeal rally. I didn't go to that one. There is a list of speakers at the link.

[ME]

daddy,

to add a philological note to the general chorus: Paul calls himself an apostle, though he was not one of the Twelve, and the word apostle (ἀπόστολος ) comes from the Greek for "send" (ἀποστέλλειν). As Iggy noted, Acts 13:2-4 says that the Holy Spirit and the church in Antioch send him forth to preach, after his conversion. But it seems perfectly in keeping with the tradition to attribute every one of Paul's missions to a "sending," whether or not the scriptures describe a church's commission: that's what we mean when we call Paul the apostle to the gentiles. If he went of his own accord, we would fear that he was preaching himself, rather than Christ crucified.

Also, Ross Douthat is no lefty. Surely you don't mean to compare him to Sally Quinn or Andy Sullivan, right? He's a Catholic conservative who is serious about his Catholicism and his conservatism. I don't understand the antipathy some JOMers feel toward him -- not unless they object to his social conservatism. See the LUN for an example of Douthat's wrath toward the lefty Catholics who helped to elect Obama.

[narciso]

Pieces like this, have become a thing in evaluating Douthat;

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2010/03/ask-a-rhetorical-question-ross-douthat-edition.html

[ME]

narciso,

Thanks for the link, but I still don't understand. What on earth is wrong with the piece you cite? Douthat did not and does not support Obamacare; he was simply explaining why Cassidy supported it despite its flaws -- and mocking the New Yorkers' editors as he did so. TM seemed to understand that, judging by his title.