Unveiling The Missing "Faces" of Tim Tebow

Heading into week 3 we are still on "Tebow watch", but don't worry he is more than capable of staying exposed despite the Jets having nothing for him to do. The NFL Network is fast becoming a big time outlet and their " A Football Life" Documentary series can only rivaled by HBO produced values. Understandably they took on Tim Tebow but they did it in a creative way that allows viewers to enjoy the "list" styled format (successful with the "Top Ten" shows) and to learn a little bit about the history of the league. Many Football fans who examine the Tebow craze are prisoners of the moment, but the "A Football Life" profile clearly illustrated that a lot of what he see with him we've seen before. Now for the record, i am a "Tebow guy" and Ive been on board since his Heisman trophy winning year of 2008. However I'm not on board to the irrational degree, i believe you can be a contrarian but at some point you have to be able to deliver the ball. As someone watching the excellent production i couldn't help but think of how convenient it was for the NFL to leave out two faces that may dig into the pathos of Race and Sports in America. The league is legendary for "business as usual", and a conversation about Tebow's racial impact is not what i would call "Protecting the Shield". We here at the Loaded Gloves don't subscribe to the "memory hole" because we believe everything going on today has a sociological DNA, a code that created the current climate and people who inhabit it. I honestly felt the two faces i am about to include are glaring omissions, but then again i am not thinking with corporate interests in mind. The thing you need to know about being "bound" by larger interests is this; controversy or cynical truth is bad for business and will be covered up in plain sight for the betterment of shareholders.

 

 

Here are the Two Missing Faces of Tim Tebow

 

 

 

 

Pat Boone

 





 

Turn on your TV, turn to MSNBC and then to FOX News and tell me if you notice anything. The culture war is on, and even if you don't consider yourself an enlisted participant you cant avoid it. You cant ignore the "silent majority" or the conservative Right Wing that came to life as a Voting Block in the lat 70's when Jerry Falwell made his move on the Hippie Culture. We aren't that far removed from a President who returned voice mails from Religious Lobbyist immediately- because he knew where his bread was buttered. This universe is filled with media, politics, money and Jesus-Pat Boone was not only there for it's "inception" he is still regarded as a "go to" face of the conservative movement at age 79. His connection to Tim Tebow is one of similarities and cultural commonality, both icons just happened to have been gestated by the same group of people. Activist Groups like "Focus on the Family" and "Christian Coalition" are populated by white evangelical Protestants, and yes most of these groups love SEC Football. Pat Boone stood in the storm of a changing culture in the late 60's and 70's and Tim Tebow (in the opinion of his fans) is charged with a similar task. Tebow just recently stated he wouldn't "rule out politics", and just who do you think his constituency will be?. The Focus on Family funded Tebow's infamous Super Bowl Commercial; and they also receive 5% of Pat Boones "All American Meat" brand of steaks launched in 2010. Both men, have walked that fine line between the Evangelical and the crass Capitalism of show business and they encompass a sort of "Americanism" that when decoded means "white"  to certain groups. Pat Boone can question President Obama's Citizenship but if he's still with us when Tebow enters politics the Jacksonville  native wont say a word about Tebows birth in the Philippines-and i wonder why. Pat Boone gained prominence by selling sanitized versions of Rock and Roll (see Black) songs to a nation of so called "Good kids". Back then every SEC School had a Tebow and Boone even today is a symbol of an era that many conservative whites look back on romantically-you know when they didn't have to see us everywhere. Boone sold more records than anyone but Elvis and yet saw nothing wrong with his superiors (Little Richard) struggling to get paid for the songs they wrote. This hidden face of Tebow will stay hidden because he's a great kid but ultimately what he's "kinda" doing is legitimizing a style of play that was considered taboo when practiced by it's African American inventors. This is why Kordell Stewarts tone and inflection was shaded with a degree of pain and envy, because he knows Tebow isn't getting the full "racial treatment" black QB's get for using their legs.

The Second Missing Face of Tim Tebow....

Charley Ward

 

 



Ask Bobby Bowden who the best young man he ever met was and he wont hesitate, it was 1993 Heisman Trophy winner Charley Ward. Charley Ward internally was everything Tebow was in College, National champion, leader, and devout Christian who inspired respect from everyone he came into contact with. As a matter of fact I'm pretty sure Ward is a "Tebow guy" and has seen him in service for God more than a few times. Ward didn't have the support of the Christian Right, and there was no big push to put him in an NFL game nor run his College offense once in there. He wasn't even drafted, when Danny Wuerffel (Christian, Heisman 96'), Gino Toretta, and Eric Crouch were given the opportunity to show they couldn't play in the NFL. Eric Crouch won the Heisman running Tommy Frazier's offense, and yet Frazier (like Ward) wasn't drafted. Charlie Ward was our Roger Staubach, and trust me brotha's of a certain age still talk about him, in fact-i can see him in Stephen A. Smiths eyes when he tries to explain the concept of "Opportunity" to @RealSkipBayless. Cam Newton and RG3 are truly getting post racial opportunity but even Donovan McNabb (Drafted 1999) consciously removed a weapon from his arsenal because he didn't want to be type casted. Tim Tebow is Charley Ward in whiteface, but nobody that values their bottom line can point this out. Charley Ward is a good Christian, and he happened to be a serviceable NBA point guard at the time but what if he didn't have Basketball to fall back on?. If he had walked on as a Free Agent would there have been a demonstrative base of fans demanding that his franchise play him?. Would every achievement on the field be touted by Fox Show hosts like Sean O' Hannity as a triumph for Conservative Values?. I don't think so, he'd be just another anonymous guy, much like he is when it comes to the Tim Tebow Narrative.

This post is dedicated to my friend, lets call him Tommy. Tommy was a Black QB who played in a Major Conference back in the 1960's. Tommy is mentally ill, and he's suffered throughout his life with Alcohol and substance abuse; he is a Black QB advocate and historian. He can tell me about Black QB's from obscure Colleges i never bother to watch; his obsessive compulsion comes from a traumatic heartbreak in his early life-being drafted as a Running Back in 1965. He cant understand how i can be a "Tebow guy" after what he still believes to be a continuing unfair bias, recently citing the "blackballing" of Vince Young as an example. I tell him football is football , i root for people i like regardless of social history or commonality.During these debates he likes to say when he's mad at me " young brotha,you don't understand!",this post is my way of saying to my old friend...no Tommy, i do get it.