User:Tee Hen10

Tebow-mania is a Portmanteau commonly used to describe the media frenzy and coverage surrounding American Football Quarterback Tim Tebow. Beginning with his high school career, Tebow received a significant amount of media coverage for his play on the field as well as his outspoken Christian beliefs. Media coverage of Tebow, particularly from networks such as ESPN intensified as he led the Florida Gators to two separate college football national championship victories in 2006 and 2008 and won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore in 2007. Media saturation led to both positive and negative effects for Tebow.

High School and College Years
Tebow's unique success as a superstar athlete in high school despite not attending a public or private institution led to a clamoring of homeschooled parents and athletes wanting to allow their students to compete at the highest levels of athletic competition. Homeschool advocates in Alabama created a "Tim Tebow Bill", which, according to proponents, allows "homeschooled students equal access to sports and extracurricular activities." [1] Tebow was followed by an ESPN documentary dubbing him "The Chosen One"[2], which set him apart from other highly-touted recruits. Tebow's high school legacy was such that multiple states attempted to adopt similar legislation that would allow homeschooled athletes to play with public schools regardless of their enrollment status.[3]

Even after he chose to play for Florida and coach Urban Meyer, his fame had preceded him onto campus. National media heralded him as a potential starter before he had even played a down, and some media publications noted he was getting more attention than record-breaking three year starter Chris Leak.[4] After his first year as a starter in which he became the first underclassman to win the Heisman Trophy, Tebow received even more attention from preseason magazines as the Gators were primed for a run at their second national championship in three seasons. Some, however, were critical of the attention that Tebow was receiving, with blogs such as Deadspin satirically branding ESPNU as "Tim Tebow's Network".[5] Prior to the start of Tebow's senior season, media publications noted that Tebow became "the rare college athlete" who "becomes part of popular culture." [6]

NFL Career
Tebow's drafting in the 2010 NFL Draft was considered by many to be controversial, as he was a first round pick of the Denver Broncos in a draft in which many experts claimed he would not be worthy of a first round selection. [7] [8] [9] Upon Tebow's arrival in Denver, many veteran players, including Ray Lewis, had heard constant narratives of Tebow's relentless work ethic trumpeted throughout his college career, and resented that Tebow "...was made a big issue" by the media, with Lewis claiming that "I don't know why he was bigger...than any of the other guys." [10] ESPN personalities such as Merril Hoge have built a significant amount of notoriety for deriding Tebow on shows such as Sunday NFL Countdown, in an attempt to puncture what many perceived as overinflated hype concerning Tebow. [11] Despite a mixed record as a starting Quarterback, Tebow has consistently been among the NFL leaders in jersey sales. [17]

Reaction to Statements of Faith
Tebow's outspoken religious views have provoked both positive and negative responses from the media and football fans. Many evangelical Christians have supported Tebow to varying degrees. Tebow received thousands of requests to speak at churches and Fellowship of Christian Athletes groups, and he has spoken at prisons in hopes of leading inmates to Christ. [12] Evangelical leaders such as Pat Robertson have condemned anyone standing in his way, most famously when Robertson wished injury on Peyton Manning after the Denver Broncos traded for Manning to replace Tebow. [13]

Negative reaction has also accompanied Tebow's public sentiments of faith from personalities such as Bill Maher [14] and even Saturday Night Live. [15] Criticism of Tebow's professions of faith have in turn received their own criticisms, citing the first amendment and could be indicative of other issues not expressly related to Christianity. ESPN executives have suggested that their network's consistent focus on Tebow-related stories could be responsible for some of the anti-Tebow backlash. [16]