The Tamesis
Taylor Antrim’s “Superman Returns” was originally published in the October 2012 issue of Superman Returns Fashion.
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A perfect late-summer night in Cincinnati—blue skies, cottony clouds—and a low-stakes preseason game: It’s about as lazy as pro football can get. Beach balls bounced around the stadium and a few seconds of high-decibel blasts from Nicki Minaj’s “Pound the Alarm” failed to excite the relaxed, contented crowd.
But when a certain quarterback takes the field — Tim Tebow, the newest member of the New York Jets and the most controversial, most praised, most maligned, most amazing quarterback in the NFL — the mood changes. The scattered boos quickly turned into silence. Thousands of camera phones are flashing.
Tebow’s first play was a twelve-yard pass. There was a burst of surprised cheers. After two takes? Fourteen yards quarterback spin rush. “This is a miracle!” one audience member said half-jokingly. These are Bengals fans, but you can already hear the chants starting – like they can’t help themselves: “Tebow, Tebow, Tebow!“
Tim was used to this reaction. The 25-year-old devout Christian heartthrob possesses palpable charisma, a radiant charisma that one of his fellow evangelicals might call an aura. The gossip sections tirelessly chronicled his red carpet appearances, calling it a hit. Critics, however, pointed out that his arm movement was sluggish and his accuracy was poor. He simply doesn’t play like an elite NFL quarterback. “I had a lot of fun,” he said, ignoring them. “I enjoyed life and pursued it. I’m still happy doing it.”
still. Because he’s been pursuing it since being raised by missionary parents on a farm in Jacksonville, Florida, from joining the Pee Wee football team and being “lifted” with a surgical tube attached to the door until his father relented and put a weight in the barn. Tim is an intense, happy, competitive kid – whether he’s playing board games with his two older sisters or playing every sport under the sun with his older brothers. “They loved playing in the rain and mud,” recalled his mother, Pam, who homeschooled the five children. “They even built their own golf course on the ranch.”
But Timme doesn’t look like a natural quarterback; He was so tall that his earliest coaches wanted him to play linebacker or linebacker. However, there was only one dream position, so he and his father found a team that would allow him to play it. Nice High School’s football program was one of the weakest schools in the area; with Tebow at quarterback, they won the state championship. Next up was Florida, where he took home the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore (a first) and led the Gators to two national championships. Then the Denver Broncos drafted him as their backup. With so much success, commentators harped on his size and his style of play. “‘You’ll never make it in the NFL,'” he remembers them saying. “I just love it! I try to build on it, overcome challenges and obstacles, and keep growing.”
He overcame his critics in spectacular fashion with the Broncos last season, scrambling around, eyes darting for receivers and throwing more than a few wildly off-target passes. Yet somehow, somehow, he still win One exciting game after another – usually in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. His victory prayer, where he knelt down and put his fist to his forehead, sparked a nationwide craze known, naturally, as “Tebowing.” he teased in a friendly way saturday night live (from Jason Sudeikis’ acerbic “Jesus”) and admitted to reporters that, yes, he was saving himself for marriage. Heartland churchgoers, city sophisticates, football newbies – everyone was captivated by his will to win. “A presence that is inexplicable but certainly felt,” said Bob Costas at the height of his powers.
