Tebowmania Soars to New Heights.

The Redel Traub Report has delighted in writing about in Tim Tebow over these past months, though admittedly much of it has been tongue in cheek. Tebow is the rare athlete who transcends sports, whose success or failure has symbolic importance. He has become an embodiment of the culture war, a litmus test for a worldview. Tebow's success has created a weird conflict, while Tebow's religion and politics are objectionable, he is the quintessential underdog. He is Rudy, an athlete who's told he doesn't have the physical tools to succeed, but manages to overcome the obstacles thanks to sheer determination. Tebow's story took a dramatic turn yesterday with the Bronco's shocking 29-23 defeat of the reigning AFC champion Steelers.

While Tebow's season up to this point has been a case study in lucky bounces and opponent mishaps, yesterday's game was completely different. Tebow was simply masterful, completing 10-21 passes for 316 yards and running 10 times for 50 yards.(The fact that Tebow's 316 yards has religious connotations, John 3:16 is a particularly famous bible verse, seems to have been lost on no one.) Tebow was an effective passer yesterday completing 3 passes of 50 or more yards, which happens to be 3 more than the Jets completed all season. The Bronco's followed the formula of letting the run set up the pass, and as the Steelers became more and more aggressive with their blitzes, the Broncos were able to take some shots downfield with success. If the writing I've done about Tebow to this point has denigrated his ability, let me be the first to say that yesterday he was very good.

During yesterday's game, for the first time I found myself explicitly rooting for Tebow. I root for upsets, for weirdness, for unconventionality, and Tebow and the Broncos embodied all of those things. If Tebow is unlikable because of his heavy handed religious views, then that puts him in the same category as many other athletes. Athletes are people, and thus flawed. Tebow's opposing QB yesterday, Ben Roethlisberger, has been accused of rape. In my fandom I've almost certainly rooted for all manner of felons. One of my heroes growing up was Latrell Sprewell who gained notoriety for choking his coach. If I've been able to overlook foibles in all of these cases, why not excuse Tebow? One answer that comes to mind is that all the other athletes expressed remorse for their transgressions, while Tebow openly flaunts his religion.

Apparently, after the Bronco's win, Tebow set the record for the most tweets per second about a sporting event. Tebow is a phenomenon, he has captured the cultural imagination. The Broncos will travel to Foxboro next weekend to play the Patriots, and will likely be huge underdogs. The Patriots beat them handily during the regular season, and Pat's Coach Bill Belichek, perhaps the best in the league, will be certain to draw up a complex defensive scheme which aims to stop Tebow. The Bronco's will likely lose, and we can be done talking about Tebow, at least until next season. However, if Tebow has taught us anything it's that the phrase "any given Sunday" is truer than we give it credit for, and anything can happen. Tebow has made this season fun, his crazy comebacks has lent an air of spontaneity and inanity that is enjoyable in the staid corporate atmosphere of the NFL.