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The Tebow Effect

12/19/2011

 
There's been a lot of talk about Tim Tebow, the quarterback for the Denver Broncos, because of two simple facts: A) Since making him the team's quarterback, the Broncos have reversed a trend by actually winning a few football games, and B) he is very public and demonstrative about his Christian faith. Most of the talk about Tebow has centered around the possibility of a relationship between A and B.
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Now, in respect to both, A and B, I root for different teams. I am a fan of the New England Patriots (who thrashed Tebow and the Broncos last night, thank you very much) and I am a Jew. Yet, I can admire Tebow both for his considerable athletic prowess and for his sincerely held religious beliefs. What is more, as a religious person myself, I know that there almost certainly is a relationship between Tebow's faith and his performance on the field.  

When faith is a regular part of people's lives, their awareness tends to expand beyond their personal desires to include a broader sense of what is best for their community, for their coreligionists, or for the world and all humanity. People who practice faith are in the habit of approaching life with an ideal of service to others, and, like a muscle, that potential strengthens with use. People who practice faith are practiced in seeing the universe as a place of order and seeing themselves as having a place within that order. As a result, they tend to approach life with greater acceptance of "what is" and tend to have a greater sense of equanimity and inner strength. 

How could these qualities not be an asset to a quarterback, whose job requires awareness of the needs of his team, dedication to serving those needs, and the confidence and inner stillness required to throw a perfect spiral with a 250-pound defensive end approaching?

Before folks get huffy with what I just wrote, let me be clear on two points about what I am not saying. I am not saying that people who do not practice a faith do not have these qualities. I, and you, know lots of people who are generous in spirit, devoted to service, who have great inner strength, and who have never once prayed, studied a sacred text, meditated, or practiced downward facing dog. I am just saying that engaging in these practices, on the whole, can help a person achieve those qualities. I am not saying that a quarterback can be successful only by being a person of faith. I submit Ben Roethlisberger as exhibit for the defense. I am just saying that the practice of faith can help—or, as the Jewish saying goes, "It couldn't hurt." (To make it Jewish, pronounce the last word as if spelled "hoyt.")

So, yes, I do believe that there is a connection between Tim Tebow's devotional life and his success on the field. That makes sense to me and, I think, it makes sense to most people who have a significant faith practice.

The place where the conversation about Tebow and religion gets silly for me, though, is when people ask if Tebow's success is due to divine intervention. Is Tim Tebow "God's Quarterback"? 

The fact that people even ask the question is due to a phenomenon that I will call "The Tebow Effect." The Tebow Effect has gone by other names, such as "The Reggie White Effect" and "The Michael Chang Effect," named for earlier athletes who stirred controversy by professing their faith in the same manner as others might endorse a product. In each case, the controversy was magnified by the suggestion (sometimes by the athlete, sometimes by others) that God favors the faithful on the playing field. That, of course, raises hackles on all sides. 

Secularists respond by scoffing and saying that such beliefs show how mindless and absurd religion is. Religious fundamentalists then react with equally passionate statements about how they are persecuted and derided in mainstream culture. Religious liberals, like me, write essays (peppered with self-effacing humor) about how both sides are wrong. The athlete gets to be the center of media attention for a little while, making his publicist very happy. Voila, there you have it—The Tebow Effect.

Being a creature of the fickle media, The Tebow Effect can never last very long. It will soon be displaced by the next cultural phenomenon to divert our attention. So, let's just enjoy The Tebow Effect while it lasts and use it as an opportunity to reflect. It can remind us what religious faith is really about—deepening our connection to life's meaning, honing our appreciation of the miracles that surround us, acting to make the world a better place, and finding peace within ourselves and with the world around us. 

And if winning the odd football game should enter the process at the same time, bravo to that.

Other posts on this theme:
Why Torah is Like Baseball 
Reb Rachel link
12/19/2011 03:09:09 am

Well-said!

Susan Le Gresley
12/19/2011 08:33:52 pm

What I would say is that practicing faith, based in God breathed Scripture, (of any denomination) gives one the moment of 'pause', before acting. The essential moment of reflection within the fractal second of time to see where that 'Ball' is going, and like the prayer we all make, within the discipline of our own 'handle' of faith, know that it will 'hit the mark' before it has left our hand. 2 Timothy, 3v16-17. ( with the inclusive 'person' substitute).

Rian McMullin
1/13/2012 04:21:19 am

EXTENDING THE TEBOW EFFECT
We are all aware of the success of Tim Tebow. He has taken a 1-4 team into the post season and provided a dramatic overtime win in the playoffs. Tebow has quickly moved from a young football star to a cultural icon. The media have labeled the phenomenon "the Tebow Effect". Some people have attributed his success to his religious beliefs. They suggest that God appreciates Tebow’s support and rewards him by giving his team five improbable come-from-behind victories. But clearly, this description is overly congratulatory. God wouldn’t give a whole team a victory just because one player was ostentatiously devout. Suppose the rest of the team were big sinners. And what about the other team? If the Tebow Effect works, shouldn’t we be able to take the aggregate spiritual level of all the members of one team and compare it with the level of the opposing team? The team with the highest combined rating should then be given the victory.
But even here there is a major difficulty. It dramatically changes the sport of football. Teams would start recruiting players because of their spiritual level rather than their athletic skill. Imagine the NFL Draft a few years ago. There would have been a huge bidding war for Mother Teresa. Everybody would have competed for her because drafting her would significantly improve the spiritual average of any team, and greatly enhance their chance of winning. The Broncos could have used her as a holder for field goal kicks or something. Unfortunately, there is a regrettable unintended image accompanying this scenario. Imagine a 4’10” elderly nun, wearing an oversized helmet emblazed with the head of a white horse with a red main, running on to the field to hold the ball for a last minute, 80-yard field-goal attempt. Most true sports fans would judge this as unseemly.

But it doesn’t make a lot of sense to reward the spirituality of individual players. They’re just hired hands for a team, anyway. It makes a lot more sense to rate the overall spirituality of the city. Therefore, a week before a game, we should take the average spiritual rating of the fans of one city and compare it to the fans of the other city. God knows which fans are good or bad, so if one city wants to beat the other, they had best reduce their own lying, cheating, coveting, sloth, lust, pride, envy, and gluttony for a week.

So if you want to win, you had best get on your knees and be on your best behavior. You know who is watching. St. Tebow can't do it alone. If you do, you will be given a victory; if you don’t, you will lose and will only have yourself to blame.


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