Lee Witbeck, Sports Columnist
There is a marked difference between what New England Patriots coach and de facto GM Bill Belichick wants, and what fans (and his owner, Robert Kraft) want. Earlier this week, Tebow was released by the Patriots, ending his tenure with yet another team, and, some have speculated, perhaps marking the end of his NFL career.
I’m sure some fans were pleased at the news, being fans who harbor anti-Tebow sentiment. Personally, I can’t find many reasons to ‘hate’ the guy, as some fans do—I can barely find a reason to dislike him, other than that he is particularly bad at playing quarterback in the NFL. As a fan, I’d love to see him catch on somewhere and play football, though, because he does have a sense of magic, a sense of ‘maybe’. His early days in Denver were extremely exciting—does this guy have something special?
Of course, objectively, it’s clear that Tebow hasn’t been able to develop the skills to be a consistent signal caller. It’s obvious why teams would not be interested in signing him to a 53-man roster, on which you cannot waste a spot on someone who won’t contribute. Team after team has determined that the Heisman winner and two-time national champion does not have the requisite quarterbacking skills to make it worth keeping him around.
There is the disconnect—to Bill Belichick, Tim Tebow is a below-average quarterback and a media distraction. To the fans, Tim Tebow is one of the most polarizing figures in recent NFL history, and clearly one of the most interesting players in the league. (Robert Kraft, of course, sees both sides, which explains why he would say this week, “I love Tim Tebow and I very much wanted him on the team”. Who do you think profits from those jersey sales?) We as fans aren’t always interested in what makes the most football sense. We’re interested in what’s the most entertaining.
Remembering that football (and every other sport) is a game is sometimes hard to remember, considering how much cash runs through the blood of our nation’s athletic competitions. To players, coaches, GMs, and owners, it’s not, of course; it’s a job, for which they get paid, and their paycheck rests on their performance. Even in college, the life of an athlete requires tremendous dedication—up to 20 hours per week. That’s a part time job, while being a student. For everyone inside the game, it’s not just a game.
To fans, of course, it is. Yes, some people rise and fall like the tide, low with every loss and high with every win (unless, of course, you are a fan of the Crimson Tide. They never lose). For the most part, though, sports are what we do for fun: we gather with our friends to watch football at bars, we play fantasy sports, we talk endlessly about whether Chris Davis is on steroids, because no normal person could hit that many home runs. We make fun of our friends who root for our team’s rival, and then get paid back in full when our team loses the next time. We wear jerseys and pack out stadiums 100,000 strong to watch guys smash into each other. We love highlights—how many people do you know who will stop to watch if a TV is showing SportCenter’s Top 10 Plays?
I began thinking about this while reading about ESPN’s role in college football scheduling—in short, ESPN’s influence is tremendous—and how they’ve delivered us high profile college football matchups to start the season like LSU vs. TCU, or Clemson vs. Georgia (which was fantastic). As a high school coach, there is no way I would want to start the season against an opponent as good as my team—every coach will tell you, no matter how much you prepare, screwy things happen in that first game (many college coaches will also tell you they’d love to have a scrimmage for that very reason). As a fan, though? That’s exactly what I want. That’s why the NFL is giving us Broncos vs. Ravens tonight, and 49ers vs. Packers on Sunday. It’s what the fans want (and giving fans what they want almost always means more money for the NFL).
The disconnect is not cause for panic, at least not yet. It’s certainly changing aspects of the sports we love, but it’s not always bad. It’s simply something to remember when you wonder why in the world Roger Goodell would do whatever it is he will do next, or why seemingly half of the schools in college football have switched conferences. And maybe someday, when you’re a big time pro sports executive, you can remember that it’s just a game.
What I’ll Be Watching: Apologies to Baseball
I’m sorry, MLB. It’s football season now. You’ll get me back for a bit when playoffs start, but right now, it’s all football. Last week was college football, this week it’s pro football. And thank goodness, because the slate of college games is pretty weak (here are your top four, in order: 4) Texas at BYU; 3) Oregon at Virginia [pretty much every Ducks game is worth watching—they are fast]; 2) Florida at Miami [watch for Duke Johnson of the Hurricanes—go check his highlights on Youtube]; and, your week’s best matchup, 1) South Carolina at Georgia).
(As an aside, if you want to get some more football in, go check out your local high school team play on Friday night. Depending on where you live, it’s a fun experience. Bring the kids, go by yourself, go with a friend, get a hot dog, sit in the stands and cheer, watch the marching band… Football under the lights on Friday night is a unique experience.)
The opening weekend of NFL games is stacked, both with high profile matchups (the previously mentioned Denver vs. Baltimore and San Francisco vs. Green Bay matchups, as well as Chicago vs. Cincinnati), and intriguing, entertaining ones: Atlanta vs. New Orleans, St. Louis vs. Arizona, Dallas vs. New York, Washington vs. Philly, Detroit vs. Minnesota. In short, it’s a good weekend for football. And unlike the college game, pro teams have had 4 games to tighten the screws. It should be a rollicking first week.
QuickLee: “A Rebuilding Year”
The worst place to get stuck is in mediocrity. It leaves you outside the playoffs, and outside of contention for the top college talent. Fans hate the rebuilding year while it happens, and owners are afraid of the rebuilding year, for that reason. They don’t want to lose the fans, the source of their cash flow.
When it comes down to it, though, smart teams rebuild when necessary. Look at the Seahawks—when Pete Carroll and John Schneider arrived, they jettisoned all the overpaid players and useful veterans. They knew that the core of that team, which hadn’t been particularly good, was nearing the end of its usefulness. To get better, they needed to get young and cheap, and that’s what they did. Because they drafted well and hit a few key surprises (*cough* Russell Wilson *cough*), they got good in a hurry. (The other option is to do what the 49ers did: draft well over a long period of time, but continually trot out coaches incapable of using the talent correctly—Mike Nolan, Mike Singletary, I’m looking at you. Eventually, when you have enough first round draft picks on your roster, you bring in a great coach and he takes you one play away from winning a Super Bowl in a very short period of time.)
The point here is not enough organizations take the long view, and it drags them to the bottom (see: the New York Jets). If you want to be a consistent winner, you have to look down the road, and build your team around the future, not just the now.
Not Taken LightLee: The Carolina Panthers
Is this decision driven by the fact that Cam Newton is the quarterback on my fantasy team? Maybe. Do I think they actually have a shot in this game? Maybe. Do the Seahawks need new uniforms? Yes. Absolutely. (Seriously, though, someone thinks this is okay for an NFL team to wear? It looks like an Arena Football uniform.)
The Panthers are an underrated team—Cam Newton is a legitimately good quarterback. He falls victim to the “running QB” line of thinking, in which anyone with any athleticism at the quarterback position is somehow less capable as a passer, simply by the fact of being able to run. He has a top flight weapon on the outside—Steve Smith—and a good running back behind him in DeAngelo Williams. Luke Kuechly is an absolute stud on defense, and if Jon Beason is even remotely healthy, they’ll be tough on defense. Not good, but tough.
I also just want to pick against the Seahawks because everybody thinks they’re the second coming of the ’85 Bears, and I don’t like them. So there.
YTD Record: 6-10
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