How ESPN Killed Tim Tebow's Career

By W.T. Salisbury M.D.

Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow is currently in the process of washing out of the NFL, and if you're one of those people who can't stand him, you have ESPN to thank.

The mothership went out of it's way to push the "Tebow angle" because they thrive on beating a dead horse, reviving it, and beating it again.

It's no secret that personalities were instructed to mention Tebow as often as possible. Former ESPN college basketball analyst and current CBS punching bag Doug Gottlieb mentioned this fact a while back on The Dan Patrick Show.

I was told specifically, 'You can't talk enough Tebow.' I would jokingly throw it into a segment. 'I gotta find 15 seconds here to talk about Tebow, all right let's move on and talk about Major League Baseball.'

And this is what ESPN does now. Rather than report the news they attempt to create it in the most haphazard of manners.

What the actual story consists of is inconsequential. Whether it's Brett Favre coming out of retirement, anything someone like Tebow or LeBron James says, or a big upcoming event they're broadcasting, ESPN loves to jam it down our throats until we finally say, "Man, this must be a big deal".

Tebow in particular has been the goose that lays the golden egg. The trouble is, rather than let the eggs come when they're ready ESPN decided to scream in the goose's ear to goad it along.

"I want to control the news cycle NOW!"

Eventually, the poor beast became so stressed out by these fools that it couldn't lay any eggs at all.

Having no alternatives, they killed, cooked and carved the bird devouring it whole only to move on to the next unlucky fowl.

If it wasn't clear, Tim Tebow is the goose in this scenario.

Certainly, the fact that Tim Tebow isn't a very good quarterback is also a factor in his being blackballed. But he's at least as capable as a host of second and third string backups throughout the NFL.

Most young guys with raw talent and a flawed throwing motion would get a chance to naturally develop behind a more polished veteran. For example, Philip Rivers throws a football like I discard an empty beer can but he's now a veteran Pro Bowler.

Sometimes patience pays off, sometimes it doesn't. Backups wash out all the time—even former first round draft picks—but rarely do they receive attention like this.

ESPN went out of their way to constantly bombard us with Tebow coverage, even injecting him into unrelated stories. They oversaturated the market with Tebow nonsense to such an extent that he became a "circus" and too big of a "risk" for teams to consider bringing him on board.

Now, ESPN has the gall to report on how he can't find a job as a free agent because of this "circus" that their very network had a significant role in creating.

Tim Tebow minding his own business. HOW DARE HE?!

It's the worst kind of non-journalism. ESPN doesn't report the news, they make it. It's manufactured in a gleaming, high-definition studio trimmed with neon backlights and greed all quaintly nestled in rural Connecticut.  

Nothing Tebow does on his own really stirs up controversy that isn't created by the media.

Does he talk about his religion? Yeah, but only when he's asked about it. He doesn't go out of his way to mention it when being asked football questions.

Even if he does bring it up, it's to thank his Lord and savior for his blessings which seemingly every marginal athlete does when interviewed postgame.

Again, he is flawed as a player even though he has the intangibles of "heart"and "toughness" which every hack of a general manager and hard-nosed coach claims to want in a player.

Truth is, they don't know what they want. You hear people whispering with increasing volume that Tebow will have to change positions to stay in the league.

Right. That makes sense.

Because I'm sure a former quarterback drafted in the first round will draw far less attention as a back-up tight end. No way SportsCenter would play that story on loop 24/7.

These people are incompetent boobs of the first order.

The NFL won't make a move because of the feared media distraction and ESPN won't shut up about the media distraction even though THEY ARE THE DISTRACTION.

Coming up on SportsCenter, can Ouroboros perform in the clutch? Stephen A. Smith will scream at you about it...

ESPN has become Ouroboros, the mythical serpent that eats its own tail. It is a neverending cycle of fake arguments and hot air that tries in vain to re-create itself but succeeds only in driving the wedge further between viewers and their programming.

One can only hope the monster finally does devour itself, if not for Tim Tebow's sake, than for the sanity of all.

Turning Up The Heat on Lebron James

Self-inflicted or not, the backlash experienced by the Miami Heat is just as unprecedented as the lineup they assembled in South Beach.

Most of the jabs and open criticisms are being hurled at Lebron James.

As one ESPN story put it in the lead, “DeShawn Stevenson admitted that beating self-proclaimed king LeBron James made the Dallas Mavericks' championship even sweeter.”

Self-proclaimed?

Certainly, James has done little to temper the exultations of some observers, though he did dismiss recent comments by Scottie Pippen stating Lebron was better than Michael Jordan.

Lebron is in many respects a creation of the modern sports media. He was hailed as a king a decade ago, appearing on both ESPN The Magazine and Sports Illustrated before his senior year of high school.

His games were plastered all over ESPN and regional pay-per-view in Ohio.

His teenage ego was stroked and massaged, then thrust into the spotlight as an 18-year-old kid.

Yes Lebron is cocky. Yes he seems to have no problem letting everyone know how important and talented he is. I can’t imagine where that came from.

He was a chiseled athlete right out of central casting. He’s charismatic, good-looking and has no problem joking around even earning acclaim for some television appearances.

Selected by the hometown team of Cleveland, he was the local boy making good for a moribund franchise in a city that hasn’t known joy in ages.

But then he left town, and that didn’t fit the narrative at all. Now Lebron has been recast as the villain, and the criticism grows louder and pressure increases.

As celebrity scholar Chris Rojek has stated, “the mass-media who build up celebrities are often unable to resist engineering their downfall”.

It’s too good a story. Awesome player #1 joins #2 and #3 to form a super team. The most unbeatable thing in the history of sport we’re told.

Sure the Heat players made no secret that they expect to win multiple championships, but what should they say when asked?

INTERVIEWER: “Lebron, how many titles will you win in Miami?”

JAMES: “I don’t know. I’m just happy to be here.”

INTERVIEWER: “Aren’t you confident in your new team’s abilities with you involved?”

JAMES: “Well sure, but I just don’t think me coming here is that big of a deal. I’m not the first person who’s taken a pay cut to get out of Cleveland.”

What makes the story sweeter is when the unstoppable force falls short of its goal. The jilted former lovers that are Cavalier fans can rejoice and everyone else takes pleasure in avoiding, for a season at least, a frighteningly powerful new NBA dynasty.

While a Heat loss means complete failure to many, I find it fairly impressive they came as close as they did to winning in one season. Just ask the New York Yankees how easy it is to blend a number of highly compensated stars together to win a championship. It’s almost impossible in one season. The most talent doesn’t always win.

Maybe the Heat needed to lose once in the NBA Finals before a slew of championship rings can be handed out. Maybe being so close will help form a tighter bond and make them unstoppable.

There’s no question Lebron James will be even more eager to silence his growing number of critics. The Heat should be better and that might be enough, but who knows.

You have to look no further than Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki to realize how tough it is to win championships even with good teams. He’s led the Mavericks to eleven consecutive playoffs and only now have they finally won the elusive ring.

The Heat will win a title at some point, maybe even several. It might come next year, but it could just as easily take three or four seasons.

The only thing that’s certain is that it will be difficult because of the nature of the task at hand, and because of the scrutiny of fans and media continuing to turn up the heat on Lebron James and Co.