CORTLAND, N.Y. â" Tim Tebow's "Baywatch" moment â" running off the practice field in driving rain with no shirt on Saturday morning â" quickly generated national attention.
The Jets' back-up quarterback laughed when asked about it today. He said he had not seen the video montage shown on TV and never expected it to be news. He acknowledged that life is different in the nation's largest media market.
"I mean, I can't tell you how many times probably in Florida or Denver after practice I would do sprints back and forth with that and jog off the field and never think about it again," Tebow said today. "And it would never get reported and now it does."
Tebow said what was running through his mind at the moment was that his shirt felt like "20 pounds" after practicing in the rain and signing autographs for nearly half an hour.
"Didn't really think yâall would would be filming it and taking pictures," he said.
Tebow also received some light heckling from a handful of Jets fans on a few wobbly throws or poor plays in that practice Saturday, but Tebow says he tries not to pay attention to the noise from the crowd.
The public attention around Tebow is of grand proportions. He did not have the chance to go to church Sunday, because of the team's practice and meeting schedule, and said going into church in town here probably wouldn't be in the plans. Instead, the team chaplain may run a Bible study, he said.
And instead of going out for food, he's been ordering in or stopping at the dorm cafeteria.
"Sometimes it does get a little comical and funny to me," Tebow said of the attention. "It's really not cliché, I just try not to think about it or worry about it or pay attention to it. I try to be myself and live as much of a normal life as I can without having any of this change who I am or what I am or why I do it. Thatâs something I kind of take pride in is not changing, especially my values, my pride, my faith, anything like that.
"But also just what I do, how I do it, try to be the same person all the time, try to be someone thatâs authentic and genuine and real and not someone that does one thing in front of the cameras or be someone different around my teammates. ... I donât want to change based on what anyone writes on me."
Tebow got some good-natured ribbing from his teammates about the shirtless photos and videos.
"I've been doing some extra abs lately," quarterback Mark Sanchez quipped.
But he said Tebow gave it back a little bit, referring to Sanchez's GQ cover shoot.
"Well, Tim reminded me that I've had those kind of spreads already," Sanchez said. "A time and a place."
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