Last year, it was exciting to watch Tim Tebow find elaborate and almost impossible ways to earn victories for the Denver Broncos, but the TMZ-like coverage on the quarterback needs to end.
His coverage during the regular season was over-the-top to begin with, but since the ink dried on his trade to New York, the media beast that is Tebowmania has become laughable.
Several times when checking my personal Twitter account (@AlexKHall if you were wondering), I've had my timeline blown up with NFL beat writers reporting and commenting on his completion totals...during OTAs and mini-camps. For the record, I don't even follow any Jets reporters, unless that is you count B/R's AFC East blogger Erik Frenz.
Shameless plugs aside, not every single thing Tebow does should garner the lead story on SportsCenter or turn my Twitter timeline into a play-by-play of this guy's life. A backup quarterback jogging in the rain during training camp shouldn't become a widely talked about story.
Tebow talked a bit about how he handles the media coverage to Kyle Ratke of USA Today, saying:
Sometimes it is [tough]. Just if you want to go watch a movie, 'The Dark Knight', or something...you just have to think about and plan for. It's not like I get frustrated doing it, it's just sometimes you just want to relax and be normal because that's how I view myself.
While all professional athletes do have an amount of celebrity status, there's a far more likely chance of Tebow going to see Christopher Nolan's latest Batman film being reported about than Tom Brady or Drew Brees, and that's simply not right.
The issue with Tebowmania becomes that, because the American public wants to know so much about this guy, sports media outlets continue to try to find something to report about him. The issue with that is nothing has really needed to be covered since his trade to the Big Apple.
One of the first things any journalist learns when earning their degree in the subject is to report the news, not create the news. That journalism 101 lesson has been thrown out the window during this Tebow coverage.
If Kyle Orton or David Garrard's completion percentage during practices isn't breaking news, than neither should Tebow's. The discussions about whether he'll take Mark Sanchez's starting job are fine because that's analyzing a potential scenario, but let's leave out the latest on his trips to the movies or jogging in wet T-shirts.
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