Why you hate Tim Tebow, or why you’re a hypocrite
Monday, February 22nd, 2010(Editor’s note: Hi! I’m Jared Launius and I’m the new sports blogger/blog editor for College magazine. I hate talking about myself, so I’d rather jump in with an actual blog post than waste my first one just talking about myself and the boring sight I am to behold. I hope you enjoy my thoughts, and please please PLEASE feel free to leave comments.)
When it was announced that former Florida QB Tim Tebow, A.K.A. The Guy That Makes Brent Musburger Announce-gasm, would be doing a pro-life ad for Focus on the Family in the Super Bowl, everybody basked in the opportunity to go after the guy that made us hate both that one really big sports network and the fact that hundreds of thousand sports blogs existed. The guy made Brett Favre look underexposed. Everyone was sick of him, so he was an easy target.
We don’t want care about your thoughts on morality! You’re an athlete, not a politician! Your spikey, flat-top hair looks stupid!* Everyone seized the opportunity to enlighten Tebow as to exactly how little they cared about his opinions on issues like abortion. They told him, quite plainly, that they didn’t want their night of crappy-beer-and-Doritos commercials entwined with his moralities.
*I added that one in there just for fun.

Now, fast-forward a few weeks. By show of hands, how many of you spent time railing* Tiger Woods over his moral compass, or lack thereof, following his press conference Friday? Don’t be shy, I know everyone did.
*This was, at first, an unintentional pun. I decided to leave it for obvious reasons.
Now, I’m hardly moral police, but doesn’t that seem a bit backwards? The public lashed out at Tebow- we don’t give a s–t about about your moralities, OK!- but was more than happy to lambast Tiger for showing such moral disregard of family values and for seeming so unauthentic in his apology.
Look, I get it. Comparing abortion to cheating is like comparing apples to oranges, er, dead babies to lipstick on dress shirts. Abortion crosses fault lines, while I’d guess that most people aren’t fans of polygamy.
This runs deeper than that though. I find it interesting that a person can crush someone for sleeping around on their significant other, then turn around and rip someone else for announcing their stance on a hot-button issue. There’s a word for that, I’m thinking.
The bottom line is this: I’m just as hypocritical as the next guy. I yell at people that text while driving, then text someone about how much I hate driving texters, while driving. I don’t claim to be anything different.
Just know what you sound like when you accuse somebody of something you’re guilty of yourself.
Photo credit: nj.com









