My legs are sore

From jumping on, off, then back on the Tebow bandwagon. Over and over. I am too old for this. My heart can’t take it. The cheers that erupt after another Tebow miracle scare my daughter. And my dog.

Don’t get me wrong. I am a Broncos fan and always have been. My dear departed dog was named Elway. As we speak there are two John Elway photos hanging in my den. I had an Elway jersey. And a Jake Plummer jersey. I have a Broncos tie in my closet.

But this Tebow kid has stirred emotion that I haven’t felt in years. Emails and texts are flying around the extended family. So are photos.

Here’s one.

And another.

And more…

You get the idea.

For a fan whose team has been pretty much irrelevant for the last few years, this is about as good as it gets. Suddenly Tebow is everywhere. Aside from the Tebow poses which have swept the nation, there is the angry Tebow. Google him and you will have 8,760,000 choices of articles to read.

He passed for 316 yards against the Steelers, with a 31.6 average per pass. The national TV rating at the end of the game was 31.6 too. Coincidence? I’m just saying.

I’m pretty sure Tim Tebow isn’t the second coming. He’s just a good kid with a deep faith and the heart of a lion. Ask his teammates.

Many years ago I was handed a division that had been beat down. There were Sailors who had issues. I was going to chew them out on my first day as their new boss. On the way to quarters my Executive Officer corralled me and asked what I was going to do. I told him. He said, “Come into my stateroom.”

He told me they didn’t need to be yelled at. They had had enough of that already. They needed encouragement. They needed hope. They needed to believe in something bigger then themselves. They needed heart.

And he was right.

That’s what Tim Tebow brings to the Broncos, their fans and the whole country. He brings heart. He has been skewered in the press and he shucks it off. Because he believes. He believes in himself, his coaches, and his teammates. He is inspiring.

I do not think for a minute that Tim Tebow thinks that God wants him to win every game. That’s not the way it works. Tim Tebow thanks the Lord for everything, win or lose. If he loses, he gives thanks. If he wins, he gives thanks (maybe a little more enthusiastically).

He has said many times that the spotlight allows him the platform to share his belief. You know what he did with about three million dollars of his NFL paycheck? He used it to build a 30 bed hospital in the Philippines. Before the Jets game (which the Broncos won after a last minute, 95 yard drive, of course), he said that breaking ground on the hospital, “…might be the coolest thing I’m doing this week (ESPN).”

That’s heart.

But I have to tell you. If he keeps winning in the last couple of minutes of every game, it’s not HIS heart I’m worried about.