[gatortalk] RE: [gatornews] [Bianchi - OrlSentinel] Gasp! Tebow plays amid media circus

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:57:49 -0700

Tebow playing is only a big story if (1) we lose or (2) he got hurt again. 
 
Neither hapenned - so no story.
 
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [gatornews] [Bianchi - OrlSentinel] Gasp! Tebow plays amid
media circus
From: Badrish Davanagere <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, October 11, 2009 3:13 pm
To: [email protected]

OrlandoSentinel.com

Gasp! Tebow plays amid media circus

Mike Bianchi
SPORTS COMMENTARY
11:23 PM EDT, October 10, 2009
Tim Tebow, the only athlete in the history of sports to ever suffer a concussion, actually started Saturday night against LSU.

Not only that, he won the game and solidified his legend in the process.

Nevermind that Florida's offense only scored one touchdown and this slobber-knocking SEC slugfest was actually won by the Gators' dominating defense, this will go down as another chapter in the Trilogy of Tebow.

First, he gave us The Promise.

And now he gives us The Awakening.
This just in: After Tebow woke up from a concussion two weeks ago to lead the No. 1-ranked Gators to a monumental 13-3 victory over No. 4 LSU on a psychotic Saturday night at Tiger Stadium, Barack Obama announced he's turning over his Nobel Prize to Tebow.

Gasp!

This may go down as the biggest medical miracle since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. According to ESPN's Joe Schad, Fleming made his discovery in the basement of St. Marys Hospital in London, where he was trying to cure a local constable -- a man by the name of Alistaire Phinneas Tebow -- of whooping cough.

Then, as now, Tebow was a trailblazer.

Didn't you know? Concussions never really existed before Tebow got one.

In fact, in honor of Tebow, the American Medical Association has proposed changing the name of the injury from plain ol' concussion to "Cranial Tebow Trauma."

We're kidding, of course, to provide perspective to the ridiculous national outcry over Tebow's playing status going into Saturday night. Like everything else about Tebow, even his headaches have become fodder for debate.

Bill Rhoden, a columnist for the New York Times, summed up the inanity when he wrote: "What debate? Tebow shouldn't play. No coach who truly cares about the long- and short-term health of a player would throw one to the wolves."

Suddenly, now that Tebow had a concussion, every sportswriter worth his weight in unmatched socks somehow acquired a medical degree.

Who cares if an army of real doctors and neurologists commissioned by UF cleared Tebow to play when the local scribe at the Yeehaw Junction Town Crier thinks he should sit? Coming soon: Wilbon and Kornheiser debate national healthcare on PTI.

Seriously, do you think the New York Times will write columns next week on the dozens of NFL and college players who get concussions every day and play games a week or two later?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for football coaches and team doctors doing everything possible to protect their players, but in the end football players will always get head injuries just as coal miners will always contract lung problems. When 300-pound men spend years banging their heads together at a high rate of speed -- guess what -- there's going to be repercussions to the brain.

You knew if Tebow was cleared to play Saturday, there was no way he was going to miss the biggest game of the season in front of the biggest crowd in Tiger Stadium history. He's a football and football players always choose to play. Just like 30 years ago when former UF linebacker Scot Brantley, ironically the uncle of Gators' backup quarterback John Brantley, decided to play.

In the first game of his senior season in 1979, Brantley's helmet struck a running back's knee and Brantley was knocked unconscious with a concussion. Florida's team doctors told Brantley his football career was over. Brantley got a second opinion and ended up playing nearly 10 years in the NFL.

"When you're a football player, you know there are times you're going to get your brain scrambled," Brantley said. "That's the risk we take. If you're an athlete, you're always going to choose to get back out on the field.

"Tim (is making) the same decision I made 30 years."

I know this is hard to believe, but, yes, there were actually concussions 30 years ago.

Even 40, 50 … 100 years ago.

Contrary to what you may have been led to believe this week, Tebow did not invent concussions.

But just like everybody else, he played a week or two after getting one.

That's not a crime.

That's football.

Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel




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