This article is by Justin Bell of the National Catholic Register. Read it in its original form here.
The Denver Broncos trailed the Chicago Bears 10-0 deep into the fourth quarter in their Dec. 11 home game. Not surprisingly, Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow said a prayer on the sideline.
But this time, a microphone picked up his petition.
“Dear Jesus, I need you. Please come through for me. No matter what, win or lose, Lord, give me the strength to honor you,” said Tebow in a 10-minute feature from NFL Films that gave an up-close look of the quarterback that game day.
The successful football trail of Tebow, 24, twinned with his outspoken Christian witness, has captured the attention of the nation this fall, also making an impact with Catholics in a range of areas.
The themes of his sideline prayer were met: a dramatic overtime victory against the Bears (13-10), followed by two losses. Now, to make the playoffs, the Broncos must win on Sunday against Kansas City or hope for an Oakland loss.
Broncos fans and Tebow observers nationwide will be looking to see how he handles the biggest game of his professional career.
“With Tebow, you just feel like every play he’s going to do whatever he can possibly do to try to make it happen,” said Kate Faughnan, a married mother of three in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“It just makes for a very unpredictable and exciting game every time.”
The catchword for Tebow news stories this fall is “polarizing,” as he is frequently described as the most polarizing player in the NFL or in sports.
Tebow generates excitement for his running, physical style of quarterbacking and admiration for his Christian witness. His critics take issue with both areas: questioning whether he should be a quarterback at all and if the football sphere is an appropriate place for religious witness.
However, the proportion of fans to critics and the degree of their opinions is unknown.
“To say he’s the most polarizing influence or individual in the NFL, I think is overstating it by a long shot,” said Curtis Martin, the president and founder of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (Focus).
But Martin, a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, called attention to other NFL players’ past brushes with the law and other questionable behavior and suggested such actions were “quite a bit more polarizing than a guy who is standing up for his Christian faith.”
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