Lucie Veltz

I come from France, where soccer is the national sport and American college football is not a common conversation topic, so when I decided to study abroad at the University of Florida, home of the Gators Football team, I had no clue who Tim Tebow was. My ignorance didn’t last long and I soon became a fan of the Gators and more specifically our 6 feet 3 inches and 245 pound, Heisman Trophy winning quarterback. Tim Tebow is considered by many as the all-time greatest college football player.

Tim Tebow has consequently a huge influence on college students but along with his fame came controversies.

When he wore the Bible verse “John 3:16” on top of his eye black during the 2009 BCS championship, 92 million people Googled its meaning during the game. After that, the NCAA banned any writing on player's eye paint.

Tebow was criticized again for using his influence to force his beliefs upon people when he was starring in a controversial ad shown by CBS on Super Bowl Sunday. This ad tells the story of Pam Tebow, who was pregnant when she got seriously ill and the doctors advised her to have an abortion. Pam ignored their advice and gave birth to her fifth child. That baby was Tim Tebow.

This pro-life campaign expressed an explicit religious message on antiabortion which is at odds with the network policy, since CBS used to forbid “advocacy” advertising. People were offended and said that Tebow was using his fame in sports the wrong way by dividing instead of uniting people and that the ad should be banned, just like the Bible verse on the eye paint.

I personally believe that it would be a contradiction of the First Amendment of the US constitution. Such controversy leads to many discussions, and even if you have an opposite opinion on the subject having the freedom to discuss it is better than nothing at all.

Do you think that Tebow was really offending people? Should religious beliefs be expressed by athletes with such a great influence?

Graphic Credit:
Animationfactory.com