This week's engagement of Tim Tebow demonstrated how judgmental media continue dismissing male behavior at both ends of the spectrum. Respectable Christian role models like Vice-President Mike Pence and Tim Tebow are often insulted for upholding honorable standards, right along with the disgraced abusers who spawned the #MeToo movement. While some media responded politely, Tebow's recent engagement also sparked another round of personal attacks by biased media who deem him "polarizing." None more so than from Deadspin's Tom Ley.
Ley's story on Tebow, who has chosen to remain celibate until marriage, is crassly headlined: "Tim Tebow to have sex soon." He referred to Tebow as the "Famously abstinent former football star and current baseball scrub ... ." Although "scrub" usually refers to bench-warmers in sports, Tebow has been a starter on his New York Mets' minor league teams the past two seasons.
While walking with his girlfriend on the family farm in Florida, Tebow dropped to one knee and said: “Demi Leigh Nel-Peters, I love you. Demi Leigh Nel-Peters, will you marry me? As Nel-Peters said yes, Tebow slipped a 7.25-carat solitaire ring on her finger. “This ring is internally flawless,” he said. “Just like you.” South African singer Matthew Mole walked up to the future Mr. and Mrs. Tebow and sang one of their favorite songs, The Wedding Song.
Sounds like a wonderful story and a match made in Heaven, right? Not to the begrudging Ley, who calls it "awkward romancing."
Ley ends his classless, small-minded post with one final insult: "Congratulations to the happy couple, and to the 31-year-old Tebow on his forthcoming loss of virginity."
Surprisingly, a marriage-and-family-happy Mormon newspaper also reacted to the news in a critical way. Herb Scribner wrote in The Deseret News that "Tebow’s dating life has been anything but smooth sailing. As I wrote back in 2015, Tebow's chaste lifestyle fell under scrutiny after his former girlfriend, Miss Universe Olivia Culpo, ended their relationship because of 'his virginity vow,'” US Weekly reported at the time.
Scribner reminded his readers that sports media outlets mocked Tebow over his breakup with Culpo and posted links to this New York Daily News headline “Tim Tebow still can’t find the end zone as girlfriend Olivia Culpo breaks it off over lack of sex” and the CBS quote, “Apparently an NFL job isn’t the only thing Tim Tebow can’t hold onto.”
Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports reported on the engagement by calling Tebow "one of sports' most polarizing careers," who flamed out as a first-round NFL draft pick and one-time comeback artist of the Denver Broncos.
The Boston Globe's Jon Couture localized his critical remarks on Tebow, straying well beyond the engagement topic:
"He failed to make the Patriots as a third-string quarterback in 2013, cut at the end of training camp after completing fewer than 40 percent of his passes in three exhibition games. Tebow similarly failed to make the Eagles in 2015, then signed a minor-league contract with the New York Mets a year later."
The Big Lead's Jason Lisk wrote, "Tim Tebow remains out here making the rest of us look bad with a massive rock, a specially engraved bench, and some cheesy lines."
It was refreshing to see that anti-conservative media outlets like USA Today and Yahoo Sports just reported the straight facts without negative comments.
In a classy move, Robin Meade of CNN Morning Express offered congratulations and "much love" to the happy couple.
