Chances are more than a few students are stumbling into class after an all-night session of NCAA Football 11, which features Tim Tebow on its cover - sans eye-black Bible verse.
There was never a question in our minds whether EA Sports, the company that makes the game, would leave out that little bit of white text. They want to sell as many copies of the game as possible, and mass appeal mixes with religion about as well as oil and water.
Tim Tebow's public persona has very little to do with why he made the cover of this video game. It also has little to do with why he won the Heisman Trophy and led us to two national championships. He is a great athlete, and that is why he is being commemorated. Maybe his faith is what gave him the drive to perform on the field, but a little bit of face paint had nothing to do with it.
We'll have to wait and see if a verse makes it onto the larger-than-life statue of Tebow on campus, but we're betting - and hoping - it doesn't. Through the eyes of the university, Tebow needs to be remembered as a football player, not an evangelist. Hearing people complain about issues like this makes us nostalgic for Timmy's on-your-face approach to religion, rather than the in-your-face style that's all the rage nowadays.
