MLB | Tebow taking his annual look-at-me comedy routine elsewhere

by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

It seems to be an annual rite of passage anymore.

From summer into fall.

Summer starts to fade into its back end. Kids begin heading back to school. The days get a little shorter, with earlier sunsets symbolizing that cooler, chillier times lay ahead.

But there, on the horizon, in a blaze of self-absorbed, unable-to-move-on glory, comes another Tim Tebow controversy, certain to fire things up in the sports world, if only for a short period of time.

His rise in Denver. His trade to the New York Jets. His failure to catch on and stick. His repeated comeback attempts, either realized or suggested, cup of coffee with the Eagles included. Now this: Him giving it a shot in another sport.

Gotta say, love it.

It’s hilarious. Like a real-life actualization of fictional George Constanza’s “every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in.”

Tebow is the ultimate showman. A giver, taker and pleaser who just cannot let go of the limelight.

Which is funny, because his latest clingfest to centerstage, an outlandish attempt at a professional baseball career, more than a decade after he was an all-state baseball player at Nease High School in suburban Jacksonville, Fla., would actually take him far away from the TV cameras he’d be featured by every week this fall as a college football analyst.

Thing is, got no problem with what he’s trying to do … and think it’s ridiculous that anyone does.

For all the “true” baseball peeps out there offended with his workout for Major League Baseball organizations, including our own Phillies, yo, get a grip. It’s a classic Exhibit A case of “no harm.”

Why not check out what the guy can do, to see if he can actually play?

Frankly, teams always are looking to find new talent. So they wouldn’t be doing their due diligence if they didn’t take the time here to see what an elite athlete might be able to do on the diamond.

Make no mistake, despite his failings at the NFL level as a quarterback, Tebow stacks up with the very best baseball has to offer in the size-speed-strength department, and that includes anointed God-like entity Mike Trout of the Angels.

We’re not talking about a bust of an athlete. The guy, legitimately, will be recognized as one of college football’s greatest players ever for a long time because of the type of drive, determination and all-around athletic prowess he displayed while winning the Heisman trophy and two national championships at the University of Florida not any specific gridiron-related, or position-related, skill.

Pretty comical to hear the comparison between what Tebow is attempting to do at age 29 with what basketball legend Michael Jordan did a generation ago at age 31 leading to bitchfests on one hand and more genuflecting on the other – gee, wonder which gets what ...

It’s the same damn thing, only Jordan had the cache with Chicago ownership, both the Bulls and the White Sox, to make his meandering through Double-A a done deal as soon as he said he wanted it. Tebow actually will have to earn an opportunity by putting his baseball wares, good or bad, on display next Tuesday in Los Angeles.

My only confusion with any of this is the guy seems like he was born to play football. Not quarterback. Somewhere else. Tight end. Linebacker. Something. Anything. To harness and utilize all that talent, intensity and power.

Thing is, Tebow chasing the golden goose in baseball is fine by me. Just think he’d fare better in a sport that demands the type of physicality he brings to the table.

​But love the uproar regardless.​

---

It’s hilarious. Like a real-life actualization of fictional George Constanza’s “every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in.” Tebow is the ultimate showman. A giver, taker and pleaser who just cannot let go of the limelight. Which is funny, because his latest clingfest to centerstage, an outlandish attempt at a professional baseball career, more than a decade after he was an all-state baseball player at Nease High School in suburban Jacksonville, Fla., would actually take him far away from the TV cameras he’d be featured by every week this fall as a college football analyst. Thing is, got no problem with what he’s trying to do … and think it’s ridiculous that anyone does.