Tim Tebow

[Frayed Knot]

Rockin' Doc wrote: Word in scouting circles is that Kim Kardashian runs so slow she makes Prince Fielder look like Billie Hamilton.

That's because Prince has a smaller butt than K.K.


Tebow to show up in the big league camp this week to fill in as the WBC boys clear out and is rumored to be targeted for the starting lineup maybe for the games on Wednesday and/or Friday of this coming week.
I wonder if, during his ABS, ESPN goes to live break-ins of whatever program they're running at the time?

[MFS62]

Let him have his one fucking Charley Pride moment already, then forget about this folly.

Later

[Guest d'Kong76]

Yeah, god damn christ followers! Spit on 'em all!

[MFS62]

Read my response to Cooby.
That was not my intention.
I wan't spitting on him or his religion.
As a member of a religious minority in this country, I don't do that, and condemn anyone who does.
You always seem to misinterpret that.
Badly.

I just think he is getting too much press for someone of his unproven baseball ability.
And its MY right to have that opinion.

Later

[Guest d'Kong76]

MFS62 wrote: You always seem to misinterpret that. Badly.

Maybe it's you and not me.

[MFS62]

d'Kong76 wrote: MFS62 wrote: You always seem to misinterpret that. Badly. Maybe it's you and not me.

Where did I mention religion?
You did.

Later

[Guest d'Kong76]

Yes, I did! So what.

[Guest d'Kong76]

No, you're less tolerant of others.
No, you are!
No....

[MFS62]

So, its about baseball and press coverage and an anticipated media circus. I can just hear the local news coverage of the next few games, "The Mets won 17-15. Tim Tebow went 0 for 3. Now for other scores ... "

That was all.
No offense was meant toward anybody.
I don't know how anything I said could be taken that way.
And some folks posted in the thread in the spirit in which it was intended.

Later

[MFS62]

d'Kong76 wrote: No, you're less tolerant of others. No, you are! No....

Funny, isn't it?
That's why wars have been fought over religion. Nobody uses or reads words the same way.
Later

[Guest cooby]

Okay I don't care what his religion is, as long as he's not a devil worshiper...the point is, he's an athlete and he wouldn't have gotten this far without a firm and solid athletic career, and that has nothing to do with his religion.

I wish him well in any and all cases and as a former college football player I think his spring training experience is worth a close look.

[MFS62]

cooby wrote: Okay I don't care what his religion is, as long as he's not a devil worshiper...the point is, he's an athlete and he wouldn't have gotten this far without a firm and solid athletic career, and that has nothing to do with his religion.

Exactly.
Later

[Frayed Knot]

Earlier in this thread we tossed around the projected windfall from a Tebow signing, well here Baseball America examines The Tebow effect

Per/game Sally League attendance for the 28 road games Tebow played prior to his promotion = 5,821
Per/game attendance for the 277 Sally League games not involving Tim Tebow = 3,230

Put another way, basically one in four people who walked through the gate for a Sally League game this year through his promotion on June 25 did so to watch a game involving Tim Tebow

[Edgy MD]

The Mets paid Tebow a $100,000 signing bonus when they signed him.

I thought it was more like $500,000.

Either way, he's kind of getting exploited. I wonder if he'll get the idea that spending half his year or more doing this isn't worth it, when his name brand can bring in far more money elsewhere. I mean, even if he makes it to the bigs, the big money isn't coming until he does six years, and by then he'll be 38 or so, so he's almost guaranteed to never see a big baseball salary. But maybe baseball exposure will lead to increasing $$$ elsewhere.

[Ceetar]

He signed on to be exploited. That's why he's there..

[Edgy MD]

Gosh.

[seawolf17]

Ceetar wrote: He signed on to be exploited. That's why he's there..

Absolutely. He can't play football any more, so he's doing what he can to keep in the public consciousness; both he and the Mets are getting exactly what they want out of this.

[Frayed Knot]

Or it's possible that he's playing to see if he's capable of succeeding at it.

[seawolf17]

Frayed Knot wrote: Or it's possible that he's playing to see if he's capable of succeeding at it.

Okay, yes, that's probably part of it also.

[bmfc1]

I didn't realize that I started this thread but feel like saying that I've come full circle on Tebow. There are more important things to be angry about. I've been taken in by all of the articles showing how caring and thoughtful he is to his fans and teammates. He draws more people to minor league games and that's good. The odds that he's taking ABs from a future Met are slim so if he surprises and succeeds, that's good. If he doesn't and they release him, it was at little cost. And if the Mets are out of it in September and Sandy adds him to the 40, calls him up, he draws a few fans to CF and Sandy uses that extra $ on a free agent, it will have been a good thing.

[Guest 41Forever]

Frayed Knot wrote: Or it's possible that he's playing to see if he's capable of succeeding at it.

I agree with this.

And honestly, there's been no downside to this attempt, other than the one team that mocked him all night and apologized later.

If he was only interested in growing his brand, he'd stick solely with broadcasting, where you are seen and heard by potentially millions of people rather than 5,000 a night.

[Edgy MD]

Here's that creep Tim Tebow last night robbing perhaps two dozen children of a chance to corral a home run ball. WHY DOES TIM TEBOW HATE CHILDREN?!

[tweet:2pa2acfm]

[/tweet:2pa2acfm]

[Guest d'Kong76]

Edgy MD wrote: Tim Tebow, celebrated Highsman winner and failed NFL quarterback switching to baseball in his late 20s, is a much more interesting story than continuing the ESPN use of him as a flashpoint in the culture wars.

I disagree to a point. He's much more a fish out of water selling baseball tickets
to the born-again, Uni of Fla, celeb-watching fans than he is whatever it is he does
college football-analysis coverage wise for ESPN.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Is Tebow coming back next year or has he gotten baseball out of his system?

I hope he's not back. I can't remember if I read he was (and welcomed by whoever said it)
here or if I actually read it in the paper.

Edited November 6, 2017 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

Well, it's certainly more interesting to me.

Heck, a huge number of ballplayers are Christians, and any number of them would give testimony if asked. The way this gets covered — with the implicit idea that the viability of faith flies or dies on the shoulders of this one galoot — is absurd. Like the broader culture wars it's a part of, it's a losing game for everybody.

But a stupid controversy draws ratings, because somehow we're being increasingly conditioned that we must come down fervently on Side A or Side B of selected TV-created issues.

[Guest d'Kong76]

You're painting my take with a brush that doesn't apply.

I'm not fervently doing anything. I think he's a waste of time and resources
and most importantly a ticket/merchandising gimmick.

[Edgy MD]

I didn't mean to suggest that you were fervently doing something. I was saying that the way he's covered asks us to fervently come down one side or another, for the silliest of reasons.

I just think he's another among hundreds of ballplayers in the Mets minor leagues.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Edgy MD wrote: I just think he's another among hundreds of ballplayers in the Mets minor leagues.

And I just think that if that's what you think you're intentionally ignoring
him and the whole gimmick to call him just one of the guys. No, he's not
just one of the guys.

Haven't really thought about him since summer, just posted about some
of the quotes in the derby thread to not get too muddled in Tebow there.

[Edgy MD]

You think I'm ignoring him?

I have thought about him since the summer. A bloody lot!

[Guest d'Kong76]

You know what I mean. Don't do this.

People fucked him in other threads but you chose to play word games with me.

Whatev.

[Edgy MD]

Word games? Fucked him?

I'm not sure what's going on here, but I'm not playing any games. He's a player. He comes from a non-traditional background, acquisition-wise, and he's got a brand that makes him more of gate attraction. I think both are great, in and of themselves. Obviously the latter has diminishing returns, especially if he doesn't perform.

So far, he hasn't been good, but hasn't been particularly bad, but just by being meh, I'd guess he's upped his chances of someday appearing in a big league game from 5-10% to 35-40%.

That's interesting. If they can find ballplayers from non-traditional backgrounds like failed football players, I'm all for it. Even if he sees big league time, it's still highly unilkely that he'll ever be more than marginal, but I'd still look on the experiment as a success. I'm certainly jealous that the Pirates got the first African-born big-league player, but maybe the Mets can get the first Filipino-born one.

He would also be the third Highsman winner to play in the bigs. Too late to be first there, too.

As a Christian, he'd be about the millonth. So I think covering him from that angle (or mainly from that angle) misses a better story.

But he's thought about less and less — the novelty wearing off — so there really isn't that much of a story at all anymore. And so he's becoming in the media what he really is: a late-to-the-table ballplayer playing barely mediocre ball trying to move up from high A to AA.

I've seen a lot of footage in him, and I realize why appraisers didn't see much in him. He's got great strength and coordination. But the speed that made him a great asset in an NCAA backfield hasn't translated as much as it can to baseball. In the outfield, he runs with a low center of gravity, violently, like he's watching for opposing tacklers and needs to be ready to make cuts or throw a shoulder into somebody, rather than committing to the route and taking long, upright, confident strides toward the ball like decent outfielders do.

The coordination makes him a surprisingly good contact hitter, for a guy who has been away from the game for over a decade, but the lack of snap in the wrists that kept his throwing at sub-NFL level is also evident in a lack of bat speed. He just doesn't whip through the zone like you want a power guy to do, so his hitting has been largely opposite field, and his power has been mostly in his muscle, and there's only so much you're going to be able to get out of that.

His strike zone judgment has been a surprise. I imagine running more like a ballplayer will improve, and I think it has somewhat. The lack of snap is probably just a thing that isn't there, though. It doesn't mean he can't improve as a hitter, but it puts longer odds against him. But I think he's already done better than many would have guessed. And he doesn't appear to be a total dick.

So yay?