Tim Tebow

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know there is one thing that I steer clear of.

Politics.

Why? Well, quite frankly, I just hate it when people don't get along and it seems that whenever politics enters the picture that's exactly what they do.

They don't get along.

Religion is another hot-button topic. However, that's one I just can't keep my mouth shut about. Since it's my blog, I think I have the right to choose what I do and don't want to get into.

And I don't want to get into politics.

I have my opinions, and I'll share them personally (or via email) if you ask. But politics is such a hot-button topic. So many people on so many sides. And I, personally, believe we have more that we agree on than what we disagree on. It's just that in our country you have to choose one side or the other. Democrat or Republican. Pick. You can't be in the middle. Well you can try but you won't get very far.

Anyways, this blog entry is probably the closest I have come to bridging the world of politics with my life in the defrosting polar north.

I'm waiting for Kristi's plane to come in and I have a few minutes to kill. So why not.

One thing I won't go quietly on is the issue of abortion. I am pro-life. Without a doubt. That makes me more on the side of the Republicans. However, I have many friends who are Democrats and they are pro-life. So let's not forget that. Just because you are pro-life does not mean you have to be a Republican. There are many issues which define which party you belong to.

Okay so let me try to get back on track.

Unless you have fallen off the face of the earth, you have probably heard about Tim Tebow (and Focus on the Family's) advertisement which will air during the Superbowl. If you haven't heard of it: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! I mean I don't TV and I got that news. Get with the program people.

(Just joking around. Lighten up, okay?)

Anyways. The ad. The ad does not mention abortion. It simply encourages people to celebrate life. Tebow's mother was encouraged to have an abortion after he was conceived. An abortion she obviously didn't have. Her choice gave the Gator's their All-Star quarterback.

If you want to be inspired, take a moment to search for Tebow's name on youtube. You'll get all sorts of video clips of an upstanding guy. Even if you aren't a Christian, you have to respect someone who is an upstanding guy. A guy who respects women. Who is not out drinking and getting high and sleeping with anyone he can.

Right?

Well I'm not so sure. This ad has really sparked controversy. And here's where some of the politics come in to play.

I wanted to share an article with you by Sally Jenkins, a sports columnist for the Washington Post. Here's why I am sharing this. I'm sharing it because Jenkins is pro-choice. I think it is important to keep in mind when you read her stance on why "Tebow's Super Bowl ad isn't intolerant; its critics are." I really think that the best place to get an honest answer is to search one out from someone on the other side. Seriously. Don't you think?

If you don't want to read the whole thing, here is a shortened version that I think you'll find very interesting.

Something to think about at least.

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I'll spit this out quick, before the armies of feminism try to gag me and strap electrodes to my forehead: Tim Tebow is one of the better things to happen to young women in some time.

As statements at Super Bowls go, I prefer the idea of Tebow's pro-life ad to, say, Jim McMahon dropping his pants, as the former Chicago Bears quarterback once did in response to a question. We're always harping on athletes to be more responsible and engaged in the issues of their day, and less concerned with just cashing checks. It therefore seems more than a little hypocritical to insist on it only if it means criticizing sneaker companies, and to stifle them when they take a stance that might make us uncomfortable.

I'm pro-choice, and Tebow clearly is not. But based on what I've heard in the past week, I'll take his side against the group-think, elitism and condescension of the "National Organization of Fewer and Fewer Women All The Time." For one thing, Tebow seems smarter than they do.

Tebow's 30-second ad hasn't even run yet, but it already has provoked "The National Organization for Women Who Only Think Like Us" to reveal something important about themselves: They aren't actually "pro-choice" so much as they are pro-abortion. Pam Tebow has a genuine pro-choice story to tell. She got pregnant in 1987, post-Roe v. Wade, and while on a Christian mission in the Philippines, she contracted a tropical ailment. Doctors advised her the pregnancy could be dangerous, but she exercised her freedom of choice and now, 20-some years later, the outcome of that choice is her beauteous Heisman Trophy winner son, a chaste, proselytizing evangelical.

Pam Tebow and her son feel good enough about that choice to want to tell people about it. Only, NOW says they shouldn't be allowed to. Apparently NOW feels this commercial is an inappropriate message for America to see for 30 seconds, but women in bikinis selling beer is the right one. I would like to meet the genius at NOW who made that decision. On second thought, no, I wouldn't.

There's not enough space in the sports pages for the serious weighing of values that constitutes this debate, but surely everyone in both camps, pro-choice or pro-life, wishes the "need" for abortions wasn't so great. Which is precisely why NOW is so wrong to take aim at Tebow's ad.

Here's what we do need a lot more of: Tebows. Collegians who are selfless enough to choose not to spend summers poolside, but travel to impoverished countries to dispense medical care to children, as Tebow has every summer of his career. Athletes who believe in something other than themselves, and are willing to put their backbone where their mouth is. Celebrities who are self-possessed and self-controlled enough to use their wattage to advertise commitment over decadence.

You know what we really need more of? Famous guys who aren't embarrassed to practice sexual restraint, and to say it out loud. If we had more of those, women might have fewer abortions. See, the best way to deal with unwanted pregnancy is to not get the sperm in the egg and the egg implanted to begin with, and that is an issue for men, too -- and they should step up to that.

"Are you saving yourself for marriage?" Tebow was asked last summer during an SEC media day.

"Yes, I am," he replied.

The room fell into a hush, followed by tittering: The best college football player in the country had just announced he was a virgin. As Tebow gauged the reaction from the reporters in the room, he burst out laughing. They were a lot more embarrassed than he was.

"I think y'all are stunned right now!" he said. "You can't even ask a question!"

That's how far we've come from any kind of sane viewpoint about star athletes and sex. Promiscuity is so the norm that if a stud isn't shagging everything in sight, we feel faintly ashamed for him.

Tebow's ad, by the way, never mentions abortion; like the player himself, it's apparently soft-spoken. It simply has the theme "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life." This is what NOW has labeled "extraordinarily offensive and demeaning." But if there is any demeaning here, it's coming from NOW, via the suggestion that these aren't real questions, and that we as a Super Bowl audience are too stupid or too disinterested to handle them on game day.

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P.S. I plan to leave the comments enabled for this blog. Feel free to share your opinion in a kind way. Someone asked me once about the "rules" of commenting on blogs. Is it okay to leave an anonymous comment? I personally, don't think leaving anonymous comments is a problem UNLESS you are doing it because you really don't want anyone to know you wrote it. I think the rule is that if you are sharing something nice and positive, leaving your name isn't that big of a deal. But if you are going to share a statement that anyone might find bothersome, you should be able to put your name "behind it" or you shouldn't say it. My name is on this blog. It's like writing a letter to the editor, blasting them for their stance on such-and-such but not leaving your name. I hope that makes sense. I'm kind of babbling but hopefully you get the idea. :)