Biggest Losers - Eli Manning. After annointing himself an elite quarterback, dude has to do more than he did last night. Especially when the defense picks off Vince Young three times. Elite QBs make a team pay for throwing three picks. Eli is not elite and never will be. In fact, he and the Giants have been just barely above mediocre ever since the day Plaxico shot himself.
As far as Tebow goes, he gets all the hype for anything he does because he is very different from most other players and he is very outspoken with his religious beliefs and that's why the media makes a big deal out of it.
But he isn't. That's the thing. Every single week, in post-game interviews NFL players begin their words with "I want to thank God." Just yesterday Kevin Smith talked about his faith in the Lord when discussing how he kept his head on straight after being cut by the Lions. Every single game, every week for the past 50 years, a player has taken a knee at some point in a football game. It's nothing new...Tim Tebow is nothing new and the things he says and does are nothing new. He is not very different from most players.
Two words, Reggie White. 10x more outspoken about God and religion and the whole world adored the man. He was a media darling. He was praised for spreading the good word and providing a great influence on the youth of America. He was considered as good a role model as anyone could ask for. He even had a catchy nickname - "The Minister of Defense". He was embraced as much if not more than any other player in NFL history, by both the fans and the media.
What is different, is the way the media is handled, and handles things in a world where everyone is considered a "celebrity", and where "controversy" creats cash. There's no ratings in painting Tebow as a good guy in the reality TV/shock TV/social media era we all live in right now. It began with shows like Jerry Springer in the 90's. We all mocked it. "Look at those stupid inbred hillbillies yelling, screaming and fighting with each other. Who watches this?" we'd say. All these years later every single reality TV show in the world revolves around people yelling, screaming and fighting with each other.
Now that kind of tv isn't just for poor people in Kentucky. It's for EVERYONE. EVERY SINGLE NEWS STORY EVER comes with comment sections designed to invite chaos, filled with people online yelling, screaming and fighting with each other. Literally EVERYTHING that is written about anyone or anything in today's society is designed to get people to go to their precious twitter and facebook accounts, and talk about it, often resulting in people fighting with each other.
If twitter and facebook and all that zombie garbage wasteland where people are brainwashed into believing anyone seriously gives a shit about their pathetic lives existed when Reggie White played football, you can bet the media would do whatever they could to create anger in people. Not just because like Tim Tebow, he was a winner, or that he was open with his beliefs, or that he did a lot of good for a lot of people, and provided a positive message. It's because he was amazingly marketable. He was a character and people flocked to him. Problem is, back then no had had yet discovered the secret recipe to Shock Media.
In 2011, during the peak of Shock Media, being all of these thing makes you a bad person the same way living the "American Dream" and making yourself rich in the "land of opportunity" makes you "greedy and selfish". Because there is no controversy in that. Hard work and caring for others doesn't make headlines. It used to be it was just the news where we noticed it. "All the news does is report on robberies, and murders, and bad stuff." we'd say. Then some TV producer noticed that and he created shows like Jerry Springer. And then a bunch of shows like that popped up everywhere. We all reacted in disgust of course but the ratings proved people watch that shit.
Soon all the court shows jumped on board and became insane. Judges became animated characters who made funny faces and had catch phrases.
Then the Real World and Survivor debuted. The first actual reality TV shows.
The sheep of America tuned in, lost in the chaotic "lives" of others. Do you realize that the Real World has been on TV for almost 20 years or something and every single season is EXACTLY the same. There's the jock, hot blond, the black guy, the gay guy, the guy who's gay but doesn't know it yet, the bitch and the hot foreign chick and the crazy one which is like a flex-position, that person could be anything. Usually another chick. Put all these people in a house and chaos ensues. People get drunk, have sex, cheat on their boy/girl friends from home, regret it, cry, break shit, fight, yell, scream etc...and this show gets massive ratings every season.
Now every show on TV is like this. We have f'ing bakers, midgets, motorcycle repair men, loggers, gator hunters, housewives, aspiring singers, desperately psychotic women looking for love, and pretty much everyone else you can think of yelling, screaming and fighting on TV for our entertainment. And people cannot take their eyes off of it.
Everyone then is directed to their smart phones and computers, to fight, scream and yell about all of this on the interned. Whether is be via social media, blogs, comments sections, youtube, it's all the same. As long as you partake.
This is the world some (most) people live in today whether they realize it or not.
Tim Tebow is not different. But he is special. And it doesn't matter what he believes in, as long as he is marketable. It's the media's job to create two sides to anyone worth marketing. When you create two sides there are two sides to choose from it gives people a sense of belonging. "hey, look, there are others like me." which is the total opposite of the "think for yourself" approach half of them preach but whatever. Tim Tebow is no different from everyone else the media latches onto. He's the result of someone else's selfish kill. We need ratings. We need controversy. That's what everything in today's media revolves around. Tim Tebow, Reggie White...it doesn't matter. Trends change, and some people follow them. But the human spirit stays the same. We all know good from bad and negative from positive. We understand the difference between help and hopeless. We recognize healing from hurting. We're supposed so know the difference between love and hate. But all we seem to do is hate. Is it because do? Or is it because we are asked to?
I feel like I see this all very clearly and always have. I don't buy into it, and I do not believe in it.
