QB Tebow sets off praise craze
Tim Tebow might be the worst quarterback in the NFL, but his popularity continues to soar.
After Tebow led the Denver Broncos to a stunning comeback victory over the Miami Dolphins on Oct. 23 -- when he got down on one knee to pray as his teammates celebrated around him -- the "Tebowing" craze took off.
Denver native Jared Kleinstein started the Tebowing.com website after he and his friends took a picture outside a New York City bar of the group in Tebow's prayer pose.
Kleinstein defines Tebowing as "to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different."
Tebowing quickly became an Internet sensation, with thousands of people worldwide posting pictures of themselves in the pose.
Photos include a man Tebowing before open-heart surgery, Occupy Wall Street Tebowing and Beatles Tebowing (on Abbey Road).
Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch added Tebow-taunting to the list Sunday after sacking the second-year quarterback during Detroit's 45-10 demolition at Denver.
Tulloch urged his critics to lighten up in a postgame tweet.
"Football is a form of entertainment," he wrote. "Have a sense of humor, I wasn't mocking GOD!"
No, just Tebow, who the Lions continued to hammer after the game.
"Can you believe '15'?' one Detroit defender said. "Come on -- that's embarrassing. I mean, it's a joke. In the second half it got boring out there. We were like, 'Come on -- that's your quarterback? Seriously?' "
Denver Post columnist Mark Kizla wrote, "Right here, right now, he is the worst quarterback in the NFL," and comedian Denis Leary tweeted, "Jesus must be thinking even Judas had a better release than this guy."
■ COSTUME CONTROVERSY -- Phoenix Coyotes forward Raffi Torres dressed as rapper Jay-Z, complete with brown skin, and his wife dressed as singer Beyonce, complete with baby bump, at the team's Halloween party.
When Phoenix forward Paul Bissonnette posted a photo of the couple on Twitter, Torres was predictably ripped by many media members and dubbed a racist.
But is he really? Bissonnette and others disputed the charge, claiming Torres was only paying tribute to Jay-Z and not using "blackface" for comedic effect.
"As far as everyone trying to call 'Racism' because Raffi dressed up like Jay-Z can simmer down," Bissonnette tweeted. "He's a huge Jay-Z fan."
Greg Wyshynski, who writes Yahoo!'s "Puck Daddy" blog, argued there was nothing offensive about the image.
"It's a costume on Halloween. It's a character," he wrote. "It's Robert Downey Jr. in 'Tropic Thunder' or Eddie Murphy going undercover as a white guy on '(Saturday Night Live).' "
Wyshynski's column inspired nearly 7,000 comments, with the vast majority agreeing the criticism had been blown way out of proportion.
Wrote one commenter who identified himself as an African-American man: "Stop picking on the man for his costume, because that's all it was."
COMPILED BY TODD DEWEY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
