As I write this blog post, my radio is blasting ESPN's First Take in the background. The main topic of conversation: Whether or not Tim Tebow was brought to the Jets for football reasons. After the trade had been announced, the media in New York and all around the country immediately reported all the details; how the trade had gone through, that there was a brief problem payment-wise in the deal, how the Jaguars almost landed him, and ultimately how he was going to arrive as a backup quarterback in a private jet to have a press conference. (The video is just a debate over whether the Jets got Tebow just for publicity. It's ten minutes long).
Another thing I would like to address is the idea that I kept hearing when Tebow was traded here: The New York sports fan is too sophisticated to fall for Tebowmania. Really? I'm pretty sure all of you remember a little thing called Linsanity, where NYC became captivated with a man named Jeremy Lin. Now, Jeremy Lin did have a great story, going from sleeping on couches to being the Knick's starting point guard; however, recently ESPN New York did a poll to find NYC's most beloved athlete. Among contenders such as David Wright, Victor Cruz, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera, Jeremy Lin still stole the title in a landslide victory over Rivera in the final round (He got 70% of the vote)(http://espn.go.com/newyork/bracket/mostbeloved).
When I look at all this information, it really only means one thing to me: Tebow is a Jet. However, people look every five seconds for the latest headlines in the story; how Rex Ryan says he will use him, whether Mark Sanchez is OK with it, and all the other controversial things about this trade. In addition to this, Reebok, looking to take advantage of the Tebowmania in New York before their contract with the NFL expired, issued tons of Tebow Jet jerseys to be made before next week, when Nike will officially take over as the maker of NFL jerseys. Obviously Reebok and the media are looking to take advantage of the public's obsession over the man who has been deemed the most marketable athlete, with the only other people who are more marketable being Oprah, Adele, and Kate Middleton (ESPN First Take)(http://www.thepigskinreport.com/2012/03/tim-tebow-is-the-most-marketable-male-celebrity-in-the-world/). This caused a huge court hearing, where Reebok was forced to stop selling the jerseys, though in reality they were still under contract to do so.
Now, I don't have anything against Lin. In fact, I'm quite the contrary because I feel that without him the Knicks would probably be in a much deeper hole and could possibly miss the playoffs. However, he only started playing here about a month ago and he is more beloved than people who have spent over a decade in NYC winning games and championships. Overall, the closest competition Lin had was in the first round against David Wright, and even that was a blow out with Lin getting 67% of the vote. In addition to this, many companies have begun to use Lin's name for products, most notably for news headlines, but also ice cream, marijuana, and my dry cleaners have even made a linsanity special. This has been such a big thing, people have tried to copyright the term linsanity, including a lawyer representing Lin himself.
So what am I really trying to say? For the most part, everyone gets caught up in these obsessions with players, whether if it is because they are underdogs, like Lin, or just because they seem like nice guys and role models, like Tebow. However, when this admiration turns into obsession, people begin to forget about other athletes and people who have worked in the city longer and achieved much more. In addition to this, media outlets and other companies eat this stuff up, and exploit the obsession in order to get better ratings and more money. So please people, enjoy watching athletes responsibly and make sure you keep yourself from becoming obsessed with these people.
*I'm just including the video in case anyone is wondering what I am listening to. Fair warning though, it's about 20 minutes long.
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