We all know Tim Tebow is a demi-god on the football field. His statistics are exceptional and his performance against some of the most fearsome and athletic defenses in college football has been nothing short of otherworldly. But a chink appeared in Tebow's armor Saturday night when Kentucky defensive end Taylor Wyndham came unblocked on a third down play late in the third quarter, sacked the former Heisman winner and drove his head into teammate Marcus Gilbert's knee.
At the time, Florida led comfortably 31-7. Tebow, playing sick, had already carried the ball 16 times for 123 yards.
Superman got whiplashed. And then he got sick on the sideline. Florida pronounced him "fine," but Tebow was taken to the hospital before the game ended and will stay there overnight. reportedly with a "bad concussion." Whether or not it was the illness combined with the hit, or just the hit, the question has to be asked: Should Tim Tebow still have been in the game?
Everyone felt sick when Tebow went down, or at least they should have. The Kentucky defense didn't exactly have a moment of silence immediately afterward; I thought Kentucky's players celebrated for way too long in the immediate aftermath of the hit. Tebow doesn't milk attention. Generally when he gets hit, no matter how hard, he immediately gets back up. That's the kind of player he is. When he went down and stayed down, Kentucky's defenders should have shown a little class and stopped celebrating. After all, they were still losing by 24 points, it's not like they'd just won the game.
Second, what the hell happened with ESPN2 suddenly going to commercial as Tebow lay on the ground immobile? And coming back with an advertisement? This was the potential story of the college football season so far and for about five minutes they completely bungled the coverage. Millions of people were sitting on the edge of their seats when they abruptly cut away. There was no explanation at all. It's rare that ESPN's coverage completely flunks in a crucial situation, but ESPN2 pulled it off.
Finally, the shot of Tebow being carted off the field puking into a bag was borderline too much. In fact, the whole puking angle was way overplayed during this game. Plenty of guys puke before big games, sick or otherwise, why do we need to see it for this game and no other? What's more, why do we need to hear Bob Davie commentating on the puking? I think we know what puking looks like.
But back to the question we began this column with, did Urban Meyer do Tim Tebow a disservice by leaving him in the game too long?
No matter what angle you consider it from, this wasn't an easy call.
Travis has become enamored of several objects, phrases or events which he frequenly references in the column. Among the most frequent:
'Bama Bangs - a term coined by Travis to refer to southern men's hairstyles that feature prominent bangs for no apparent reason. Brodie Croyle and John Parker Wilson are oft-cited violators of 'Bama Bangs rules.
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When Clay Travis, acclaimed author of Dixieland Delight, decided to spend the 2008 season up close and personal with UT football, he—and every other college football aficionado—thought he was in for a rollicking ride with one of the leading contenders for the national title. After all, when the Vols kicked off the season on September 1, the defending SEC East champions were ranked 18th in the country. As head coach Phillip Fulmer prepared for the game, he reflected upon a coaching career that included an astounding 147 victories, two SEC championships, and a national title. With 34 years at UT under his belt as both a player and coach, the Tennessee native had just signed a contract extension that projected to keep him at the university long enough to become the winningest coach in program history.
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There is no college ball more passionate and competitive than football in the Southeastern Conference, where seven of the twelve schools boast stadiums bigger than any in the NFL and 6.5 million fans hit the road every year to hoot and holler their teams to victory.
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The newly favored man is not really a man at all, but a hairless, effeminate, germ-fearing, non-meat-eating, exfoliating, wristband-wearing woman of the worst order. We as men are told that we must embrace the sacred feminine in ourselves, even if it doesn't actually exist, and become the very quintessence of woman, plus penises. This situation is untenable. This trend must stop.
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Clay Travis is the only former student manager in the history of college athletics to marry an NFL cheerleader. He managed to pull this off despite an irrational affinity for the television shows Dawson's Creek and My Super Sweet 16. While being raised in Nashville, Tenn., Travis developed a healthy obsession with college sports and Alyssa Milano. As a teenager his greatest accomplishment was taking a doo-rag wearing Luke Duke (balling as Tom Wopat) to the hole at the Nashville YMCA.
In the midst of a stellar legal career during which he specialized in rewarding the unjust and punishing the oppressed, Travis began writing for CBS Sports's SPiN section in September 2005...
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