***LET'S TALK ABOUT "OUTRAGE" FOR A MOMENT***:
See, the kind of thing that "really bugs me" has changed over the course of the last year or so...Our players getting shafted by the writers and assorted media pundits and awards-voters for everything from where we were picked coming into the season, to NOT being properly appreciated for what they did all season at the end, just isn't what gets to me anymore--not like it did as late as last late-August, as we embarked on this amazing journey: Maybe it's how far we've come, how much our team has proven to themselves, most of all I think it's 'cause "the best revenge is success", so they say, and we've got so much UPSIDE ahead that our "revenge" should be exquisitely long and satisfying...
No, the kind of thing that bugs me now is injustice perpetrated on one of our own, a true "hero" and "good guy", that Gator who if ANYONE deserves a chance at his dream, Tim Tebow--who continues to just be absolutely ABUSED in his simple, straight-forward effort to prove himself in the NFL...
Have you heard about this latest blindside, underhanded attack? Not the ongoing absurd mistreatment from the Jets in general AND in the person of that balloon of a buffoon, Rex Ryan, OR the slimy and cowardly cretins on THAT team who whisper behind his back...No, this is more-of-the-same and from the same kinds of petty jealousies as before, only THIS time it is even more hypocritically ungrateful and cowardly--and even FURTHER out-of-the-blue:
It is being reported that a number of his former BRONCO teammates have been telling reporters that their current success could have somehow "come sooner if Tebow hadn't been our quarterback last year", that "Manning allowed us to really show what we could do, while Tebow held us back, couldn't cut it at this level, and NOW we are showing how good we really were and are..." Now, WE know Tim doesn't deserve this, and I was SO angry at first reading, my first reaction so over-the-top furious that I couldn't even muster the self-control to organize my thoughts to debate the obvious fallacies here. However, as I recall these "heroes", this poor, talented-bunch saddled with such deadweight, they had gone 0-and-4 and were well on their way to their 5th loss-in-a-row to start that season when Tebow (with ZERO backing, support or encouragement from ANYONE at THAT point, least of all his resentment-filled GM, practically drooling in anticipation of his pending failure) came in, led them to their first come-from-behind win , and proceeded to win another what-was-it?-8- or 9-wins-in-a-row to sweep them unexpectedly into the playoffs, and then at least ONE thrilling win on a long pass on the first play in OVERTIME against the heavily-favored Steelers...and now these same suckhole former "teammates(?)", in some twisted sense of "revisionist bravery" attack TT NOW, and for what reason? What do they gain by doing so? What motivates such a seemingly unprovoked, cowardly and hugely ungrateful attack?
Jealousy. Jealousy and petty, small-minded resentment. The rookie came in there, a back-up, and for reasons they just couldn't accept, let alone fathom, gets all this attention, coverage, major endorsements that they will NEVER see when "I've been in this League FIVE YEARS and made all-pro once!", and so on...even their famous GM can't stand him, but ends up having to shut up and watch him win over HIS TOWN, as he comes in well into their having already GIVEN UP on that season and he picks them up, puts them on his shoulders in his inimitable way and, with typical grace, good humor and positivity shames them ALL, as he carries them to a winning record, the top of their Division and into the fans' hearts in a way that NONE OF THEM ever did--Man, no WONDER they hate him (it's like the pro-football version of Jacob and his brothers--Biblical as WELL as Shakespearian in its scope, if you think about it)!
Of course, these brave lads couldn't really come out and SAY anything until he was long gone, months later getting the "go-ahead" from the words and behavior of their GM (this started with Elway having made some disparaging comments about #15 in support of Rex Ryan, when asked about it during off-handed conversation with a Denver reporter last week that made the local papers, apparently)--and even then keeping it "anonymous"/not-for-attribution, the dreaded "according-to-Bronco-players", and kicking-him-when-he's-down, they hope (as the saying goes, "Best time to do it--it's easier then...").
I mean, aside from what he ever did TO them except be a good teammate and even BETTER "leader", and now getting it from all sides, while he tries to do whatever is asked of him, even running down on "the suicide squad" on punts with those broken ribs just taped--not sat down until REX-the-HEX needed a solid excuse for getting him COMPLETELY out of the QB-picture (after all, how can you say he's too hurt-to-play when you knowingly had him out there HITTING opponents the previous week, when your "NEW Back-up" has NO grasp of the playbook and threw NINE-OUT-OF-ELEVEN incomplete , at least 3 directly into double or triple coverage that should have been picked, and NO ONE, not even YOU having any real confidence in your chosen starter, "the franchise" you urged on that organization--and you chose to start AGAIN over Tebow and REFUSE TO LEAVE ANY OPTION OF BEING FORCED TO GIVE IN TO THE FANS CHANTING "Tebow, Tebow, Tebow..." as they will ANYWAY this SUNDAY, regardless...
What a nightmare--most of all for Tim, who, if anyone on this Earth, deserves better...Fortunately, he has big shoulders, an even BIGGER heart, and his faith to give him perspective...and though most of the time I see that as irrelevant, all things considered and in sympathy with ANYONE's human sense of unfairness and disappointment, I'm GLAD he has that at least to give some comfort now.
So, there it is: THAT'S the sort of thing that "really bugs me" NOW...