SZVETITZ COLUMN: Tebow lives up to ‘Golden Boy’ image

By Mike Szvetitz
Sports Editor, Opelika-Auburn News
Published: July 23, 2008

HOOVER — Tim Tebow didn’t look much like a rock star.

Or even Superman.

He looked — and acted — like a 20-year old kid talking about what he loved the most.

And it wasn’t football.

He didn’t arrive in a Lincoln Navigator limo with moon-buggy sunglasses and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Nor was he crushing footballs with his bare hands or melting laptops with his heat vision. And, no, he didn’t fly into the print media room.

He (gasp) walked up to the podium in front of hundreds of sports writers and talked. Well.

In his 30-plus minute interview, in which he commanded the room, Tebow was like a little boy telling anyone who will listen about what he got for Christmas.

And then I went to the Philippines … and then I won the Heisman … and then I spoke at a prison … and then I got a new Transformer.

Tebow didn’t act like a guy who had better things to do, or preoccupied with saving a bus full of nuns from an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.

He had fun. Called everyone sir. And seemed like he really enjoyed it.

Tebow is enjoying a lot of things these days. And how could he not, really?

He’s one of the most recognizable people on the planet. He won the Heisman as a sophomore — the first ever to do it. He’s got a pretty good and talented team coming back this season. The future is bright.

But that’s not what got Tebow talking a mile-a-minute Wednesday. He was excited about the football portion of his interview, no doubt. But what really made him light up like the Griswold’s house was what he says is his mission. His real job.

And again, it wasn’t football.

See, for Tebow it’s different. It’s not all about football. Actually, it’s just a little bit about football. It’s more about God, people and changing lives. Football is just the platform he stands on to achieve those things.

What reigning Heisman Trophy winner do you know that spends his downtime on mission trips to far-off countries or going to speak at prisons after practice or talking to a youth group in between classes?

Not many.

“The reason I do it is because it’s more important than football to me,” Tebow said. “Doing those things, taking my platform as a football player and using it for good, using it to be an influence and change people’s lives, that’s more important than football to me.

“I can take what I do in playing football as a game and change people’s lives with it. … That’s kind of why I do the things, preaching in prisons, doing those different things, trying to take advantage of that platform that God has blessed me with.”

This summer, Tebow spent his time away from football going on mission trips to the Philippines, Croatia and Thailand.

Who does that?

“Sometimes you don’t want to do that,” he said. “You just want to be a college student, relax or something. … But when I really sit down and think about it, I want to do those things, because those things are more important than playing football for me.

“Going and speaking in a prison is more important for me. Going to speak to a youth organization is more important to me than winning or playing a game. If I can change a kid’s life for the better, that’s much more important to me than going out there and beating Georgia or Florida State or whatever team it is.”

Who says that?

Superman? Or a kid who just loves what he’s got?

MIKE SZVETITZ is sports editor of the Opelika-Auburn News. He may be reached at or 737-2513.