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HOOVER, Ala. -- At 4 p.m. Wednesday, the toothy grin that inspired a nation -- Gator Nation -- was still pasted (permanently?) to Tim Tebow's face. Those bright, happy eyes stared straight ahead through the tinted windows of a luxury SUV. That cheerful faceplate, robotic arm and limitless future being whisked to the airport.
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| Even Urban Meyer sought out Tim Tebow's autograph following the QB's Heisman win. (Getty Images) |
"It's crazy," Trautwein said. "All these people here just to see him."
Something like it had happened before, hotel security explained. Bill and Hillary were here when they were presidents but they brought their own muscle. The Secret Service.
This time you were likely to get your hand slapped by the SEC's Tammy Wilson who is in charge of such things as keeping autograph hounds away from players and coaches. Last year, she and some helpers surrounded Nick Saban with a phalanx of humanity to escort him through the lobby and up the escalator to answer questions from 700 scraggly hacks.
Saban returns on Thursday. But from now on, the Wynfrey lobby might as well be measured by the Tebow Scale. As in: Saban arrived at the Wynfrey to face a crowd judged to be three-fourths of a Tebow. There were autograph seekers and just plain seekers of truth. If 22-year-old Chris Gregory, a Gator fan from nearby Hueytown, Ala., had spent any more time waiting for Tebow, he would have been judged to be jobless.
How long have you been here?
"Three hours."
Why?
"Cause it's Tim Tebow."
Yeah, and ...
"He's a great Christian man, he's just humble and he's the Florida quarterback."
Just so we have our priorities straight.
When it was somewhat safe to leave after an afternoon round of interviews, Tebow just shrugged and moved smartly through the crowd as the recently christened, "greatest player from our era." That label came from his coach Urban Meyer and wasn't exactly meant for widespread consumption. The Miami Herald reported the statement after Meyer spoke to a South Florida group in the offseason.
"I've got to watch what I say," Meyer said.
Why stop now? Luxury sleds. Police escorts. Fawning fans. This must be what life would be like for 50 Cent, Barack Obama or the Dalai Lama. If only they were this successful.
Mr. Rogers In Cleats' mere presence caused the first day of the three-day event to run 20 minutes behind. Tebow has been many things in his two short years at Florida -- blue-chip recruit, super-sub, champion, heart throb, Heisman winner. Next up: His junior season!
This has to end at some point but it doesn't seem like it's really begun. The kid has literally been around the world spreading the gospel and throwing passes from his home base in Gainesville. With his dad's ministry in the Phillipines and Thailand, the only reason he's noticed is because he is "a white man. That's pretty cool."
But while in a German airport, a local who didn't speak English suddenly pointed to him and blurted, "Tim Teeeebow."
"I love it when I was getting pushed in the back by security in Times Square," Meyer said of the Heisman Trophy trip to New York. "Physically I was getting pushed in the back because they (security) thought I was like hanging around Tim trying to get an autograph or something. I hate to say this, I was. I wanted to get a Christmas present for my son."
The kid's exploits seem to top each other. You probably heard about those mission trips overseas. Tebow helped out in the Phillipines this summer by snipping sutures at the end of circumcisions.
If that's unsettling try this little anecdote. Tebow brought along two friends. One is going into medical school. The other is going into dental school.
"They were pulling teeth and doing surgeries, pretty much by themselves," Tebow said. "They've never done that before."
When he runs into actual licensed doctors around Gainesville, Tebow says that 99.9 percent of them are supportive of his medical work with the poor. We can only assume that the other one-tenth of one percent are Georgia fans.
"There are leaders," he said, "Unfortunately, there are not a lot of good ones."
This one is so good that when death threats come over his cell phone from LSU fans as they did last season, Tebow diffused the situation. After his first touchdown pass against the Tigers, Tebow looked up to the Death Valley crowd and playfully pretended to dial his cell phone.
"I mean, you know, some of it's inappropriate as far as death threat or whatnot," Tebow said.
Like, yeah, those can be, like, you know, really a drag.
"We always say to him, 'What do you think in your head?'" Trautwein said. "'Do you think of cuss words? Do you think, like, anger?' He says, 'I don't know. I don't really think about that.' That's his mindset."
Sometimes we forget he isn't even 21 yet. Not that it matters. He has been to more places and snipped more sutures than any of us ever will. The closest he has come to alcohol is the stuff trainers rub on his scraped elbows.
"The difference is," he explained, "not many people want to wake up at 5 a.m. go through workouts, go speak to young kids, go back, eat lunch, go to class, go to tutoring, go to speak at a prison at night, come back. I mean, more people would do those things. They just don't want to sacrifice."
You don't give your fellow man enough credit, Tim. Give us until at least 7, 7:30 to sleep in. Some of us would give it a shot. For a day.