Tim Tebow Wants You to Keep That Baby

By Red Herring

Michael Jordan was once asked to support a particular candidate in an election in North Carolina but he refused. Why? To quote MJ “Republicans buy sneakers too.” Many professional athletes simply do not become involved in social issues or simply don’t want to get involved. Charles Barkley famously said “I’m no role model.” But just because some athletes decide to stay out of the quagmire that is endorsing one view or another doesn’t mean that they all do.

Tim Tebow has never made a secret about which side of the line he seems to fall on. His pro-life stance is not a secret. It’s a well known fact. He doesn’t shy away from it, he wears it on his sleeve (or eye-black) if you will. He is who he is and there is nothing you can do to change it.

I’ve not seen the TV ad yet. But from what I understand the message is simple, choose life. It talks about the choices Tebow’s mother was confronted with when she was carrying little Tim. This is not a controversial message. This is not a message that should be making people upset. This isn’t a message that should be garnering the ire from a certain segment of the population. How can anyone be upset with an ad that says, “please, don’t have an abortion.”

But Tebow is taking a big risk in sending this message. By sending it he is risking endorsement deals, his popularity with the left and possibly even his draft status (not that his senior bowl workouts have been helping that much). But he is standing for something he believes in, something that Michael Jordan wouldn’t do when it could have cost him money. There is a certain honor associated with taking a stand and following through with it. Tim knows that people are going to disagree with what he has to say, but he is going to say it anyway, because that is how he feels and it is what he believes in.

It is this author’s opinion that if more people were willing to actually practice what they preach then we would live in a much better world. The fact that Tebow is doing exactly that shouldn’t be repugnant to people, it should be liberating.