Rants from the Eagles Girl: Tim Tebow vs. Arian Foster

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Rants from the Eagles Girl

Just a quick introduction since this is my first time writing on this site.  Hi, I’m Kellie, self-proclaimed goddess of trash talk.  I’m a die-hard Eagles girl, I have a tattoo on my wrist, don’t question my loyalty.   Aside from the Eagles, I’m a big time fan of the Red Sox, even though I hate baseball, I love the Cavs, even when we didn’t have LeBron, and for college I love my UCONN Huskies and I ride the Buckeyes bandwagon.  I’ve lived in Connecticut, south Jersey, and Cleveland, so it makes sense.  I’m an NFL writer for thasportsjunkies101.com where I focus on interviewing draft prospects, writing scathing opinion pieces, offering insight, and the occasional breaking news story.

My goal on my guest spot here, which I’m grateful for, is to rant about whatever is pissing me off in the NFL currently while remaining ever cute and delightfully controversial.  Without further ado…

Tim Tebow versus Arian Foster:  Faith in Football

Recently, ESPN published an article about Arian Foster and how he doesn’t believe in God.  I read it, all of it.  My first thought was, this is terribly long-winded, self-indulgent, and pretentious, kinda like an Anne Rice novel, only without the vampires.  My second thought was, why is this news?  My thoughts then went to hypocrisy, defending secular America, and politics.  My mind can be a scary place.

I’m going to be honest, I really don’t give a rat’s ass what anyone does or does not have faith in.  I enjoy playing devil’s advocate however, when religion comes up, I’ll switch sides just because I like a debate, this habit did not endear me to my teachers at my Catholic high school, and before anyone asks, yes, I made that skirt look good.

One positive note on the article, I had no idea how smart Arian Foster was but the glimpses it showed into his past and his thought process let me know that there is indeed a brain behind all that stunning quickness.  I don’t want to make anyone suffer through that long read, which I promise you is much less entertaining than my article, so I’ll sum up the part relevant to today’s rant:  Arian Foster has kept quiet about his lack of religion to keep himself away from persecution and has felt at times alienated in the NFL because of it.

Now I know Arian Foster has suffered a serious injury and may be out for the entirety of the season.  It’s a terrible shame, but that doesn’t make his story any less relevant.  I’m sure he’s not the only player in the NFL that has felt the need to hide their lack of faith.  According to the most recent polls Google could find me, 10% of Americans do not believe in God, on a 53 man football roster that means, statistically, there should be 5 non-believers per team.  If Arian Foster is the first player coming out of the atheist closet, that closet is probably big enough to hold my shoe collection.

We all know God plays a large role in the life of most NFL players.  So much so it seems that’s all a lot of them want to talk about, I actually stopped following Russell Wilson on Twitter due to his constant posting of Bible verses.  I don’t follow players because I want to be spoon fed their spirituality, I follow them because I want to hear about football or in the case of Wilson’s teammate, punter Jon Ryan, because they’re flat-out hilarious.  Teammates regularly pray together before a game and they almost always thank God after a victory, yet Tim Tebow is touted as the one and only savior of the Christian faith in the NFL.

I want to remind everyone about why we have a country to begin with.  The people who first came to this land of the free hated two things, taxation without representation and persecution of religious beliefs.  They hated the persecution of people’s right to form their own opinion so much so that not only did they put it in the Bill of Rights, they made it the first one.  Separation of church and state and freedom of expression are two very hot button issues for me.  I celebrate and applaud that everyone has the right to proclaim their beliefs, but having a belief, no matter what it is, does not give you the right to trample on the rights of others.  The main message in every religion I have ever studied is: don’t be an asshole.  Whatever you call it, love thy neighbor, the golden rule, karma, or being a part of society the underlying message is the same:  Don’t.  Be.  An.  Asshole.

Just because the majority of players in the NFL identify as some kind of Christian does not mean we should discriminate against those that don’t.  It would be just as wrong to hate LeSean McCoy for being black, Michael Sam for being gay, or Tony Romo for being a woman.

That brings me to my next topic, Tim Tebow.  I love my Eagles and if Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez get injured, I’ll stand behind him as my quarterback.  Does that mean I want him as my quarterback?  Hell no!  Sam Bradford beat Tebow for the Heisman in 2008 and when he’s playing without injury is the better quarterback.  In 2011, the last year Tebow was the starting quarterback in any game, he started 11 games that season, he had less than 50% pass completion and threw for 1,726 yards.  Let’s look at Bradford, in 2013, the last year he started, Bradford started in 7 games and completed 60% of his passes for 1,687 yards.  That’s less than a hundred yard difference in 4 fewer games.  For shits and giggles, let’s look at Sanchez last year, he started in 8 games with a completion percentage of 64 and threw 2,418 yards.  Suddenly Butt Fumble isn’t looking like such a bad quarterback, but with Sanchez and his penchant for turnovers, I’ll take Bradford as my number one guy.

So some of those stats are ancient history, let’s talk current training camp!  So far, Sam Bradford has completed 96 passes out of 122 (78%) with 8 touchdowns and 1 interception.  Mark Sanchez has 73 completions on 109 attempts (69%) with 6 touchdowns and 1 interception.  Tebow had 38 completions on 56 throws (67%) with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception, to be fair he also had a rushing touchdown.  And for the few people out there that actually remember little Matty Barkley, and for the record I always thought he was just adorable, too bad I’m pretty sure he’s too young to take me out for a drink, I mean I own socks that look older than him, he completed 46 out of 61 (75%) with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  It doesn’t take rocket science to see who the worst competitor is.

Why all the hate on Tim Tebow?  I’m sick to death of everyone claiming he’s made fun of and ridiculed for being a Christian.  Truth is, he’s ridiculed and made fun of because he’s, well, honestly, a terrible quarterback.  Unless your team is the Cleveland Browns, chances are your quarterbacks have been better than Tebow.  All these people claim they love and support Tebow for his Christianity, so much so that he was in the top 20 jersey sales in June.  A third string quarterback in top twenty jersey sales?  Does that sound like persecution to you?  The majority of American’s identify as Christian, the majority of football players identify as Christian.  You can not claim discrimination when the majority is the same thing you are.  This is just as bad as LeSean McCoy saying Chip Kelly is racist and cuts black guys when he’s gone out and holy shit, signed more black guys to replace them!  Oh wait, but Riley Cooper!  Ok, Riley came out and said something dumb and racist a few years ago, and Chip Kelly didn’t cut him (people seemed to want him cut even though it would cost more in dead cap than paying him, but hey it’s not like the NFL is a business or anything), we ridicule him for it, people hate him for it.  McCoy has gone to play in Buffalo for Rex Ryan who also signed none other than Richie Incognito.  Incognito used racial slurs to bully and threaten a teammate so much so that he was suspended by the NFL.  Yet no one is calling Rex Ryan racist for bringing Incognito back.  What does this have to do with my topic?  Oh yeah, these guys are praying in their locker rooms too.

I have seen no proof of Christian persecution in the NFL.  I have seen no Christian persecution in the fans on social media.  In fact, quite the opposite.  I see more Christians persecuting the non-believers and the story of Arian Foster echoes that.  Mother Theresa and Gandhi were great spiritual leaders, that doesn’t mean I want them on my football team.  Choose your church based on how great the spiritual leadership is, choose what jersey you wear on Sunday based on what player is going to bring the most to your team.

If you want to only root for Christian football players, go check out DeMarco Murray or Russell Wilson on Twitter, you wont be disappointed. At least Murray was last year’s leading rusher and Wilson has two recent Super Bowl appearances. There’s also Christian Ponder, although I’m pretty sure that’s just his name and he’s not very good either.  If you respect the supposed Tebow virginity thing, root for Prince Amukamara of the Giants, he saved himself for marriage due to his strong Catholic faith.  Disclaimer:  I do not support or advocate being a fan of the Giants, I’m just throwing that out there due to my topic at hand, root for the Giants at your own risk, kiddies, do not try this at home.  You could also root for pretty much any unmarried kicker, I don’t think they get laid unless they are funny, good looking, or come from old money.  If you want to hate a player for displaying non-Christian values there are plenty of them with domestic violence, sexual assault, and murder floating around their past.  To me those acts exemplify a non-Christian lifestyle more so than one players lack of faith.

The moral of my story is this: don’t hate a football player because of their lack of faith.  Don’t love a player simply because the internet says he’s the only one that shares your religious beliefs.  Love players that bring glory to your team and city.  Hate players because they play for your division rival.  I assure you, God, Science, Brian Dawkins, or whomever else you believe in prefer it that way.

I’d love to hear from you!  Do you feel a players faith or lack thereof constitutes a reason to root for or against them?  Hook up with me and share your opinion!

Find me on Twitter: @kellieruttar

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Find my work on thasportsjunkies101.com Where Sports Meets Common Sense!

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