With the exception of Skip "All He Does Is Win" Bayless, we can't think of too many people who have overrated Jets backup quarterback/meme generator/holy light Tim Tebow during his short-but-entertaining NFL career thus far. Nevertheless, Tebow's fellow NFL colleagues overwhelmingly voted him the most overrated player in the league (Mark Sanchez was tied for second!) this week. But there's one group who haven't forsaken Rex Ryan's one true savior: Jews For Tebow.
The Facebook group, which has around 4,000 members, started almost a year ago, after Tebow led the Denver Broncos to a fourth-quarter comeback victory against the Jets (which was also the game that helped turn Jets owner Woody Johnson into a devout Tebowmaniac). If it seems odd that Jewish people might be pulling for an evangelical Christian, the founders of the group don't think so.
“Despite his collegiate success, Tebow seemed to represent the underdog to the American public," Ike Thaler, a Florida alum who is a founder of the group, told Metro. "Frankly, after he helped the Broncos shock the Jets, it seemed clear to me that I needed to start the group as a show of support for Tebow even though we do not share the same religious views. With time, I have found that other Jews shared the same support for Tebow. More of our supporters and members seem to concentrate on the football aspect of his career more than the religious aspect. We do have our share of religiously conservative fans, but the majority simply love the fact that he is a positive role model and an exciting football player that tends to beat the odds and win.”
Of course, not all Jews have been so gung-ho about Tebow, which was well-documented in Kevin MacDonald's "Tim Tebow-phobia" piece. But for the most part, as Buzzfeed points out, the Facebook group seems content with posting lots of Tebowing pics, political memes, and making fun of Sanchez. Which, admittedly, is pretty easy to do.
