Forbes Magazine has come out with a new poll announcing that Tim Tebow topped the list this year as the most influential athlete in the USA. That’s a pretty good trick for a guy that does not even have a job.
After being released by the Jets, Tebow has received several offers of employment but none has really caught his attention so far. The Lingerie Football League made him an offer to be their national quarterbacks coach just hours after leaving the Jets. While, on the surface, this offer seems a bit frivolous and perhaps even insulting… stop a minute to consider the possible fringe benefits… not included in the contract negotiations.
Another guy down in Florida wanted Tebow to use his Heisman Trophy winning passing arm to throw footballs at his storm windows. While that doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun… they offered to pay him $30,000 to do it.
However, what Tebow really wants… and what most of his fans are clamoring for… is another job in the National Football League. In an odd turn of events, sports writers are now speculating that it’s those very fans… known as ‘Tebow Nation’… are actually hurting Tim’s chances to ever make it back to playing pro football again. Las Vegas bookmakers are already laying long odds on the prop.
While his skills as a pro quarterback have been called into question, the thing that is actually preventing Tebow from landing another job is simply that no NFL team wants all of the notoriety that comes from having Tim Tebow on their team.
But still, even unemployed, Forbes found that Tebow still had significant branding power on Madison Avenue. At least that’s what the surveys, which were based on US fans from Nielson and E-Poll Market Research, have concluded.
Among other NFL quarterbacks to make the list of America’s Most Influential Athletes for 2013 were, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Aaron Rogers. New York Yankees star Derek Jeter, LeBron James and retiring soccer great David Beckham followed.
The general conscience is that Tebow would be better off playing football down in his native state of Florida where he is still somewhat of a hero from his college days. Tebow himself hurt his chances in Florida as he spurned the Jacksonville Jaguars when he left Denver and headed for the bright lights of New York City.
A radical group of Tebow fans even went so far as to petition president Obama to use his influence to make the Jaguars hire Tebow. It didn’t work out.
