A close look at Tim Tebow
from three new directions

     A headline on the Denver Post a few days ago read, "Tebow is money out of the pocket." Reporter Andy Vuong explains it in a remarkable story. For 29-year-old part-time college student Hector Armendariz, Tebow means an extra $25 a day for the past three weeks through sales of T-shirts and hoodies featuring Tim's likeness...Tebow's trademark praying pose has generated 17 million page views...the Broncos are pocketing an extra few million dollars this season in concession sales...the manager of Sportsfan, which has three stores in the Denver metro area, says the week before Christmas gave him the best sales he's had in years..estimates of fan interest in Tebow may have generated $10 to $20 million in sales for the NFL...and John Elway has helped Colorado economic development officials recruit corporate relocations. Want more of Tebow's staggering prestidigitation? Father Martin, Jesuit priest and author, devoted his recent Wall Street Journal column to the one question so many ask him. His title was, "Is God Answering Tebow's Payers?" He starts in what he calls "good Jesuitical fashion" by saying the answers he gives are "Yes, no, and I don't know." Then he adds,"Yes, means God hears Mr. Tebow's prayers. God hears everyone's prayers, no matter who you are...As for No, does believing in God mean you'll always get what you want through prayer?... And I don't know means, what about the millions of pilgrims who have come to Lourdes seeking God's help but who have still left sick or suffering?" Michael Medved's comments were quite different, starting with the title of his own Wall Street Journal column. He named it, "Secrets of Tebow Hatred." Mr. Medved, an author and a daily radio show host, asks, "Why should Tim Tebow draw more resentment than other religious athletes?" His answer, "He's too flawless to evoke much sympathy...and hoping that the hero stumbles in personal integrity seems cruel, but it's more acceptable to expect onfield performance that gives evidence of mortality." So now, what do you think of Tebow and all those guys on other teams who went on TV to mock and disparage him? Jerks.

The Super Bowl's funniest TV
is just slapstick to your writer

     Now tell me the truth. If you owned a major Motor Company, would you be thrilled to learn Super Bowl ads this year will cost you close to $3.5 million--per 30 second spot? What's that? You want three one minute spots? That'll be $21 million, sir. It's the most expensive buy in Super Bowl history--and the worst. The game, which your faithful reporter thinks will match the New England Patriots and the San Francisco 49ers, has become secondary to the TV commercials. Little by little, these short and stupid ads have gained a following. And it's populated mostly by those who prefer to laugh themselves silly at what we once called "slapstick" than watch the game. In the radio talk and news shows the next morning the conversation centers around the "best commercial." Everyone has a favorite. No wonder Super Bowl tickets have gone up 59% since 2001. The game itself has created only TV platforms for big companies (primarily auto and beer), and from a creative standpoint, it's the ad agencies who are in control. Imagine an agency creative director assigned to build the craziest, funniest piece of TV nonsense ever. Can you see the guy dashing around like an insane person? Maybe that's what happened a couple of years ago when some creative had Mrs. Potato Head shouting at Mr. Potato Head, who was driving. When Mr. PH hit the brakes on a sharp turn, her lips flew off and rolled down a mountainside. That's not what I call funny but the radio people the next morning thought it was hilarious. Do you see what I mean? Years ago I started a Super Bowl contest by betting a few fiends, er friends, that I could give them a description of the Super Bowl TV ads and none of them could tell me the sponsor. They all took the bet--which I won handily. I've been doing it every year since. Watch for details on my Feb. 1 post. But never think you can beat your faithful reporter.

Mr. Churchill
speaks out
in true Brit

     "An exchange between Lady Astor and Winston Churchill:" She said, "If you were my husband I'd give you poison." He replies, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."

     "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go."

     "He had delusions of adequacy."

     "Freedom is one of the deepest and most noble aspirations of the human spirit."

     "He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others."

(Thanks to Alix Bainbridge for most of this month's quotes)

News archive.

Tip of the week archive.

Quote of the month archive.