A Trend as Annoying as the Player Himself… October 29, 2011

A Trend as Annoying as the Player Himself…

By Hemant Mehta
October 29, 2011

“Tebowing”, named after Christian NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, occurs when you “get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different.”

In other words, it’s when you go into your bubble while everyone else lives in reality.

Unfortunately, the trend is becoming more popular…

… but it just looks to me like they’re facepalming. (Or maybe that’s just what I’m doing in response.)

Seems appropriate.

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  • Erik

    http://files.redux.com/images/bc4cb2d18aeb36e8e218829d24ed3978/raw
    for that most epic of facepalming occasions

  • dauntless

    I don’t think it’s unfortunate. It’s (mostly) hipsters, poking fun at Tebow’s inappropriateness. Isn’t that a good thing?

  • Matthew 6:5-6 isn’t in Tim Tebow’s Bible.

  • Anonymous

    If only it was like planking, or batman-ing, and they might just hurt themselves.  Ah well.  At least it seems farcical.

  • Crabbysister5

    I think they are desperate for attention.

  • Cass Morrison

    Are they sure they don’t want to adopt Islam with the multiple prayer times in day?

  • As a Gator alum, I’m allowing a special case for Tebow and granting him a pass. If apologists can special case god as a first cause, then I can special case Tebow.

  • Burger

    Why is this a thing? What’s he forcing on anyone else? Let him do what he wants, he’s a good guy, no matter what mythology he believes in.

  • Burger

    Everyone else is lame, yeah they just want to be special too.

  • Trace

    I clicked on your Tebowing link: I liked Voldemort and the cat about to lick its ass. (can I say ass in this site?)

  • PJB863

    My late catholic grandmother used to call this “horizontal prayer.” 

    She used to say that you don’t need to kneel, fold your hands, put your hands anywhere or anything else.  Prayer was something best done privately.  Anything else was just trying to prove to everyone around you how pious (or sanctimonious) you are, which defeats the supposed purpose of being a good  christian.  Grandma and I didn’t agree much in religious matters, but this is one thing where we did agree.  Tebow and the rest  need to get over themselves.

  • Timothy

    Is that glenn beck in the radio station looking picture?

  • Kevin_Of_Bangor

    You can say whatever you desire. Ass, fuck, shit and even penis. Hemant even swears at times in his post. As long as you are not being a dick towards someone nobody is going to flag your comment.

  • bigjohn756

    Look at Gov. Perry for a clue here. If you can’t do a job then you have to pray about it. Maybe the problem will go away if you pray long enough.

  • Anonymous
  • Beckyleah

    As a Broncos fan, he has to win a few more games before I give him a pass.

  • Newavocation

    Now be nice, in a few years Tebow will be writing a book of why he became an atheist and playing tight end for the Saskatchewan Roughriders

  • Are they doing this in control towers?

  • That pose is beginning to look so stylized.  What’s with the clenched fist to the forehead? Is that “praying hard”? I never understood it when somebody said that somebody else had “not prayed hard enough.”  Is there really “prayer lite,” and “maximum strength prayer”? Does one have to tighten muscles in order to squeeze out a message that will reach the Almighty?  Probably shouldn’t pray too hard if you’re hoping for a cure for a headache or  hemorrhoids.  Could be self-defeating.

  • And can we please note that there is a difference between being bluntly (and brutally) honest and “being a dick”? ‘Cuz I’m one of those “call it like I see it” folks, and I have no intention of “being a dick” — it just kinda comes off that way sometimes. (And for that, I apologize.)

  • Christ on a crutch, WHY DO PEOPLE FEEL THE NEED TO ADVERTISE THEIR FAITH AND MAKE A SHOW OF PRAYING IN PUBLIC?!

    I just don’t get it….

  • Kevin_Of_Bangor

    There is a huge difference between them so I think you are safe.

  • And, hey, even if it is dickish, I’m at least self-aware enough to know that I have trouble with proper social behavior, and can warn people in advance so they don’t just go, “aah, you’re a dick.”

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    I thought he was posing as Rodin’s The Thinker.  Of course he’s doing the opposite.
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XC-B1nNv2tc/SSu7EdDf_HI/AAAAAAAAAQI/0oDi-SwSgos/s400/rodin_thinker3.jpg 

  • Laurance

    Oooh, a new word for me!  Now, how do we pronounce the “bow” part?  Is it “bow” like the dog goes bow-wow; or is it “bow” as in bow and arrow?

  • Danish Atheist

    I think the guy in the orange shirt is praying for his sense of style and fashion to come back to him.

  • Trace

    Rodin

  • Their little daughter died because they “didn’t pray hard enough”.

  • kaileyverse

    Is he a “good guy?” Do you know him?

    I think his support for a misogynistic, homophobic and borderline hate-group may suggest he isn’t all that good.

  • Anonymous

    I’m sure there’s a big overlap between tebowers and teabaggers. (I mean the latter in the political rather than sexual sense.)

  • Anonymous

     If it’s Glenn Dreck, then having no fashion sense is the least of his problems.

  • joe l.

    I thought it was pretty clear they’re making fun of Tebow, not actually trying to emulate him…

  • Dannysmythe

    Really good to see an important topic discussed here. This must be stopped. It is obviously a bad thing. I have to go. I’m volunteering at the atheist food kitchen this afternoon. It’s a great place to,escape all the ills people like Tim Tebow press on our world.

  • dauntless

    Very Christ-like post, Danny. Good work.

  • Thank you KevinBates, I much prefer the Batmanning.  http://www.batmanning.org/

  • Margotm

    I like praying but do not understand making a public display of it.  Perhaps they need to close out the world by closing their eyes, this I understand, but why the kneeling?  

  • Anonymous

    Really?  Well, I can tell you it isn’t exactly about religion.  It’s about showing the world how pious you are.  Many kinds of public displays fall into this category.  The politician or businessman that shows up to a charity drive to present an oversized cheque is rarely doing so because they really, really believe in the cause.

  • Guest

    I don’t think anyone will be Tebowing anymore after the whopping the Detroit Lions put on Tebow. Even the Lions players started mocking him with a “Tebow” after they scored and sacked him.

  • DaveKan

    My Detroit Lions gave Mr. Tebow a lot to pray about!

  • Rich Wilson

    I think he’s just trying to mock people who don’t have a right arm.

  • guest

    You “have trouble with proper social behavior”? Ah, so you are an antisocial dumbass in addition to being a dick. Thanks for the heads up, you penile implant.

  • guest

    The fuck? Where are you getting the idea that Tim Tebow is misogynistic, homophobic, or hate-group-ish?

    And you typical atheists think you are so open-minded and able to withhold judgment until you get the whole story.

    I am borderline atheist meself, but I don’t go out in public atheisting. Frankly, I’m a better atheist than you are.

  • guest

    Wow, I am so proud of the free-thinking, open-minded atheists that have come out of the woodwork in response to Tim Tebow! Not a single one of them has jumped to conclusions, rendered judgment on Tim (according to their ideals if not right-wing ideals), or in any way formed the exact same opinion as every single atheist on the planet! Good for you, atheists, for not all thinking the same way and not all having the exact reaction as each other.

  • Yeah, because being unable to read body language == “antisocial dumbass”.

    Grow a brain, plz.

  • no. You’re just a bigger pussy than he is. If people like Tim Tebow can shove their religiosity down our throats, then we can shove reason down theirs as well!!!!

  • Rich Wilson

    Peebowing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BMG1BmZ3WE