What happens, when something happens to Tim Tebow?

Tim Tebow doing his signature knelt prayer. It's caught fire in Denver and around the country, people can be seen "Tebowing" everywhere from the Golden Gate Bridge to Central Park.

Unless you have been on a media fast for the past few months, there has been a lot of talk of Tim Tebow. Mostly good, some doubting, and still some that is just plain mean. As a Christian and a sports fan, I am concerned about one thing though: What happens when something happens to Tim Tebow?

Let me clarify. Tebow has been the NCAA and NFL’s poster child for sportsmanship on and off the field since he signed with the Gators. If there is a player a Commissioner didn’t have to worry about, Tebow is that man. But as good of a human as he is, he is still human. So what happens when he losses his temper? What happens when he gets short with a reporter in a post-game interview? What happens when Tebow turns into just another NFL player, if even for a few seconds?

It is my fear that he will, pardon the pun, be persecuted for being less Tebow, and more like the rest of us. Tebow holds himself to a higher standard of living than most individuals even contemplate, but does that give us the right to expect that from him?

Setting goals for yourself is just that, for yourself. If your goal is to lose 20 pounds by your birthday and you only manage 12, it is not anyone else’s place to hold that against you. The same goes for Tebow. Should he ever snap and cuss on field once while the camera is focused on him, that is his own moment to deal with. Tebow is the type of person who is his own harshest critic. He would be far more disappointed in himself than I ever could be for him.

The problem lies outside of Tebows own reach. Skip Bayless would turn from Tebows biggest fan, to his biggest critic in a heartbeat. Jim Rome would trash him for weeks claiming we were mislead and it has all been an act until this point. But when it all came down to it, Tebow would still be more of an upstanding player/citizen/person than 99% of our country.

I fear that Tebow will lose heart. I fear that Tebow will be so disheartened that he will walk away from the game and focus on staying out of the stories. I fear the best role model that America has right now, will be torn down by the very same people that built him up. Tebow is a great man, but he is just a man.