Thursday, September 8, 2016

Tebow Time, The Sequel

Of course I looked. The Blob would not be the full-service Blob it is if I hadn't.

Right off when the news came down this morning that the New York Mets had signed Tim Tebow to a minor-league contract, I went to the Midwest League website to check out team affiliations. Sadly, I must report that the Mets do not have a team in the league.

So you can forget about Tebow Night at Parkview Field, in which the citizens of Fort Wayne would no doubt greet the former football star with a hail of miniature TinCaps red-and-green footballs. The University of Florida Gators mascot would make a guest appearance, cavorting about the ballpark with Johnny. The Florida fight song would blare from the sound system every time he stepped to the plate.

It would have been glorious.

Instead, it will be ... well, something. No one really knows how good a baseball player Tebow is, although he apparently impressed enough people at his workout. What we do know is that, at 29, he'll be by far the oldest player in both the fall instructional league and whatever level of A ball he lands in next spring. And we know that, because of his advanced age, the likelihood of him ever coming to bat for the Mets is practically nil -- unless they decide to call him up just to bump attendance for a few nights.

Still ... more power to him. No one, in America, should ever catch a ration of grief for chasing his or her dreams. It's kind of who we are.

You wonder, though, if this would be happening had Tebow been able to see himself as anything but a quarterback on the football field. The Blob has said before, and firmly believes, that he'd still be in the NFL if he'd been less adamant about the QB thing. With his size, speed and athleticism, he could have easily found a home as some sort of Gronkowski-like hybrid tight end or H-back in some offensive sets. But a quarterback he'd always been, and a quarterback he'd always be.

And so he gave up on football as much as football gave up on him. And now ... baseball.

Love to see it happen for him. The rational mind says no way, but the heart sees him in Wrigley Field some sunlit afternoon, standing in against Jake Arrieta.

The roar would fill the world.  

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