“Perhaps the greatest college football player of his generation, Tebow stands a very healthy 6'3" and 245 pounds, and often uses his body as a battering ram on the field. But his mother, a missionary, was sick with APam was sick with amoebic dysentery when she was pregnant with him; the doctor recommended an abortion, Pam refused, and Tim was born runty and weak. He grew up hearing the story of how he was almost aborted. He became obsessed with being strong. His brothers would go looking for him at night, when he was supposed to be in bed, and they'd find him out in the family's barn, among the cows and chickens, lifting weights. This is the thing about Tebow: He runs on doubt, on his own sense of his life's adversity. In September 2008, after Florida lost a bitter game to Ole Miss by one point, 31–30—the same game I watched with Russ Lande—Tebow sat at his locker, crying and praying. Then he walked into the press area, answered a few questions, and said, "And, uh, I just want to say one more thing. To the fans and everybody in Gator Nation, um…" He paused to compose himself. "I'm sorry." His voice dissipated himself. "I'm sorry." His voice dissipated like he'd been punched. "I'm extremely sorry.… I promise you one thing. A lot of good will come out of this. You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. You will never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season.… God bless." (Barack Obama later praised Tebow for the speech, saying, "That's the kind of leadership that you want to see from all our young people—taking responsibility, challenging yourself and others, rising to the moment.") The Gators won the rest of their games in 2008, including the BCS championship against Oklahoma, sealed by a Tebow jump pass with three minutes left. He played that day with the Biblical citation john 3:16 painted in the ovals of eye black on his cheeks; during and after the game, "John 3:16" was the top search phrase on Google. "Millions of people lookin' up what's under my eyes," Tebow says, shaking his head. "That's amazing, the platform that football gives you." ”
