Tebow-mania: Hard to describe, fun to talk about

I didn't intend to mine the Tim Tebow extravaganza twice in a week, especially after poking earlier at the media's anytime-is-Tebow-Time fixation to which, ironically, my criticism added.

But an innocent moment between then and now made me think some more on all the craziness. My kid, in passing, asked me to explain what the Tebow thing was all about.

I couldn't do it.

Not in any get-to-the-point-already sense, I mean.

The girl's an average football fan. But she's been swamped closing out her college semester and was only peripherally aware of something being up with this Tebow guy and his miracle Denver Broncos.

So I started in. And five rambling minutes later, I was still yammering, surrounding but not nearly pegging it.

"Well, Tebow is this former Heisman Trophy winner, but he's really untraditional for a pro quarterback, so a lot of people didn't think he could play in the NFL, plus he's way out front with his religious beliefs and that bothers some people, but Denver drafted him in the first round anyway, but that coach was fired and the new coach really didn't want him, so Tebow was third-string this year until the Broncos stunk early and they cut the starter and gave it to Tebow because fans were screaming for him, and now unbelievable stuff keeps happening, like last week all this Chicago Bears running back had to do was stay in bounds and the Bears would kill the clock and win, but he ran out of bounds, which gave Denver the ball, and Tebow completed some passes and the kicker made a 59-yard field goal to tie it and then another long one to win it in overtime after the same Bears running back fumbled, so Denver's 7-1 since Tebow took over, not just because of Tebow but a lot because Tebow's a tremendous leader who gets his guys to believe they can win, and even though he's raw and usually starts badly, he doesn't make many mistakes and he somehow plays well at the end and keeps leading rallies, and so he's more than a media creation, even though there are other young quarterbacks better than him."

"Oh," she said.

That's not verbatim, but it approximates how my brain tried and failed to tidily quantify Tebowmania. Tidy is impossible. And it hit me that that's what sets apart the Tebow phenomenon - with its combustible mix of (football) politics, religion and ratings-obsessed exposure - from other sports supernovas I've seen.

They were recognizable, readily explainable and understood. We knew what we were getting. Some, off the top of my head, who splashed since I've been paying attention:

Muhammad Ali: Amazing talent. Amazing personality.

Lew Alcindor: Dominant. Unstoppable hook shot. Changed basketball.

Mark Fidrych: Crazy-haired Rookie of the Year. Looked like Big Bird. Talked to baseballs and they obeyed.

Fernando Valenzuela: Chubby, 20-year-old author of Fernandomania. Eyes gazed skyward during windup. Simultaneous Rookie of the Year and Cy Young winner.

Mike Tyson: A bad, bad man who petrified other bad, bad men.

Michael Jordan: Breathtaking.

Tiger Woods: Played golf like no one had ever played.

Michael Phelps: Half-man, half-fish. A man-fish.

But this Tebow thing, for as genuine and unaffected as the subject appears, his dramatic NFL arrival is brilliantly complicated. All the more reason, you guessed it, to keep watching and talking.

Tom Robinson, (757) 446-2518, tom.robinson@pilotonline.com