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Shanoff’s WUC: Why Tebow Will Be Best Ever

Aug 27, 2009, 12:08 PM UTC

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Today’s Calls: Tim Tebow vs. the World, Mike Vick vs. Expectations, David Ortiz vs. the Postseason, Mark Sanchez vs. Matt Ryan, Brett Favre vs. His Teammates, Rick Pitino vs. the Media, Ohio State vs. USC, Remembering Ted Kennedy and More.â†µ
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â†µThe Opening Pitch: Is Tim Tebow the greatest college football player of all time?â†µ

â†µAs someone who manages the biggest resource on all things Tebow, that question crystallizes fans' fascination with Tebow: Are we really watching the greatest player of all time, in real time?â†µ

â†µâ†µEveryone should be quick to say: Let’s see where things stand at the end of the season.â†µ

â†µâ†µBut here are the reasons he is in the discussion:â†µ

â†µâ†µOn-field accomplishments: 3 national titles in 4 years? It would establish the “Tebow Dynasty.” Tebow and other players have said that an unbeaten season is the benchmark of the team’s greatness. (Urban Meyer put the kibosh on the “unbeaten” talk, but not before Tebow put it out there for SN.)â†µ

â†µâ†µIndividual accomplishments: At best, Tebow wins 2 Heismans in 3 years, with a Top 3 finish sandwiched in between. At worst, he leaves with one Heisman but three Top 3 finishes. Don’t forget that, off the bench, he was arguably Florida’s MVP in the 2006 national title year.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Tebow mythology: He really IS that good of a guy. The community service. The prison trips. The circumcisions. The charismatic leadership. The competitiveness. The unflappable public speaking skills. And he knows his platform right now is optimized. The off-field stuff drives the legend.â†µ

â†µâ†µHow good an NFL player will Tebow be? For now, who cares? He stayed not because NFL immortality is necessarily in his future, but college football immortality is already here -- you don’t walk away from the chance to be “Greatest of All Time” ... at anything.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe potential of this Florida team mirrors the potential place in history of Tebow: Greatest team ever? Greatest player ever? It all comes down to whether Tebow leads this team to a 14-0 national championship season. â†µ

â†µâ†µAnything less is failure -- and any player who is a contender for “Best Ever” should HAVE to run through such an unforgiving gauntlet -- but if he leads them there, “greatest-ever” immortality is assured.â†µ

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â†µTHAT's why he came back. â†µ

â†µâ†µVick Watch: I keep saying that tonight is the most anticipated NFL preseason/exhibition game ever, because I can’t remember a game with this much intrigue. Maybe Brett Favre with the Jets? No. Maybe Steve Spurrier coaching the Redskins? Eh. Can you think of any that are MORE intriguing?â†µ

â†µâ†µMLB Talking Pointsâ†µ

â†µâ†µ• Vintage Papi: 2 HR, incl. walkoff.â†µ

â†µâ†µ• NL West: Dodgers cram Rockies.â†µ

â†µâ†µ• AL Wild Card: Rangers crushed in NY. Rays lose, too.â†µ

â†µâ†µ• Defending champs: Phils finally solve Bucs.â†µ

â†µâ†µ• : Andre Ethier (3/4, 2 HR, 3 RBI).â†µ

â†µâ†µNFL: Mark Sanchez is the Jets’ starting QB. You will be overwhelmed by the “Joe Flacco/Matt Ryan” comparisons. The only question is: Unlike those two, what if Sanchez struggles early?â†µ

â†µâ†µFavre Watch: Team honchos insist that there is no rift among the players about Favre. I’m going to add this, because it’s true: “Yet.”â†µ

â†µâ†µOh, NOW they say it: Investigators were wrong to seize The List, a court says. You know who was even more wrong? Folks who illegally leaked the names on The List. (It might be titillating and it might be sensational, but it was nevertheless illegal and wrong.)â†µ

â†µâ†µPitino Scandal, Cont’d: It is chutzpah appropriate for someone who would ask his pregnant mistress to get an abortion that he would, yesterday, invoke the memory of Ted Kennedy -- dead barely 12 hours -- in defending his actions and criticizing the media.â†µ

â†µâ†µCFB SN Countdown: No. 9 Ohio State, which may have the most talented player in the country (Terrelle Pryor), but may also get hung with two losses (USC, Penn State).â†µ

â†µâ†µCFB Preview: Big Ten. Who would have thought that the Big Ten title would come down to the Non-Conference Game of the Year -- Ohio State vs. USC? If OSU can beat USC, suddenly the game at Penn State doesn’t look that tough; if they lose (particularly like they did last year), it’s not their year. (Plus: Check out the conference superlatives.)â†µ

â†µâ†µIndiana redefines “home game” as “Fed Ex Field in suburban D.C.” Advantage: Penn State. (Northwestern fans may remember the ignominious moment back in the early-90s when the team sold a “home game” against Ohio State to the football stadium in Cleveland. Ugh. Relegate Indiana to the MAC. Seriously.â†µ

â†µâ†µBryce Brown saga: In an otherwise crappy week for Tennessee that saw the Vols lose a starting WR, they actually got some good news that supremely talented freshman RB Bryce Brown has no eligibility issues with the NCAA. Unfortunately, Jonathan Crompton is still the starting QB.â†µ

â†µâ†µNBA Offseason: Why should AI take the Grizzlies’ offer? Beyond the fact that it may be the only one he will get, he can join an exciting -- if not winning -- Memphis team. Can you imagine a Mayo-Iverson backcourt? Who wouldn’t pay to watch that?â†µ

â†µâ†µRicky Rubio headed for Spain? No deal yet, Wolves say. I think it is obvious that Rubio will play in Spain the next year or two -- the only question is whether the Wolves are smart enough to dangle Rubio’s rights as trade bait for a player who will actually, y’know, help. They will lose leverage as soon as Jonny Flynn has a Rookie-of-the-Year season.â†µ

â†µâ†µMedia: As someone who has always loathed the lack of transparency in the Coaches’ Top 25 ballots, I love this idea to force the coaches -- at least at the public schools -- to reveal their ballots. The coaches can get in front of this by simply volunteering to reveal their ballots each week.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Last Word: RIP, Ted Kennedy, known of course for his life in politics, but -- as a citizen -- an all-star Red Sox fan. (Great column by Christine Brennan about some of the other sports loves of Kennedy’s life, like his college football career at Harvard..)â†µ

â†µâ†µDan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/danshanoff.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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