ESPN Reports Tebow to Jags

[PeeJayEss]

He was a fairly well educated carpenter, and I think its hard to be wildly popular, even for a little while, without also being wildly attractive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUvgqItrt1c
I think you've stumbled onto something here. Jesus was set up! He was the original model slash actor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUvgqItrt1c

http://www.youtube.com/v/EUvgqItrt1c
"None of them made it past 30"

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

...and I think its hard to be wildly popular, even for a little while, without also being wildly attractive.

Sure about that?.  Let's go to the video....  errrrrr.....   photos!

[PeeJayEss]

^Bill Murray is the only one there that could qualify as "wildly popular," and I bet he did pretty well with the ladies even before he was famous.

[Wacca Pilatka]

^Bill Murray is the only one there that could qualify as "wildly popular," and I bet he did pretty well with the ladies even before he was famous.

I tip my hat to NRW for the Gary Busey inclusion anyway.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

^Bill Murray is the only one there that could qualify as "wildly popular," and I bet he did pretty well with the ladies even before he was famous.

I disagree.... Both Buscemi and Busey are 'wildly popular' though many people may not even know their names - they're more recognized by their unique unattractive 'features'. 

[Gators312]

^Bill Murray is the only one there that could qualify as "wildly popular," and I bet he did pretty well with the ladies even before he was famous.

I tip my hat to NRW for the Gary Busey inclusion anyway.

I give it an A-  he could have found a more incriminating photo.

[BridgeTroll]

This is good... 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/22217884/congratulations-tebow-fans-youve-run-your-favorite-son-out-of-the-nfl

If Tim Tebow never plays in the NFL again, his fans loved his career to death.

We knew this day was coming. The rest of us, I mean. Those of us who aren't Tebow fans, even those of us who enjoyed his presence in the NFL the same way we enjoy elephants, clowns and Waldo the two-headed walrus. We knew this would happen. That one day, the squeakiest wheels on the Tebow bandwagon would drive his career right off the cliff.

Congratulations, idiot who petitioned President Obama to force the Jaguars to sign Tebow. You did this.

Congratulations, attention-seeking Florida lawyer buying air time in the Jags' market to clamor for Tebow. You did this.

But it's not just those two. It's the rest of you. It took millions of you to do this, but I'll be damned -- millions of you did it.

It's the Forbes thing. Every year the magazine surveys the country to determine the most influential person in various spheres, including sports. The most influential person in sports today? In the whole country?

Tim Tebow.

Any idea how many NFL teams -- from the owner to the general manager to the coach to the locker room -- want a backup quarterback who is considered the most influential athlete in the country?

Zero.

You've done this, Tebow fans. You've loved Tebow's career to death. You're a seventh-grader who calls his girlfriend every hour on the hour just to say, "I love you so much!" Pretty soon the girlfriend's parents put an end to the relationship, because that's just stupid. And you're being a pain in the ass.

What do you know? I stumbled onto a motto for the Tebow fan base:

We're a pain in the ass.

Here's the truth. I had this story on my radar a week ago. I can't prove it to you, but that's a fact. At the time the headline in mind was "Trolling Tebow," because that's what seemed to be happening. An arena football team, stupendously called the Omaha Beef, offered Tebow its quarterback job at $75 a game. A lingerie football league wanted Tebow to do something. Play? Coach? Referee? Not sure. I could look it up, but anything beyond the words "Tebow" and "lingerie league" is just a detail. When a window company in Florida offered him $30,000 to throw footballs at its product -- to prove its windows are hurricane-proof by having Tebow throw at them, or something -- I was sold.

Trolling Tebow. That was my story for early this week. But on Saturday, Boston College's courageous Dick Kelley emailed me to say he was ready to talk. And then the Geno Smith story grabbed me by the throat. Which leads to today.

And what do you know? The story has changed from idiots trolling Tebow to even bigger idiots doing exactly what they don't want: making it difficult for Tebow to continue in the NFL -- and impossible in Jacksonville, just down the road from Nease High and the University of Florida, where the Tebow legend started and then flourished.

Last week that other stuff happened. The Omaha Beef. The lingerie league. The window company. Since Saturday, the petition to Obama happened. The commercial begging the Jags to sign Tebow happened. The Forbes survey happened.

Hell, Mike Ditka happened.

Somebody thought it was a good idea to ask Ditka about Tebow, and Ditka said he would play Tebow. This is the guy who once traded an entire draft to pick Ricky Williams, so an endorsement from Ditka means about as much as an endorsement from John Morgan.

Who is John Morgan? Exactly. Point of fact, he's an attorney in Orlando who apparently loves two things: The sound of his voice, and the sound of his voice when it says the words "Tim Tebow." Morgan combined both loves in a ridiculous radio commercial aimed at Jags owner Shahid Khan.

The commercial hit the Jacksonville airwaves Tuesday, just a few days after the WWE ringside announcer -- a WWE Hall of Famer! -- broached the idea of Tebow becoming a professional wrestler.

It's ridiculous, obviously. Somewhere off the coast of Jacksonville swims a shark. Maybe more than one shark. Maybe hundreds. The Tebow story has jumped every last one of them.

Shahid Khan knows this. When the Jags owner was asked this week about Tebow, Khan said he was "fascinated" by the question. Don't misunderstand what he was saying: He's not fascinated by Tebow. He's fascinated by the question. And it is a fascinating question:

Why the absurd demand for Tebow? Why are Tebow's fans loving him right out of the NFL?

Do they see what they're doing?

Do they see what they've done?

[Ocklawaha]

If I were the GM of the Jags, I'd have a nice long talk with Tebow. Tell him straight up that; "Your performance as a pro has... shall we say, been a little less then sparkling.  I really hope you find that team to grow into and become the super star that you were in college. However, if you don't, we will offer you a job, an opportunity as a reserve QB, at X dollars. (note we didn't say XXX dollars). Take our deal and come home, or wait it out and maybe some other team will step up... but remember that clock is ticking and our offer is open."

Why? Because if we could pick him up for the true price he is worth as a player, he'd have the ability of a super star to fill seats for a season or two. If at that time the enthusiasm dropped through the floor, we could send him packing.

[KenFSU]

Saw this linked on the Jags subreddit and really liked it:

http://www.bigcatcountry.com/2013/5/8/4311724/enough-is-enough

Enough is Enough

By janjags on May 8 2013, 11:36a  @delacruzjan 70

Hi.

My name is Jan.

I just finished my first year at the University of Florida, and am glad to be back in DUVAAALLLL for the summer. I usually keep to myself, this is my first post on BCC, but with the White House petition and Morgan & Morgan ad craziness going on, I've decided that enough is enough.

At this point I'm sure I'm just wasting my time trying to be rational with the Tebowites out there, but I've spent the last 8 months in a place that sells cutouts of his head in the bookstore. I've dealt with endless chatter and whining, and usually I just nod my head telling myself "it's okay, they don't know any better." I've tried to be patient, but the recent lengths that are being taken and the "facts" behind bringing him here have become far too frustrating for me to sit and watch all my nephews & nieces handle it.

While I respect the opinion of those Tebow supporters that want him here, I just don't fully understand how so many of them blissfully reject reasonable arguments as to why it wouldn't work. What did he do to seemingly blind you so much? I've seen his Heisman in the trophy room. It doesn't shine all that bright. I even declined the "safety sunglasses" that the security guard tried to hand me.

I've heard the same arguments time and time again. Usually it's some grumbling mixed with the words tickets, tarps, and competition. Well....

Ticket Sales & Tarps

Tim Tebow's first NFL game in Jax was with the Broncos in 2010, a game that had 63,636 tickets distributed. That year, the Jags averaged 63,032 in ticket sales across all games. When the Jets came to town this year, 67,027 tickets were sold. Though the 2012 average was 64,984, again, I'm conceding here and using the numbers of tickets sold and not an actual turnstile count. Fans on both sides (Jags fans and solely Tebow fans) don't actually go to the game for some reason or the other. Also, note that for the Bears game 67,012 tickets were sold, and for the Christmas Eve Eve Patriots game 70,251 tickets were sold.

But I'll just assume that the nearly 600 tickets in 2010 and about 2000 tickets in 2012 over the average are all as a direct result of Tebow, for argument's sake. Even if this is true, these numbers just aren't high enough to make a significant impact. 9,703 seats are currently covered by the tarps. Even taking the higher number of tickets sold from the Jets game, you would need about a 385% increase in (4.85 times as many!) Tebow fans to unite and buy tickets to get rid of the tarps. That's with every benefit of the doubt already given to you, which is far from the reality of the situation. I could also always spin the numbers the other way around like Tebowites often do and say "WE SOLD MORE TICKETS FOR THE PATS GAME" or "ONLY 15 MORE OF YOU BOUGHT TICKETS THAN FOR THE BEARS GAME" but there's several facts that prevent me from making such assumption jumps (Christmas gifts, Chicago's road travelling prowess, etc). Assumption jumps have become the name of the game though, so maybe I should.

I've tried explaining this to friends before, and I'm usually told "but it'll be different when he's in a Jags uniform." He's more than likely going to be on the bench no matter what colors he's wearing, so any impact would be short-term at best. And at least in my opinion, I don't think season ticket sales would go up all that much. Single-game sales would probably marginally rise, as Tebow fans would show up for a game or two to yell for Tim's number to be called, only to see how fruitless it is. And please don't argue that "blackouts would never happen again." They haven't in 3 years without him. Even if he was here, most of the Tebow faithful would continue to watch on TV anyway, as a rousing game of "find the hidden bible verse" just isn't the same in the stadium.

Competition

"At least bring him in there for competition."

It's a competition that you wouldn't even watch. The second Tim completes a pass and Blaine misses, the "competition" will be called over. And even if Tim looks terrible in practice I'm sure we'll hear the "he's not a great practice player" and "he's at his best in-game" excuses again. Why are you begging for competition, when you only use it as a means to get him on the team rather than actually improve the team itself? It's like there's this unspoken Tebow fan ideal that if he gets on the team, one way or another he's going to end up the starter. Honestly if anything, he'll make Gabbert look like a hall of famer.

What's the end game?

If Tim magically ends up in Jax, will billboards be bought to call for him to be the starter? And if he ends up the starter and is terrible, will more billboards go up calling for more weapons? Maybe a different offensive system? Coaches? GM? It will never be Tim's fault, no matter what happens. Most fans know not to expect a Super Bowl this year. Tebow's not going to change that, but seemingly if he makes the team and doesn't end up winning, it's everyone else's fault. I wish the same line of thinking worked in my life. "I didn't do so well on my Biology exams because the teacher is really bad, and the book is hard to read, and my seat in lecture was uncomfortable so Mr. Med School Representative please consider that I'm actually really really smart I just haven't been given the opportunity to show that."

To the White House petition guy:

Did you really think this was going to work? Stop watching your 2008 BCS Championship VHS tape and move on. Did all the articles about you make you feel special? If you were a real Jags fan, you'd realize how much of a negative spotlight you've thrown upon the organization. What part of "even if he's released" do you and your fellow Tebowites don't understand? Dave said it, then Tim got released. What do you think changed since?

To Mr. Morgan:

Business going that bad that this is how you drum up publicity? "We can't even fill an entire endzone." Really? I mean, come on! And you even dropped the "winner" word. Is that Skip Bayless remix your ringtone? For the majority of your pitch, you used college stats. Boy, if only those translated to the NFL every single time. By the way, what's a "winner?" Is it because he likes to win? And every other NFL players likes to lose? Or that he has this extreme passion and desire for winning? So is Charlie Sheen a winner, too? I hate that arguing this is really all you want, I mean you're getting free advertisement out of all this frustration. So I guess then this is only fair:

Farah & Farah > Morgan & Morgan
Farah & Farah > Morgan & Morgan
Farah & Farah > Morgan & Morgan
Farah & Farah > Morgan & Morgan
Farah & Farah > Morgan & Morgan
Farah & Farah > Morgan & Morgan

And finally, to my fellow nephews & nieces:

I know I've written over a thousands words, so thanks for reading this much. We always seem like a minority in this fight, and that's what's frustrating to me. The media won't let it go, these "fans" won't let it go, and no matter what we say Mr. New Jersey is still gonna watch that VHS tape. I'm proud to say that I'm with this team through it all, and when we hit the good years we can all look around and say a "I see you nephew" to the ones we know that stuck through this. If anything, we nephews have grown closer. So let's continue to harass each other in the comments, avoid Uncle Chap's twitpics, and RIP people's mentions from time to time. Diamond Dave and Gus have got us, EverBank will soon be filled as a result of real winning and not a short-term distraction, and we'll all be proud of the ride.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Why? Because if we could pick him up for the true price he is worth as a player, he'd have the ability of a super star to fill seats for a season or two. If at that time the enthusiasm dropped through the floor, we could send him packing.

The only seats going unsold at Jaguar games are a segment of the club seats.  The general bowl has been sold out for the past three seasons.

The people who have been making "I'd buy tickets if only we had Tebow!" noise are not going to buy club seats.

They are also convinced Tebow can do no wrong.  If we didn't play him, they'd turn on the team.  If he played poorly, they'd blame the team.  They already look for any excuse to trash the Jaguars anyway.  I am constantly confronted with the straw-man arguments that the Jaguars are full of "thugs" with "arrest records," that I must want the NFL to be full of rapists and murderers, that the Jaguars have no Christians or good role models, etc. etc. ad nauseam.  Then they break out the "Since the Jags didn't sign Tebow, I don't care if they move to Los Angeles!" card with alacrity.

At the risk of spectacular understatement, these are not the kind of people you want as fans.  This isn't a matter of how much it costs to acquire him.  It's a matter of the inability to get rid of him if he doesn't succeed because of his insane fan base.  And most NFL people don't think he's going to succeed unless he switches positions, which he evidently refuses to do.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

If I were the GM of the Jags, I'd have a nice long talk with Tebow. Tell him straight up that; "Your performance as a pro has... shall we say, been a little less then sparkling.  I really hope you find that team to grow into and become the super star that you were in college. However, if you don't, we will offer you a job, an opportunity as a reserve QB, at X dollars. (note we didn't say XXX dollars). Take our deal and come home, or wait it out and maybe some other team will step up... but remember that clock is ticking and our offer is open."

Why? Because if we could pick him up for the true price he is worth as a player, he'd have the ability of a super star to fill seats for a season or two. If at that time the enthusiasm dropped through the floor, we could send him packing.

This is wrong on so many levels, Ock.  Honestly, this may be one of the least informed posts I've read. 

The problem isn't the cost of Tebow.  The problem is his inability to throw the football. 
The problem isn't his presence on the team.  The problem is his fans' omnipresence.
The problem isn't his physical tools to play football.  The problem is his inability to throw the football.
The problem isn't his lack of trying.  The problem is his inability to throw the football.

And I don't doubt for a second, that by signing Tebow, that we will increase season ticket sales.....  by about 200. 

Once we start winning that number will increase by 10 fold whether or not he's on the team. 

His presence is not worth the headache that comes along with it. 

IF HE COULD THROW THE FOOTBALL, HE WOULD STILL BE IN DENVER!!!!!!!!  until they get Manning, then....
IF HE COULD THROW THE FOOTBALL HE WOULD STILL BE IN NEW YORK!!!!!!!   but he couldn't beat out Sanchez or McElroy
IF HE COULD THROW THE FOOTBALL HE WOULD BE EMPLOYED!!!!!!!!   He can't.  He isn't.  Let it go.

[KenFSU]

I wish people, including locals, would get the memo that the Jags DO NOT HAVE ATTENDANCE PROBLEMS, at least not relatively.

We ranked 20th (out of 32 teams) in both average and total attendance last season.

We ranked 17th (out of 32 teams) in % of tickets sold.

I haven't run the numbers recently, but our per capita attendance is usually in the top two or three in the entire league.

The tarps aren't a black eye, or a sign of the Jags' inability to sell tickets, but rather a concession to the fact that our stadium is simply too damn big for a market this size. It was clear from the Jags third season onward. With per capita attendance so high already, nothing short of a massive population increase will allow us to remove those tarps permanently. This isn't a shameful thing, and I get tired of hearing locals use stupid phrases like "_______ will help those tarps come off."

Winning may boost attendance, but the real goal should be to boost ticket prices through fielding a winning team that people want to watch, and by continuing to improve the game day experience at Everbank.

[Wacca Pilatka]

We don't have to take our tarps off

To have a good time, uh huh...

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Ken,

Didn't you do a pretty intensive study on the Jags attendance v/s market size v/s stadium size?

[Ocklawaha]

The problem is his fans' omnipresence.

BINGO

And BTW, Kenfsu, I didn't say we had low attendance, but those omnipresent fans would fill in ANY gaps in seating we've got for a season or two... By then his offer expires.