Some people use it as a tool to expand their "brand", maybe keep up with their friends, or better yet, stalk celebrities and hope and pray for a "retweet" or "reply". Apparently, that is all it takes to make someone's life immesurably better. Now, it does feel cool when someone that we consider "untouchable" acknowledges something we as the little people say, but maybe we should tone it down a little bit...I know I need to. That was NOT what I wanted to really convey tonight, but its a start.
Do we as a people actually read words before we react to them? Its amazing how we're so quick to respond to one or two words that we see and instantly lash out in a tirade that makes no sense. Case in point (sorry to some of you, this is sports related, but it wasn't meant to go this far).
I was watching a show on ESPN called "Around the Horn". On this show, 4 sportswriters from around the country debate about different sports topics. On this day, there were writers from Denver, Dallas, Charlotte, and Boston on the show and the topic of Tim Tebow, former QB for the University of Florida and current back-up QB for the Denver Broncos.
After being selected in the first round in the 2010 NFL draft, Tim hasn't had many opportunites to display his skills in front of the home fans other than coming in when the Broncos had a large lead or were behind by a large margin with the exception of one start that he made where he led a 4th quarter comeback to lead the Broncos to a win over the Houston Texans (I'm not a Broncos fan, but I like Tebow and respect what he's been able to do with his limited time). Tim was brought into the game this past Sunday against the San Diego Chargers to play the second half after the starter, Kyle Orton, was rather ineffective and was removed at halftime. Tim had some rough spots in the third quarter, but with about 7 minutes left in the fourth, ran for a 12 yard TD and then 3 minutes later, connected with former University of Georgia star, Knowshon Moreno, for a 28 yard touchdown, but the Broncos were not able to score again and lost 29-24. Tebow led a thrilling comeback and injected some much needed excitement into the crowd in Denver which had been deflated following the dreadful first half. Well, back to the show....the debate is on whether Tebow should start the Broncos next game at Miami on October 23rd.
Tebow is a part of the new breed of QB, a guy who can throw the ball a mile, but at the same time, be able to escape the pocket and run for first downs and touchdowns. In college, Tim was a run-first QB, meaning, if he found a running lane, he would take that before having to sit in the pocket and scan the field for a receiver. Now, in the NFL, he is a pass-first QB, he has changed his style to match the game he's in. There is another high profile QB in this position right now by the name of Cam Newton.
Cam is quite the story. He was kicked off the team at Florida (while Tebow was there) for questionable actions involving a stolen laptop, went to Blinn Junior College in Texas before being highly recruited by a couple schools and ending up at Auburn University, leading them to the 2010 BCS National Championship (which is under investigation by the NCAA). Even with all this speculation about his actions last season, Newton is an extremely talented athlete. But in the same regard, in college he was a run-first QB, in fact, he ran the ball only 4 times less than he threw it. Now, in the NFL, Newton is a pass-first QB and has shown that maybe he can one day be more than a middle of the road QB (sorry for all the backstory, but this sets up the real story, I promise).
Now the writer from Denver praised the efforts of Tebow for how he played Sunday, but no matter what he said, the writer from Charlotte (where Newton plays), wouldn't give Tebow any credit and proceeded to say later on in an exclusive video Here that "Tebow isn't athletic enough to overcome the fact that he stinks". The fact that this writer who represents a city that has the same type of QB for their team and then refuses to give the guy a chance just shows that he is a hypocrite. He loves what Newton is doing in Charlotte, but because Tebow hasn't had the opportunity to shine like Newton, says that he stinks. This writer from Charlotte is a very arrogant guy, when he "wins" on the show, he puts a replica WWE belt on his shoulder and pretends like he is the champ (but he loses MUCH more often than he wins, so that belt should be "dropped" like any champ who loses in WWE). So, after this segment, I go to twitter to talk about this writer and I write the following tweet:
Here's where the fun starts!!!!
Within seconds, literally...I get bombarded with person after person "replying" to me saying the same thing, "Cam is better than Tebow". Will someone PLEASE tell me where in my tweet I said anything comparing these two QBs statistics or abilities? Next thing I know, I have people asking me if Tebow being a devout Christian has anything to do with my stance on my tweet? Really, somone is playing the religion card on me now? This is getting out of hand! All I said is that this sportswriter from Charlotte is giving no respect to a person when the QB for the team that is in the city he writes for has the EXACT same type of QB. Some of these people who "reply" to me say that I'm essentially a racist for my tweet. Did I ever mention anywhere that Tebow is white and Newton is black??? NO, NOT AT ALL, THAT DOESN'T MATTER TO ME!
We have such a deep desire to be heard that we are willing to try to destroy the credibility of others to make ourselves feel better. People refuse to read anything past the names of who is involved in a story. They start to judge and if they think something is different, they will relentlessly attack someone who thinks differently of them. The arrogance of this writer and the ignorance of the people who replied to my tweet just prove to me how poorly we've done in this country in educating people. It hurts me to realize how much people don't read something in its entirety before giving an assessment. This world would be so much different if people would just stop looking things over, read entire statements and articles, then give it time to process instead of reacting on emotion. Believe me, I've reacted on emotion plenty of times and its gotten me nowhere fast. Its put me in situations I wish I wasn't, kind of like it has now. So maybe its time for a new inititiative. Lets call it...Educate The Previously Semi-Educated, this time No Moron Left Behind...
Maybe then we can avoid this indictment of the American Education System.
-D-
If you want to see the "tweet war" that ensued, I'll let you see every reply that was posted to my tweet, just contact me and I'll let you see them.
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