Bill Maher-Victim Of Religious Discrimination?

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The fact that he's had to do so many come-from-behind victories would seem to indicate A) a not great defense and B) the inability of their opponents to play 60 minutes. The Patriots have been capitalizing on this for a while.
Whose defense? The Broncos' defense has been outstanding this season. He's leading comebacks in games that are usually like 10-7 (which is low scoring, for the non-football fans here).
 
Basically, everyone but Tebow has been playing lights out and Tebow is getting all the credit for their success.

Having actually watched Broncos games, I find the whole thing absurd, and anyone attributing their success to the hand of God is silly by definition. When you sit down and watch this team play, you can't help but credit everyone involved.

The fact is though, they weren't playing this well in all facets prior to Tebow starting. Even the defense improved midway through the season. I can't in good conscience call it God's favor, but I will call it a spark.
 
Happens all the time in professional sports when a change is made. When a coach is fired halfway through the season and another brought in, teams always play better. It's just a psychological resetting on the season. I know all about these things; I'm a Miami fan :( ...... They never last
 
what if Teabow were praising Allah after every home run or 3-pointer or whatever it is that he does?

if he talked about Allah and Mohammad in his press conferences? if he wrote references to the Koran underneath his eyes?

would that be cool?

It wouldn't be cool with a lot people.
And then those detractors would be called, what?
Insensitive? Bigoted? Sound about right to me.

What would you call Hypothetical Muslim Tebow's detractors?

And Christian Tebow's current detractors are...what, exactly?

I know my answer is the same in both cases.

I would be put-off by the obnoxiousness of any proselytizing.
But as long as they aren't preaching hate or intolerance, it's fair enough.
 
Umm... that's not exactly the same thing. People of faith can't have role models or look up to people without being criticized of worshiping a false god?

This is silly.

No, that's not what I meant. I just meant that some people seem to value him much more than they do the leader of the religion they follow. Which, personally, I really don't care about. But for those who are very devoted to their religion, to be so devoted to this football player would fly in the face of some of the religion's teachings about such things, at least in some people's eyes (which is whom I was really referring to in my last post).

You can have other role models in your life. But if you "worship", or are more willing to follow, a football player (or actor or musician or whomever else you can name) more than Jesus, in some people's eyes, this would be frowned upon.
 
It wouldn't be cool with a lot people.
And then those detractors would be called, what?
Insensitive? Bigoted? Sound about right to me.

What would you call Hypothetical Muslim Tebow's detractors?

And Christian Tebow's current detractors are...what, exactly?

I know my answer is the same in both cases.

I would be put-off by the obnoxiousness of any proselytizing.
But as long as they aren't preaching hate or intolerance, it's fair enough.


The difference being that most of the Tebow detractors would be doing the same if he were muslim. The question is what would the people who are praising Tebow have to say about it?
 
This won't sway the cynics.

Believing in Tim Tebow - ESPN

I contribute to this conversation having watched approximately zero games that Tebow's played (I'm a Patriots guy). I'm just intrigued by the hate directed at this guy, who seems by all accounts to be genuine, down-to-earth, and fairly humble about the team's accomplishments.
 
This won't sway the cynics.

Believing in Tim Tebow - ESPN

I contribute to this conversation having watched approximately zero games that Tebow's played (I'm a Patriots guy). I'm just intrigued by the hate directed at this guy, who seems by all accounts to be genuine, down-to-earth, and fairly humble about the team's accomplishments.

Personally, I think the guy seems like a pretty decent guy.

But he's not anymore humble than any other football player or professional athlete, and he comes off just a little misguided.

At the end of the day he's a football player. And I have a hard time believing that God cares either way about football games, grammys, oscars, spelling bees, or reality show contests.
 
I have a hard time believing that God cares either way about football games, grammys, oscars, spelling bees, or reality show contests.

I don't disagree. But I believe that God cares about all those who participate in them -- winners and losers alike.
 
This won't sway the cynics.

Believing in Tim Tebow - ESPN

I contribute to this conversation having watched approximately zero games that Tebow's played (I'm a Patriots guy). I'm just intrigued by the hate directed at this guy, who seems by all accounts to be genuine, down-to-earth, and fairly humble about the team's accomplishments.

That article completely misses the point about what annoys people about Tebow
 
I found the whole anti-choice "my mother put her life in danger to have me instead of an abortion and now I'm rich, bee-yotch" Focus on the Family thing really distasteful.

Since then, he seems fine. Dunno.
 
I found the whole anti-choice "my mother put her life in danger to have me instead of an abortion and now I'm rich, bee-yotch" Focus on the Family thing really distasteful.

Since then, he seems fine. Dunno.
Well, yeah. That's the point where he crossed the line for a lot of people.
 
If you have NFL Network they just showed a review of Tim Tebow's season. Mic'd up with sound and done by NFL Films.

Very interesting to hear his actual prayers on the field rather than what his critics and others assume he prays for. It also leaves no doubt as to why he has been a winner everywhere he has played. His competitiveness, teamwork and inspirational leadership are on clear display.
 
as another football ignorant speaking here, i think the issue regarding his abilities is that Teabow plays horribly for 3.5 quarters, and then pulls off something at the end.

It's like LeBron James in reverse! :lol:
 
You mean like Muhammad Ali used to give praise to Allah after each of his fights? And he was only named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Decade. And aren't American athletes who legally change their name to a Muslim name literally putting their faith on the back of their jersey?


Cooler than a Christian athlete putting John 3:16 under his eyes in any Islamic republic I should think.

But yes, as a fan in the stadium, I would certainly get a little nervous if late in the game I knew a Muslim quarterback was in the huddle calling for the next play to be "a bomb." (pause....) And we'd probably have to stop calling that a "hail Mary" pass wouldn't we?

awwww you've let your lack of knowledge of sports expose your bigotry! how cute :cute:

meet chris jackson.

best player on his college team (that also featured some guy named shaq), 2 time all-american, 3rd overall pick in the NBA draft, scoring average in the upper teens in his first few years in the nba (that's very good)... overcame tourette's syndrome to become an nba all star. dropped 51 points on michael jordan.

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now meet mahmoud abdul-rauf.

nba pariah. booed in arenas across the country, including his home arena. his own coach aid this about him...

"I was so proud of how he turned things around on the court, but I didn't fully understand his religion and why he was doing the things he was doing. Frankly, I thought some of that was hurting the team, and I wished he wouldn't have done it. Sometimes I'd see him out there and I wished that I had that Baptist boy from Mississippi.

mahmoud_rauf.jpg


yup... same guy. converted muslim. averaged 19 points per game the year he decided he did not want to honor the national anthem due to his strong religious beliefs. he was run out of town... traded to nba sibera (sacramento) just a few months after his stance became a controversy.

but i'm sure if he played in a town like denver, ground zero of tebow-mania, that the denver fans would respect such a talented (much better basketball player than tebow is a football player) athlete with such strong religious beliefs.

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In an apparent publicity stunt gone wrong linked to this controversy, four employees of Denver's KBPI radio station were charged with misdemeanor offenses related to entering a Colorado mosque and playing "The Star-Spangled Banner" on a bugle and trumpet, in a provocative response to Abdul-Rauf's refusal to stand for the national anthem

oops!
 
Seems to me what Tebow's doing is no big deal. One guy's expression of faith--or thinking to the future when he can make his living giving inspirational seminars-- so what? Everybody else--pro and con- is making it a big deal, using it for whatever they need to use it for. He's fair game to celebrate or to make fun of, but he's no saint or no threat. Enjoy him or ignore him.
 
yup... same guy. converted muslim. averaged 19 points per game the year he decided he did not want to honor the national anthem due to his strong religious beliefs. he was run out of town... traded to nba sibera (sacramento) just a few months after his stance became a controversy.

Why do I have a feeling that this has more than a little something to do with it?

For many Americans, patriotism is a big deal.
 
I didn't realize Abdul-Rauf was still playing...one of my brothers used to be a big fan of his. I think mostly because he also was once a scholarship athlete from Mississippi with Tourette's.
so what? Everybody else--pro and con- is making it a big deal, using it for whatever they need to use it for. He's fair game to celebrate or to make fun of, but he's no saint or no threat.
That's the extent of my feelings on it too...I don't follow the Broncos closely, but I find the culture wars back-and-forth that's built up around Tebow silly, in both directions.
 
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I can't in good conscience call it God's favor, but I will call it a spark.

It appears that the guy has become a leader on that team and that his teammates play for and with him. I haven't seen enough Broncos games to judge them as a team before and after Tebow, but I don't see how any rational person can deny that. Whatever leadership qualities he has that are just his personality and whatever are a result or a happy accident of/derived from other-who knows and on the football field that's completely irrelevant.

I don't see how his choice of praise indicates he believes in any sort of God's favor, and since he has actually said that God doesn't give a crap about football (not in those words) I just don't think that's fair. If he starts saying crazy stuff like that then it becomes fair. I wouldn't care if he was Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, whatever. And I hardly think I'm one out of millions of people.

Yes I'm tired of all the talk and our QB is Tom Brady-at this point you'd think it's Tebow. But Tebow defies all logic (athletically) and that drives some people nuts and some people love it :shrug:
 
Seems to me what Tebow's doing is no big deal. One guy's expression of faith--or thinking to the future when he can make his living giving inspirational seminars-- so what? Everybody else--pro and con- is making it a big deal, using it for whatever they need to use it for. He's fair game to celebrate or to make fun of, but he's no saint or no threat. Enjoy him or ignore him.

You're just a cool person

You should really stop being so level headed :tsk:
 
awwww you've let your lack of knowledge of sports expose your bigotry! how cute :cute:

My lack of knowledge of sports exposes my bigotry! Really? Only in the same way your
lack of sports knowledge exposes your antisemitism. How else to explain your failure to mention that not everyone thought positively of Sandy Koufax's decision to not pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because the game fell on Yom Kippur?
Now can we stop silliness?
meet chris jackson.

best player on his college team (that also featured some guy named shaq), 2 time all-american, 3rd overall pick in the NBA draft, scoring average in the upper teens in his first few years in the nba (that's very good)... overcame tourette's syndrome to become an nba all star. dropped 51 points on michael jordan.

now meet mahmoud abdul-rauf.

nba pariah. booed in arenas across the country, including his home arena. his own coach aid this about him...

yup... same guy. converted muslim. averaged 19 points per game the year he decided he did not want to honor the national anthem due to his strong religious beliefs. he was run out of town... traded to nba sibera (sacramento) just a few months after his stance became a controversy.

but i'm sure if he played in a town like denver, ground zero of tebow-mania, that the denver fans would respect such a talented (much better basketball player than tebow is a football player) athlete with such strong religious beliefs.

I remember the Abdul-Rauf incident, I just consider it a piss-poor comparison. Maybe you can tell us which NBA player, or any professional athlete, could sit in protest during the National Anthem and tell us the American flag "represents tyranny and oppression" and not be booed and his team pressured to take some type of action?
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Perhaps you could tell us why he was not supported by fellow Muslims in the NBA and in Colorado at the time.

The Muslim teaching is to obey and respect," said Houston Rockets star Hakeem Olajuwon. "To be a good Muslim is to be a good citizen." Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told Abdul-Rauf to reconsider his stance. Mohammed Jodeh, head of political affairs for the Colorado Muslim Society, declared that Abdul-Rauf's position contradicted Islamic teaching.
-Sports Illustrated 3/25/96

And Olajuwon went on to win a gold medal for the U.S. Olympic team in 1996. I lived in Houston in the 80's during the Twin Tower Era and I can tell you that Hakeem Olajuwon is arguably the most revered professional athletic in Houston today. That's Houston, Texas !!


My bigotry? I think not. My bias? Yes. I think the United States is the most religiously diverse, tolerant and therefore freest in the history of the world. Expect my posts to reflect that sentiment.
 
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