Tebow goes to Gotham City

If you've read any of my earlier posts here, you know I'm a Tim Tebow supporter. I'm not delusional by any means. Right now, he's not a great quarterback in the NFL. Saying he's a good quarterback is even a stretch. He runs the ball well and has those football intangibles. Namely, he finds a way to win. While in Denver last season, he turned a 1-4 start into an 8-8 finish and AFC West title. He defeated defending AFC champion Pittsburgh in his first playoff start and tossed the game-winning 80-yard touchdown to Demaryius Thomas in overtime. Then he got steamrolled in New England next week by Tom Brady and the eventual AFC champion Patriots. Not a bad season for a guy that very few thought deserved a starting job.

So when Peyton Manning was cut by Indianapolis a few weeks ago and ended up signing a five-year/$96 million deal with the Broncos, the Tale of Tebow seemed to be coming to an end. Fear not, fans. The Tebow Circus will now make its way to the big city thanks to a stunning trade made by the New York Jets yesterday that saw the them send their fourth and sixth round picks in the upcoming NFL Draft to Denver for Tebow and a seventh rounder.

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You have to wonder what exactly the Jets are thinking. They pursued Manning, but dropped out early on, and handed incumbent quarterback Mark Sanchez and three-year contract extension. Now, Tebow comes to town and is anointed the backup. My guess is that Tebow is there to push Sanchez since he really hasn't had to worry about being benched the last few years, seeing as how the 40-something Mark Brunell has been his backup. Jets' brass has said that Tebow will be used in various game situations. New offensive coordinator Tony Sparano ran the "Wildcat" formation with success in Miami, so expect plenty of Tebow in those sets, some goal line situations, but very little else. Sanchez is the starter. He's been to two AFC championship games in his first three years in the league. He's "The Sanchise" until he falls on his face and gets run out of town. If that happens, we can talk more about bringing Tebow to New York being the wrong or right move. Right now, he's just the highest profile backup in the NFL.

Tebow's leadership has never been questioned and there's no questioning winning. Football is a team game and he has had plenty of help on both sides of the ball as both a Gator and then a Bronco. Look for Tebow to help the Jets look good and mend the discord that haunted the locker room last season, while the Jets make him look good when he's under center.

Baseball Hall of Fame writers are lacking

Baseball writers voted last week for Hall of Fame enshrinement and of all the credible candidates only Barry Larkin received over the 75% necessary to gain election. Larkin is very deserving and if I had a vote he would have got mine. I've been stewing all this time on how he's the only guy to get in this year. I'd have also voted for Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Martinez, Fred McGriff and yes, Mark McGwire. This could get into a steroid debate, but let's save that for another time.

My biggest beef here is the fact that Bernie Williams only received 55 votes (9.6%). This guy did everything on a Yankee team that won four World Series titles during his 16-year career. .297 career average, 287 home runs, 1257 runs batted in (five times over 100 in a season, which is one more time than Mickey Mantle did it, by the way), five All Star selections, four Gold Gloves in center field. Then, take his post season stats into perspective. He's first all-time in RBI's, then he's second all-time in hits, homers, doubles, runs scored, total bases, trailing Hall of Fame lock Derek Jeter in most of those categories, and Manny Ramirez, who would also be a Hall of Fame lock if not for that tiny little steroid issue he had, in the homer department.

So baseball writers? Why? Isn't the post season something that separates the legends from the regular season greats? Isn't this why the votes seem to rise every year for Jack Morris? Morris rose to 66.7% in the voting this year, and will probably have the door to the Hall open for him next year. Everyone remembers his post season efforts. Anchoring the Tigers pitching staff to the title in 1984 with two complete game victories in the World Series, and the 10-inning shutout he threw in 1991 against the Braves in Game 7 to win it for the Twins. Those post seasons overshadow the fact that his career regular season ERA was 3.90 and that he didn't break the magical 300 win plateau. Morris was a work horse. He won 254 games and he probably gets my vote as well, but only 55 votes being cast for Bernie is shameful. The guy was a class act and probably just as big a leader as Jeter was on those Yankee championship teams.

Explain to me how you don't vote this guy for the Hall. Please.