#kosterman

[wesreads-blog]

Real people are actively trying to live like fake people, so real people are no less fake.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs - Chuck Kosterman

[gisqod-blog-blog]

Two Thoughtful Posts on Tim Tebow

Two very thoughtful posts about Tebow.  The Klosterman piece is typically insightful, and addresses the Tebow phenomenon from a fresh angle: he's mostly interested in why everyone's so interested in this guy.  The other piece (h/t, Alex) is more satirical, and reminds me of my father describing Larry Bird to me as a young kid, just starting to play basketball at the YMCA: A guy who couldn't run fast, couldn't jump, couldn't physically intimidate his opponents, couldn't make stunningly graceful athletic moves.  All Larry Bird could do was play basketball.

What Tim Tebow Can't Do 

When Tim Tebow is bummed, he doesn't pull down the blinds, blast the Fleetwood Mac and drink red wine out of a Mason jar, like everybody else does. He's a total weirdo.

The People Who Hate Tim Tebow

And this, I think, is what makes Tebow so maddening to those who hate him: He refuses to say anything that would validate the suspicion that he's fake (or naïve or self-righteous or dumb). My guess is that Ryan Fitzpatrick or Aaron Rodgers would blow him away on the GRE, but Tebow has profound social intelligence, at least when he speaks in public. It's not that he usually says the right things; he only says the right things, all the time. As a result, he fuels a quasi-tautological reality that makes his supporters ecstatic, even if they don't accept it as wholly valid.