Why ESPN Actively Creates Tim Tebow Hate Through Non-Stop Coverage

Just when you thought ESPN outdid itself with its first all-Tim Tebow "TebowCenter" edition of SportsCenter back in December, it decided to reprise the conceit on Thursday in honor of the Denver Broncos reaching the playoffs and defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday.

Even if you're a fan of the quarterback, it's hard not to roll your eyes at the heavy-handed approach "the worldwide leader in sports" has employed when covering his every move this season. And if you're not a fan, it's likely because of the hype ESPN has spearheaded in creating.

Typically, Tebow haters fall into three camps: those who dislike him because he doesn't play the quarterback position consistently or traditionally, those who are put off by his squeaky-clean image and adherence to the evangelical aspects of his religion, and those who hate the Broncos or the Florida Gators, period.

However, all three groups have something in common: The only reason they feel so strongly about Tebow is directly related to the seemingly never-ending coverage of him.

Were the media to treat him like practically every other quarterback in the NFL, we'd never have to worry about being barraged with coverage about him on a constant basis.

However, the sports media—spearheaded by ESPN, the taste-maker (rather than pulse-taker) of the genre—has built a pedestal for Tebow, taking those things that make him unique and turning them into what it believes is the most important story in the history of the NFL.

Sure, those Tebow haters have their reasons for disliking him, and they'd likely dislike him for those reasons no matter how much he was spoken and written about. However, it's the unending dominance of the Tebow storyline that turns that dislike into hate.

Is Tebow polarizing or is he just polarizing because ESPN, et al., have chosen to highlight it? Many other players in the league have interesting backgrounds, great college careers and are extremely religious. But Tebow, he's somehow different.

It's likely that if any other player received this much unending coverage, he would befall the same fate as Tebow, hated nationwide by people who otherwise wouldn't feel so strongly.

Think of LeBron James—at the time of his Decision (an event orchestrated, not surprisingly, by ESPN), he was reviled. He wasn't just reviled for his choice to leave Cleveland; he was hated because he was constantly being jammed down our throats, anointed by the folks in Bristol as worthy of being dissected from every angle, every possible chance they got.

For ESPN, Tebow, like James, is a way to sensationalize the world of sports. It's already sensational enough on its own; the very nature of sports is to watch the world's best athletes do remarkable things for unimaginable sums of money.

But when ESPN decides to up the ante and turn a human being from a player into a representation of some sort of idea, whatever the idea, it creates an insufferable din that can't be avoided, and that din only results in resentment from the very viewers they hoped to attract and retain in the first place.

As an NFL columnist, I would be remiss if I spent the 2011 season ignoring the Tebow phenomenon. However, I would be equally as irresponsible to devoting my time picking apart every single thing Tebow has said and done all year in an attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill.

The Broncos are bigger than Tebow, as is the NFL. But apparently ESPN thinks there's no player bigger or more worthy of coverage than Tebow right now.

Too much of anything is ultimately just that—too much. If ESPN doesn't back off, it'll not just bring more ill will than is reasonable upon Tebow, it'll bring it upon itself as well.