Tim Tebow an Eagle?

Lucky to Be Alive

Say what you want about Tim Tebow the football player, Tim Tebow the man is one helluva human being – and he’s also a man who’s lucky to be alive.

Trust me on this one, but I did not want to write about Tim Tebow today. His name is on a short list of three people who I wish would just go away – the other two being Marcus Mariota and Mo’ne Davis. But here I am – doing what I didn’t want to do – writing about Tim Tebow.

My motivation for doing so was Dianna Marie Russini.

And just who is this Dianna Marie Russini?

That’s exactly what I was asking myself not long ago.

As it works out – aside from being one tempting piece of eye-candy – she’s a sports anchor for NBC 4 in Washington, D.C. And on Tuesday, she added her two cents about our current melodrama involving Tebow’s recent tryout with the Eagles.

Here’s a post from her Facebook page.

That same verbiage, attributed to her, is popping up in countless articles and blogs all over the Internet – and making it impossible to ignore Tim Tebow if you’re a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles.

But as my Twitter buddy and Eagles Insider Sheil Kapadia uses logic to point out, signing Tim Tebow is not dependent on trading Matt Barkley. Sheil Kapadia covers the Eagles for 247sports.

No chance.

I mean no malice whatsoever to Dianna Marie Russini when I say this, but Tim Tebow has as much chance of winding up with the Eagles as she does of rolling around in the sack with Tim Tebow.

A Virgin Formerly Known as Prince

Prince Amukamara and his bride

Tim Tebow is such a well-established sex-abstainer that New York Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara – himself a vowed sex-abstainer for the first 24 years of his life – called himself “The Black Tim Tebow.” That was until Prince lost his virginity after pledging his troth prior to the 2014 NFL season.

But Tim Tebow professes that he will continue to hold out until after he’s wed. Which always made me scratch my head. I often imagined myself as (1) an All-American quarterback at Florida surrounded by cheerleaders and scantily-clad coeds – and (2) a quarterback in New York City surrounded by legions of hot women on the prowl.

In none of those scenarios did I say “no” – not even once.

Which often made me wonder if the best NFL fit for Tim Tebow was, perhaps, the San Francisco 49ers. But now I’m starting to stray. The last thing I want to do today is besmirch Tim Tebow. So let’s get back to his being one helluva human being.

Filipino By Birth

Tim Tebow was born in the Philippines to a mother and father who were Baptist missionaries. He was home-schooled and saturated by good deeds as his parents wandered from village to village preaching, educating, and providing medical care to anyone in need.

By the time his parents moved back to the Jacksonsville area, Tim was old enough to spread his faith to youth groups at conferences, to high school students in assemblies, and to convicts in prisons.

During his college years, with the help of other students, he created the “First and 15” group which raised money to help fund an orphanage back in the Philippines. He also raised money for a pediatric cancer center in Gainesville. And upon his graduation from Florida, he established the Tim Tebow Foundation that’s involved with making “major contributions to the progress and welfare of the state of Florida.”

His foundation is now trying to raise money to build a children’s hospital on the island of Mindanao.

So Tim Tebow the man is quite a philanthropist.

Now, let’s get back to how lucky Tim Tebow is to be alive.

His parents met while undergraduates at the University of Florida during the late 1960s. They got married in 1971 and moved to the Philippines in 1985 to begin a ministry.

His mother contracted amoebic dysentery and fell into a comatose state. She eventually regained consciousness, but needed extensive medication to promote her recovery. That’s when it was discovered that she was pregnant with Tim.

The medications resulted in a placental abruption to the fetus.

The physicians treating her predicted that she would deliver a stillbirth and recommended abortion. Because of their strong religious beliefs, his parents refused to abort the fetus.

Tim Tebow was born in Manila on August 14, 1987.

The rest of his football history is well-known – except for if and when he’ll ever play football again in the NFL.

I say “no” – at least not with the Eagles – but I could be wrong.